Africa Antiqua Expeditions.

Sorry Booked Up. Tour to be held again in September 2009. Book Now!

Fire and Marble. Volcanoes, smouldering vistas and ancient temples. The landscape of southern Italy is one of restless volcanoes and scattered with classical ruins of the Greek and Roman World. Here, entire cities have been uncovered and reconstructed by archaeologists and scholars of the ancient past -- cities such as Pompei and Herculaneam, both awakened from their beds of larva and ancient pyroclastic flows.

Ancient classical cities, ports, villages, individual households, superb mosaics, Palaeolithic burials and art will be explored on this trip. Exquisite Mediterranean landscapes, gorgeous grottos with lucid and crystal waters will be our playgrounds.

Rural villages, an ancient way of life, castles, vestiges of the Byzantine and Arab world will be ours to explore and ponder.

And amid this multi-cultural and multi-layered kaleidoscope of Western Civilisation rears the menacing form of Vesuvius, barely slumbering in her fitful dreams.

This is the fantasy landscape that will be ours to uncover as we travel about the magical paths and trails of ancient southern Italy.

Fire and Marble, this tour will begin in Naples where we will explore the city and offer visitors a chance to engage in some superb shopping. Here we will also visit the Muzeo Nazionale Archaeologico, and the Castel Nuovo.

From here our journey into the classical world will take us to the ancient Roman ruins at Pozzuoli, including the temple to Serapis. From here we travel to Baia and Baccoli, and to the splendid standing Greek Temple at Cumae.

On this exploration of one of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, we will devote an entire day to ponder at the splendours of ancient Pompei, risen like the Phoenix from the ashes of Vesuvius’ most devastating eruption, and see for ourselves the lifelike casts left behind by the many bodies of people and animals who were annihilated during the eruption. Similarly, we will explore Herculaneum, covered during the very same cataclysm.

As we move further along the Bay of Naples we will travel along the Sorrento and Amalfi coasts, celebrated as being among the most magnificent in the world, visiting antique ruins, and standing wonders of the ancient world. We will wander about quaint villages, seemingly as old as time, be awed by the beauty of these coastlines as we walk to hidden coves and beaches.

Visitors will even discover their sea legs as we sail across the azure waters to the isle of Capri, home to the Emperor Tiberius, who built fabulous villas across the isle. We will visit the most famous of these, the Villa Jovis. For those with an appetite for adventure, we will venture into the lurid allure of the Blue Grotto.

Straying briefly from the Classical focus of this holiday, we will finally learn something about prehistoric man in southern Italy when we visit a Paleolithic Rock Art Site, and its bizarre, curious associated burial of a dwarf.

Our point of departure from Italy will once again be Naples as we return to this city of classical trade and remember a time when it was a cosmopolitan jumble, a meeting place of ancient mariners and merchants.

Accompanying the tour will be professionals whose sole objective will be to make your holiday a lifetime memory. on tour will be a specialist calssicist and professional multilingual guide. Finally, we will travel in a luxury bus driven by a professional driver, familiar with the terrain we will be covering as we lose ourselves in an almost forgotten world of myth and romance.

For further information on this tour please contact arialsprite@netactive.co.za