ITINERARY
Departure Dates:
FEB 18
MAR 03, 10, 24
MAR 31 - OCT 27 EVERY SATURDAY
DAY 1 - PALERMO
Arrival on your own to the hotel in Palermo. Enjoy a welcome cocktail. Dinner and overnight in your hotel.
DAY 2 - PALERMO/CEFALU/CAPO D’ORLANDO/TAORMINA/CATANIA
Buffet breakfast, depart to Cefalù, a charming coastal town, a former fishing village, which is also home to a breathtaking Norman Cathedral with dazzling mosaics. Take a stroll to the city center and down main street to reach the Cathedral and the medieval wash-house built in the rock. Proceed to Capo d’Orlando along the Tyrrhenian coast and stop for lunch. Continue to Taormina, founded in 400 BC and beautifully located overlooking the sea and the peak of Mount Etna. Enjoy time at leisure to shop for handmade lace, coral jewels, ceramics, home-made sweets and preserves down “Corso Umberto” or simply walk through the tiny streets. Possibility to visit the fascinating Roman Greek theatre. Proceed to Catania. Dinner and overnight at your hotel.
DAY 3 - CATANIA/MONTE ETNA WITH LUNCH IN A FARMHOUSE /CATANIA
Buffet breakfast, weather conditions permitting, excursion to Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe. Across fascinating landscape, reach a height of 2000 meters, and enjoy a fantastic panorama of the Ionic Sea. Lunch in a farmhouse on the slopes of Etna and wine tasting of local production. Back to Catania, the town known for its original baroque style and for its streets built with black lava stone from mount Etna. Walking tour through Via Etnea, the Baroque street “Via Crociferi”, the Piazza Duomo with the Cathedral and the “Liotru” statue, symbol of the city, the Roman amphitheater, the Opera House (external visit), the University, and the noble Palace of Biscari (external visit). Dinner and overnight in your hotel.
DAY 4 - CATANIA/SIRACUSA/NOTO/MODICA/RAGUSA
Buffet breakfast, depart to Syracuse to visit the most beautiful Greek colony of Sicily. Visit the archaeological area including the famous Latomie of the Paradise, the Greek Theatre, the Roman amphitheater and Dyonisios “Ear”. Visit the island of Ortigia, the small baroque city centre of Siracusa, built by the Aragonians: see the Cathedral and the “Fontana Aretusa”. Lunch in a local restaurant. In the afternoon, depart to Noto, one of the most beautiful cities in Sicily renowned for the harmony and unity of its Baroque style and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Proceed to Modica (Modica included in summer schedule only), one of the most picturesque cities of all Sicily, rich in important churches, and panoramic tour. Proceed to Ragusa, a city that is divided into two parts: the upper part built after the earthquake in 1693 and the lower part that is called Ragusa Ibla, one of the most important for Baroque architecture. Enjoy a tasting of typical Sicilian products in a nice bar in the main square by the Dome, “Basilica di San Giorgio”. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 5 - RAGUSA/CALTAGIRONE /P. ARMERINA/AGRIGENTO
Buffet breakfast. Depart to Caltagirone (no Caltagirone visit in winter schedule, only Piazza Armerina and Agrigento), famous for ceramics and pottery production: visit a ceramics studio and chance to shop. Depart to Piazza Armerina and visit Villa Romana del Casale: it has the richest, largest and most complex collection of late Roman mosaics in the world. Lunch in a local restaurant. Continue to Agrigento. Visit the Valley of the Temples, with the most beautiful example of Greek civilization in Sicily. Dinner at hotel. After dinner an unforgettable panoramic tour of the illuminated Valley of the Temples (only in winter schedule). Overnight.
DAY 6 - AGRIGENTO/SELINUNTE/SEGESTA/PALERMO
Buffet breakfast, depart to the Archaeological park of Selinunte, the largest in the Mediterranean area with the impressive Temples and Acropolis. After the visit stop in a local farmhouse (famous for olive oil production) for olive oil and wine tasting before lunch. Proceed to Segesta to visit the Doric Temple surrounded by a unique landscape. On to Palermo. Dinner and overnight.
DAY 7 - PALERMO/MONREALE/PALERMO
Buffet breakfast. Morning visit of Palermo, one of the richest towns in Sicily for history and art: the Cathedral, the “Palatina” Chapel, and panoramic tour of the town (“Quattro Canti”, Opera House, Pretoria Square). Continue to Monreale to admire the Cathedral with its splendid 12th century mosaics and the cloister of the Benedictines monastery with Moorish architecture. Lunch in hotel. Afternoon free. Dinner, overnight. Optional summer excursion to Erice: A medieval town full of myth, history and art on top of Mt. Erice, over looking the city of Trapani and the Egadi Islands. Panoramic tour of the salt-works of Trapani. Optional winter excursion to Mt. Pellegrino: The most famous mountain in Palermo, arrive to the shrine of Santa Rosalia, patron saint of the city, enjoy a panoramic view over Conca D’Oro. Visit the catacombs of Cappuccini with a maze of corridors holding 8,000 mummified bodies. Walking visit of the “Capo Market”, a colorful and historical fruit and vegetable market in Palermo. Dinner and overnight in your hotel.
DAY 8 - PALERMO
Buffet breakfast, end of tour. Note: Itinerary may be reversed or modified without notice. For New Year’s departure itinerary may be different.
Package Includes: • Welcome cocktail • Full board basis (dinner on first day till breakfast on last day) • Bus, or minivan with driver/guide for groups with less than 15 pax • Tour escort • Local guides where necessary • Porterage at hotels • Tasting of typical Sicilian products in Ragusa (wine, chocolate, biscuits...) •Wine & olive oil tasting as per schedule
Not Included: • Transfers in/out • Entrance fees at monuments (€65 pp) • Beverages • Everything which is not clearly specified under ”rate includes”
RATES PER PERSON IN CANADIAN DOLLARS 2012 |
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Transfer Palermo airport to hotel or vice versa one way per person $40 (min. 2 pax). Night service 22:00-8:00am add 20$ on rate.
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