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| Day 1 |
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Depart US
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Depart the U.S. on your flight to Palermo. |
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| Day 2 |
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Arrive Palermo
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Arrive at Palermo Airport, where your guide will meet you and accompany you by private coach to your centrally-located hotel. The Hotel Des Palmes, considered the most legendary hotel in Sicily, has housed some of the island’s most illustrious visitors. Richard Wagner finished writing Parsifal here. Have some time to unpack, relax and stroll in the vicinity, and enjoy dinner at the hotel this evening. D Hotel Des Palmes (4-star) |
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| Day 3 |
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Guided tour of Palermo
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After breakfast enjoy a half-day orientation tour of Palermo, passing through the Spanish Baroque Quattro Canti (Four Corners). See the landmarks no visitor should miss, including the Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremiti, with its Arab-Norman architecture and five red Moorish domes, and the Palazzo dei Normanni's Cappella Palatina, wondrously lined with Byzantine mosaics of gold and brilliant color, with Arabic floor tiles and a carved wooden ceiling. Visit the Archeological Museum, which houses Carthaginian and Roman treasures.
In the afternoon you may choose to join an optional half-day tour of Monreale, south of Palermo, to see the magnificent golden Byzantine mosaics and the glorious cloisters of the Cathedral, which is considered the finest piece of Norman architecture in Sicily.
Enjoy a delightful evening performance by traditional 3-foot-tall Sicilian puppets enacting a passionate Norman folk tale; then have dinner at a local restaurant. B/D Hotel Des Palmes (4-star) |
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| Day 4 |
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Island boat trip
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Today enjoy a full-day excursion to the Western coast of Sicily. Trace Sicilian history back to the early Carthaginian and Phoenician settlers from North Africa with a boat trip to an island near Marsala where a city from the 8th century B.C. is being unearthed. Tour its museum, where discoveries from the excavation are on exhibit. See the saltpans of Trapani, where salt has long been produced by evaporating seawater with the aid of windmills standing in the shallows. In the afternoon, delight in panoramic views of the sea, the dramatic rocky outcroppings and the beautiful coastline of Northwestern Sicily, which you will see from the picturesque Medieval hill town of Erice. Enjoy some free time to explore Erice’s narrow, cobblestone lanes, and have dinner there before returning to Palermo. B/D Hotel Des Palmes (4-star)
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| Day 5 |
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Doric Temple * Hilltop Theater * SELINUTE
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Today travel southeast to Agrigento, stopping along the way for a guided visit to Segesta and its two superb Greek monuments, a Doric temple from 430 B.C. and a hilltop theater with incredible views. Continue south to Selinute, once the Greek rival of Segesta, for a guided tour of its acropolis (city on a hill), whose ruins of temples, houses, shops and city walls give evidence of the substantial city that once stood there. Have lunch at a restaurant on the way to Agrigento. When you arrive, check into your hotel and have time to rest or stroll before dinner. B/D Jolly Hotel Agrigento (4-star)
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| Day 6 |
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Valley of the Temples
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Today you will visit an unforgettable site for which Agrigento* is famous: the spectacular Valley of the Temples. Along a rocky ridge overlooking the sea stand five magnificent Doric temples, built in the 5th century B.C. Positioned so as to be visible from the sea below, they were meant to impress enemies with the power of this Greek city-state. Enjoy a guided tour of the temples, as well as the excellent new Archaeological Museum. After lunch at a restaurant in Agrigento, the rest of the day is on your own. You may choose to join an optional olive oil tasting this afternoon at a mill where you will see how oil is processed from the fruit of the ancient olive trees that cover the hillsides. B/L Jolly Hotel Agrigento (4-star)
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| Day 7 |
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Villa del Casale * PIAZZA ARMERINA
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Travel inland to discover a true treasure, the Roman Villa del Casale, which was built in the 3rd century A.D. as a Roman vacation home and is known as Piazza Armerina. Its forty rooms of vividly colored mosaics are considered the most magnificent and the best preserved of Roman mosaics. After your visit there, and time for lunch on your own, travel east to the sea, passing orange and lemon groves, date palms, and lush farmland. Then climb the mountain road to Taormina, the town that is surely Sicily’s most picturesque. This Medieval village is perched on a cliff overlooking the sea to the east and spectacular Mt. Etna to the west. Check into your hotel by the sea, where you will have dinner this evening. B/D Hotel Villa Diodoro (4-star)
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| Day 8 |
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Guided tour of Taormina
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Take a guided walking tour of the delightful village of Taormina with a local expert who will show you not only the major sights but also the places off the beaten path. Your half-day tour includes a visit to the magnificent Greek Theater, the second largest in Sicily. Built in the 3rd century B.C., it offers unsurpassed views of the splendid coastline and Mt. Etna. After lunch at a local restaurant, enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening at leisure in this beautiful town. B/L Hotel Villa Diodoro (4-star)
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| Day 9 |
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Siracusa * Ortygia * Farewell Dinner
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Take a full-day excursion to Siracusa,* former capital of Sicily and once a powerful Greek rival to Athens. Your walking tour of this town filled with Greek ruins will take in the largest Greek Theater in Sicily, which seated 16,000 spectators, as well as a Roman amphitheater and the Archaeological Museum. You will see the famed Fountain of Arethusa and the Temple of Apollo, which was built in the 6th century B.C. Following your tour there will be time to explore Ortygia, the Old City. Within this beautiful historic district is the Piazza del Duomo, one of the finest Baroque squares in Italy. It is lined with palazzi, and the amazing Duomo is made up of columns from a 7th-century B.C. Greek temple, Baroque façade, altars and chapels, Arab towers and a Gothic-Catalan ceiling. After you return to Taormina, gather for a delectable Farewell Dinner. B/D Hotel Villa Diodoro (4-star)
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| Day 10 |
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Return to US
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An early morning departure from Taormina to the Catania Airport to board your flights to the Rome or Milan Airport where you will transfer to your return flights to the U.S. B |
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