Key Features
• Visit the best preserved Graeco-Roman sights in the Mediterranean
• Discover the mountainous interior of the island including Mount Etna
• Comprehensive cultural highlights of the island all included
Included
8nts hotel - staying at standard hotels throughout; 7 breakfasts included.
Transport
Bus/On foot.
Group Size
Approx. 15 to 20.
Tour Staff
Explore Tour Leader plus local guides.
Around Syracusa
Our itinerary starts, appropriately, in a town that once rivalled Corinth as the most important and beautiful in the Greek world - Syracusa. Equally outstanding in classical beauty is Noto, the jewel in the crown of Baroque Sicily; while the village of Piazza Armerina takes us back to a more ancient - and even more influential - civilisation: the Roman Empire.
Agrigento & Palermo
Agrigento's Valley of the Temples is a testament to one of the most prosperous centres of old. Journeying west we arrive at the site of the Greek city of Selinunte and it's wonderful temples. We visit the old Phoenician island-town of Mozia before coming to beautiful mountain settlement of Erice, where alleyways thread between dramatic stone buildings. Travelling on we visit Segesta to see its unfinished Doric temple before finally arriving in Sicily's capital, Palermo, with its melting pot of historical influences - from Byzantine and Norman to Spanish Baroque.
Taormina & Etna
Palermo is an ideal base from which to visit Monreale and we do so before heading along the spectacular coastline and up into the mountains on our way to Sicily's celebrated resort, Taormina. Here, we visit the Greek theatre and enjoy possibly the most famous view in Sicily - the snow-capped Mount Etna acting as a backdrop (often an active one, at that!) to the columned stage. For those feeling energetic, there is the opportunity to walk on the mountain slopes.
Comment
A comprehensive tour of the main classical sights of Sicily with some time in the mountainous interior to see something of traditional mountain village life which can still be seen in this region.