Troy B Marden Travel

The Beauty of Belgium
2024-06-11 - 2024-06-22
Price: Double Occupancy Room, $5,450 per person Private Room for Single Travelers, add $950 to the per person price
Join Joseph and Shannon Hillenmeyer, of Joseph Hillenmeyer Garden Design https://josephhillenmeyer.com/ along with Troy Marden, as we traverse the beautiful cities and countryside of Belgium, exploring gardens, art, architecture, cuisine, and more for 10 full days and nights! This top-of-the-line tour features 5-star accommodations throughout, as well as meals at some of the finest restaurants in Belgium.
Of particular interest to Joseph are the gardens and landscapes of Jacques Wirtz, founder of Wirtz International Landscape Architects, and there are several planned visits to gardens and landscapes featuring their work. Shannon’s interests include the world of fine arts and design, and she will offer a unique perspective on the aesthetics of many of the sites on our itinerary. We’ll explore the cities of Brussels, Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp, and enjoy the hospitality of smaller towns and villages, as well, including the Botanical Garden Meise, the Kasteel van Ooidonk, the Chateau Alden Biesen, the Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen in Antwerp, and many other gardens and points of interest along the way! We’ll also spend one day in the Flanders Fields region learning about the sacrifices made by men and women from around the world during some of the most intense battles of WW1.
No tour with Troy is complete without experiencing the local cuisine and this tour will be no exception! Chocolate, waffles, moules frites and, of course, beer! We’ll check out the local food scenes in as many of the cities and towns as we can. Depending on the final size of the group, we may even take a cooking class (or at least have a demo!), participate in a chocolate-making class, or learn to draft a perfect beer!
For complete details, please email: troy@troybmarden.com

Flora, Fauna, and Fire! The Beauty of Eastern Sicily
2024-09-24 - 2024-10-05
A brand new offering for us as we expand our offerings in Sicily! Join Charles Yurgalevitch and Troy Marden on this more thorough exploration of Sicily’s eastern end, where fiery Mount Etna meets the Ionian Sea. The rich, volcanic soils of this end of the island are home to excellent wineries, beautiful gardens, and many of Sicily’s largest nurseries, not to mention the history that has unfolded here over thousands of years.

This tour will feature the historic city of Catania, the quiet respite of Ortigia, the spectacular views and luxurious lifestyle of Taormina, and more!

Included in this itinerary will be visits to the Alcantara Gorges, the wineries of Mount Etna, a unique and beautiful cactus and succulent nursery, the towns of Noto and Ragusa, and, schedule permitting, the Villa Romana del Casale, and that just scratches the surface!

We hope you will join us for a new and more in-depth look at Sicily as we begin offering more of these regional tours in the future. We love our spring “Gardens & Treasures of Sicily” tours, which we will continue offering, but we are equally excited for these new opportunities to explore this beautiful island!

Email troy@troybmarden.com for more details.

Hill Towns of Tuscany
2024-10-09 00:00 - 2024-10-20 23:59 (America/Chicago)
For the first time since before the Covid pandemic, we are returning to Tuscany! Autumn is the most beautiful time of year to enjoy the hill towns, when crowds are smaller, wine is being made, olives are being harvested, and restaurant menus are overflowing with local delicacies like chestnuts, mushrooms (including the famous truffle!), and wild boar.

We’ll bookend this tour with visits to the beautiful cities of Rome and Florence, taking in a few of the highlights of each. In between, we’ll stay in Cortona and at least one other hill town (probably San Gimignano, but we are awaiting hotel confirmation), and visit several more.

Along the way, we’ll enjoy public and private villas, palazzos, and gardens, including the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, the Parco dei Mostri (Bomarzo), the Basilica of Assisi, at least two wineries, and an olive grove and press.

It is no secret that Italy, and Tuscany in particular, is my favorite place in the world. I look forward to sharing it with you!

Email troy@troybmarden.com for more information.
