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"...
a world-wide travel and experience company"
Tour Schedule
Austria means Mozart and Haydn and classical
Vienna to some and Tyrolean folk culture to others. It is both of
these and more! All seasons can be wonderful in Austria and we have
chosen early Fall for you along with the Christmas Markets. After
arriving in Vienna we will spend our time roaming the countryside,
boating the Danube, listening to music both classical and gypsy.
Three regions beckon with different gastronomy, wines, history and
cultural presentations. Does the "Tuscany of Austria"
intrigue you? Farmer and village markets in Fall will entice you
to return for the early December Christmas Markets in Vienna, Salzburg
and Innsbruck. They are available under our Special Tours.
August
3 to 13, 2007
Price from $3,179 per person, double occupancy
Package includes:
- 9 nights/ 11 days
- 4 star hotels in Krems (3 nights), Vienna (3 nights), and Graz
(3 nights)
- breakfast daily, 2 lunches, 4 dinners including welcome and
farewell dinner
- Multilingual tour escort and city guides
- All transfers, sightseeing and excursions with private air-conditionend
bus
- 5 wine tasting’s
- Scenic beauty abounds, markets, arts and antiquities
- Cheese & Wine seminar (including lunch)
- Boat-trip on the Danube River
- Visits and admission to Schönbrunn Palace, Esterhazy Palace,
Haydn church, Pilgrimage
- All taxes and Service Charges
- Comprehensive Information Kit
- Limited to 22 passengers
ITINERARY
Day 1 - Friday -
Depart U.S.A. to Vienna
Day 2: Vienna –
Wachau Valley
Arrival at Vienna Airport. After you meet your tour manager, you
will transfer to Krems where you will check in your hotel. Welcome
Dinner at the Restaurant Loibnerhof, owner of the winery Knoll.
Your tour manager – who is a wine specialist, will spend time
going over your tour itinerary.
Day 3: Wine Region Wachau
Today you will go to Langenlois, the most important wine-village
in the wine region Kamptal. You will visit the Loisiums, an unique
Wine-adventure world, planned by an American star-architect Steven
Holl. After a guided tour through the wine cellar, you will be able
to taste many of the wines. The tour will continue to Mautern where
you will the well known Artist Fritz Gall, who has had great success
with his "Wine Pictures" and "Wine Skulptures".
Day 4: Wine Region
Wachau
Today you will cruise the Danube from Krems to Spitz – the
most beautiful area along the Danube river. You´ll see one
of the most beautiful parts in the "Wachau". The magnificent
Danube River,  Europe’s
second longest, is at the heart of some of Europe’s most celebrated
cities. Cruising the Danube allows you to view the beautiful scenery
along the Danube’s mighty banks. Gothic cathedrals rise from
amid lush vineyards and medieval villages stand looking much the
same as they did hundreds of years ago.
We will continue by bus to Melk, where you will visit the impressive
Baroque Abbey – once the headquarters for Napoleon.
Europe’s Great Cultural
Ensemble
Melk has been a spiritual and cultural center of the country for
more than 1000 years, first as a castle for the Babenbergs, then
from 1089 as a Benedictine monastery, founded by Margrave Leopold
II.
 Since
the 12th century a school has been connected with the monastery,
and valuable manuscripts have been collected and created in the
library. In the course of the monastery’s history, members
of the Melk monastic community have achieved significant success
in the fields of natural science and the arts.
Later in the afternoon we visit
a vineyard in the one of the main villages in the Region -- the
WINE YARD KNOLL". This vineyard has won many gold medal’s
over the past 10 years. We will have a gourmet dinner with wine
for each course.
Day 5: Vienna
This morning we leave for Vienna – the brilliant capitol of
Austria. After checking into your hotel, we will have a day city
tour with an English speaking licensed city guide, including a visit
to the wonderful Schönbrunn Palace. Dinner on your own.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of
Schönbrunn Palace with its gardens and
park will take you into a magnificent world of Baroque culture.
Inside the palace you'll learn all sorts of interesting facts about
the imperial family, while you can continue to enjoy further aspects
of Baroque culture with a relaxing stroll around the gardens.
Day 6: Vienna
A free day for shopping and relaxing. Our tour guide will be more
than happy to help make dinner reservations, to get you tickets
to the opera or a concert, or to make suggestions for sightseeing.
You will be given comprehensive information on Vienna before your
departure to Austria including a list of museums with their open
times … and much more.
Day 7: Wine Region Horitschon
- Graz
 This
morning we will drive from Vienna via Eisenstadt to Graz. You´ll
visit the Esterhazy Palace and the world wide famous "Haydn
Church" (the composer is buried there).
 On
the way to Graz, we will drive through the endless vineyards in
the Horitschon. At the Weninger winery, we will taste typical red
wines like Blaufränkisch, St. Laurent, Bauburgunder as well
as Merlot and Cuvees. Lunch will be at a typical restaurant in the
region. In Graz, dinner will be on your own.
Franz Weninger would become a shining star among the Austrian red
wine producers, and his wines have earned him an excellent reputation
at a time when Austria still had the image of being a purely white
wine country. Franz was named "Winemaker of the year"
in 1995.
Day 8: Wine Region
South Styria – Graz
In the morning there will be a city tour in Graz, the capital of
the province of Styria with an English speaking licensed guide.
Lunch is on your own.
In the afternoon we will travel
to Styria – also called "the Austrian Tuscany".
In the beautiful small village Gamlitz we will visit the vinyard
Gross and taste
the most important wines of this area like Muskateller, Traminer,
Sauvignon
Blanc and Chardonnay. We will visit in a typical "wine-restaurant"
with specialties from the region.
Day 9: Graz –
Vienna
The morning will be free to enjoy Graz – the capital city
of the province of Styria (Steiermark). Graz is Austria's second
largest city, with 250.000 inhabitants. As one of the best preserved
historic cities in Europe, the Old Town was designated a World Cultural
Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999. Graz is Cultural Capital of Europe
2003. There will be plenty of time to enjoy lunch on your own. In
the afternoon we will return to Vienna where you will have ample
time in the afternoon and evening to explore Vienna.
Day 10: Vienna
– Wine Region
This morning you will have a very special and interesting activity
– a wine and cheese course with Josef Bliem in a beautiful
old farmhouse in Halbturn.
The afternoon will be free to sightsee
and shop in Vienna. Tonight you will enjoy a farewell dinner in
the stylish Restaurant in Castle Halbturn.
The Baroque Halbturn Castle lies
at the eastern shore of the Neusiedlersee lake.
Halbturn castle is the most important
secular building of Baroque building art. In 1711 Lukas von Hildebrandt
built the castle which served as a hunting and summer residence
for the Habsburg family. The ceiling fresco, painted by Franz Anton
Maulpertsch, shows the "Allegorie der Zeit und des Lichtes",
a commissioned work orderd by Queen Maria Theresia in 1765.
Day 11: Departure
Day
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