Original subtitles

I'm Bettany Hughes, and I want to take you on the ultimate adventure

across the Greek islands.

This has to be one of the most exciting places on Earth.

A place full of mystery and wonder

and tens of thousands of years of history and human experience.

A cradle of civilisation, the Greece of the ancient world

hot-housed everything from democracy to medicine.

It gave us the Olympics, engineering triumphs

and some of the most epic stories of all time.

Stories that have been passed down for thousands of years,

and that still influence us today.

PEOPLE SING

One of the very greatest centres on the Greek hero, Odysseus,

the legendary warrior whose cunning won the Trojan War.

After the victory, he begins a long journey home

to the far west of Greece across these seas.

His story, the Odyssey, is a brilliant tale

of triumph over adversity and danger,

inspiring books, movies and adventures.

And on my personal odyssey, I'm following Odysseus's path

from east to west.

I want to try to experience what he experienced...

Whoa!

...make amazing new discoveries.

It's just perfect. Still bright yellow, isn't it?

Enjoy the delights of ancient Greece today...

Mm!

...and uncover the truths behind these fabulous myths and legends...

They killed one young lady.

...to see how they can help us understand the world and ourselves.

Join me on this epic voyage - my Greek odyssey.

I'm following the trail of Odysseus,

who, we're told, journeyed from the battlefields of Troy

in what's now Turkey, back home to the island of Ithaca

in the far west of Greece.

It's at times like this you can so imagine Odysseus and his crew

heading towards the setting sun,

not sure what adventure lay beyond the horizon.

Last time, rather like Odysseus, I navigated treacherous waters

and a graveyard of over 50 shipwrecks.

In this episode, I visit one of the most sacred places in history...

...drink ancient wine.

OK, I'm gonna put it all in my mouth, and not be afraid.

SHE EXCLAIMS, LAUGHS

And battle through the worst storm I've ever experienced.

There's somewhere I just can't miss on my Greek odyssey -

the unique island of Delos,

185 miles from the ancient site of Troy

at the centre of the Aegean Sea.

Where I'm heading is one of the most special places on Earth.

It's an island that is so sacred,

no-one is allowed to live there or stay there.

So to get there before hours, we've had to hitch a ride

on this rather lovely speedboat.

Delos really mattered to the ancient world in both history and myth.

Odysseus himself was said to have come here

to pay his respects to the gods.

Oh, it's so brilliant to be back here,

cos there are just ruins right across this island.

It's Greece's greatest outdoor archaeological museum.

So being here, it's kind of my happy place, basically.

The island's been a magnet for travellers for close on 3,000 years.

Just three miles long,

Delos is packed with temples, altars and shrines,

and there's still three-quarters of the site left to excavate.

SHE KISSES Morning!

SHE KISSES

So, if you get here at this time in the morning,

just basically just after dawn,

then you're greeted by a very particular welcoming party

in the form of the cats of Delos. Sacred cats, obviously.

OK, thank you. See you later. See you, bye-bye.

See you, ciao, bye.

Getting up before dawn was definitely worth it,

as I've got the island all to myself.

The Greeks thought Delos was the birthplace of two super gods.

Apollo, the god of Sun, light and reason,

and his twin sister, Artemis,

the goddess of the Moon and hunting and female power.

To keep the island pure, in the fifth century BC,

the Greeks dug up every grave

and reburied the bodies on another island.

From here on in, no-one could be born or die here.

At the time of Odysseus, it was much more lush,

and it's, kind of, spine-tinglingly exciting,

because he describes coming here and finding a palm tree

planted next to the sacred altar of Apollo.

And there's still one here today.

Visitors flocked here from right across the ancient world

to pretty hard-core religious festivals.

One venue, this vast theatre,

could host crowds of over six-and-a-half thousand.

The festivities here were renowned for being particularly joyful.

There were music and wrestling and even beauty contests,

attracting pious partygoers from Asia, Europe and Africa.

I just want to show you this, erm...

because there's a brilliant bit of virtual reality

that's been developed that allows us to

walk through the streets of ancient Delos.

And it's a fantastic thing, because it's the technology of the future,

helping us visualise the deep past.

This place hummed with life and colour.

Archaeologist Marilee Papadopoulou joins me to share her theory why.

Oh, that's interesting.

So, it has... That's amazing, cos...

So, they would've thought it had the, kind of,

blessing of the Sun, or the power of the Sun. Yes.

It's a kind of archaeologists playground here, isn't it?

Delos was an island of light and holiness,

but once the Romans arrived in 167BC, that all changed.

I know, it's so terrible, because it's a beautiful place,

but it's got this terrible vibe to it.

Slaves were trafficked across the ancient world.

Under the Romans, huge numbers were kidnapped by pirates

and shipped here before being sold on.

We think the slaves were probably held in boats in the bays.

At this time, slaves weren't even thought of as humans.

They were described as "man-footed things."

So, although this is a hauntingly beautiful island,

it also has its ghosts and a heart of despair and sorrow.

Delos, like the Odyssey itself,

reminds us that the ancient world

was both a brilliant and a brutal place.

Continuing my quest, I discover an island

that seems to have cracked the secret of immortality...

Can I try some? Mm!

...before I put my life in the hands of the gods.

Whoa! Oh!

Oh, my gosh.

I'm travelling around the Greek islands,

following one of the most brilliant characters from Greek legend -

Odysseus.

The island I'm heading to now is full of mystery

and its own kind of magic.

In the Odyssey, our hero lands on the enchanted island of Aeaea,

where he encounters Circe, a potion-making sorceress.

Circe produced pharmaca - drugs, basically,

an ancient Greek word that gives us "pharmacy."

Now, there's been much speculation about the location

of Circe's island.

And lkaria, with its local produce and waters famed for their potent,

life-enhancing properties, is a contender.

One reason I've come here.

Thank you. Thank you. Cheers, see you.

I've never actually been to this island before,

so I don't really know what to expect,

apart from the fact that people tell me they live life here

playing by slightly different rules. So, erm...genuinely exciting.

When I first came to Greece in the 1980s,

I travelled around the islands by bike and moped.

Hi, are you Nikos? Yes. Hi, hi, Bettany.

Hi, nice to see you. Nice to meet you.

A friend of a friend has agreed to show me round on his.

Ikaria has been inhabited for at least 9,000 years.

It's a culture rooted deep in time.

And I can't help noticing the number of islanders

enjoying a ripe old age.

DOGS BARKING Hello.

A recent scientific study at lkaria

showed that it had one of the highest percentages of 90-year-olds

in Europe.

Thank you.

You've got a really cool car.

Super cool. Drive safely, though. Bye. Bye.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh, it's so cool.

He's had that 42 years.

They also have 20% lower rates of cancer,

50% lower rates of heart disease

and minimal levels of dementia.

Ancient heroes gathered wisdom from the elders,

and I'm meeting two locals to find out their secret.

Although, our rendezvous time is a little bit vague,

because on lkaria, they don't rate watches or deadlines.

I'm Bettany.

Eleni? Eleni. Ah, like "oraia" Eleni.

THEY LAUGH

So, her name's like Helen of Troy. Beautiful Helen.

Irini! Beautiful.

Irini. And your name, lrini, means "peace."

A very beautiful name.

C-Can I ask...? I'm not being rude,

but can I just ask how old you two ladies are?

What's your age?

You look great for 94.

And then, there are lots of people here who live to 100, as well,

on the island.

Ikaria is a volcanic island.

Waters are laced with radioactive radon,

and some think this, and eating local,

could be the secret to the islanders longevity.

It feels very calm here.

Why do people not care about time?

So, I understood that word. So, "philoxenia."

So, it's like a "lover of strangers" here.

MAN: Yes, yes. Yeah. So, that's an amazing...

"Philoxenia" is this beautiful word that you also get in

the tales of Odysseus. So going right back 3,000 years.

That it's really important to welcome strangers.

I think I might stay. I think I might make this my home.

It's beautiful. It's a magical island.

The OAPs of lkaria are the incarnation of the wisdom of age.

But one of the island's most famous legends

warns of the follies of youth.

It's how the island gets its unusual name.

The story of Icarus, the boy who tried to fly.

Icarus's father is Daedalus, the greatest inventor of the day.

But there's a problem, both father and son are held prisoner,

captive on another island and desperate to escape.

So Daedalus comes up with a cunning plan.

He invents giant wings made out of feathers and wax,

and both of them managed to break free.

At first, everything is going brilliantly well.

"Follow me," the father says.

"Don't go so low that your feathers get wet in the sea."

"Don't fly so high that you get burnt by the sun."

Icarus obeys, but then he is so thrilled by the sensation of flight,

that he starts to climb higher and higher,

dangerously close to the Sun's rays.

They start to melt the wax, the feathers begin to fall,

and the boy plunges into the sea.

The hero Hercules, Heracles in Greek, so the story goes,

rescues the boy's body and brings it here to be buried.

So, this whole island is a monument to Icarus

and to the dangers of disobedience and overreaching yourself.

Originally independent kingdoms, and later city states,

all the islands had their own myths, histories, culture,

genetic profile and traditions.

I'm told there's someone here who's called the "Odysseus of honey,"

because he goes to tend his hives on different islands by boat.

So, he's obviously somebody I've got to meet.

Yannis has been harvesting honey for over 25 years,

but honey's been farmed here in Greece for over 35 centuries.

Oh, that's so good. Hi. Hi!

Sorry to... Oh, do you need a hand?

It's... Yeah. It's pretty heavy, isn't it?

I just realised I'm helping you with a hive.

Are there any bees in here? Yep. Are there?

SHE LAUGHS Hmm.

The untamed landscape of lkaria is perfect bee territory.

Yannis's hives are hidden in pine forests and rocky outcrops.

But there's a good reason why he's getting so carefully kitted up.

Yannis has told me to just stop here

because he works with a local lkarian bee,

which is particularly aggressive, apparently,

so it's not safe to go any closer.

Look at that! Oh, my gosh, the honey's coming out.

That's so amazing, because I, you know...

This is such a timeless sight, and because humans loved it so much,

it came to be described as a gift of the gods.

I tell you what I think honey is in ancient myths.

So, there was this food that the Greek gods ate on Mount Olympus

called ambrosia, which helped keep them immortal.

And I think that was almost certainly honey.

And I tell you why.

Because the ancients used to use honey as a kind of preservative.

When people died, they sometimes buried them in honey,

and we know it would've kept the bodies preserved

for at least eight weeks.

So it would have seemed as though it was giving immortality.

It was like this kind of amazing, magic, golden liquid.

Oh, it's such a treat to see it being gathered in this way

as it has been on islands like this

for thousands and thousands of years.

But as Tim, the cameraman, found out to his cost,

immortality can come with a sting in its tail.

Oh! I think I've got stung!

On my nozzie. Does it look like a... Yes. Oh, yeah, look.

HE LAUGHS Look!

The bee man's fumigating your...

Honey was so precious in the ancient world,

the king of the gods, Zeus, and his queen, Hera,

were given it as a wedding gift.

And now Yannis is giving me a gift of his harvest.

Oh, look at this. Mm-hm.

This is yours. Can I try some?

Mm. It's so lovely-looking.

So, honey, when it's...

Ah, fresh bread.

Ancient Greeks described happiness

as being sweeter than dripping streams of honey.

Mm!

I'm sorry, I've just got to lick a bit...

It's all coming down my fingers. That is so delicious.

So, the ancients always used to eat honey,

obviously because it was delicious and it gave them loads of energy,

but they thought it had this special magic properties

and we now know it does. It's kind of antiseptic

and can be antibacterial.

But the other thing that they used to do is they used to ferment it.

And basically, if you ferment this kind of honey,

you can get a bit of a hit, bit of a trip from it.

And so they'd have thought that honey was something

that transported them to the worlds of gods and myths

and legends and heroes.

So it's magic in lots of ways.

How much honey do you eat?

Was that a kilo a week?

One kilo, you eat? Yeah.

A kilo of honey!

Well, you look... You look very healthy on it.

THEY LAUGH

Clearly, the kilo a week is doing wonders for Yannis.

But this isn't the only mystical produce here.

Ikaria has been famous since the time of Odysseus

for its rich, heady wine

as the hero found out to his cost when Circe used it

to seduce and enchant him.

One day, Odysseus sends out some of his sailors on a scouting trip

and they come across a beautiful sorceress, witch, goddess

called Circe.

Circe tricks them into drinking poisoned, drugged wine,

which drives the men mad and they then transform into pigs.

One has managed to escape and he warns Odysseus of the danger ahead.

Odysseus takes a special plant from this island

with white flowers and a black root to use as an antidote,

and managed to escape Circe's clutches.

It's a story that was told again and again.

Some said, with a morality tale about the dangers of drunkenness.

But I actually think there's something much, much more interesting.

I think it's saying that men are very scared

of falling under a woman's spell.

And it's telling us about the amazing produce

of this beautiful place.

Odysseus's magic flower was called moly,

probably a Snowdrop, possibly an antidote to some hallucinogens

and still found on lkaria.

As is an ancient wine variety, Pramnian wine.

The very wine that Circe was said to have used in the Odyssey.

In fact, wine plays a huge part in Homer's epic adventures.

The sea is described as "wine-dark."

Odysseus escapes monsters by getting them drunk,

and the Greeks drink a potent cocktail of wine and honey mead.

The Greek tradition of winemaking is one of the oldest in the world,

dating back at least 6,000 years.

And it was from here that it spread to Spain, Portugal and France.

Wine was one of ancient Greece's most profitable exports.

Thank you. Your welcome. Thank you.

Nikos Afianes started this vineyard over 20 years ago

to keep lkaria's ancient winemaking methods alive.

Well, it's a pretty lovely place to make it up to here. Thank you.

What's going on here?

It seems definitely mouldy. Green with mould, actually.

Can I have a small one?

SHE CHUCKLES

Mm. Actually delicious.

It's like a kind of extreme sultana.

This method of extracting grape juice

is older even than the story of Odysseus,

and Nikos can't wait to demonstrate.

No, no. No.

But just like... OK. You're getting quite a lot there, Nikos. Look.

I'm told the acid of the grapes exfoliates the feet,

so I'm strangely tempted to get in.

It's nice in between your toes, isn't it?

You can feel the juice kind of working it.

Oh! Oh, that's lovely.

Can we taste some, then?

It's wine exactly as it was produced in the age of Odysseus.

Yes. SHE LAUGHS

Nikos, you're full of surprises. Well...

No, no, no. Oh, it's a little bit stuck.

I want to try a bit of that, that you just...

ls that OK to drink?

You sure? Thanks.

Delighted to see that Nikos is using a kylix,

an ancient form of wine cup.

THEY LAUGH

This is what they'd have used at the time of Odysseus,

something like this, to drink from.

OK, I'm gonna put it all in my mouth and not be afraid.

SHE EXCLAIMS, LAUGHS

OK, sorry. Here we go.

SHE EXCLAIMS

Lovely. Well, thank you, Nikos. That is great.

It's so cool you're doing this. It's so cool.

Wine clearly brings joy to lkaria, modern and ancient.

In fact, the god of wine, Dionysus, was said to be born here.

Ikaria's rich produce has allowed it to be self-sufficient for centuries,

helping it feel lost in time.

But where I'm heading next is the opposite.

Down at the quayside, Captain Sotiris and his crew

are preparing an elegant 60-foot yacht, Osyan,

for the next leg of my odyssey to Mykonos.

Come on board. I will. Are you going west?

Of course I'm going west. Oh, fantastic. I'm always going west.

Oh, nice. Straight away. Lovely. Thank you.

At this point in Odysseus's journey,

we hear that the blue, shadowed waves

slapped under the belly of the boat as it raked on.

And that is exactly what is happening now,

which feels amazingly cool.

It seems like a beautiful day,

even with dolphins blessing us with their company.

Good sailing weather with the wind at 25 knots,

and what you might describe as a fresh, if fairly lively, breeze.

Imagine what it would have been like

when you had those tiny wooden boats,

like they had...the ancient Greeks had and the storm suddenly whips up.

I mean, you're in serious trouble, aren't you?

There's a saying that says that before, there were wooden boats

and iron men. Iron men.

So, that is... ls that what they describe sailors as?

Boats of wood and men of iron. Fantastic. Yeah.

But today, are we feeling quite confident? We're feeling great.

Good, good, good. Then I'm... There's wind, there's good weather.

There's sun. Yeah.

So you can put up the sail, if you like. Yeah, OK.

For now, stay a little bit on that side so the rope cannot hit you. OK.

So now the sails are open, we're really powering on.

And you can feel how Odysseus and his men would have loved the fact

they were up on the oceans and back on course.

Wow! Oh, my gosh.

The winds in this region can be really ferocious

and that can be treacherous today.

But can you imagine what it would've been like for Odysseus and his men?

Because as far as they were concerned, this wasn't just weather,

this was a weapon of angry gods.

Oh, I just got completely...

Completely drenched!

0h!

But as our journey progressed, we found things getting

a lot more hairy.

Tim, the cameraman, secured his kit and with lifejackets to hand,

we got our phones out to record what happened over the next seven hours.

The captain here is... Whoa!

WIND HOWLING

We've finally been summoned in by the captain

because the waves are now reaching six metres high.

The sound man has been sick over the side of the boat.

Tim's camera got covered in salt water,

and I am wet through with waves.

So we thought, you know... We've been heroic,

but it's time to add a tiny bit of being sensible into this trip.

But I think, erm... I think everybody's enjoying it.

Keeping calm and carrying on,

we didn't think it could get much worse.

How wrong could we be?

I'm sailing from lkaria to Mykonos,

but I should have read my Homer more carefully

where the lkarian Sea is said to surge and rage like a furious crowd.

The wind here reached 40 knots, that's gale force,

and the conditions really began to take their toll.

We finally make it to land on Mykonos at midnight.

Frankly, pretty shaken.

Odysseus survived five storms in the Odyssey.

We feel lucky to make it through one.

The morning after one particularly punishing storm, our hero Odysseus,

just like us, ends up washed up on an island in need of some TLC.

Given the fact that I am aching all over still from last night,

from just gripping on to that boat,

and I can still actually taste the sea salt in my hair,

I thought I would indulge myself and have a traditional massage

here on Mykonos.

THEY SPEAK FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Oh, my god. That is really good.

So, I'm not doing this to be completely self-indulgent.

There's a reason, cos it ties into one of the greatest stories

from the Odyssey. So, when Odysseus comes to one particular island

after a particularly tough time out on the high seas,

there's this beautiful goddess called Calypso

who basically seduces him and she makes it almost impossible

for Odysseus to leave.

So, she tends to him, gives him massages with oils

and makes love to him every night for seven years.

So he gets a bit distracted from his journey

and just hangs out on the island.

So I'm doing this in honour of Odysseus and Calypso.

And it's really lovely, Anna. It's so good.

I can feel my shoulder working again.

This is timeless indulgence.

Massage oils with ingredients like Anna's,

were traded across the Mediterranean by ancient travellers.

The luxury goods of the day.

Post-storm pampered,

I'm ready to investigate the island's histories and myths.

You are in for such a treat,

because what you have here is the oldest ever image

of the Trojan horse from anywhere in the world.

On this giant pithos, this earthenware jar.

During the siege of Troy, Odysseus, renowned for his resourcefulness,

came up with the idea of hiding Greek troops in a wooden horse.

Thinking the horse was a gift,

the people of Troy wheeled it inside their city

and that night, the Greek warriors burst out

and slaughtered the Trojans as they slept.

So, this was actually a burialjar.

There were human bones found inside,

and it was made sometime in the seventh century BC.

So around 100 years or so after the Odyssey was first set down.

So, here is a Trojan horse entering Troy

with all the Greek soldiers inside.

And there's all kinds of different bits of the Odyssey story.

So, you've got Helen here,

Helen of Troy, meeting Menelaus, her husband.

We know it's him cos he's got a beard, the beard of a king.

And he's grabbing her wrist and he's unsheathed his sword.

Around the base of the pot you've got these other soldiers

attacking defenceless Trojan women and children.

So, what's amazing about this is that it tells us the story

of the Trojan War.

So, the celebrities of antiquity were renowned here.

And Mykonos is still a honeypot for the glitterati,

graced by everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to Marlon Brando.

And there's one celebrity visitor who stood out from all the others,

putting Mykonos on the map in the 1960s.

Probably one of the most influential people to come here

was Jackie Kennedy, who became Jackie Onassis, Jackie O.

She absolutely loved this place.

So Mykonos loves her.

There are Jackie O bars here and everywhere you turn,

there are little mementos of her visits.

When she first came here in 1961,

she was married to US President John F Kennedy.

After her husband was assassinated in 1963,

she sought comfort from Greek billionaire shipping magnate

Aristotle Onassis.

Marrying Onassis in 1968, she was now Jackie O.

So, something really charming here I just want to show you.

So, Jackie O loved this place. It's owned by an artist,

and he crocheted her a little, sort of, traditional, kind of,

waistcoat for Mykonos. And this is her thank you letter to him.

So, "Dear Mr Yannis, I write to thank you for your"

"original work of art and lovely sweater."

"Your..." Spelt wrong, I'm afraid to say,

"..a true artist. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis."

And they're so proud of it. So they've still got it here in the shop.

But even the cult of celebrity goes back to ancient times.

For the ancient Greeks, two things really mattered.

Kudos, the word for reputation that we still use today,

and kleos - to be heard of.

A good hero did great deeds so that he could become famous.

Basically, it's an ancient Greek form of celebrity.

Now, I think there are two reasons for this.

One is that in ancient Greek religion,

there was no sense of heaven or hell.

So in order to gain immortality, you couldn't have an afterlife.

You had to be known by your deeds.

And there's something else.

In the age of heroes, as warriors and traders

were nipping between one island and the other,

it was really important that you were heard of,

either so that people welcomed you in with open arms,

or so they trembled at the very mention of your name.

Before I leave Mykonos, I want to share another bit of

the deep past with you.

It's prehistoric and pretty special.

I'm on a Greek island odyssey exploring Mykonos.

It's easy to get the impression that this is an island

dominated by the delights of the 21st century.

But I'm discovering it's a place brimming with myth and history.

And I just love this little place, because basically,

it's a kind of homage to all things maritime,

not just from centuries ago, but from thousands of years ago.

Have a look at this boat here.

So, this is a replica of a prehistoric sailing ship

from around about three-and-a-half thousand years ago.

So it could have been the kind of ship that Odysseus and his men

sailed away from Troy in.

Mykonos's maritime past isn't only in its museums.

I've been tipped off I must meet Kostas,

one of the last traditional fishermen on the island.

He lives in Kalafati, a village soon to be developed

as tourist accommodation.

There's a really odd thing in the Odyssey,

that even though it's set on the sea,

there's actually very little mention of fishing or fishermen.

And that's partly because this was a story of heroes and kings

and aristocrats who ate meat. But of course, most people survived...

Hi, hi. Hello.

...by eating fish, and there are just a few

tiny traditional fishing communities left here on Mykonos.

Hi, hi. I'm Bettany. Hello. Hi.

Hello, hello. Nice to see you. Hi. I'm Bettany, hi. Markos.

What's your name? Markos. Markos. Bettany.

You see him?

THEY SPEAK FOREIGN LANGUAGE

ENGINE STARTS He's doing it.

OK. So... He's a good captain, isn't he?

THEY CHUCKLE Pretty impressive.

THEY SPEAK FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Does your son always drive the boat?

He's good, though. He's really good.

Following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father,

Kostas has been fishing here for over 25 years.

But he's not sure how much longer he can carry on.

No, no.

Because there are less fish? Really?

What would you say is the one thing...? Ah, look. Yes.

Hi. THEY SPEAK FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Hi, Bettany. Nice to see you.

Who should we bump in to, but Kostas's cousin?

Who, would you believe it,

tells me he's just been watching my recent TV series about the Nile.

No way! No way.

How did that happen? Great.

Bravo. Well, I came from Egypt... Egypt to here. From Egypt to Greece.

How's it going? ls it a good night for fishing?

Yeah. Good luck. Nice to see you.

Kostas's cousin is also obviously struggling

to make a living from fishing.

So, why... If it's really tough, why do you still do this?

Yes. Yes? OK.

HE SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Bravo. Bravo.

Marko? Bravo. HE SPEAKS FOREIGN LANGUAGE

0h!

Put him in. Let's put him in.

It's on this very coastline that the warrior Ajax,

who fought with Odysseus in the Trojan war, is said to be buried.

The story starts with Cassandra, a priestess of Troy,

with the ability to view the future as well as the past.

One day she's in the Temple of Apollo,

and the Greek warrior Ajax comes upon her and rapes her.

The god, Apollo, is so furious that when Ajax is travelling home,

he sends storms and waves and the hero drowns in the sea.

And then, it is said, his body was washed up on these shores.

But there may be some truth behind the fantasy.

Every year, archaeologists here make discoveries

in slightly unexpected places that help us jigsaw puzzle together

the story of the island.

Now, what I'm just about to show you

is not the most dramatic of monuments,

but it really helps us understand the ancient history of this place.

So, up here, there's a settlement from the Bronze Age.

So we know that people were living here at the time of warriors

like Odysseus.

So, if everywhere you look in the walls,

there are little bits of pottery from the settlement that was here.

So this, I think, will probably be...

That's probably about three-and-a-half thousand years old.

I'll put that back where you found it, because that's its lair.

I don't know if you can see, all the way in the sand here,

there are these little shards of pottery.

Some people come here to go to the beach,

I come here to look at these ruins, and I feel

very at home and very excited.

Just imagine the life here.

Over 4,000 years ago, people carving out an existence for themselves.

This beautiful landscape and beautiful sea.

And, you know, trying to live and live well.

So, it's very emotional. It's really, really exciting.

Before I set off on this journey,

I wanted to understand history and myth

by living the experiences of the past.

I've shared some of the challenges Odysseus faced,

and learnt how ancient stories can contain kernels of truth.

Next time on my Greek island odyssey

I dice with one of the most destructive volcanoes

known to mankind,

search for the truth behind the legend of Odysseus,

and hunt for more ancient treasures.

Look at this! Look at this.

So, these are beautiful gold coins.

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