It’s hard to imagine any place more fundamental to being a well-traveled person than Greece, the source of Western Civilization. It’s even closer to the root than Italy. The culture of Rome was essentially appropriated from Greece. The Romans were practical. Why re-invent the wheel when the Greeks had covered so much?
Greece is Western Civ 101. It provides a solid basis for exploring the rest of Western Civilization. But aside from all that history and culture, the Greek Islands, in the sparkling blue Aegean Sea, are among the most beautiful places a person could ever hope to be. And Greek cuisine brings that history right up to the present.
There are 6,000 islands in Greece. Cally Papas’s parents were born on one of them.
Discovering Greece
“My parents were from a small, virtually unknown island near Rhodes,” she told me. “It’s called Nysiros. It’s a traditional island.”
Cally grew up in Queens, New York. She was Greek, but as an American didn’t really know what that meant. On her first trip to Greece, she not only visited Athens and the island of Rhodes, she also went to Nysiros, where her parents grew up. There she encountered her Greek roots in person.
The island of Nysiros dates back at least to the 5th century B.C. when the city walls were built around its capital city of Mandraki. It’s part of the Dodecanese islands, beween Kos and Tilos. Homer mentioned it in The Iliad. Over the centuries it was occupied in turn by Genoese, Venetians, the Ottoman Empire, the Italian republic and finally after World War II, it became part of the Greek Kingdom. All of those occupations left their traces on the island’s rich cultural heritage. That was what Cally stepped into on her maiden voyage to Greece. The experience galvanized her, and changed the course of her life. Ever since she has been dedicated to helping other people enjoy great trips to Greece. Today she is the owner and president of Cloud Tours.
She worked for Olympic Airways, the national airline of Greece, for 15 years. Then after a solid education through her airline experience, she moved over to the tour side of the industry. In 1992 she bought Cloud Tours, which specialized in travel to Greece. For 30 years she’s been building it.
She has grown it incrementally, expanding to a larger part of the Eastern Mediterranean, but still staying close to its roots, its original specialty, and her own first love. The company now provides travel packages to Greece, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal, Turkey, Israel and Jordan.
“Greece was always our main destination, and still is,” said Cally. “We’ve just expanded over 30 years to other destinations, and to the religious market. My philosophy has been not to be a one-stop shop. My philosophy is to be real experts in areas we expanded to, so we could maintain the same quality of service that our travel partners were used to in Greece.”
Cloud Tours is a small, tightly knit team of experts who focus closely on the region, and build their expertise and their contacts year after year, running into decades.
Asked what makes Cloud Tours different, she said, “Our staff has traveled in all of our destinations and can offer first-hand experience. We are not just order takers. Our customized journeys for our clients always take into consideration the areas of special interest for your clients. Our goal is to make their trip special and the best trip of their lives!”
Cloud Tours distinguishes itself by being essentially indigenous. Though the company originates in the U.S., after so many years of transcontinental life, Cloud Tours is like having a good friend in the neighborhood when you’re in Greece to guide you.
“Unlike most tour operators for Greece,” she said, “we have local offices on the islands, such as Mykonos, Santorini, Crete, Paros etc., and they are willing and able to assist and enhance the trip of your clients by making dinner reservations and amendments to their journey. They are also there to assist if there is a cancellation of a hydrofoil due to weather conditions. The same applies for Croatia, where water transportation is also required to island hop.”
New Small Group Departures
After noticing that clients are leaning more toward small group travel, this year the company has introduced a series of small group departures for Greece and Croatia.
The programs are guaranteed departures for a maximum of 16 guests per departure. Accommodations are deluxe hotels with sea view rooms, where applicable. The packages are put together with an emphasis on immersive experiences.
“We want your clients to experience these countries and not just visit them,” said Cally.
Cloud Tours has a huge and growing catalog of possible activities and experiences to take clients beyond the observer category and into the participant category.
“We design unique tours according to your client’s interests,” she said, “whether it’s food and wine, history and culture, outdoor activities, or whatever those interests are.”
For example, the company offers an experience of producing olive oil in Crete with a press that is more than 3,000 years old. Other activities include making cheese the traditional way, wine tasting in Santorini, sailing cruises with stops in small coves for swimming, tasting Greek cuisine on board, or heading off the beaten track in Mykonos on a bicycle tour in remote parts of the island, then leading back to a beach for a picnic lunch. And there are always those wonderful beaches along the 10,000 miles of shorelines in Greece and the islands.
There are endless possibilities for those interested in history. In Santorini, Cloud Tours will take you to Akrotiri, a city covered by lava when the volcano exploded more than 3,000 years ago. From Mykonos you can travel to Delos, which is now an uninhabited island, but has fascinating archeological ruins from when it was inhabited. In Crete you can see the Knossos Palace, a Minoan Palace that has been unearthed.
In Croatia, Cloud Tours will lead you through sites where “Game of Thrones” was filmed in Dubrovnik, or will take you kayaking around the old city walls, to a cooking and wine tasting in Hvar, or to experience the magical music of the Sea Organ in Zadar.
In Croatia, you can visit one of the national parks with their many spectacular waterfalls, or you can go rafting or ziplining over the Cetina River.
You could spend a thousand years in Greece and the Eastern Mediterranean and never exhaust the possibilities, or tire of the beauty and fascination. Life is short. Take what you can. Greece awaits. Cloud Tours is there to assist.
For more information, visit the site.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.