Orchestrating a Path Into Composers’ Lives

Follow the footsteps of Europe’s great composers--Mozart, Bach and Schubert--on a 17-night tour that begins in Berlin June 15 and ends in Salzburg July 2. The itinerary will include Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Wurzburg in Germany, Prague in the Czech Republic, and Feldkirch and Salzburg in Austria.

Among the first stops are Bach’s birthplace, the church where he married, the church for which he worked most of his adult life and the inn where the Bach family held reunions. Guests will attend private concerts at some of these sites.

Mozart’s life and journeys will be revisited with an in-depth tour of Salzburg as Mozart knew it; a special demonstration on the only known authentic Mozart pianoforte that’s in the room where Mozart was born, and attendance at the International Mozart Festival in Wurzburg. There will also be a special private performance of a piece Mozart improvised in Prague, to be given by a Czech organist/composer who has completed it.

Nine concerts are scheduled, including an opera in Berlin. Other tours within Germany include an excursion to Potsdam to visit Frederick the Great’s Sans Souci palace and the Cecilienhof, where Truman, Stalin and Churchill met at the end of World War II; an excursion to the medieval town of Rothenburg on the “Romantic Highway,” and an excursion to the island town of Lindau on Lake Constance.

Cost: $3,860 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, ground transportation, some meals, concerts and entrance fees. Not included: air fare to Europe. Contact: Norm Eagle, Now Voyager Tours, Deer Lane, Pawlet, VT 05761; telephone (802) 325-3656.

Icebergs, Whales

Escape from summer’s heat on several yacht trips available this summer along the coast of southeast Alaska. Available cruise dates are June 16 and 27, Aug. 15 and 30 and Sept. 9 and 20 and range from six to 13 days, depending on beginning and ending destinations, which include Juneau, Ketchikan and Petersburg.

Calm inland waters are explored with opportunities to hike through rain forests, watch humpback whales and sea lions, kayak among icebergs and glaciers, or just sit on the deck and watch the scenery go by. The 65-foot vessel Princeton Hall takes nine passengers plus crew members, including a full-time chef and Denali park rangers who will give lectures on the area’s natural history and biology.

Cost: from $2,295 per person, including all meals, use of sea kayaks or inflatable motorboat. Not included: air fare to Alaska. Contact: Educational Adventure Charters, 444 Pine St., Boulder, CO 80302; tel. (303) 442-0808.

Mideast Crossing

A tour of Syria, Jordan and Israel leaves Oct. 16 and returns Oct. 30. (Spring tours depart March 26 and April 9.) This itinerary originates in London with a flight to Amman for an overnight stay. After visiting Damascus, Maaloula, Aleppo, Palmyra and Bosra, with sightseeing in each city, guests return to Amman for three nights before crossing from Jordan to Israel over the River Jordan. Participants will stop at Jericho to see the excavated walls and view the Mount of Temptations as well as Elishe’s Fountain. The group will proceed to Jerusalem by way of Bethany and the Church of Mary and Martha. Days spent in Jerusalem will be a mix of leisure time and planned sightseeing and an optional full day excursion to the shores of the Dead Sea and the site of Masada.

Cost: $2,390 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip flight from London to Amman, hotels, motor-coach transportation and local guides.

Contact: Esplanade Tours, 581 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116; tel. (800) 426-5492.

France by Barge

Visit the upper Loire Valley on the river barge Anaclouthe on a six-night cruise exploring the Seine and Yonne rivers in France Sept. 19. Participants stroll through picturesque villages and visit Giverny to see Monet’s home and gardens.

Guests also take a dinner cruise to see Paris by night, visit the ancient town of Sens and walk through Barbizon, an artist’s village in the Fontainebleau forest.

After visiting Joigny, guests enjoy a wine tasting in an 11th century wine cellar in the Chablis district, and tour Anexore, the ancient capital of the region.

Cost: $3,195 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to Paris, some meals and hotels, including three nights at the Regina Hotel opposite the Louvre. The tour ends Sept. 29.

Contact: Claudette Crowther, Your Travel Center, 1005 Casitas Pass Road, Carpenteria, CA 93013; tel. (805) 684-6685.

Indonesian Adventure

A tour of Sulawesi to explore the central part of the island is scheduled for Aug. 3 to 20. The trip includes a four-day trek through the forests of Lore Lindu National Park, staying overnight in the homes of villagers, arriving finally in the Badu Valley to see prehistoric megalithic sculptures whose origin is unknown.

Then, after sightseeing on and around Poso Lake, the group travels by boat to the pristine Togian Islands for snorkeling around the coral reefs, walking in the rain forests and visits to the villages of the Bajau people, who live in houses constructed on floating fishing platforms.

An evening visit is scheduled to see the burning waters of Tanjung Api, followed by a tour of the old port of Donggala and of the silk-weaving sites in Towale.

Cost: $2,190 per person, double occupancy, which includes all land/water transportation, lodging, admissions, most meals and the services of a guide and tour conductor. Air fare is not included. There is an optional extension to Bali or Lombok.

Contact: Peruvian Adventures, 444 Redlands Ave., Claremont, CA 91711; tel. (909) 626-2905.

London Theater

Critics’ Choice International is offering its 21st annual London theater tour Dec. 28 to Jan. 7. The tour will be led by Edward Kaufman, USC professor emeritus of the School of Cinema/TV/Drama.

The tour includes nine nights at the West End Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments, across from Green Park and close to Mayfair, several shows, including the musical “Martin Guerre” (all seats are in the stalls or dress circle), welcoming and wrap-up dinner parties, a New Year’s Eve after-theater party at the National Theatre’s Mezzanine Restaurant, a luncheon at Cliveden in Taplow, a visit to the New Globe Theatre or the Theatre Museum, and meetings with a London producer, and performer. Also scheduled is a tour of London and a trip to the countryside via private motor coach.

Cost: $3,799 per person, double occupancy, includes round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, a daily English breakfast, theater tickets, all transfers to and from London’s Heathrow Airport and all listed theater venues, sightseeing, special events, trips and tours, entrance fees, taxes, tips and porterage.

Contact: Nancy Bland at Montrose Travel, 2343 Honolulu Ave., Montrose, CA 91020; tel. (818) 553-3231 or (800) 301-9673, Or Ed Kaufman at (310) 556-8280.

Artistic Europe

Paris, Rome, Venice, Florence, Munich and Lucerne will be the major cities visited on an 18-day art tour led by Orange Coast College fine arts professor Donald Jennings. Titled “Art of Western Europe,” the two-unit course runs June 20 through July 7.

This summer’s tour will focus on the arts, architecture, culture and history of France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. The trip touches on Western Europe’s history and major artistic achievements of architecture, art and sculpture.

Highlights of the trip include: a visit to the Olympic Village in Munich; a tour of the medieval walled town of Rothenburg, Germany; a visit to the quaint village of Fussen, home of the fairy-tale castle, Neuschwanstein; a drive through the German, Swiss and French Alps; a visit to the Bridge of Sighs in Venice; a view of Michelangelo’s Pieta and the Sistine Chapel in Rome; a view of Michelangelo’s statue of David in Florence, and a tour of the medieval town in Lucerne.

Cost: $3,286 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air transportation, hotel accommodations, daily continental breakfast, eight dinners, motor coach transportation, guides, sightseeing and entrance fees to major museums. Contact: World Encounters; tel. (800) 972-8996 or Don Jennings (714) 432-5515.

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