{"id":804802,"date":"2026-07-16T03:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/804802\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T03:28:07","slug":"a-modern-odyssey-the-archaeologist-following-homers-route-on-a-bicycle-cycling-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/804802\/","title":{"rendered":"A modern odyssey: the archaeologist following Homer\u2019s route on a bicycle | Cycling holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Backpacking around Europe is a rite of passage for many young Australians but when Sam Wood proposed a trip with his two brothers in 2009, he had something a little more ambitious in mind.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link.\u00a0Learn more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An avid cyclist who studied classical archaeology at the University of Sydney and spent three years working at the British Museum, he suggested retracing the route that the Carthaginian general Hannibal took over the Alps with his war elephants in 218BC.<\/p>\n

Beginning in southern Spain, the brothers rode through France and across the Alps into Italy, turning the journey into a BBC documentary<\/a>. \u201cFrom there, I thought it would be nice to keep riding around some interesting sites,\u201d Wood recalls. So he set up a bike touring company with a strong historical focus.<\/p>\n

Wood follows the path of Richard the Lionheart\u2019s Third Crusade in Grossglockner, Austria, in 2019<\/p>\n

Though his background is in Roman archaeology, Wood developed cycling routes inspired by famous journeys throughout history, following the path of Richard the Lionheart\u2019s Third Crusade, the expansion of the Venetian empire and Alexander the Great\u2019s conquests. But when it came to naming his company, there was one route so well-known, it has become a byword for any adventurous undertaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cI studied the Odyssey back at university and loved it,\u201d Wood says. \u201cThe very word is a theme that resonates with our journeys, so it was always a trip I wanted to do.\u201d In addition to naming his company Bike Odyssey, he based its logo on Argos, the faithful hound who is the only one to recognise Odysseus on his return to Ithaca.<\/p>\n

Turning the idea into an itinerary that guests could easily follow presented several challenges. Before the word \u201cepic\u201d was used to market everything from ski resorts<\/a> to video games<\/a>, it described some of the most ambitious works of literature ever created. Homer\u2019s original text takes some 15 hours to recite, and Christopher Nolan\u2019s upcoming adaptation<\/a> will clock in at just under three. But Odysseus\u2019 perilous voyage spans an entire decade as he tries to return home after the Trojan war.<\/p>\n

Condensing that journey into 27 days inevitably meant taking a few liberties. The task was further complicated by the debate about where Odysseus and his crew actually travelled. \u201cWhen people have tried to map out Odysseus\u2019s route, it\u2019s a bit of a challenge because he went to all parts of the Mediterranean,\u201d Wood says. \u201cTroy and Ithaca are easy but everywhere in between is up for grabs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odyssey blends physical geography and myth, which has led scholars to place locations such as the sorceress Circe\u2019s island of Aeaea everywhere from Sardinia to Georgia. Tourism boards have added to the confusion by amplifying some of the more speculative claims. Nolan reportedly filmed scenes set in the Land of the Dead in Iceland, while Scotland and Western Sahara<\/a> stand in for Mediterranean sites in his adaptation.<\/p>\n

Wood\u2019s solution was to stick to Turkey and Greece, combining places referenced in the text with other important archaeological sites on the path from Troy to Ithaca. \u201cFortunately, Troy is a really great site and there\u2019s archaeological evidence of burning in layers that could be relevant to the events of the Odyssey,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Subsequent stops intersperse Homeric locations including Lesbos and Mount Parnassus with other significant sites of antiquity, namely Ephesus, Delphi and Mycenae.<\/p>\n

Riders on the Odyssey bike ride on the Greek island of KalymnosMost days include rides of between 50km and 70km<\/p>\n

Putting together a complex international itinerary involves lots of moving parts, and Wood has had to deal with everything from cancelled flights and closed borders to a mad dash along empty highways trying to get the last flights back to Australia during Covid lockdowns.<\/p>\n

But the greatest challenges often come from guests who choose to keep vital information to themselves. \u201cWe\u2019ve had multiple people turn up with no bike experience after telling us otherwise,\u201d he says. \u201cOne had only ever ridden in a bike trailer and another had no peripheral vision so she went straight off the edge of the road at the first corner! \u2026 She was fine and she kept riding but I had to stay close to her for the rest of the journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wood unloads a bike from a gulet \u2013 a Turkish wooden sailboat \u2013 on Symi in 2023Bike repairs on a boat near Nisyros, Greece<\/p>\n

Fortunately, most guests are well-prepared for the challenges and the riding is interspersed with plenty of opportunities to take in the scenery at a more relaxed pace. Parts of the trip follow the Turkish coast in a traditional wooden gulet. \u201cWhen we\u2019re sailing from island to island in the Dodecanese, we can tell a story about Odysseus travelling home on his boat and it feels very real,\u201d Wood says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of the Odyssey is about the journey and the wine-dark sea, so being on a boat in the Med is a spectacular way to capture that atmosphere and make you feel like you\u2019re in the same environment that Odysseus would have experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most days include rides of between 50km and 70km, and while ebikes make the tours accessible to anyone with a decent level of fitness, those opting for traditional bikes find some days challenging. That was certainly the experience of Penny Clowry, a 52-year-old Canberra resident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea how big the mountains were in Greece before I had to bloody ride up them,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But even the long, hot climbs fit neatly into the theme, standing in for one-eyed giants, seductive sirens and six-headed sea monsters on an adventure filled with personal challenges.<\/p>\n

Clowry got into cycling after injuring her ACL and was initially drawn to the itinerary for the scenic Mediterranean setting. \u201cI barely knew the story of the Odyssey before I booked,\u201d she says. \u201cBut when you\u2019re cycling through this incredible landscape and these ruins appear, it adds so much to know how they fit into the history of the place you\u2019re riding through and what they represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

A cyclist tackles an incline on the island of Symi<\/p>\n

\u201cOne afternoon, I was riding on my own behind everybody else when I heard a little bell clanging as I passed through a tiny village,\u201d Clowry says. \u201cI looked over and there was a woman in traditional dress walking down a dirt road, herding goats with a stick while the sun was setting in the background. It felt like I had stepped back in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

While contemporary visitors have the advantages of paved roads, support vans and regular stops for cold drinks, the Homeric themes of longing, perseverance and the battle between fate and free will still resonate. Wood recalls a 70-year-old guest who hadn\u2019t ridden a bike since she was five. Wanting to see the ancient world up close, she signed up for the Odyssey, and in the decade since has completed three other epic rides. She now runs two ebike groups in the New South Wales Riverina region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Odyssey is the story of a man returning to his family having been away for 20 years, and it\u2019s an enormous emotional journey for Odysseus,\u201d says Wood. \u201cIt\u2019s such a rollercoaster for Odysseus, who is saved by the gods then doomed by other gods.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut going on a big journey like that always feels relevant to people\u2019s lives and they can tie it to whatever they\u2019re going through on a personal level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Backpacking around Europe is a rite of passage for many young Australians but when Sam Wood proposed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[49,48,635,82],"class_list":["post-804802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}