When I was at Troy we had a professor of Classics, Dr. Agnew who may have been the smartest person I ever personally knew. He had done just what you want to do and took slides everywhere he went.
I belonged to the Geography Club and we had him one night to tell us about the Aegean, Asia Minor and Crete. He seemed to have spent most of his time on Crete which led to my interest in it.
He had also visited the old Mycenean ruins rather than Athens and the more well known sites. The only thing which bothered me is he would often answer a question with “I don’t know” when I suspected he did know or at least had an idea.
Troy the city in the US, or, y’know, *the* Troy?