Summer Itinerary  : Departures Every Saturday  (Classic Sicily)
from 3 Apr -  30 Oct 2010  

1st day SATURDAYPALERMO
Independent arrival at Grande Albergo Sole in Palermo. Enjoy a welcome cocktail. Dinner and overnight in your hotel.
2nd day SUNDAY PALERMO - CEFALÙ - CAPO D’ORLANDO - TAORMINA - CATANIA
After a 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 called “the pearl of the Ionic Sea”, 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.
Accommodation, dinner and overnight at the Hotel Katane Palace.

3rd day MONDAY CATANIA - MONTE ETNA with lunch in a farmhouse - CATANIA
After a buffet breakfast, weather conditions permitting, excursion to Mount Etna, the highest active volcano in Europe. Across fascinating landscape, we will reach a height of 2000 metres, where we will 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 Amphitheatre, the Opera House (external visit), the University, and the noble Palace of Biscari (external visit). Dinner and overnight in your Hotel.

4th day TUESDAY CATANIA - SIRACUSA - NOTO - RAGUSA
After a buffet breakfast, depart to Syracuse to visit the most beautiful Greek colony of Sicily. Visit of the archaeological area including the famous Latomie of the Paradise, the Greek Theatre, the Roman Amphitheatre and the Dyonisios “Ear”. Visit the island of Ortigia, the small baroque old city centre of Siracusa, built by the Aragonians: here you can admire 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 today declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. 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 testimony of the Baroque architecture. Enjoy an aperitif in a nice bar in the main square by the Dome, “Basilica di San Giorgio”. Accommodation, dinner and overnight at Hotel Mediterraneo Palace.

5th day WEDNESDAY RAGUSA - MODICA - PIAZZA ARMERINA - AGRIGENTO
After a buffet breakfast, stop in Modica, one of the most picturesque cities in the province and of all Sicily, mainly to the appearance late Baroque, rich of important churches such as San Giorgio and San Pietro.
Stop in a chocolate shop to have a taste of the famous Modica’s chocolate still made the same way the ancient Aztecs made chocolate in Mexico. Depart to Piazza Armerina and visit the worldwide known Villa Romana
del Casale: it is the richest, largest and most complex collection of late Roman mosaics in the world Lunch in a local restaurant. Continue to Agrigento: visit of the Valley of the Temples including the Temple of Juno, Concord, Heracles, Zeus, Castor & Pollux that represent the most beautiful example of the Greek Civilization in Sicily. Dinner at Hotel Della Valle. After dinner enjoy an unforgettable panoramic tour of the Valley of the Temples illuminated. Overnight in Agrigento.

6th day THURSDAY AGRIGENTO - SELINUNTE with lunch in a farmhouse - SEGESTA - PALERMO
After a 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) where before lunch it will be possible to have a wine and oil tasting of local production. Proceed to Segesta to visit the Doric Temple which keeps in its stones the weight of a long history, surrounded by a unique landscape. Proceed to Palermo. Accommodation, dinner and overnight at Grande Albergo Sole.

7th day FRIDAY PALERMO - MONREALE - (ERICE OPTIONAL) - PALERMO
After a buffet breakfast. morning visit of the Capital of Sicily, one of the richest towns in the island for history and art: the Cathedral, the “Palatina” Chapel, and panoramic tour of the town (the “Quattro Canti”, the Opera House, the Pretoria Square). We will 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 your Hotel. Afternoon at leisure or optional excursion to Erice, a medieval town full of myth, history and art which sits on top of Mt. Erice, overlooking the city of Trapani and the Egadi Islands. Panoramic tour of the salt-woks of Trapani. Dinner and overnight in your Hotel.

8th day SATURDAY PALERMO
After a buffet breakfast, end of the Tour.

Summer tour - Price per person in Euro ($ rate varies depending the exchange):
E 845,00 in double room / Single supplement: E 190,00
3rd pax in triple room: E 810,00

Hotels used for the Summer tour: 
Grande Albergo Sole or similar  in Palermo / Katane Palace or similar in Catania/ Hotel Mediterrraneo Place or similar in Ragusa/ Hotel Della Valle or similar in Agrigento

Pre and post our accommodation in Palermo for summer tour:
Hotel Albergo Sole ****: 
26Jun-3Sep'10: Euro 77 per person based on double / Euro 109 per person based on single / Euro 69 per person based on triple
1Apr-25Jun/4Sep-31Oct'10: Euro 85 per person based on double / Euro 118 per person based on single / Euro 71 per person based on triple

Tour (Winter and Summer) Includes:

• 7 nights first class accommodation with daily breakfast at first class (4star) hotels with porterage at the hotels

• Welcome cocktail

• Full board (dinner on first day till breakfast on last day - in between 3 meals per day) 

• Transportation by modern air-conditioned motor-coach or minivan

• Professional English speaking guide throughout the tour

• Wine tasting on Mt Etna, Aperitif in Ragusa

• Wine tasting in Selinunte and Chocolate tasting in Modica (for summer tour only)

• Land taxes and service charges\

• Porterage at hotels
  

Rates do not include:

• Transfers, entrance fees (approximately E 55 per person), drinks, everything which is not clearly specified under rate includes

 
Transfers from Apt Palermo to Hotel or vice-versa:  (only valid in connection with the escorted tour and on Saturdays only)
Euro 30 per person (min 2 passengers), supplement for 1passenger: Euro 19
Supplement for transfer services performed from 10 pm to 8 am:: 20%

Private transfer Palermo airport to hotel or v.v.:
Euro 73 per car (max 3 passengers)