We can email you a detailed version of this itinerary. Click here. Email your friend a detailed version of this itinerary. Click here. Click here to receive, by mail, R. Crusoe’s Travel Journal.

oin R. Crusoe & Son and our travel partner, High Country Passage, for a circumnavigation of Sicily. Our transport around the island? The lovely 90-passenger Le Levant, a yacht-like small cruise ship with amenities galore and a lovely sense of intimacy. Fifty crewmembers attend to our every want and need. And two expert study leaders shed light on all we see and do.

Gather in Palermo, Sicily’s capital city and the perfect place to get a handle on who’s come to the island before us: Greeks, Romans, Normans, Spaniards, and Arabs, to name a few. Get an eyeful of exquisite mosaics at the cathedral in nearby Monreale. We’re the guests of Count Federico for dinner at his private, 12th-century palazzo before leaving town. Definitely a night to remember.

Segesta’s magnificently preserved temple, built in 430 B.C., next. You’ll forever remember it as one of the world’s purest examples of Doric architecture. Sample the local fare and sip Sicily’s most famous wine, marsala, before we head to our next destination, medieval Erice, encircled by the remains of Phoenician and Norman fortifications.

UNESCO has listed Agrigento as a World Heritage site, and no wonder. Excellently preserved classical Greek structures here rival those in Greece itself.

Another private tasting, this one of olive oil, central to the Mediterranean kitchen. Learn the ins and outs of harvesting, grading, and pressing.

The fifth-century B.C. theater in Siracusa, once a powerful city, is still in use today. So is Ortygia, the ancient harbor. Soak in the history here and then the "scene" in Taormina, one of Italy’s jet-settiest resorts. Its popularity stretches all the way back to the Greco-Roman era. Picnic in the shadow of Europe’s largest volcano before we move on.

Cefalù, on Sicily’s north coast, was a favorite haunt of Norman kings, who built hundreds of churches in town during the 12th century. The glorious cathedral here is, well, fit for a king (or two).

Back in Palermo, bid farewell to Le Levant and catch your plane back home. Or, if there’s more of Italy you wish to see, let R. Crusoe & Son take you there on a customized extension.

Sicily. Gateway to Antiquity. 9 Days.

Departure: Thursday, 8 May 2008

Prices: Per person sharing cabin from $6,695