Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

Nina Schoff swims off the island of Poros.

Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

The author with his family.

Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

The Erechtheion on the north side of the Acropolis in Athens.

Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

The author’s wife, Joanne Sadler, and daughter, Leila, at the theater of Epidaurus.

Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

The ruins at Mystras, a Byzantine city on the Peloponnese that lies on the slope of a hill with its fortress at the top.

Stephanie Smee for The Boston Globe

The view out of a hotel window in the Byzantine village of Monemvasia.