Sample Tours:: |
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Paris, Nice, Florence & Rome
DAY 1: TORONTO – PARISDepart from Toronto on a wide-bodied jet for the overnight flight to Europe. Meals will be served at appropriate times and headsets will be supplied so you may enjoy the full-length movie and the many audio channels available. DAY 2: PARIS (D)Arrive in Paris, the city of perfume and charm, everlastingly beautiful and unchanged. No other city possesses night-time attractions as varied or as numerous. No other city lavished such energy and attention upon its music-halls and cabarets: such names as "Opéra Comique", "Folies Bergère" and "Casino de Paris" are famous around the world. The twenty arrondissements (districts) of Paris are in the form of a clockwise spiral around the Hôtel de Ville. There are very few places in Paris which are further than 400 metres from a Métro station. Sixteen lines serve 273 stations on a network of nearly 200 kilometres, open from 5 in the morning till 12:30 at night, a single ticket is valid for a journey anywhere on the inner Paris network. After clearing immigration and customs, board your coach and en route to your centrally located accommodation, you will be taken on an orientation tour of this unique city: Les Grands Boulevards, l'Opéra, Place de la Concorde, Les Champs Elysées, l'Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, etc. In the afternoon after settling into your room, you may like to survey your surroundings or walk to the Latin Quarter. DAY 3: PARIS (B/D)Morning: Guided tour of the Louvre (Travel by Metro and meet guide at the Louvre). This former Royal Palace, transformed by the Revolution into a museum, lays claim to the title of "Most beautiful museum in the world". You will enter through I.M.Pei's pyramids, highlights of the major modernization program; in the course of their construction the medieval foundations were unearthed and are displayed as an integral part of the museum's collection. Containing over 200,000 works of art in 225 galleries, it is impossible to view them all so you must be very selective. Some of the most famous exhibits are: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the soaring 3rd century BC statue Victory of Somathrace, the celebrated Vénus de Milo (2nd century BC) and the realistic Egyptian Seated Scribe. Afternoon free: You can stay in the Louvre after your morning guided tour, or you can cross the river by Pont Notre Dame to visit on your own the most enduring symbol of Paris and its historical and geographical heart; Notre Dame. Situated on Ile de la Cité, one of the two islands in the middle of the Seine where Paris's first inhabitants settled around 250 BC, Notre Dame has been a place of worship for more than 2,000 years; the present building is the fourth on this site. The 387-step climb up to the towers is worth the effort for a perfect view of the famous gargoyles and the heart of Paris. More than any other building, Notre Dame is the history of a nation. Here Henry VI of England was crowned King of France in 1530, here, Napoleon crowned himself and Josephine emperor and empress. The rose window above the main portal for instance forms a halo 31 feet in diameter around the head of the Virgin, and is so superbly coloured that seven centuries have not faded the hues. This evening use your supplied Bateaux Mouches tickets and see an illuminated Paris from the river. DAY 4: PARIS – NICE (B/D)Transfer to rail station for your train to Nice. Arrive in Nice, transfer to hotel. Remainder of the day at leisure. DAY 5: NICE (B/D)Morning: Half-day guided tour to Eze and Monte Carlo. Eze is a strange and isolated hill village, perched precariously on the mountainside. You will enter through a fortified 14th century gate into narrow, cobbled-stoned streets with vaulted passageways and stairs. Vehicles are not permitted and you soon see why, it is impossible for them to navigate the streets. Eze has many galleries and antique shops, the church is 18c., but the small Chapel of the White Penitents dates back to 1306 and contains a 13th-century gilded wooden Spanish Christ. Continue on to Monaco. Covering just 473 acres, it is so tiny that residents who want to play golf have to go to a different country. You will visit this morning the old town and see the changing of the guard at Prince Rainier's Palace. Modern Monte Carlo with its elegant stores and hotels and of course the world famous casino. If you want to visit the casino you will need your passport for identification. Return to Nice by the coast road. Afternoon: Own activities. DAY 6: NICE – FLORENCE (B/D)This morning you will transfer by tour coach to Florence. Upon arrival in Florence, you will go directly to your hotel. Remainder of the day free. Dinner at the hotel or near the hotel. DAY 7: FLORENCE (B)Morning: Half-day guided walking tour of the city of Dante, Boccaccio, Botticelli and Da Vinci, will show you all the major points of interest. The remainder of the day is at leisure so you may continue your sightseeing or shopping in this wonderful city. This place has more sights to visit within one square kilometre than any other city in Europe. And it is also a shopper's paradise: countless shops laden with jewelry of Florentine gold and silver, exquisite leather goods and chic fashion houses. You might like to visit the mighty church of Santa Croce, begun in 1294; it has Giotto's frescoes in the chapel and the monumental tombs of Michelangelo Galileo, Machiavelli and other Renaissance luminaries line the walls. Open 7 - 12:30 and 3 - 6:30. The monastery of Santa Croce has a leather-working school and showrooms, with entrances at Via San Guiseppe 5 and Piazza Santa Croce 16. Afternoon: At leisure. DAY 8: FLORENCE – ROME (B/D)This morning travel by train to Rome. Upon arrival, gather your luggage and walk to your hotel. For the art lover, Rome with its accumulated treasures, remains the richest city in the world despite centuries of plundering and decay. From ancient times Romans have piled the present on top of the past, the result is a city where antiquity is taken for granted, where a bus ride will take you past some of the Western civilization's greatest monuments. Built on seven hills, it is the monuments and ruins on two of these, the Capitoline and the Palatine that form the hub of ancient Rome. And there is Christian Rome with its centerpiece "The Vatican." Afternoon sightseeing tour of Imperial Rome, will point out all the major sights: the Forum, Colosseum, Circus Maximus, Pantheon, Capitoline Hill, Piazza Venezia, etc. Christian Rome: As the old order passed away a new force emerged, Christianity, which had spread through Roman Empire from Palestine and Syria. At first persecuted and later tolerated, under Constantine it became the state religion. For nineteen centuries the Pope as head of the Roman church has influenced the history of Christianity and given the Eternal City its particular character. Rome became one of the chief artistic centres of Italy, the Renaissance flourished and it became one of the beacons of the artistic world. DAY 9: ROME (B)Morning: Half-day guided tour of the Vatican, Sistine Chapel and St Peter's Basilica. The Vatican which has its own flag and national anthem, mints its own coinage, prints its own postage stamps, has its own polyglot daily newspaper and is an independent state ruled by the Pope, the only absolute sovereign in Europe. All these activities take place in an area just over 100 acres, a considerable part of which is taken up by St Peter's, the world's largest basilica in the world's smallest state. In the afternoon you may like to spend some time at the Spanish Steps and visit the Trevi Fountain. Walking through Rome is unlike walking through any other city in the world. It means strolling through time. Close to 3,000 years of history are inscribed on the banks of the River Tiber and around the famous seven hills. Both glorious success and shameful defeat have left visible traces throughout the city. You will quickly realize that there is no single Rome, but that this city is a synthesis of its history: Antique Rome, Christian Rome, Renaissance Rome, Baroque Rome, and Modern Rome. Discover all these facts for yourself, it is Romans who make Rome what it is. No other place like Rome will the visitor to Italy get a sense of the continuity of Italian civilization. DAY 10: ROME – TORONTO (B)Transfer to Rome airport for your flight home, arriving the same day. INCLUSIONS:
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