In the picture: The Belem, a boat classified as a historic monument, is moored in the Vauban port in Antibes, France, 23 March 2024. The Belem will bring the Olympic flame from Greece to Marseille on May 8 2024. The Olympic Games will run from 26 July to 11 August 2024 in France. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER
The sacred flame for the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be lit on Tuesday in Olympia - the birthplace of the ancient games, will travel around the four corners of Greece before heading to France on April 27.
The stops will include some of the most popular tourist destinations in the country.
The first two days of the Olympic torch relay will be in the southern part of the Peloponnese peninsula, and in addition to Olympia itself, Venetian-era castles in Methoni and Koroni, the ancient citadel of Mycenae, Sparta and the picturesque town of Nafplio will be on display.
On April 18, the flame will head to the small island of Kastellorizo near Turkey, and then cross the island of Crete.
The next day, he will fly to the popular tourist island of Santorini - home to some of the most stunning sunsets in the world - and other islands in the Aegean, then on to Athens, where he will spend the night on the Acropolis.
On April 20, the torch will pass through the Olympic Stadium in Athens before heading to Delphi, the site of the most famous oracle in Greek antiquity.
The next day, the torch will begin a four-day tour of central and northern Greece, visiting the cities of Volos, Larissa, Thessaloniki and Ioannina, the towering rock pillars of Meteora and the key archaeological site of Vergina, before flying to the island of Corfu.
On April 25, the flame will travel south to the cities of Patras and Corinth before returning to the Athens area for its final day on Greek soil.
It will be handed over to Paris 2024 organizers at a ceremony on April 26 at the all-marble Panathenaic Stadium, home of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Legendary singer Nana Muscouri, 89, has been invited to sing at the ceremony.
On April 27, the flame will begin its journey to France aboard the 19th-century three-masted barquentine Belém, which was launched just weeks after the 1896 Athens Games.
A French landmark, the Belém operated commercial voyages to Brazil, Guyana and the West Indies for nearly two decades.
The last surviving French three-masted steel-hulled ship is expected to arrive in Marseille on May 8./BGNES
