Tour: Sizzling Sicily STEM Destination: Sicily, Italy Itinerary: 5-days / 4-nights in destination; arrival day at leisure For travel during January through March, please know that Mount Etna may be enveloped in snow and limit potential activities Availability: Year-round Sizzling Sicily STEM - Sample Itinerary Morning Afternoon Evening 1 Fly to Catania, Sicily; Check into Hotel; Welcome & Safety Meeting Dinner Vulcano Island Faraglione di Levante & Aquarium Master 2 Breakfast Master Class Mud Baths Class Dinner Ciane River Cruise Museum of Papyrus Orange Plantation 3 Breakfast Master Class Master Class Master Class Dinner Mount Etna 4 Breakfast Master Class Musuem of Lava Excursion & Master Class Dinner 5 Breakfast Depart for Home As with all sample itineraries, please be aware that this is an “example” of a schedule and that the activities included may be variable dependent upon dates, weather, special requests and other factors. Itineraries will be confirmed prior to travel. Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] SicilySicily….…. Sicily is a land of extremes and contrasts, a magnification of all things Italian. It is also an island of enormous intensity, a concentrated distillation of history, architecture and gastronomic delights, where incandescent volcanoes light up the night skies, mountain ranges jostle for supremacy, and where the sea has sculpted a coastline of stunning variety and beauty. Expect to be enchanted... More of a sugar-spiked espresso than a milky cappuccino, Sicily will reward you with an intense bittersweet experience rather than anything lightweight and frothy. In Sicily it seems as though the sun shines brighter, the shadows are darker, and life is lived full-on and for the moment. Overloaded with art treasures and undersupplied with infrastructure, Sicily is an island to be visited with an open mind and a healthy appetite. One factor remains a constant… the uncompromisingly high quality of the cuisine. Sicily has long been a crossroads of Mediterranean culture and the island today is a fascinating palimpsest in which Greek temples, Norman churches and Baroque palazzos emerge from the rich fabric. But it also has natural wonders aplenty, from the smoking craters of Mount Etna to the still relatively undiscovered beaches of the southern coast. With parts of the island on the same latitude as the North African coast, Sicily’s mild climate makes it an attractive destination. Wherever you turn you will see evidence of Sicily’s 3,000 years of history as the strategic crossroads of Europe. Nowhere else have Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, Germans, Spanish, Italians, and even the British, left such an enormous collective legacy. The island is a vast open-air museum, a testament to nearly every Mediterranean civilisation of the past. The famous coastline of the island varies from sandy beaches and gulfs opening onto peaceful crystal clear bays, to steep cliffs, and crags. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean, and the largest region in Italy. After some 25 centuries of foreign domination, Sicilians are heir to an impressive cultural legacy, from the refined architecture of Magna Graecia to a beguiling, if contradictory, artistic fusion of Arab craftsmanship and Norman austerity. This complexity of culture is matched by a startling diversity of landscape that includes the smouldering Mt Etna, an aquamarine coastline with a tiara of Aeolian Islands and Parco Naturale Regionale Delle Madonie. Ready to go? www.italyguides.it/us/sicily_italy/sicily_italy.htm Day 1 Dinner Vision schools will generally arrive in Sicily in the early afternoon. Upon arrival we’ll transfer to our hotel, check in and get settled, and have our Welcome & Safety Meeting. Afterwards, we’ll have dinner and then the evening is ours for discovery! Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] Sample Hotel: The Hotel San Pietro - The Hotel San Pietro in Letojanni is a 3-star hotel located directly on the sea in the village of Taormina. All of their 94 rooms have a refrigerator, satellite televisions, telephone, air conditioning / heating and private bathroom. Most of the rooms have a balcony with sea view; some have a mountain-view. Hotel guests enjoy a private beach complete with sun beds, umbrellas and showers. Breakfasts and evening meals are taken at the hotel daily. http://www.sanpietro-hotel.it Sample Hotel: Hotel Baia degli Dei - This 3-star hotel is located by the sea in the beautiful Bay of Recanati - Giardini Naxos, just a few kilometres from Taormina, the pearl of the Ionian. The wonderful position of the hotel allows customers to escape views of Mount Etna (the highest volcano in Europe) and the Mediterranean Sea with its sunrises and clear horizons. The hotel also is also situated in a good location for reaching the historical centres of Syracuse, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina and Caltagirone areas; rich in history and the greatest exponents of Norman architecture. Standard rooms sleep 3 and are equipped with a balcony or terrace, bathroom with shower, telephone, hair dryer, safe, televisions, and air conditioning / heating. Breakfasts and evening meals are taken at the hotel daily. http://www.hotelbaiadeglidei.it Sample Hotel: Le Dune Sicily - Le Dune Sicily Hotel lies in an enchanting place between the golden sand of de La Plaia beach and a beautiful small Maritime pine forest. It perfectly fits into the landscape's colours with its Mediterranean style, set in a magnificent backdrop fully respecting the surrounding nature. The hotel has 57 rooms all furnished with extreme care and equipped with amenities such as air-conditioning, satellite televisions, mini-bar, hairdryer, telephone, fax and internet access. Le Dune Sicily Hotel was created to make its guest feel at ease in any situation since it combines comfort and tranquillity with efficiency. It has wide green areas, a breath-taking scenic terrace, a big swimming pool with sun lounge, bar, restaurant with typical Sicilian cuisine and international dishes and beach service. Breakfasts and evening meals are taken at the hotel daily. Please note that this hotel has outdoor corridors so may not be suitable for all school groups. http://www.ledunesicilyhotel.it Important Notes: 1) While we will happily accept your request for one of the specific hotels shown above, please know that hotels are only available based on open occupancy so we may not guarantee any specific property until your tour is fully booked. Once fully booked, you will receive your hotel confirmation within approximately 30-days. 2) Dinner meals include mineral water as a beverage. If groups would like any additional beverages, these are available at the hotels however must be paid for by the individual members at the time of service. Day 2 Breakfast & Dinner Good morning Sicily! After breakfast, we’ll kick-off our incredible week with a private coach transfer to Milazzo and then a hydrofoil to the Island of Vulcano! Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] Hydrofoil Ride to Vulcano – After arriving at Milazzo we’ll have the opportunity to travel by hydrofoil. A hydrofoil is a watercraft that is supported on ski-like pontoons while in motion, with the bulk of the hull remaining entirely above the water; allowing the boat to move faster by getting the hull out of the water. For more information on hydrofoils, visit http://lancet.mit.edu/decavitator/Basics.html . Upon arrival on the Island of Vulcano, we’ll meet with our Scientific Guide & Geologist! The Island of Vulcano Excursion & Master Class – Once we arrive and meet with our private guide we’ll start to explore the volcanic phenomena and mineralogy connections particular to the archipelago of the Aeolian Islands. During our special tour and walking Master Class we’ll walk to the summit of the volcano, up to the large crater, to observe the sulphurous vapours typical of the site. Kaleidoscope Adventures | 800-774-7337 www.kaleidoscopeadventures.com | [email protected] Vulcano is a small volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 25 km (16 mi) north of Sicily and the southernmost of the eight Aeolian Islands. It is 21 km2 (8 sq mi) in area, rises to 499 m (1,637 ft) above sea level, and contains several volcanic centres, including one of four active non-submarine volcanoes in Italy. The Roman name for the island Vulcano has contributed the word for ‘volcano’ in most modern languages. The Romans used the island mainly for raw materials - harvesting wood and mining alum and sulphur – and this remained the principal activity on the island until the end of the 19th Century. When the Bourbon rule collapsed in 1860, a British man named James Stevenson bought the northern part of the island, built a villa, reopened the local mines and planted vineyards for grapes that would later be used to make Malmsey wine. Stevenson lived on Vulcano until the last major eruption on the island, in 1888, when Stevenson sold his property to the locals, moved and never returned. Currently, around 470 people live on the island, mainly deriving their income from tourism. The volcanic activity in the region is largely the result of the northward-moving African Plate meeting the Eurasian Plate. There are three volcanic centres on the island: • At the southern end of the island are old stratovolcano cones, Monte Aria (501 m), Monte Saraceno (481 m) and Monte Luccia (188 m), which have partially collapsed into the Il Piano Caldera. • The most recently active centre is the Gran Crater at the top of the Fossa cone, the cone having grown in the Lentia Caldera in the middle of the island, and has had at least 9 major eruptions in the last 6000 years. • At the north of the island is Vulcanello, 123 metres high, connected to the rest of the island by an isthmus which is flooded in bad weather.