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 23 May 2016. 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 come late or leave early will experience in full the evolving conversation on “Byron and the Summer of 1816.”

MONDAY 23 May 2016

17:00 – 18:30 Registration at the administrative office of the Messolonghi Byron Society and its Byron Research Center in the Byron House.

18: 30 Visits to the Center of Literature & Arts “Diexodos” Historic Museum, and 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 (Komitos Roma str).

TUESDAY 24 May 2016

10:00 – 10:30 Following Byron’s footsteps in Messolonghi. Wreath-laying ceremony at the monument newly renovated by the Messolonghi Byron society, 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.

10:30 – 11:30 Visit at the House-Museum of the prominent statesman, diplomat, and historiographer of the Greek Revolution of 1821, Spyridon Trikoupis, who delivered Lord Byron’s oration. In this house, his son Charilaos Trikoupis, spent his boyhood years. He became one of the greatest statesmen of modern Greece, a dominant figure during the second half of the 19th C., and seven times prime minister of Greece.

11:30 – 12:30 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 center 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.

Lunch on your own.

16:00 The Academic Programme starts in the Conference Room of Theoxenia. Welcome by the President of the Messolonghi Byron Society Mrs. Rodanthi-Rosa Florou, the Director of International Relations Professor Peter Graham and the Deputy Director of Studies Dr. Maria Schoina.

16:30 – 18:00 First Session of 3 lectures (of 20 minutes) with a discussion at the end.

18:00 – 18:30 Coffee break.

18:30 – 20:00 Second Session of 3 lectures.

20:30 Dinner at the fish restaurant “Avgo tou Kokora (Rooster’s egg)”.

WEDNESDAY 25 May 2016

10:00 – 12:00 Third Session of 4 lectures in the Conference room of Theoxenia.

12:00 – 12:30 Coffee break.

12:30 – 14:00 Fourth Session of 3 lectures.

14:30 Lunch at Theoxenia Hotel.

16:30 – 18:00 Fifth Session of 3 lectures.

18:00 – 18:30 Coffee Break

18:30 – 19:30 THE KEYNOTE LECTURE; Introduced by the Director of International Relations Professor Peter Graham. The keynote speaker, Professor Paul Douglass, San Jose State University, USA, will deliver a lecture related to the conference topic: “Betrayed and Abandoned: Lady Caroline Lamb’s Glenarvon and Byron’s Departure From England in 1816”.

Dinner on your own.

THURSDAY 26 May 2016

09:30 – 13:00 Workshop in the Byron Center, by David McClay, Senior Curator, John Murray Archive, National Library of Scotland. Title: “Casting light on Darkness, or, Curating Archival Exhibits on the Summer of 1816: a Practical Workshop”.

13:00 Lunch at Theoxenia Hotel.

17:00 Visit to Aetoliko, tour of the picturesque island town visited twice by Byron in February 1824; to the Church of Archangels inside which there is a well which Byron saw, and in the garden outside is the grave of Ali Pasha’s wife Kyra Vassiliki; to the Folklore museum; then to the Vasso Katraki museum, which is situated at the eastern side of Aetoliko and is the only art museum exclusively devoted to engravings in Greece and Europe. It houses over 500 works of Vasso Katraki, a distinguished woman painter and engraver.

19:30 – 20:30 Sixth Session in the Vasso Katraki museum: one lecture with a welcome address by the Deputy Mayor of Aetoliko Mr. Panagiotis Staramos, and a concert of the “Plucked String Orchestra.” Conductor: Spyros Cholevas.

20:30 Return to Messolonghi

Dinner on your own

FRIDAY 27 MAY 2016

10:30 – 12:30 Following Byron’s footsteps: To the Chapel of Panayia Finikias, the island Chapel to the Virgin of the Palms, where Byron used to ride at sunset from Messolonghi and where he got ill under the heavy rain on 10 April 1824; to the archaeological site of ancient Plevron, named after the mythical hero Plevron. Plevron actually consists of two Homeric hillside towns with a beautiful view over the Ionian Sea.

Free time: discover Messolonghi on your own, swim in the lagoon, shop at the local stores.

20:30 At Theoxenia Hotel, a farewell Dinner including Greek ethnic dances by the “Free Besieged Society” and dancing music by DJ Sakis.

SATURDAY 28 MAY 2016

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