Gardens of the Rich and More Rich in Italy

The Venice, Italy-based Zenobio Institute is offering two nine-day tours of the city’s private gardens and villas starting on May 12 and Sept. 27. Director of the educational institute, architect Michael Carapetian, has arranged with Venetian aristocrats to see their private gardens and palaces, some by boat via the Brenta River. Also on the schedule is a concert performance in the La Rotonda villa and tours of Venice, Verona, Padova and Vicenza.

Cost: $4,325 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, all breakfasts and most dinners, ground transportation, porter service, entrance fees, concerts and guide fees. Contact: Passages Unlimited, telephone (800) 232-2939; or write to the Zenobio Institute at Palazzo Zenobio 2598, Dorsoduro 30123, Venice, Italy.

Natural Catalina

Explore the natural beauty of California on Pavilion Lodge’s two-night Catalina Island natural history package available year-round. Participants arrive on the island from either Long Beach or San Pedro via boat service by Catalina Express. Guests stay in a beachfront lodge in Avalon and take excursions during the day, exploring the giant kelp forest in a glass-bottom boat, the geology of the coastline aboard guided kayaks, and native plants, birds and animals on a Jeep eco-tour led by a Santa Catalina Island Conservancy naturalist.

Cost: $449 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, all tours, boat service and continental breakfast. Contact: Discovery Tours, tel. (800) 343-4491.

Mongolia

Arnold Springer of the Ulan Bator Foundation in Venice, Calif., will lead a tour of Mongolia, which departs from LAX on June 29 and returns on July 16. Springer has taken tours to Mongolia every year since that country opened to tourism in 1990.

After an overnight in Tokyo, participants fly to China, where a tour of Beijing is arranged. The group will visit the White Dagoba Temple in Beihei Park, which was built by the Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan. Members also will visit the Lama Temple, the best-known Tibetan Buddhist temple in China and a residence for Tibetan and Mongolian monks. Participants will observe a Sunday service.

Next, the group takes a 1 1/2-hour flight to Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia. Members will be in Mongolia for some national holidays and festivities, which include competitions in archery, horseback riding and wrestling. In Ulan Bator, the Fine Arts Museum, Choijin Lam, and the Bogd Khan Palace Museum are seen. While in the city, the group will deliver medical supplies to the Maternal and Child Health Care Clinic, the foundation’s adopted charity.

Other sights include a flight to western Mongolia, to Ulaangom or Altai. Guests will stay in camps in a yurt in the Gobi Desert and in the vicinity of Karakorum.

Cost: $3,250 per person, including international air fare, most meals, sightseeing and lodging. An extension tour to visit western China, which departs Beijing on July 17, can be added for an additional $2,350. Participants will spend 17 days visiting the oasis of Turpan, the medieval market town of Kashgar on its Sunday grand market day, the capital of Urumqi, and also visit Dunhuang and Xi’an on the way back to Beijing. This extension group will return to LAX via Tokyo on Aug. 1. Contact: Ulan Bator Foundation, P.O. Box 3059, Venice, CA 90294; tel. (310) 821-3459.

Holyland Pilgrimage

A “Benedictine Encounter in the Holy Land,” Nov. 10-23, is a tour organized and led by Father Vincent Martin, who lived in Jerusalem for 10 years. The journey begins in Netanya, Israel, with side trips to Tel Aviv and Jaffa. The tour continues with the ascent to Jerusalem, stopping at the birthplace of John the Baptist, then to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity, the Grotto and Manger Square. Day trips from Jerusalem will include a visit to the tomb of Abraham at Hebron; a stop at Beersheba, capital of the Negev region; a tour of Masada, the mountaintop fortress; a swim in the Dead Sea; a trip to Ram Allah, and the well of Jacob near Nabulus and the site of Samaria. Participants can attend Mass at the Benedictine Monastery in Abu Ghosh.

The journey continues through the Jordan Valley with a visit to the old city of Jericho and a tour of the excavation site in Beit Shean. Guests will spend three nights in Tiberias on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Day trips will include a tour of Nazareth and Mt. Tabor; a visit to Capernaum, the House of Peter and the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves at Tagha.

On the last day, the group will set out for Acco, a Crusader fortress on the sea, continue to Haifa, ascend Mt. Carmel, and visit Caesarea before returning to Netanya.

Cost: $2,095 per person, double occupancy, includes round-trip air transportation from Los Angeles, hotels, most meals, sightseeing and porterage. Contact: Nancy Martin, Foothill Travel, P.O. Box 222, Llano, CA 93544-0222; tel. (805) 944-3494.

Greek Odyssey

The Classical Alliance of the Western States is offering an educational tour called the “Greek Odyssey” from June 23 to July 14 with the first two weeks set on the Greek mainland and the Peloponnesus, the third week on a seven-day cruise to the Greek islands and Turkey, and final days in Athens.

Cost: $3,596 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, hotels, most meals, private motor coach throughout Greece. Historical and cultural lectures will be provided by professor Leon Rosenstein of San Diego State University. Course credits are available through San Diego State University.

Contact: Charles Smith, the Classical Alliance of Western States P.O. Box 3494, Anaheim, CA 92803; tel. (800) 290-2067.

Native Traditions

A three-night “Spirit Quest” trip to New Mexico begins Aug. 8 and focuses on ancient spiritual teachings practiced by native peoples. The tour will be led by psychologist and teacher, Masa Aiba Goetz. A Native American storyteller will recount tales that have been handed down orally and will explain the meanings of time-honored customs. Native ceremonial dances and a visit to the Santa Fe Museum of the American Indian are also included.

The seminar portion of the tour takes place in Albuquerque in a restored ranch filled with Native American and Middle Eastern artifacts. At the ranch is an outdoor dining terrace, hot tub and many nooks for reading.

The second stage of the tour takes place in Santa Fe, where participants can browse and shop in galleries and boutiques that specialize in American Indian art, silver and turquoise jewelry, pottery and weaving.

Cost: $835 per person, double occupancy, including ground transportation, hotels, some meals and museum entrance and guides. Not included: transportation to Albuquerque. Contact: Aventura Artistica, 3143 Garrison St., San Diego, CA 92106; tel. (800) 808-7352.

Peru and Iguazu Falls

Explore Peru in depth with travel and wildlife photographer Michele Burgess on a tour that leaves Aug. 13 and returns Sept. 3. Participants will experience the remote Amazon region through visits to local Indian villages. The group will visit the city of Arequipa and watch Andean condors soar above Colca Canyon, one of the world’s deepest gorges. Members visit historic Cuzco with its many Inca ruins, and stay overnight at Machu Picchu. A train trip is taken through the altiplano to see the floating islands and reed boats of Lake Titicaca. Guests will also visit Iguazu Falls on the Brazil/Argentina border.

Cost: $4,925 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air from Los Angeles, accommodations, most meals and sightseeing. Contact: In Focus With Michele Burgess, 20741 Catamaran Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92646; tel. (714) 536-6104.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with travel agents or tour operators.