Countdown to the Bella Italia tour with Rosa Matto.

With only approximately six weeks to go before departure, all is in place for our inaugural Bella Italia tour with host and guide Rosa Matto. As part of our preparation, Rosa produced a very useful and detailed 128 page booklet for our clients including lots of photos and information on all of the sites we are visiting. Written and researched  by Rosa, her enthusiastic voice drips off the pages and I am sure our clients will find this a very practical document to assist our journey across southern Italy.

We are also preparing the 2018 tour proposal which will be published on this site very soon. A longer tour than this year's,  we aim to fly into Venice for four fabulous nights, then onto Florence for a similar  period. From Florence it's down to Tuscany for 8- 10 incredible nights in a magnificent Tuscan villa close to the village of Cetona. The tour will conclude in Rome for several nights prior to flying home. Expressions of interest forms for this classic Bella Italia tour will be available next month.  Only 10 places will be available so bookings will be on a first come / first serve basis. Watch this space!
Ciao from Julie Reece Tours!

A new direction...

The very first overseas school tour I organised was over 17 years ago: Remembrance 2001 started a life changing process which eventually gave birth to the school based project Connecting Spirits. Many changes occurred over that time as we found ways to improve and develop the project. Julie Reece Tours is now home to the Connecting Spirits COMMUNITY Tour with the inaugural group leaving at the end of this year. Mal Jurgs and I will continue to focus on the four key elements of CS:

1. Locate your soldier of significance
2. Research his story
3. Commemorate him at the location of his grave or memorial
4. Record his story through writing, audio-visual, art/design, historical recounts etc.

The community tours are open to all though students wishing to participate need to be 17 or older or have an adult member of their immediate family travel with them. The tours will ALWAYS be held at the end of the year in late November- mid December thus allowing Year 12 and University students to complete final exams before going on tour. The other advantage of this time of year is that the cemeteries and former battlefields are largely empty of the masses of tourist coaches and tourists who tramp over these sacred grounds during the Anzac period. The atmosphere is quiet and allows peaceful reflection in these fields where so many tragic stories unfolded and for CS members to truly empathise with those they have studied and commemorated. 

Expressions of Interest for the 2018 Connecting Spirits Community Tour are now open. Contact julie@juliereecetours.com.au for the details. 

Day 9 Saturday 24 September. ..A day in Nimes

A slight change of plans...

Today we were meant to visit the preserved villages of St Guilhem le Desert but on arrival found that the shuttle bus that takes visitors from the coach park wasn't operating this weekend and as coaches are not  allowed into this heritage settlement some quick thinking was needed.  We decided to swap it with Monday's programme so we set off for the Roman town of Nimes.

Nimes is a thriving town of high class shops, businesses and schools that has world class Roman monuments. Today Nimes is officially in the Languedoc-Roussillon region but historically the town has been a key player in the evolution of Provence. While travellers to France often make time for Arles and Avignon, Nimes is often ignored. However of the three cities Nimes seems more confident and richer, keeping its peaceful, pedestrian -polished streets a secret for its residents. For the past thousand years, the towns people have made good use of one of their biggest assets,  the ancient Roman temple called Maison Carree. The temple rivals Rome's Pantheon as the most complete building that survives from the Roman Empire. 

Smaller, scattered remains of Roman Nimes testify to its former importance as the city of administration and commerce for Galacia. However the list of Nimes' Roman remains would not be complete without mentioning the imposing Pont du Gard one of the finest Roman aqueducts ten miles to the northeast of the city. The river was just beautiful with many people swimming, canoeing or just soaking up the warmth of the sunshine. It was a magnificent site. 

The final days 11 & 12 Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 of September.....the end of our amazing time in this glorious place.

Our flexible itineray!!

You just have to love the French...days of closures due to whatever reason meant our group enjoyed another relaxing day in Montpellier on Monday. Our intended visit to St Guilhem le Desert still didn't happen as the shuttle bus which takes visitors around the three preserved villages doesn't operate on Mondays in September ! Grrrr...... However this wasn't a massive issue as many in the group welcomed a free slow day with still  many places  to explore either on foot or the very efficient tram system. My time was once again spent wrestling with the increasingly frustrating internet. More Grrrrrrrŕrrrrrrrrr. ..

Our final day had a bit of everything with a morning cruise on the Canal du Rhone Sete starting from the ancient sea port of Aigues-Morte. This is a striking walled medieval town sitting on the flat marshes of the Camargue and is considered the purest example of 13th century military architecture. The cruise departed and returned to the town in a loop of canals considered to be an engineering marvel built in the 17th   century. Along the way we   visited a cattle yard where we had a display of working with the bulls used in bullfighting  but unlike Spain the animals are NOT killed during the fight. Mmm....am unsure about that as something I would want to watch. In the brilliant sunshine we then wandered through the many  canals and finally the marshes blended into marinas and a reserve where the flamingos abound. Gorgeous. Unfortunately we didn't have a long  stop in the village and have decided that in the future it is worth a longer stay. 

On our return to our hotel which had been our home for the 2 weeks, our host Nathalie had prepared a special farewell with wine, nibbles and speeches. This lovely hotel has been perfect and we will miss the staff when we leave. It will be a joy to return here in 2017 for the repeat of this tour.

The final event of the tour was just glorious. ...a dinner at the private home of our local consultant Chantal.  We each brought a bottle of wine  from the many wineries we had visited and he dinner was a celebration of local products such as rabbit, cheeses and THE MOST DIVINE dessert. ..a combination of meringue, chocolate mousse,cream etc..etc..oh my poor hips and waistline!!!!!!!. More speeches and presentations and it was timeto depart. Thank you to Chantal and all of our local friends who have done so much to make our 'Byways and Boudin 'tour such a fantastic experience. It has been superb.  See you again in May 2017...a French spring!!!