9th Annual European and World History Trip:
Italy & Greece, June 14-22, 2012

Pictures of our last trip to Italy and Greece: Italy (2005) | Greece (2008) | Italy (2009)

Rome, Vatican, Sorrento, Pompeii, Patras, Olympia, Tolo, Athens

Exciting, Educational, Fun and Safe

Visit Italy & Greece with experienced History teachers from CLP.
Experience the excitement of a custom planned trip created by teachers who have taken groups to both countries before and a trip tailored for CLP students. Not just another package tour!
See the places you’ve heard about, read about and will study throughout your World History class in 9th grade.
Feel confident traveling with CLP teachers who have years of experience traveling with hundreds of CLP students throughout the United States and Europe.
Arrangements made with an international student tour company that we have years of experience working with.
This is our third trip to Italy and our second trip to Greece.
Printable Itinerary with Costs

Signup in Three Easy Steps

1) Complete and return the CLP Application Essay to Mr. Jewett for approval.
(if this is your second time going on the trip you don't need to do this)
Link to CLP Application & Essay

2) Complete the CLP Agreement Form.
(Payment of $200 turned into Mr. Jewett. Check made out to CLP Middle School)
Link to the CLP agreement form

3) Complete the Explorica Inc. Agreement and registration.
Link to Explorica Web Site
(On the Explorica web site click on the button on the right hand side that says "Sign Me Up")

Tour Cost

Basic Tour Fee	2,719.00
Explorica Membership*	95.00
Airport fees, taxes, and airline fuel surcharges (Subject to Change)	586.00
Weekend Supplement	35.00
Discount for Signup before 10/28/11	-150.00
Total Paid to Explorica	3,285.00
Tips to tour director, bus driver, local guides and PSD insurance and fees. (Paid to CLP Middle School)	100.00
Final Total Cost	3,385.00
*If you have gone on the trip before you will not need to pay this again.

Note: Unfortunately as the dollar continue to weaken against the euro we will see price increases every year for trips. We are doing everything we can to keep the trip as affordable as possible. See current conversion rates for the euro to dollar.

Itinerary

Day 1 > June 14 > Start Tour

Depart Denver International Airport

Day 2 > June 15 > Ciao Rome (Italy)

Meet your Tour Director and check into hotel

Rome City Walk

Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona

Details: Rome City Walk

Baroque-en hearted? Revive your spirits with a walk past Rome's most beautiful and unusual Baroque fountains. At the foot of the Spanish Steps, elegant cafes once favored by visiting Brits and Americans surround the central fountain. The water pressure here was so low that the artist had to sink the fountain into the ground to get any water going through it, so he went ahead and designed the fountain to look like a sinking ship. There's no shortage of water pressure at the nearby Trevi Fountain, a Baroque extravagance designed by master sculptor Bernini. At the Pantheon you'll see the largest concrete dome ever constructed. An oculus, or hole, in the dome lets sunlight into the beautiful temple, dedicated to all the gods.

Day 3 > June 16 > Day 3 Rome Landmarks (Italy)

Rome Guided Walking Sightseeing Tour with Whisper headsets

Vatican Museums & Sistine Chapel visit, St. Peter’s Basilica visit, Colosseum visit, Piazza Venezia, Forum Romanum visit

Authentic Trattoria Dinner

Details: Rome Guided Walking Sightseeing Tour with Whisper headsets

Gods and gladiators, glory and gore. Ancient Rome lives on in its spectacular monuments, flavoring the frenetic present with tastes of the past. Don a space-age Whisper headset to get the inside scoop on the most spectacular, the Colosseum, a grisly battle arena that seated more than 45,000. An enormous retractable roof awning system kept spectators cool on sunny days. The nearby Forum provides a glimpse into everyday ancient life, with markets, meeting places, and temples all combined into one vast space. Move into Christian Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica, the triumphal Renaissance church flanked by rows of columns radiating outward like welcoming arms. Within the church Michelangelo’s masterpieces are on display, the “Pietà” in the main church and the recently restored ceiling frescoes and “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel. Continue your trek through time at Piazza Venezia, site of the enormous monument to Victor Emmanuel II, Italy’s first king, and of the Palazzo Venezia, where Mussolini set up his headquarters and from whose porch his mother was said to eavesdrop on citizens below. (The Sistine Chapel is closed on most religious holidays and Sundays, except for the last Sunday in each month)

Day 4 > June 17 > Rome--Sorrento (Italy)

Travel to Sorrento

Cameo workshop

Pompeii Guided Sightseeing

Details: Pompeii Guided Sightseeing

Stop to see the city where time stood still, literally. Once an important Roman city with 20,000 residents, Pompeii was frozen in time nearly 2000 years ago, when Mount Vesuvius erupted and buried the city under 30 feet of mud and volcanic ash. Forgotten for centuries after the eruption, Pompeii was discovered in the 1600s and is now completely excavated. On your tour you will learn how Romans of all classes lived their lives--not only from large public structures, but from details like political graffiti, bars, and street signs.

Day 5 >June 18> Sorrento--Bari/Brindisi (Italy)

Travel to the port

Overnight ferry to Patras (Greece)

Day 6 > June 19> Patras--Tolo (Greece)

Travel to Tolo via Olympia

Olympia site guided visit

Details: Travel to Tolo via Olympia

Once one of the most important sites in Greece, the former locale of the Olympic games now has some of the most picturesque ruins in the country. Surrounded by shady olive trees and flowing rivers, the stones of the original temple and stadium still inspire awe – and the occasional victory lap.

Details: Olympia site guided visit

Day 7 > June 20 > Tolo--Athens (Greece)

Travel to Athens
Mycenae & Epidaurus excursion
Corinth Canal
Details: Mycenae & Epidaurus excursion
See the sacred precinct of Epidaurus, a former health clinic and spa with a 4th-century BC amphitheater. Continue to Mycenae. Framed by twin mountains and looking out over the plains, Mycenae was a palace, a workshop, and a grave. Gold cups, jewelry, bronze armor, swords, and daggers, as described by Homer, were discovered here. Walk up to the remains of the citadel. Look out over the rolling hills. Imagine the bonfires blazing in all directions, signaling that Troy had fallen to Agamemnon.

Day 8 > June 21 > Athens Landmarks (Greece)

Athens Guided Sightseeing Tour

Parthenon, Acropolis visit, Temple of Athena Nike, Omonia Square, Syntagma Square, Olympic site

Athens City Walk

Plaka district, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Hadrian’s Arch

Greek dinner in Plaka

Details: Athens Guided Sightseeing Tour

Not just another crowded dusty city, Athens has developed from the birthplace of democracy to a bustling modern metropolis. With a local licensed guide, start your time travel at the ancient hot spots of the first Olympic site and the sprawling Acropolis, classical Athens’ religious and civic center. The awe-inspiring Parthenon -- a temple dedicated to Athens’ patron saint Athena -- is the obvious centerpiece, but take time to examine the building next door, where sculpted women hold up the roof with their heads, and the amazing view of modern Athens below. Jump back to the present in Syntagma Square, the center of the modern city, to see the Parliament building and the British-style changing of the guards ceremony. (There’s a rather un-British flair to it, however -- the Greek guards wear white skirts, head scarves, and shoes and knee bands adorned with pom-poms.) Continue to Omonia Square, Athens' other main meeting point, to relax by the splashing central fountain ringed with palm trees.

Details: Athens City Walk

You’re never more than a few steps away from the past in Athens. Accompany your Tour Director to the Plaka, the historic district that borders the Acropolis. In its twisting narrow streets you’ll catch glimpses of an older city, from wrought-iron balconies bursting with geraniums to traditional Greek dancing in basement tavernas. Continue on to the Temple of Olympian Zeus, begun in the 6th century B.C. and finished in A.D. 132 by the emperor Hadrian. Its enormous columns provide a sense of the scale of the original temple. Nearby, the elaborate Hadrian’s Arch separated the ancient and imperial sections of the city.

Day 9 > June 22 > End Tour

Explorica Inc.

We work with an excellent tour company called Explorica Inc.. All of your financial transactions will be between Explorica and you. Please make sure you pay close attention to payment due dates when signing up. In order to reduce costs all communication between you and Explorica will be through email. Your will not receive a printed bill or invoice.

Payment Options & Deadlines

Please be aware that your pricing does expire; the valid dates will be listed on your TourCenter.

Participants have three payment options with Explorica:

Pay in full at the time of enrollment
Monthly Automated Plan: Pay the $95 Lifetime Membership Fee upon enrollment and divide the balance into equal monthly payments automatically debited from a checking account or charged to a credit card until 65 days before departure
3-Step Manual Plan: Pay the $95 Lifetime Membership Fee immediately, $450 one month later, and the remainder any time before 99 days before departure

Eligibility

7th, 8th or 9th Grade Student
Attend Cache La Poudre Middle School or were a former student in good standing.
Attend a partner middle school and are in good standing.
Good Academic Standing (2.0 GPA or higher)
No discipline issues or referrals
Complete application essay (if this is your second time going on the CLP trip you don't need to do this.)

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