Follow in at least some of the footsteps of St. Paul with the Biblical Archaeology Society as it leads a cruise of the eastern Mediterranean. The May 8-18 tour will explore cities and sites visited by the peripatetic apostle and which played a pivotal role during the nascent years of Christianity.
The tour, which will be led by James Fleming, director of the Biblical Resources Study Center, begins with a day of acclimation in Athens before a day trip to see Corinth, where St. Paul addressed some of his best-known letters. After a day exploring Athens, tour members will embark in Piraeus for a cruise to Crete, Cyprus and Iskenderun in Turkey for a day trip to Antioch and Tarsus, St. Paul’s hometown.
You’ll then cruise west along the Turkish coast for visits to half a dozen cities noted for their Greco-Roman ruins and/or their association with St. Paul before docking at Ephesus, one of the leading cities of the ancient Mediterranean world, and then the Greek island of Patmos, where St. John reputedly spent his final days writing the Book of Revelation. From Patmos, it’s back to Athens for your flight home–or you can opt for six post-cruise excursions May 18-24: Greece, Italy, Turkey, Israel, Israel-Jordan and Israel-Egypt.
The cost of the tour ranges from $3,190 to $4,280 per person double occupancy (single supplements range from $860 to $1,180) depending upon your choice of cruise accommodations and includes round-trip air fare from New York, seven nights aboard the MTS Arcadia, all meals, all lectures, all excursions and all tips. The extension prices range from $1,240 to $2,290 per person double (single supplements $150 to $240). Call 800-221-4644.
Fat Tuesday
It’s never too early to plan for New Orleans’ Mardi Gras–in fact, it may already be too late. Maupintour is offering a Mardi Gras package Feb. 20-25 that will put you in the thick of the French Quarter. Partywise, you’ll have reserved bleacher seating for the Rex and Zulu parades on Mardi Gras, Feb. 24, as well as the Endymion and Bacchus parades earlier in the week, plus admission to the Tableau Masked Ball. The tour also includes two plantation visits. The Maupintour Mardi Gras tour costs $1,375 per person double (single supplement $490) and includes five nights’ accommodations, five breakfasts, one lunch and two dinners, and a get-acquainted party. Air fare is not included. Call 800-255-4266.
Florida swampland
The Massachusetts Audubon Society is hosting a tour, The Everglades and Beyond, an expedition through the wildlands of southern Florida. The March 28-April 4 tour begins in Miami and takes you through the Everglades and into Shark Valley, the Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Useppa Island, “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Captiva Island, Useppa and Gasparilla Islands, and Myakka River State Park. In these areas you’ll find everything from alligators and armadillos to a multitude of rare birds inhabiting endless expanses of sawgrass and cypress marshlands. You’ll fly home from Sarasota. The Everglades tour costs $2,390 per person double occupancy (single supplement $590) and includes all meals except two dinners, welcome and farewell parties, and all park entry fees. The tour, which is limited to 26 members, will be led by an expert naturalist. Air fare is extra. Call 800-289-9504.
Park pedaling
As you put your bicycle in storage for the winter, there’s plenty to look forward to in 1998 with Pedal the Parks Bicycle Tours, which offers bike trips through national and state parks. Among the nine offerings are tours of New York’s Adirondack State Park, Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, Zion National Park in Utah and Canada’s Banff National Park in Alberta. Tours average 50 to 70 miles per day through some of the most stunning and, at times, tough terrain for two wheels you’ll find in North America.
Pedal the Parks offers discount tour prices for booking early. For example, the tour fee for the 1998 Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is $525 if you book by Jan. 1. If you book before March 1, you’ll pay $560; after, you’ll pay $595. Tour fees include all camping fees, breakfasts and dinners, snacks, van support, maps and guides. Indoor accommodations are available. Tents, sleeping bags and bicycles are not included in the fee, but there are rentals available from Pedal the Parks.
For a highly informative color brochure outlining itineraries, maps, mileage and prices, check out the Pedal the Parks site on the World Wide Web (www.pedaltheparks.com) or call 800-983-3263.
Sultry Savannah
You can find out all about Savannah’s gardens of good and evil–it just won’t be at midnight–during the 63rd annual Savannah Tour of Homes and Gardens, which runs March 26-29. You’ll enter a different group of six to eight private homes and gardens on each self-guided walking tour. Each tour presents sites that vary in age, style and size from the 18th Century to the 1990s.
Advance reservations are recommended highly inasmuch as tours often sell out. Tours range from $15 to $60. For a brochure that briefly describes each tour, its time and price, call 912-234-8054.
