Programs
Trips and Travel
Day Trips 2025
Columbia Restaurant Tour and Dutch Lunch
10:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Join the OLLI-USF Travel Opportunities Committee for an insider’s look at the famous
Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. Founded in 1903, the original restaurant has expanded
to an entire city block and is now the largest Spanish restaurant in the world. The
family-owned and run Columbia at the Ybor City location has 15 different dining rooms.
The tour is expected to last about 45 minutes. Free parking is available, and we encourage
you to stay for lunch.
(Note: You will pay for your own lunch.)
Boat Tour: Inner Workings of Port Tampa Bay
10:00 a.m. Wednesday, October 15, 2025
A behind-the-scenes waterside look at Port Tampa Bay, Florida’s largest and most cargo-diverse
port. The operation handles 33 million tons of cargo a year, supports more than 85,000
jobs in Central Florida and is a major cruise homeport. The 75-minute port boat tour
will include a narrated look at a majority of the Port Tampa Bay complex, traveling
around Hooker’s Point and back to the starting point at Cruise terminal 3, Channelside.
Free Parking. Please arrive by 9:45 a.m.
Registration opens August 25.
Multi Day Trips 1
OLLI's Travel Opportunities Committee (TOC) organizes international and domestic trips. It's fun to travel with a group of friends, or soon-to-become-friends. Great fun and great value!
If you have questions or comments for the committee, please email olli-inquiries@usf.edu or call Charise Dixie at 813-974-5848.
November 10, 2025 - 9 days: Highlights of the Douro with Spain featuring 7 night Douro river cruise aboard the NEW Riviera Rose.
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Highlights
Porto City Tour, wine tastings, walled village of Castelo Rodrigo, Salamanca (Spain)
walking tour, Flamenco Show, Mateus Palace Gardens and a choice of port cellar wine
tasting in Porto or the Guimarães Tour known for its Portuguese history.
November 2025, Nashville & the Smoky Mountains
November 29 - December 6, 2025
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Highlights
Grand Ole Opry Show, Historic RCA Studio B, Country Music Hall of Fame, Gaylord Opryland
Resort Dinner & Holiday Show, Dollywood, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Asheville,
Biltmore Estate
Red Rocks to the Rockies - Departing September 15, 2025
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Highlights
This trip features rugged gorges, sandstone cliffs and other geological marvels, four
National Parks and two days aboard the Rocky Mountaineer enjoying spectacular views
of through the train's oversize glass-domed windows. National Parks include Zion,
Bryce Canyon, Arches and Rocky Mountain.
Explore Tuscany, November 2025
Date change - now departs November 5 and returns November 13.
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Highlights
Montecatini Terme, Lucca, Family-Owned
Winery Experience, Florence, Pisa, Cooking Class, Siena, Cheese Farm, San Gimignano.
The Great Rivers of Europe, October 2026
The MS River Aria
Highlights
Join us for an unforgettable 14-day journey aboard Grand Circle Cruise Line's privately
owned MS River Aria--a 162-passenger ship offering an intimate and enriching travel experience. Cruise
along three of Europe's most iconic waterways--the Rhine, Main, and Danube Rivers--beginning
in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and concluding in Melk and Vienna, Austria.
Grand Circle Cruise Line will present a free Zoom overview of the tour and answer questions on August 19, at 2 p.m.