All Avanti tours for 2010 will feature four and five star hotels or villas complete with buffet breakfast, all land and sea transportation for connecting cities, experienced guides, many regional lunches and dinners, and so much more! The tours are designed for small groups (16 max) so you will receive personal attention. The tours are forming now and are limited in size so do not delay - call or email now for a more detailed itinerary and price.

April 6 to 24 - Southern Italy and Sicily

The tour begins in the Eternal City, Rome. Three days allow us ample opportunity for a guided tour (no lines) of the Vatican Museum and St Peter’s basilica; the beautiful fountains and famous piazzas; the Forum and Colosseum; and the Pantheon. Cuisine a la Romana and the best gelato will be a focus.

We continue by private coach to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast. Four days allow us time to ferry to the Isle of Capri and Positano. We will sail the Amalfi coast and towns on a private yacht.

On April 14th we make our way to Naples for one night. There we have a private guide to help us explore the Old City and find the very best Napolitana Pizza!!! Early in the evening of the 15th we take a ferry for an overnight cruise to Palermo, Sicily.

When we arrive in Sicily, we will spend the remaining days of the tour sightseeing, dining, tasting, and relaxing. Our itinerary will take us to Norman Monreale and Cefalu, the Valley of The Temples in Agrigento, Marsala with its famous wine, Villa Casale and its famous Roman mosaics, Taormina, Giardini Naxos, and Catania. From Catania we fly to Rome and connect to the USA.

April is a perfect time for southern Italy – the climate is perfect, Sicily is in bloom, and there are no crowds. If this tour is too long for you, you could do the first or second half.

July 17 to 31 The Taste of Italy

This has been Avanti’s signature tour for eleven years. I will take a small group and we will taste the beauty and culture of Rome. Three days in Rome allow us the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of emperors in the Forum and Colosseum. We will avoid the long lines into the Vatican Museum with a special guided tour that covers the museum, Sistine Chapel, and St Peter’s basilica. On another day we will take a leisurely stroll past the Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain, The Pantheon, The Spanish Steps. Along the way we will see many of the famous sculptures of Bernini which were part of the plot of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. We will end our walk at Rome’s most famous gelato shop, Giolitti’s!

The tour leaves Rome by private coach and makes its way past Naples to Pompeii. After a guided tour of this ghostly city we drive along the spectacular Amalfi Coast to Sorrento. Sorrento is blissful after the bustle of Rome. On the next day we ferry or drive to Capri for the day. We leave the Amalfi Coast behind and head for the Adriatic Coast and Vasto. Two days at this a seaside resort with full board will allow us to sample the local cuisine and recharge our batteries for the second half of our trip.

Our private coach takes us to Orvieto. Here we sample the delicacies at a gourmet luncheon, tour a fantastic Gothic Cathedral, and do a little shopping before continuing on to Chianciano Terme. When we depart Chianciano the next morning we drive to one of the tiniest but most picturesque villages in all of Italy, Pienza. Then we push on to Montalcino and a fantastic Tuscan gourmet lunch at the world famous Banfi winery. After lunch we walk off a few calories on a tour of the winery before heading to San Gimignano.

Day trips will take us from our Tuscan villa at the foot of San Gimignano to Florence, Siena, and the hill towns like Volterra. Florence is the flower of Italy – there is so much to see you will swear to return. On our return to San Gimignano we will stop at Villa Francesca in Chianti for dinner that will feature Tuscan specialties and the wines of my friend, Giovanni.

Our final two days take us to Venice. We will stay right in the heart of this magical city so when the tourists move out in the evening the city will be ours! The Piazza San Marco, the canals, gondoliers, shops, and restaurants are so much more enticing in the evening. On our last day we water taxi to the airport for our connection to the USA.

July 31 to August 15 The Italian and Swiss Alps

We begin our mountain experience by flying into Milan. At Malpensa airport we board our private bus for a tour that will take us over and through the highest Alpine peaks and along the rivers and lakes. Our first stop is in the Piemonte region, The Langhe, which is famous for Barolo and Barbaresco wine, hazelnut confections, marvelous cheeses, and chocolate.

After we have tasted the Langhe to the max we move on to Torino. I brag about having “strudeled” my way across Vienna - well my wife, Mary, “chocolated” her way around Torino, several times! Torino houses one of the great film museums of the world. The building is called The Mole and it was originally meant to be a synagogue. If film is not your thing it is still worthwhile to take the elevator to the top of the tower. The view of Torino and the Alps is breathtaking! There is also a great museum dedicated to the great mountain expeditions of the Alps and K2. But oh the chocolate!!!

After a stop in Courmayeur at the Italian foot of Mt Blanc we make our way to Interlaken, Switzerland. We have time to relax and enjoy the charm of this lakeside city and prepare for our ascent on cog rail to the Top of the World, Jungfrau (bring your earmuffs). On the 9th we travel by train to the Swiss village of Murren for two nights. Cars are verboten so we will feel like we are back in an earlier century, except for the modern conveniences of our hotel. There are many hiking trails, lifts to the Alpine peaks, and demonstrations of local specialties – like cheese. NO CARS!!!

We now turn to Lake Maggiore, which is Swiss at one end and Italian at the other! Two nights in Locarno will provide a transition from Swiss culture to Italian. For our last two days we drive to Lake Como in search of George Clooney, just kidding! Bellagio is on a point of Lake Como and is surrounded by the Alps. Fresh water fish is a featured menu item. One of my favorite restaurants prepares trout in parchment – en papillote – I can taste it now.. Two nights in serene Bellagio will soothe our spirits for the return to Milan and our connecting flights. September 27 to October 12 - Portugal and Spain

When I did a trial run of this tour, I tried to shorten it but could not cut out one thing! This tour will be different from any other Avanti tour. We will use planes, trains, and automobiles (taxis) to move from place to place. Another big difference will be how I paced it to allow the greatest amount of flexibility. If you do not like the program for that day and want to go your own way – just do it.

We would fly into Lisbon, Portugal. Nonstop from Philadelphia – US Air. We taxi(shuttle) to a four star hotel center city. First option: a walking tour of a fortress, cathedral, harbor view, shops, etc and then lunch at a local restaurant. Next day visit the harbor of Lisbon and tour the fantastic monastery that holds the tombs of the great explorers like Da Gama and Magellan. The waterfront is ablaze with monuments to the great explorers. Stop for an unbelievable pastry at my favorite shop before visiting the Carriage Museum. The museum features the beautiful carriages of the greatest historical figures of Portugal. They traveled as they lived – in opulence! On our final day in Portugal we train (30min) to Sintra and visit the pinnacle palace built for the monarchs of the 18th Century. In the evening we go to dinner at a Fado restaurant. Fado is the soul music of Lisbon – you will love it and the food!

On Oct 1st we taxi to the airport and pick up a flight to Madrid, Spain. In Madrid we stay in a five star hotel that is REALLY center city. The program takes in a paella restaurant and a visit to The Prado and Thyssen Museums(fantastic impressionist collection). On the 6th we take a short train ride to Toledo. We visit the fantastic Cathedral and have time to shop for Toledo steel. For lunch we taxi to the Parador – a state run restaurant/hotel with the most fantastic view of Toledo. We taxi to the train for our return to Madrid.

On October 4th we taxi to the train station and get the AVE train to Cordoba. A six and a half hour drive in a car is erased in an hour and forty five minute high speed train. Our first class seats offer breakfast and service I have not had on planes! We spend two nights in Cordoba seeing the Moorish Mesquita and sampling some of the best tapas in Spain. On the second day we taxi to the AVE train for a short ride to Seville then return to Cordoba. In Seville the two main attractions are the Alcazar and the Cathedral. The Alcazar is a Moorish castle/palace with delightful gardens and fountains, exquisitely tiled rooms and corridors, and patios (one was used by Ridley Scott for the film The Kingdom of Heaven. The Alcazar is rich in Christopher Columbus history – he met there with Ferdinand and Isabella after his first voyage. There is a huge painting, The Virgin of the Navigators, in the Casa de Contracion that is one of the earliest paintings depicting Columbus and the discovery of the Americas.

On October 7th we take a short train ride to Granada. In Granada we visit the famous Alhambra with a private guide and do the tapas circuit. If you thought the Alcazar was special, wait until you see the Alhambra! It is the most important Islamic architectural structure in Spain. It was here that Columbus received the support of Ferdinand and Isabella to lead his expedition to the new world. Washington Irving lived here while he wrote The Tales of the Alhambra.

On October 9th we taxi to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. Barcelona’s waterfront is very reminiscent of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor or NYC’s South Street Seaport but it has history! Three days in this marvelous city allows us time to see the famous Gaudi cathedral, Sagrada Familia. We will to see much of the other Gaudi architecture, shop, sample tapas, visit museums, or just relax before heading back to the USA. If you wanted to shorten this tour, you could join us in Madrid for a reduced rate.

Jack Andrulewicz Tour Director
17300 Bruehl Rd
Upperco, MD 21155
Phone 410 374 6268
Email jackandmary1@comcast.net
Website www.avantitoursinc.com