W.F. & R.K. Swan - HELLENIC CRUISES - Programmes Itineraries 28 May - 9 Jun 1969

In the 1950s, a British travel agent called Swan's Tours, operated by a father and son (W.F. Swan and R.K. Swan), was asked to organise a tour for visitors interested in the antiquities of Greece. 

Archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler served as a guest lecturer on the tours. 

The tours developed into a full programme of cruises, a concept known as "cultural cruising," in which well known academics, writers and clergymen were regularly featured as guest lecturers, both onboard ships and on site. 

Swan's Tours prided itself on never repeating an itinerary and focused its business on touring classical sites in the Aegean sea, around the coasts and islands of modern Greece and Turkey. It also visited classical and other ancient sites in north Africa (including Egypt) and the eastern Mediterranean. In contrast to most commercial cruises offered at the time, in which the onboard entertainment was as important as the destinations visited. 

Swan's itineraries included almost-daily port calls for visits to historic sites, placing a high emphasis on the destination-oriented nature of its business. The operation was characterised by an English ethos of high culture, although it had an international following.