The Organizing and Academic committees would like to give you a general outline of the activities that include the Academic Programme (student papers and lectures by professors) and the Social Activities (receptions, excursions, visits to historic sites, entertainment).

We reserve the right to make changes, if necessary, and will have a final Programme handed to you on 22 May 2015. You will be staying at the Theoxenia Hotel by the Messolonghi lagoonside, Tel: +30 26310 28098.

Please note that due to the constraints of academic and personal schedules, some participants will not be able to attend the entire conference. Accordingly we have grouped the academic sessions tightly on the days when all participants will be in attendance so that even those who are obliged to leave early will experience in full the evolving conversation on “Byron and the Mediterranean World”.

FRIDAY 22 May 2015

16:00 – 18:00 Registration at the administrative office of the Messolonghi Byron Society and its Byron Research Center in the Byron House.

18:00 Visits to the Cathedral of Agios Spyridon visited by Byron; to the Gallery of ‘’Christos and Sophia Moschandreou” to see an exhibition of modern paintings of Byron.

20:00 Visit to the Municipal museum of History and Art Municipal Gallery with a welcome ceremony by the Mayor of Messolonghi, Mr. Nikos Karapanos.

21:00 Dinner at Archontiko restaurant.

SATURDAY 23 May 2015

09:30 The Academic Programme starts at the Byron House. Welcome by the President of the Messolonghi Byron Society Mrs. Rodanthi-Rosa Florou, the Director of International Relations Prof. Peter Graham ad the Deputy Director of Studies Dr. Maria Schoina.

10:00 – 11:30 First Session of 3 lectures (of 20 minutes) with a discussion at the end.

11:30 – 12:00 Coffee break.

12:00 – 13:30 Second Session of 3 lectures.

14:00 Lunch at a fish restaurant.

15:30 – 17:00 Third Session of 3 lectures.

17:00 – 17:30 Break

17:30 – 19:00 Fourth Session of 3 lectures.

Night Free

SUNDAY 24 May 2015

10:30 Wreath-laying ceremony and inauguration of the newly renovated monument at the site where Byron breathed his last on 19 April 1824, and where the University of Athens dedicated a memorial column to Byron to commemorate the centennial of his death.

11:00 Visit to the Garden of the Heroes, stretching alongside the defensive walls of Messolonghi. A big memorial garden with many Monuments dedicated to Greek fighters and to Philhellenes who fought or fell during the sieges and the Exodus (sortie). At the centre of the Garden of Heroes you will find the grave of Markos Botzaris as well as a statue of Lord Byron, underneath which are buried some of the poet’s organs.

12:30 at the Trikoupi Cultural Center.

• David Radcliffe,
Virginia Tech, USA “Crowd-sourcing the John Murray Archive”

• Round table “The 1st International Student Byron Conference Revisited”
Peter Graham, Rosa Florou, Maria Schoina, Jonathan Gross, Peter Myrian

• “Glory and Greece”: a dramatic reading presented by the Division of Arts and Humanities and Interdisciplinary Center of Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Byron: Sean McCullough
Director: Mark Mallett
Stage Manager:.Christian Jimenez
Script: David Roessel, Mark Mallett, Sean McCullough and Christian Jimenez

14:30 Lunch on your own.

19:30 The Official Ceremony starts at Theoxenia Hotel; introduced by the Joint President of the International Association of Byron Societies Professor Jonathan Gross. Two keynote speakers will deliver their lectures related to the conference topic.

• Professor Caroline Franklin,
Swansea University, Wales, UK “Byron, the Mediterranean Woman and Women Writers’’

• Professor Naji Oueijan,
Notre Dame University, Lebanon “Lord Byron’s Mediterranean World’’

21:00 The ceremony will end with a Gala in the Ball Room of the Theoxenia Hotel. The Gala includes also Greek traditional dances by “The Dancing Group of the Municipality”.

MONDAY 25 May 2015

Papers in the Conference Room of Theoxenia Hotel

10:00 – 11:30 Fifth Session of 3 lectures.

11:30 – 12:00 Break

12:00 – 13:30 Sixth Session of 3 lectures.

13:30 Lunch at Theoxenia Hotel.

15:00 – 16:30 Seventh Session of 3 lectures.

20:00 Opera performance at the Trikoupi Cultural Center’s Theatre.

Lord Byron, The Two Foscari: Excerpts from Verdi’s opera, I Due Foscari, performed by the Artists of the Experimental Group “Hellenic Opera”
Doge: Kostis Rasidakis, baritone Lucretia: Sofia Kyanidou, soprano Jiacopo: Dimitris Nalmpantis, tenor Lorentano: Michalis Katsoulis, bass Vocal coaching and artistic advising Vaggelis Chatzisimos, tenor Accompanied by the pianist, Michalis Papapetrou.

Night free

TUESDAY 26 MAY 2015

09:00 Departure by coach for Delphi. Visit to the Museum and Archaeological site.

14:00 Lunch on your own.

17:30 Departure by coach for Messolonghi.

20:00 Dinner at Theoxenia Hotel.

WEDNESDAY 27 MAY 2015

Last breakfast at the Hotel.

End of the Conference.

Please Note the following:

A special notice, for the participants, before reading the usual instructions.

–There is Taxi transportation (local) from Messolonghi to Athens and from Athens to Messolonghi directly from the airport El Venizelos to Theoxenia Hotel and forwards.

Booking must be in advance to reserve seats (depending on your arrival).

The cost is around 60 euros. If you are interesting please contact now Mrs. Rosa Florou byronlib@gmail.com

The usual instructions are:

• On arriving at Athens airport, you will need about 45 to 65 minutes [depends on the traffic] to get to Kifissos bus station (tel. +30 210 51 29293), where you can catch a bus for Messolonghi. If you prefer a taxi from El. Venizelos Airport to Kifissos Station, the cost will be about 40 to 45 euros, but you must be careful of the taxi drivers, not to charge you more.
• The airport bus to Kifissos, X93, leaves every 35 minutes from just outside the airport exit door. The fare from the airport to Kifissos is about 3, 50 euros. You buy the ticket from the bus driver and then cancel it yourself in a machine there on the bus. For your information the website of the Urban Athens Transportation is: www.oasa.gr
• At Kifissos station you’ll buy your ticket at the front big hall at the desk which has a label “to Aitoloakarnania ” [ the name of the county]. Ask for the bus to Messolonghi. The bus from Kifissos station runs outside the GATE of Messolonghi. at 6 a.m, 07:45 a.m, 9 a.m, 10:30 a.m, 14:00 p.m, 14:30 p.m, 17:00 p.m, 19:00 p.m, 20:00 p.m, and 21:30 p.m. The ticket at the bus station ticket office, costs about 19 euros one-way. The 3:00-hour bus trip from Athens follows a scenic route along the south coast of the Gulf of Corinth and Patras, through a mountainous Peloponnesian landscape of olive and lemon trees, crossing back to the north coast by the new suspension bridge “Charilaos Trikoupis” that connects Rio and Antirio. On arriving in Messolonghi, you’ll have a 5-minute taxi ride to the Theoxenia Hotel. The Theoxenia Hotel provides complimentary wireless servise, so feel free to bring along your laptop or ipad.
• Participants during the conference should gather and board the coach at least 10 minutes before departure for any destination.
• Apart from the keynote event, dress throughout the conference is informal.
• In May the Greek weather is warm, so you can bring your swimsuit, your sunscreen a hat and comfortable chooses. A lagoonside beach is adjacent to the Theoxenia Hotel, and Tourlida beach on the Gulf of Patras is a five-minute taxi ride from the hotel. There is a local bus to Tourlida as well.
• Please note that the airfare to Greece and the travel expenses from Athens to Messolonghi and from Messolonghi to Athens need to be covered by the participants.
• During the conference, there will be abundant opportunities to learn about Greek life through first-hand experience. There will be a welcoming reception with traditional dancing, along with visits to historic and archaeological sites and museums of Messolonghi and its area associated with Byron in particular and more generally with the historical and cultural heritage of Greece.
• Detailed descriptions of the previous international student conferences can be found on the Messolonghi Byron Society’s web page www.messolonghibyronsociety.gr