With great pleasure I gave the lecture The Voyage of the Order of the Knights of St. John in the Mediterranean to an audience that was deeply interested in the History of the Crusades and the Mediterranean Sea.  All this transpired in the elegant atmosphere of the Argo Gallery in Athens.

We wandered from Jerusalem to Syria, from Cyprus to Rhodes and the coasts of Asia Minor to Malta and Rome, embarking on an adventurous journey that followed the history of the Order of the Knights of St. John and the places where they settled.

After the lecture we were delighted to taste the amber-coloured sweet wine known as Commandaria, which the Knights loved to drink so much. The wine was produced in the vineyards around their castle in Limassol, Cyprus in the 13th century, and was exported to Europe’s royal courts. Large quantities of which were also produced to supply pilgrims en route to the Holy Land.

Panoramic view of Valletta, Malta