Make our way to our local airport, where we will board our overnight flight(s). Meals will be served on board.

Upon arrival at Sevilla Airport, collect your luggage in the baggage claim area, and continue to the arrival’s hall, where we will be greeted by a tour escort and/or driver and transferred to our accommodation. Sevilla has three important monuments and an illustrious history, but what it’s essentially famous for its own living self, the greatest city of the Spanish South, of Carmen, Don Juan and Figaro, and the archetype of Andalucian promise. This reputation for gaiety and brilliance, for theatricality and intensity of life does seem deserved. Sevilla is also Spain’s second most important center for bullfighting after Madrid and its magnificent and beautiful bullring La Maestranza is proof of it. In the afternoon we will enjoy a panoramic tour of the city including a visit to Parque Maria Luisa. The park represents the former gardens of the long-vanished Palacio de San Telmo and the site of Seville’s Ibero-American Exhibition in 1929. Inside the park is the most eye-catching remnant of the exhibition and one of Seville’s greatest monuments, the Plaza de España, the extraordinary semi-circular building half enclosing it took 15 years to build. Dinner and overnight in Sevilla.

Breakfast in the hotel. In the morning we will visit the city. The city is bisected by the Río Guadalquivir. The old city takes up the east bank and at its heart stand the thee great monuments of Sevilla that we will visit this morning: the Giralda Tower, the minaret of the old mosque; the Cathedral, built in the XV Century in Gothic style; and the Alcázar, the Moorish palaces. We will also discover the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the medieval Jewish quarter and now the heart of tourist life. The Santa Cruz quarter is a cluster of narrow picturesque streets and squares, white houses, secret azulejo-decorated patios, window grilles and flowerpots. The delight here is taking things slowly and following your nose to wander around and peer down alleyways and into little squares. Continue journey towards Cordoba. Cordoba lies upstream from Sevilla beside a loop of the Guadalquivir River, which was once navigable as far as here. It is today a minor provincial capital, prosperous in a modest sort of way. Once, however, it was the largest city of Roman Spain, and for three centuries it formed the heart of the western Islamic empire, the great medieval caliphate of the Moors. It is from this era that the city’s major monument dates: the Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque-Cathedral), the grandest and most beautiful mosque ever constructed by the Moors in Spain. It stands right in the center of the city, surrounded by the old Jewish and Moorish quarters, and is a building of extraordinary mystical ad aesthetic power. Apart of visiting the Mezquita-Catedral, we will walk through the Jewish quarter and visit its medieval synagogue. Return to Seville for dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast group will leave Sevilla for the old town of Jerez de la Frontera which is welcoming, full of churches and monuments and famous for it’s Sherry wine which is produced here as well as the Royal Equestrian School with its magnificent dancing horses. Upon arrival in Jerez, visit the Cathedral and the Alcázar following with visit González Byass wine cellar, perhaps the oldest one in town, that preserves an old circular chamber designed by Eiffel. After the visit we will enjoy a sampling of its most famous Sherries. Leave Jerez de la Frontera on the beautiful journey passing by the Puerto de Santa María to the city of Cádiz. Cádiz is the oldest city in Western Europe, it was founded in 1100 B.C. by the Phoenicians, and has a strategic location in the Atlantic Ocean. Its historic center is surrounded by the sea and is rich in museums and monuments and its inhabitants, the “gaditanos”, are among the most cheerful and welcoming in all of Spain. Its marvelous beaches attract tourists from all over the world, and the good food and countless sunny days per year make Cádiz one of the favorite tourist destinations in Europe. We will walk through its beautiful streets and squares to learn in depth the history and culture of this city, cradle of the Spanish Constitution of 1812. End the day with a delicious and rich Cadiz dinner with excellent wines. Overnight in Cadiz.

Breakfast in the hotel. The historic city of Cadiz dates back over 3,000 years and is the oldest place in the whole of Western Europe to be inhabited continuously. Nearly every street and back alley leads to a beautiful open square. Here, you’ll find an abundance of cafes and bars, all enticing you in with their cool drinks and delicious cuisine. In the morning we will do a walking tour of the city including a visit to the Tavira Tower, the official watchtower of Cadiz during the 18th Century, and the Cadiz Cathedral. Dating back to the 18th century, Cadiz Cathedral was designed on the site of a significantly older former church built in the 13th century. This picturesque Baroque and Neoclassical-themed building, which took more than 100 years to complete, is also noted for its distinctive Poniente bell tower, which offers a fantastic panoramic view of the city. In the afternoon we will depart towards Malaga. Dinner in a local restaurant and overnight in Malaga.

Breakfast in the hotel. In the morning we will depart towards the city of Ronda. Ronda is built on an isolated ridge of the sierra; it’s split in half by a gaping river gorge, El Tajo, which drops sheer for 130 m on three sides. Still more spectacular, the gorge is spanned by a stupendous XVII Century arched bridge, the Puente Nuevo, while tall whitewashed houses lean from its precipitous edges. The bridge divides the city in tow: the old city known as the Ciudad and the new one known as the Mercadillo quarter. The Ciudad retains intact its Moorish plan and many of its houses, interspersed with a number of fine Renaissance mansions, there we will be able to visit the cathedral church of Santa María La Mayor and the Casa San Juan Bosco with its magnificent view of El Tajo. In the Mercadillo quarter the most impressive building is the XVIII Century Plaza de Toros (Bull Ring), one of the earliest in Spain and the birthplace of the modern corrida (bullfight). After the visit we will enjoy free time for lunch and explore Ronda little more before we return to Malaga for dinner and overnight.

Following breakfast, we will visit Malaga. Its elegant central zone has a number of interesting churches and museums, not to mention the birthplace of Picasso and the new Picasso Museum, housing an important collection of works by Malaga’s most famous son. Built in the Renaissance style, Malaga Catedral is an imposing architectural masterpiece at the heart of the city. Famously, the cathedral’s second tower was never built due to funding restraints, earning it the legendary moniker: ‘the one-armed lady’. Overlooking the town and port are the formidable Moorish citadels of the Alcazaba and Gibralfaro. Other important sight is the Roman theater, accidentally unearthed in 1951 and now a venue for various outdoor entertainments. Following visit to Malaga, we will continue our our journey towards Granada. Arrival and accommodation in the hotel. In the evening we will have dinner in a local restaurant. If we are not too tired, we will walk through the Albaicín, the largest and most characteristic Moorish quarter that survives in Spain. From the Mirador of San Nicolás we will see the impressive view of the Alhambra Palaces in front of us. Overnight in Granada.

Breakfast in the hotel. In the morning we will visit one of the most beautiful palaces in the World: The Alhambra Palaces. The meaning of the word Alhambra is “the red fort” and became from its reddish walls. The Alhambra was a palace, a citadel, fortress, and the home of the Nasrid sultans, high government officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers (from the 13th to the 14th century). Today, the monument is divided into four main areas: the Palaces, the military zone or Alcazaba, the city or Medina and the agricultural estate of the Generalife. Woods, gardens and orchards surround all of these areas. Other notable buildings belonging to a different time period are also included, such as the Renaissance style Palace of Charles V, which houses the Alhambra Museum (most of the items are from the site of the monument). We will also visit the Royal Chapel where the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, are buried. In the afternoon we will departure towards Guadix Sierra (mountain range) where we will visit an almazara (oil press factory) and experience an olive oil tasting. Return to Granada. Overnight in Granada.

Breakfast in the hotel. In the morning we will depart towards Úbeda and Baeza, two sister cities in Andalusia, declared a World Heritage Site and separated by only eight kilometers away. Both cities treasure an impressive monumental set unique in Spain. Baeza has a splendid monumental complex, where art and history have left the most beautiful examples and Ubeda the city of beautiful Renaissance buildings in perfect harmony with other architectural styles. It was in Baeza where St John of the Cross has opened a house of studies for the friars, close to the old university. There he resided from 1579-82. In Baeza John wrote part of “En una noche oscura” (the Dark Night poem), and some of the ascent of Mt. Carmel. When John of the Cross became ill towards the end of his life, he was sent to Ubeda, in the province of Jaen, for treatment. Following visit to the Museum dedicated to St John of the Cross we will visit Olive Oil factory. Although olive oil is produced in all the provinces in Andalucia, it is the oil from Jaén province that eclipses all others. Known as the ‘cradle of olive oil in Spain’, Jaén province supplies 50% of the olive oil consumed in Spain and over 20% of the total production of the best olive oil in the world. Over 550 square kilometres are planted with olive trees and they produce 600,000 tons of oil every year. Dinner and overnight in Ubeda.

After breakfast we leave Ubeda for the city of Toldedo. In a landscape of abrasive desolation, Toledo sits on a rocky mound isolated on three sides by a looping gorge of the Río Tajo. Every available inch of this outcrop has been built upon: churches, synagogues, mosques and houses are heaped upon one another in a haphazard spiral which the cobbled lanes infiltrate as best they can. Toledo is known as the City of the Three Religions or Cultures, because for many centuries the Christians, the Moors and the Jews lived together in relative equality and peace. The city, surrounded by walls, hides great treasures. Today we will visit its awesome Cathedral, a robust Gothic construction which took over 250 years (1227 – 1493) to complete; the church of Santo Tomé, where the Greco’s masterpiece is located: The Burial of Count Orgaz; and one of the two former synagogues located in the city: the Tránsito Synagogue, which holds the Museo Sefardita, or the Santa María La Blanca Synagogue. Farewell dinner and overnight in Toledo.

Following breakfast, we transfer to Madrid airport for return flights home. You will say ‘hasta luego’ (see you later) to your new friends made on this journey with the memories of lifetime!

*206 Tours Disclaimer:
Occasionally local religious and national holidays, weather, traffic conditions and other events may necessitate changes in the sequence of events or the missing of certain events/places. Though every effort will be made to follow the itinerary, it should be considered as an indication, rather than a contract of events and places to be visited.