Vision
Thank you for visiting our tours web site.
Our vision is built around five principles:
- Ease and enjoyment of travel
- Safety
- Education about cultures
- Professionalism in all aspects of travel, from tour leaders to guides to itineraries
- Itineraries which set us apart from other cultural tours
Ease and enjoyment of travel
FalangasTours, LLC was created to address the needs of curious and interested travelers who have a passion for experiencing unique journeys in the company of exceptionally well educated professionals, men and women who share a profound passion for exploring the unknown corners of culture.
We focus on accommodations which offer lovely, neat, and tidy family owned hotels and villas. Our clients may have the opportunity to stay in a real palazzo in the historical city of Venice. They may also spend a night in a farm house in one of Dracula’s domains in Transylvania. But do not worry about vampires. We do care about our clients and want all of them to stay safe and secure.
Safety
Safety is a high priority. We strive to ensure a highest level of safety for our clients by being constantly informed of local realities; by carefully choosing destinations, accommodations and means of transportation, and by providing advice on all safety issues relevant to each particular trip.
Education about cultures
We only include authentic places of high historic and aesthetic value in our tours. Many of them are ignored even by the most reputed cultural tour operators. We love discovering hidden gems for our travelers. Keep in mind that you find holders of history and architecture degrees among us. Let’s enjoy together the most stunning landscapes, monuments, and artwork.
We are passionate about sharing our expertise. We have already been active as teachers in colleges and high schools, as authors of scholarly papers and travel memoirs, as organizers of conferences and cultural events. We consider it an obligation to dedicate as much of our time as possible so our clients enjoy a most enhancing experience.
Professionalism in all aspects of travel, from tour leaders to guides to itineraries
In our view, traveling goes beyond leisure. It is a lifetime endeavor crucial for understanding countries, cultures, peoples, and ourselves. Relying on our experience with travel, guided by a deep love for beauty and history, and in accordance to a strict professionalism, we cordially invite you to join our cultural tours of the most breathtaking places in the world!
We always share unique destinations, those rich in history.
We know our lecturers and guides well. They are selected for the depth and breadth of experience and education and for being both good communicators and listeners. We appreciate their deep knowledge, respectfulness, and conviviality.
Itineraries which set us apart from other cultural tours
Each of our itineraries is the result of a thorough reflection and hard work. Through a network of local partners, we continually update our information in order to offer our clients the maximum of pleasure, knowledge, and comfort. Even the tiniest detail is important for us. Site visits, flights, boat trips, couch and train rides, all are meticulously planned.
We can easily design your own private tour according to your personal taste and interests.
For all the above and other reasons, we believe that FalangasTours, LLC is a tour company like no other.
ANDRONIKOS FALANGAS, Founder and Owner of FalangasTours, LLC
History, teaching, and travelling are my passions. I was born and grew up in Athens, Greece. My first address was across the street from the Acropolis and monuments from the ancient Greek past go back to my earliest memories. I started my undergraduate studies in humanities in Transylvania, Romania. They were pursued in Bucharest and in Thessaloniki, Greece. I earned my doctorate in history from Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, France.
I have been a researcher specializing in the history of southeastern Europe, and an educator at university level. My books and academic papers contribute to the better understanding of the social and cultural reality in southeastern Europe. I have held various faculty positions at many higher institutions in Europe, Israel, and the United States, mentored numerous students, provided academic advising, served on graduate level committees, and consistently participated in department meetings. Teaching and researching in six different countries and cultures has afforded me an excellent opportunity to enhance my global vision and to use effectively the French, Modern Greek, and Romanian languages in my teaching, research, and scholarly writings. I possess a comprehensive knowledge of the literary, artistic, philosophical, and theological traditions that have influenced the European, Mediterranean, and global history from Antiquity to the twentieth century. This level of knowledge has enabled me to teach comfortably a wide variety of subject areas, at any level.
I vividly remember my first guided tour in Romania in 1994. At that time, I was teaching at a university in northeastern Romania. As I was needing to supplement my tiny salary, I welcomed the opportunity of planning and leading a cultural tour in this country. More than a wonderful trip, it was a life changing experience, as it revealed in me a hidden vocation. Soon after, it was followed by other tours I organized in Europe, no one of them being like an ordinary cultural tour. Despite their success, I eventually opted for my other passion, academic teaching and research. My new endeavors allowed me only to sparsely pursue my activities in the field of cultural tourism. However, they opened me new travelling possibilities and helped me discover, teach and and live in a number of amazing places in four continents. The last one was Asheville and I am grateful to UNC Asheville for offering me this opportunity. I had dreamed one day Asheville would be my home, and my wish came true five years later!
The idea of re-engaging myself in cultural tourism arose in me long before I came to Asheville. It sparked some time after I left Europe for the U.S. in 2006, when I was still living in Chicago and teaching at one of its major art institutions. Impressed by the stunning architecture, cultural heritage, and amazing diversity of the “Windy City,” and being a passionate educator, I felt the need to reconnect with travelers and share with them this new and all my previous experiences in so many places in the world. I also realized the variety of life options offered by my new homeland and learned more about U.S. entrepreneurship. I became fascinated with the idea of building a company that will turn my ideas into reality and fulfill my dreams, a company that will allow me to excel by doing what I really love. Since I moved to Asheville, I have been constantly encouraged to pursue my plans by almost everyone I knew, friends, university colleagues, students. Along with them, I have been supported by a number of persons I respect and appreciate and who are active in Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Romania, and France. Some of them became my partners.
However no one had such a catalyzing influence as Mark Gordon Smith, founder of Private Italy Tours, Ltd. I had known Mark before, as an outstanding tour operator and the organizer of the finest trips to Italy. As a professional historian, I was able to appreciate his thorough knowledge of the Italian Renaissance, as it is fully manifested in his blog. I was also deeply impressed by his posting on my native Greece. A remarkable concurrence of circumstances brought us closer. Soon after our first meeting, we decided to unite our potentials and set up a collaboration aiming to provide the most exquisite cultural trips. I am honored to be Mark’s partner.
Do join us soon on our cultural tours where you may explore in a friendly and enjoyable way the real culture of the most beautiful destinations in Europe!