Meredith Travel Opportunities for 2018-19

The Meredith Travel Program has trips planned to Sicily, The Netherlands/Belgium, and Scotland. Learn more about these opportunities to travel with Meredith College friends.

Sicily September 26-October 7, 2018

Dazzling Byzantine mosaics shimmering inside a Norman castle, pistachios and dates crafted into confections served after pasta, a street market bazaar adjacent to sculptures of Spanish kings, Greek temples on a rocky hillside overlooking a verdant valley grove of fruit trees—such surprising juxtapositions are the rule in Sicily, which saw a succession of cultures take root through the millennia. And unlike many places where scant traces of the past remain, every chapter of Sicilian history is available for consideration, often simultaneously, visible in its architecture, food, people and customs.

Please join Meredith Travel as we explore the many histories of Sicily while venturing from Palermo, the capital and largest city, along the coast and into the heart of the island. UNESCO World Heritage sites abound, seven in all, a rather astounding concentration and we will be visiting six! The diversity in these sites ranges from 12,000 ft. Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe to a Roman villa not re-discovered until the 20^th century and deemed “the supreme example of a  Roman luxury villa,” by UNESCO.

Sicily is Italy, the Italy you love, but with intriguing, exotic influences and always spectacular views of the Mediterranean as we traverse its largest island in our private coach. This tour will be limited to 25 travelers, and as our spring 2018 tour filled so quickly, we would encourage you to contact Denise Parker at (919) 760-8051 or dpparker@meredith.edu if you would like more information about this tour or to reserve your space.

And into 2019– Netherlands/Belgium, Spring; Scotland, Fall

Plans are well underway for Meredith Travel in 2019. By popular request, the spring tour will take place a little earlier than usual, but for a very good reason — tulips don’t bloom in Holland in June! Our late-April tour to the Netherlands and selected sites in Belgium will include arrival in Amsterdam with its wealth of museums and pedestrian-friendly streets, visits to smaller towns and coastal fishing villages, the Hague and, of course, windmills, cheese, and Rembrandt. When we dip south into Belgium, picturesque Bruges will be our base for daytrips.

For those who traveled with us to England and Scotland in 2014 and felt like that provided only a taste of Scotland, then the Fall 2019 tour is made for you, and like our other 2019 tour, the result of your requests for more. By now you know we love contrasts. Our travels will include both islands (Mull and Ione as well as Skye) and Highlands (Culloden and Ben Nevis and Loch Ness). In addition – think contrasts – we will spend time in edgy, arty Glasgow and Staid and in stately Edinburgh. If our previous tour provided an appetizer, then this tour will be a full banquet of Scottish history, geography, culture, literature, and food.

Look for more information about these tours in upcoming newsletters, or contact Denise Parker to be placed on the mailing list to receive tour specifics as soon as they are advertised.

Your Meredith Travel Team,
Rebecca Bailey, Betty Webb and Denise Parker