Make your way to your local airport, where you will board your overnight flight(s). Your meals will be served on board.

Upon arrival in Palermo airport, you will meet your tour escort who will accompany you throughout your tour and transfer to Palermo and your hotel. This afternoon, enjoy a free visit Palermo’s colorful and bustling Ballaró street market – all spiced with an evocative whiff of Africa. Mass celebration at a local church. Dinner and overnight at your hotel.

After breakfast depart to Monreale. We will celebrate the Mass and visit the Cathedral (Santa Maria Nuova) build in 1174. This cathedral was built at the order of William II. The interior walls of the Cathedral are completely decorated with mosaics of glittering gold that portray scenes from the Old and New Testament. We then continue to Palermo and have some free time for lunch. After lunch continue with your local guide and visit the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, erected in 1185. We will see the monumental tombs of King Roger II and various family members. We then enjoy an orientation tour of the city including the Teatro Massimo and Politeama Theater. Transfer back to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast travel to Agrigento. Upon arrival visit of the archaeological site of the Valley of the Temples. It is one of the most outstanding examples of ancient Greek art and architecture and is one of the main attractions of Sicily. Continue on to the town of Agrigento for free time for lunch. Join our local guide for little walking tour and celebrate mass at a local Church. Dinner and overnight at your hotel.

After breakfast depart to Catania. Upon arrival enjoy a guided city walking tour including the gorgeous cathedral of St. Agata of Catania a young Christian virgin from Catania who was martyred around the year 251 for refusing to renounce her faith and marry the Roman proconsul Quintianus. She is remembered for her courage and devotion and her relics are kept in a silver sarcophagus within the Cathedral of Sant’Agata. You will also explore the via Etnea and the via Crociferi, the very heart of baroque Catania with your guide. After checking in to the hotel we have the afternoon at leisure. Time permitting, enjoy a possible excursion to the beautiful Taormina and visit its remarkably situated ancient Greek theater, still used today for open-air performances, followed by some free time to enjoy the sights, sounds, and aromas of this beautiful cliffside old-world town. Dinner and overnight in Catania.

After breakfast, you will enjoy a day excursion to Syracuse. Upon arrival you will visit the Catacombs of St. John the Baptist which contain some 20,000 early Christian tombs and the ruins of the Church of St. John the Baptist where tradition tells us St. Paul preached (Acts 28:11-13). The building has an inscription in memory of the brief stay of St. Paul in Siracusa: “HIC OLIM SYRACUSIS TRIDUO MANENTIS.” (He stayed in Siracusa for three days.) You will then reach the scenic Ortigia, the small island that forms the historic heart of Syracuse. You will have some free time for lunch.After lunch you will continue with a local guide for a walking tour through Ortigia, discovering highlights such as the Temple of Apollo, Piazza Archimede with the Fountain of Diana, the picturesque Jewish Quarter, and the elegant Piazza Duomo with its Baroque palaces, as well as the Cathedral itself, which in the past was also used as a mosque during the Arab rule. The tour will end with the celebration of Mass in the Duomo, the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. Return to Catania for dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast transfer to Catania Airport for the flight to Malta. Upon arrival, check into the hotel. Mass celebration at a local church. Overnight in Malta.

After breakfast at your hotel, depart for a full-day guided excursion to the Three Cities of Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea, where in 1530 the Knights of St. John settled on the east coast in the creeks of Grand Harbor. Next, see the Miraculous Statue of Jesus Christ the Redeemer in the Oratory of the Basilica, dedicated to the birth of the Virgin Mary in Senglea. Later, take a typical harbor boat tour from Vittoriosa across the Grand Harbor to Valletta and see its waterfront. You will also see St. Johns Co-Cathedral and Museum in Valletta, and visit the oratory, which houses the famous Caravaggio paintings. Dinner and a restful overnight.

After breakfast at your hotel, another full day’s guided touring awaits. See St. Paul’s Bay by boat, the Church of the Assumption of our Lady, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Museum in Mdina, the medieval walled city, the Bastions, St. Paul’s Catacombs, and St. Paul’s Grotto. St. Paul’s Grotto is said to be the place where St. Paul took refuge and prayed for three months while trying to convert the Maltese to Christianity following his shipwreck around 60 AD. Pope John Paul prayed in the grotto during his visit in 1990. Return to Malta for dinner and your last overnight.

After an early breakfast and heartfelt farewells, transfer to the airport for your return flights home.

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.