Leading tour operator The Ultimate Travel Company has joined with COUNTRY LIFE to provide two bespoke escorted trips for readers, to Sicily and Sri Lanka. The cultural tour of Sicily (April 13–20, 2015) takes place when the island’s climate and vegetation are at their most glorious.
There are stays in Syracuse, Agrigento, Palermo and Taormina and private visits to Palazzo Gangi, where the majolica floor is said to have inspired Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopard, Princess Moncada’s Palazzo Biscari in Catania, chef and food writer Fabrizia Lanza’s wine estate, Case Vecchie, plus a garden tour of Il Biviere at Lentini with Principessa Maria Carla Borghese. The tour costs £3,195 (single supplement £550).
The Sri Lankan tour (March 5–19) also focuses on architecture— contemporary, most notably the creations of the influential Geoffrey Bawa, colonial and ancient. The trip takes in Colombo, Kandy, the medieval capital of Polonnaruwa, a lake where elephants bathe, the 1861 Hakgala gardens, a train journey through spectacular tea-plantation scenery and a stay at Bawa’s Heritance Kandalama Hotel, which overlooks the wondrous rock fortress of Sigiriya. This tour costs £4,475 per person (single supplement £960).
For the full itineraries, telephone Verity at The Ultimate Travel Company on 020–3733 1902 (www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk).
