13-day/12-night tour of TURKEY and SYRIA, May 15-27, 2009. Highlights: In Istanbul, TURKEY, cruise Bosphorus Strait and tour Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque/fairy chimneys and cave dwellings in Cappadocia/Göreme Open Air Museum/in Aleppo, SYRIA, medieval souk, fifth-century St. Simeon’s Basilica/Krak des Chevaliers Crusaders castle/Roman ruins in Palmyra/Umayyad Mosque, Old City, Azem Palace in Damascus. Land only, $3,750. Single supplement, $775.

Venture Out (San Francisco...

17 days/15 nights, Sept. 4 & 21, 2009. Highlights: In Rio, Jardim Botanico with 700 orchid species/in Santa Teresa, hummingbirds at Leitão Museum/the Muriqui Project, conserving the northern muriqui (primate)/marmosets, capuchin monkeys, sloths in Augusto Ruschi Biological Reserve/giant anteaters, pampas deer, maned wolves in Serra da Canastra National Park/Caraça Natural Park for titi monkeys, many bird species/colonial city of Ouro Preto/the Pantanal, home to 1,000+ animal species/boat...

8 days/7 nights, May-August 2010. Highlights: In Munich, GERMANY, Old Town, Marienplatz, Frauenkirche/attend Passionsspiele (Passion Play) in Oberammergau, performed in High German (English libretto supplied); 2,000 townspeople are the actors, musicians and technicians/in Innsbruck, AUSTRIA, Hapsburg-era architecture/in Bolzano, ITALY, dine in 13th-century Castle Katzenzungen/cable car through snowcapped Dolomite Mountains/Limone sul Garda on Lake Garda/in Venice, St. Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s...