Boston & Cape Cod Summer 2019 Treasure Chest Tour

Transcription

1 Boston & Cape Cod Summer 2019 Treasure Chest Tour Non-stop via August 24 th -September 3 rd, nights and 11 days from: $3195 quad /$3395 triple/ $3695 double/$4695 single Come, join us on this truly unique escorted tour to Cape Cod, America s postcard perfect summertime destination and then Boston, America s oldest city and one that prides itself on its history. You can hardly walk a step over its cobblestone streets without running into some historic site. Our nine-night tour captures that very best of a Massachusetts summer holiday. It all begins with a 5-night stay in Hyannis, located on Nantucket Sound and known as the heart of Cape Cod. Its mid-cape location is ideal for our day trips that include the seaside village of Chatham, Nantucket Island, once the whaling capital of the world and Provincetown, the picturesque town on the very tip of Cape Cod, where artists and writers from all over the world have come to work, lured by the creative atmosphere, breathtaking colors and scenic landscapes. More, yes, much more as we visit a cranberry bog, a sand dunes excursion and a hands-on Lobster Tales Cruise to see how lobsters are harvested. From here, we are off to Boston for 4 nights in the heart of the city, accommodations at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Enjoy a fun filled Labor Day weekend discovering this great city and all its offering. On the drive in from Cape Cod we have included a visit to the John F, Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum followed by time at Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market. Once settled in, you will quickly realize that this location in second to none! The Copley Place Mall and Prudential Center have direct access to our hotel. Fenway Park is only a 15-minute walk, fashionable Newbury Street is a mere block away. The Boston Commons, Public Gardens, Charles Street, all within walking distance. Turn the other direction and discover Boston s Back Bay, famous for its rows of Victorian brownstone homes-considered one of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban designs in the United States. The included 2-day hop-on, hop-off trolley pass is the perfect addition so that you can get out and discover at your leisure. Best thing yet, it stops right in front of the hotel! Itinerary/Details Day 1 August 24 th, 2019 Saturday Depart from Honolulu Hawaiian Airlines #90 Departs Honolulu 1:45 pm Arrive Boston 6:00 am + 1 Please meet your Panda Travel representative at the Hawaiian Airlines domestic check-in counters at least 2 hours prior to the flight departure time. Day 2 August 25 th, 2019 Sunday Boston-Hyannis (L)

2 On arrival in Boston, please make your way to the baggage claim area. Once everyone has claimed their luggage, off to our charter bus as we journey towards Cape Cod As we near the mid-way point, our local guide will be stepping on board and joining us on this first touring day. We begin with a visit to Sandwich, the oldest town on Cape Cod. Our first stop is at the Cape Cod Canal Visitors Center. Here you can explore the rich history, fascinating features, and vigilant operation of the Cape Cod Canal. The center features a retired 41-foot US Army Corps of Engineers patrol boat, a small theater, canal critters and wildflowers, real time radar, and camera images. Do visit the observation deck and enjoy the view while sitting down on one of their rocking chairs. Sandwich became the site of one of America s largest glass factories, an industry that flourished during the 19 th century. This quaint and quiet seaside community is the hometown of Thornton Burgess, naturalist and author of 170 children s books. Enjoy time here to view the sparkling exhibits that describes the transformation of a small farming community into one of the world s most respected manufacturers of 19 th century glass. Watch molten glass, drawn from the furnace, blown and pressed into exquisite shapes. Don t forget a stop at the gift shop. From here we are headed to the historic Daniel Webster Inn, the centerpiece of Sandwich for a buffet lunch at this 300- year-old inn. After lunch, we head mid-cape to our hotel for the next five nights, Fairfield Inn and Suites Hyannis. On the drive over, enjoy the views of the Village Green, the Great Salt Marsh, a cranberry bog, and the Cape Cod Canal. Once at the hotel, enjoy a welcome reception along with a souvenir print by a local artist. After settling in, the remainder of the afternoon and evening is. It is just a short walk over to the Cape Cod Mall for shopping or dining. A variety of restaurants are also within walking distance. Day 3 August 26 th, 2019 Monday Hyannis-Chatham-Hyannis (B/D) After breakfast at our hotel, an extended continental breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby at the designated time as we are off on a day of touring. The morning begins with a bus tour of Hyannis that includes the John F. Kennedy Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, Hyannis Port, a small affluent residential village and home to the Kennedy Compound. You can also enjoy a view of St. Francis Xavier Church, the summer parish of the Kennedy Family. From here, a visit to the Whydah Pirate Museum, Cape Cod's newest interactive science museum featuring real pirates and real treasures! The Whydah was a fully rigged galley ship build by the British. During one if its voyages in 1717, it was captured by the famed pirate, Samuel Black Sam Bellamy. According to Cape folklore, Bellamy was returning to his love, Maria Hallett, the The Witch of Wellfleet, when his ship met disaster in one of the worst storms to strike the eastern seaboard. The Whydah sank, taking with her the treasure of fifty plundered ships. Its treasures lay just 500 feet off the shore for over 300 years, but now can be viewed at the museum, the world s only pirate treasure together with personal remains as weapons, jewelry and clothing and decipher the untold secrets of the pirates! Enjoy time here for a unique look into the lives of the pirates, and an unprecedented cross-cultural sampling of treasures from the world of the 18th century.

3 From here, a visit to the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum. It was here that he contemplated and accepted his run for the presidency. A statue of a young JFK striding barefoot through beach grass welcomes you to this Main Street museum, which offers a more intimate take on the 35th president of the United States than does its much larger Boston counterpart, the JFK Presidential Library and Museum. Here, the Kennedy family s love of Cape Cod and the sea is celebrated in videos and photos spanning 1934 to 1963, oral histories, and themed exhibits that have focused on everything from the brothers bond between Jack and Bobby Kennedy to the so-called Kennedy Compound. I always go to Hyannis Port to be revived, to know again the power of the sea and the master who rules over it and all of us John Fitzgerald Kennedy Now, off to Main Street Hyannis, an interesting and eclectic all-american Main Street that is a wonderful place to visit, shop, dine and be entertained. Enjoy time here to have lunch on your own and maybe do a little shopping. This afternoon we travel to the south side of the Cape to the seaside village of Chatham. Enjoy the viewing of the Chatham Light, the lifesaving beacon for sailors throughout the Cape s history. Chatham is located at the Cape s elbow which makes it vulnerable to winter storms. Our guide will point out the Chatham Break and the dramatic changes to the shoreline that have occurred, thanks to Mother Nature. Now, the touring day complete, time for dinner at a local restaurant. After dinner, return to the hotel and the remainder of the evening is. Day 4 August 27 th, 2019 Tuesday Hyannis-Provincetown-Hyannis (B) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by the designated time. We are off on a full day of touring, making our way to the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown. Our morning begins with a drive down historic Route 6A, the Old King s Highway. It is a scenic byway winding through centuries of Cape Cod history. It winds past hundreds of historic structures which characterize its early development. Along the way view the Eastham Windmill, a Cape Cod lighthouse and then a visit to the Cape Cod National Seashore Visitor s Center. As we approach Lands Ends - Provincetown, enjoy the views of the sand dunes and surrounding ocean. Once here, the extreme tip of Cape Cod, once known as the Province Lands, where the pilgrims first landed before deciding to settle across the bay in Plymouth. Once in town center, enjoy time to explore, shop a little and have lunch on your own. Spiritus Pizza, The Lobster Pot and the Portuguese Bakery are some of the must stops. At the Portuguese Bakery, do try their malasadas, very different from the ones you find in Hawaii. They are flat, big like an elephants ear, deep fried and sprinkled with sugar. As you walk along the its main street, Commercial Street, envision the long list of famous artists, writer and performers who began their career here. Among the name you may recognize. Jack Kerouac -- In 1950 he wrote part of On The Road holed up in a dune shack on a secluded beach in Provincetown. Kurt Vonnegut -- The writer first moved to the Cape in the 1950s and it has been a primary residence ever since.

4 Norman Mailer -- The writer, filmmaker and Village Voice co-founder consistently spent time in Provincetown from the 1940s until the end of his life in Norman Rockwell -- Synonymous with picturesque Americana, the painter spent time studying his craft in Provincetown. Anthony Bourdain -- The culinary king had his humble beginnings as a dishwasher in a Provincetown kitchen and he was inspired by local chef Howard Mitcham to pursue a grander culinary role. Many actors and musicians, including Billie Holiday, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Richard Gere, Julius Monk, and Barbra Streisand, spent their early years performing on Provincetown stages. Spiritus Pizza Portuguese Bakery view from harbor Portuguese Square This afternoon we are off on a Dune Tour excursion. Just imagine sand dunes stretching as far as you can see with wispy beach grass, dark green pine trees and deep red beach plums nestled in hollows which are brought together by a silhouette of blue sky. Sit back as we travel through the majestic dunes and our guide points out the dune shacks where famous artists and writers became inspired to create their art. Our day ends at the Pilgrim Monument and Museum which commemorates the first landing of the Pilgrims in It is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States, standing at 255-feet. The granite came from Stonington, Maine, and each stone is the thickness of the wall. The design is patterned after the Torre Del Mangia in Siena, Italy. Architect Willard Thomas Sears, a prominent architect in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, designed the tower. Sears other noteworthy commissions include the Old South Church, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Cyclorama in Boston and Campobello Park in New Brunswick, Canada. If you are up to it, the walk to the top includes 116 steps and 60 ramps, leisurely about 15 minutes, but, oh the views! During the climb, you ll see many interior stones that were donated by cities, towns and organizations from all the United States. From here, we journey back to Hyannis and our hotel. Once back, the remainder of the afternoon and evening is. Day 5 August 28 th, 2019 Wednesday Hyannis-Nantucket-Hyannis (B/D) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by the designated time. Quite a day we have in store, a visit to the island of Nantucket. Less than 30 miles off the Cape Cod coast. If you ask someone who has spent a lifetime of summers here, they describe it as magical, this tiny island set like a jagged jewel in

5 the Atlantic. With cobblestone streets, miles of uncrowded beaches, and gray-shingles cottages covered in pink roses, the island packs an incredible amount of charm. Nantucket was once the whaling capital of the world, but for the last century, tourism is its bread and butter. Mother Nature still reigns supreme here, almost half of the land is protected. The island offers 30 miles of bike paths that wind through 9,000 acres of coastline, moors, cranberry bogs and sea-sprayed bluffs. It is said that Nantucket somehow continues to be the special and bewitching crescent of sand it has always been. This morning we will be walking over to the Hy-Line Docks to take the high-speed ferry to Nantucket, a short one-hour trip in each direction. We dock steps from the center and once there our local guide will point out restaurants, galleries, shops, and museums that are all within walking distance. Once back in Hyannis, we are off to dinner at a local restaurant. Day 6 August 29 th, 2019 Thursday Hyannis-Plymouth-Hyannis (B/D) After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby by the designated time. This morning we are off to visit America s Hometown- Plymouth, home of our Pilgrim Fathers and one of the country s first settlements. Once there, a picture taking stop at the Forefather s Monument, the largest, solid granite monument in the United States. She stands facing the harbor, welcoming those who come by water. From there, a second photo stop at the Pilgrim Rock, the traditional site where the pilgrims disembarked in From here, a hands-on experience that begins aboard the Lobster Tales Cruise to learn about the many creatures that live in Plymouth Harbor. Lobster Tales is a comfortable 45 passenger vessel that sails within the calm waters of Plymouth Harbor. Harvesting lobsters from the sea has always been an important part of New England's culture. On board, experience a hands-on approach to see how lobsters are harvested from their natural environment. Get ready as they will be looking for a few volunteers ready to roll up their sleeves to help haul in the lobster traps or stay close by and observe lobsters, crabs and other species of marine life that live in Plymouth Harbor. While on the cruise, we will pass the Mayflower II Replica Ship that is currently being refurbished for the 2020 celebration, Plymouth Rock and Plymouth Long Beach. Once back on land, enjoy some time along the waterfront for shopping and lunch on your own. This afternoon, another highlight as we are off on a cranberry bog tour by A.D. Makepeace, the world s largest cranberry grower. Our guide will show examples of an existing bog, currently in production and discuss the stages of the cranberry growing process. Learn from the expert cranberry growers about farming and harvesting this fruit named craneberry by the Pilgrims. From here, back to our hotel in Hyannis and once there, dinner at a local restaurant. This morning we bid Cape Cod a warm good-bye. Day 7 August 30 th, 2019 Friday Hyannis-Boston (B)

6 After breakfast, please meet your guide in the lobby at the designated time as we travel to the City of Boston, the capital of, and largest city in Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest cities in the United States. Along the way we will be visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Relive the powerful story of the Kennedy years. You will enter the re-created world of the Kennedy Presidency for a first hand experience of John F. Kennedy s life, legacy, and leadership. Housed in a dramatic building designed by the legendary I.M. Pei, the John F. Kennedy Museum overlooks Boston's Old Harbor. The tranquil Columbia Point site is a 9.5-acre park with weeping willows, wild roses, sea grasses and other plantings that evoke images of the mesmerizing Cape Cod landscape near Hyannis Port. The museum's three theaters, 25 multimedia exhibits and period displays dramatically re-create the powerful story of Kennedy's life, leadership and legacy. Experience the events of the 1960s from the president's viewpoint as you exam exhibits about politics, the space race and how the First Family influenced the style of the country. Visitors can also see President Kennedy's beloved 26- foot sailboat Victura, which is moored on the ocean side of the library. As we enter the city, our guide will point out sights along the Freedom Trail as well as the Boston Common and the Public Gardens, the Back Bay, Beacon Hill and the gold-domed State House. Boston is a city where America s roots wee formed and driving through it is like reading the pages of an American history book. Boston Public Gardens Boston skyline from Fenway Park Beacon Hill From here, a stop at Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market for time to explore, have lunch on your own and shop a little. Wealthy Boston merchant Peter Faneuil built and donated Faneuil Hall to the people of Boston in The first floor served as a public market space, and the second floor became the government meeting hall for local town politics. In 1805/06 Boston architect Charles Bulfinch expanded the Hall to its current appearance. Revolutionary meetings and protests took place so frequently at the Hall during the 1760s and 70s that successive generations repeatedly gathered at the Hall during their own struggles. In the 20 th century, the hall was televised for John F. Kennedy s last campaign speech during the 1960 presidential race. Quincy Market is a historic market complex next to Faneuil Hall and favorite destination for locals and tourists alike. The market combines the glories of the past and the vitality of the present with a variety of shops, restaurants, and food court stops. Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market

7 From here, off to our hotel for the last four nights on tour, Boston Marriott Copley Hotel, located in the heart of the city, Copley Square. Adjacent to the Copley Square Mall and Prudential as well as a short one block from Boston s 5 th Avenue, Newbury St. Fenway Park, the brownstone lined streets of the Back Bay, the Public Gardens, Esplanade are minutes away by foot. At this point we bid our good-bye to our local Cape Cod guide and check-in. The remainder of the afternoon and evening is. Accommodations: Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel Day 8 August 31 st, 2019 Saturday Boston (B) These next three days are at your leisure, get up when you want, come down and enjoy the buffet breakfast and then plan your day as your please. It is Labor Day weekend and the city is hopping with many events. We have included a 2-day hop-on hop-off trolley tour pass and the pick up is right in front of our hotel. This is a great way to discover the city and its neighborhoods, complete with a driver/guide narrating. On your list of things to do consider the following: A guided tour of the legendary Fenway Park, known as America s Most Beloved Ballpark. Nestled in the Fenway neighborhood, it is a place where dreams are made, traditions are celebrated, and baseball is forever. See the home of Red Sox legends, Williams, Yaz, Fisk, and Rice. Visit Pesky s Pole and sit atop the fabled Green Monster, 37 feet 2 inches high above deep leftfield. Experienced tour guides will take you on this one hour thrilling tour and afterwards some time to visit the official Red Sox souvenir shop across the street. A walk to the park is only 15 minutes. Fenway Park neighborhood, The Fens Iconic Citgo sign Boston skyline from inside the park How about a visit to Boston s Italian North End? On this last weekend in August, the people of the North End invite you to celebrate with them as they honor their patrons Saint Anthony and Saint Lucy with colorful parades, religious services, strolling singers, live entertainment and of course an abundance of great Italian and American food. Begun in 1919, by Italian immigrants from the small town of Montefalcione in Avellino, Saint Anthony s Feast has become the largest Italian Religious Festival in New England. Named the Feast of all Feasts by National Geographic Magazine, this authentic Italian street festival has it all for people of every age: parades, strolling singers, live entertainment, contests and religious services are held daily. Stroll the beautifully decorated streets sampling the best Italian street foods from 100 pushcarts enjoying arancini, sausage peppers & onion, quahogs, calamari, pizza, pasta and of course zeppole, cannoli and gelato. Enjoy browsing the wide selection of souvenir keepsakes and mementos. The highlight of the Feast is the ten-hour procession of the Statue of Saint Anthony through the streets of the North End accompanied by devotees, numerous marching bands and floats. The Statue of the Saint returns to his chapel as confetti and streamers cascade from the rooftops.

8 Close-by to our hotel is the Public Gardens and the Boston Common, a perfect outdoor setting. On the way, make a stop at the famous Cheers Bar. Take a photo or walk down for a drink and food. Once at the Public Gardens, a must do is a ride on one of the swan boats. Cheers! Boston State House Public Gardens and the Boston Common There is also Chinatown, historic Beacon Hill, the Esplanade where the Boston Pops performs for during the summer, and a walk along the Charles River. Chinatown Brownstone lined streets walk along the Esplanade Need a little shopping time, take some time to explore Newbury Street, Boston s chic shopping address which offers a mix of elegant boutiques, art galleries and unique one of a kind quaint shops nestled into the historic nineteenthcentury brownstones that line this mile-long avenue. You will also find some of Hawaii s favorites, Uniqlo, Muji and Trader Joe s. Sorry, no Don Quijote, but there is a Hokkaido ramen shop, small and busy, but worth the wait. Besides shopping, enjoy a wide variety of dining options along Newbury Street. Being that its summertime, enjoy a drink, lunch or dinner at one of the many outdoor cafes and eateries or just people watch. You never know what famous people may walk by. Do you enjoy museums? Boston has some of the finest in the country which include, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston s Children s Museum, Museum of Science and the Hayden Planetarium, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), and many more to choose from. Accommodations: Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel After breakfast on your own, a day. Day 9 September 1 st, 2019 Sunday Boston (B) Accommodations: Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel

9 After breakfast, enjoy this last day exploring Boston! Day 10 September 2 nd, 2019 Monday Boston (B) Happy Labor Day! Accommodations: Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel Day 11 September 3 rd, 2019 Tuesday Boston-Honolulu (B) Please meet your Panda Travel escort in the lobby by 5:45am as we bid Boston good-bye and make our way back to the airport. We have arranged for grab-and-go breakfast for you to enjoy on the ride to the airport. Hawaiian Airlines #89 Departs Boston 8:55 am Arrive Honolulu 2:25 pm