Smith Travel Trip Photos / Edith Wharton's Mediterranean
Edith Wharton's Mediterranean: Smith Group
Edith Wharton's Mediterranean: Barbara and Stephanie
Edith Wharton's Mediterranean: 1953 Smithies
Edith Wharton's Mediterranean: Athens Harbor
Edith Wharton's Mediterranean: Smith Group

In the winter of 1888, the young Edith Wharton announced, "I would give anything in the world to make a cruise of the Mediterranean." To her great surprise, her cousin-in-law, James Van Alen, replied, "You needn't do that if you'd let me charter a yacht and come with me." That is all the world knew of the writer's Grand Tour until a scholar found Wharton's diary of the journey, published in 2003 as The Cruise of the Vanadis. In 2007, Smith alumnae joined Smith College President Carol Christ on a re-creation of Wharton’s voyage. Aboard the elegant, 114-guest Corinthian II, they followed Wharton’s itinerary through Sicily and the Aegean, visiting the Palatine Chapel, the famed Norman Cathedral, and the Monastery of the Revelation, among others.