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Itinerary

DAY 1 USA / MADRID: Fly transatlantic overnight to Madrid, Spain. Dinner is served and in-flight entertainment is provided.

DAY 2 ARRIVE MADRID: On arrival in Madrid, after clearing customs, your Tour Director will meet you in the arrivals area and escort you to your awaiting coach. Shortly afterwards, depart and make your way towards your centrally located hotel. Your morning and afternoon are free to relax or explore at your own pace. Madrid area has been settled since the Lower Palaeolithic age, but it was not until 1561 that King Philip II made it the capital of his mighty empire. The historic old town, also known as “Madrid de los Austrias” (referring to the Habsburg Empire) is a living example of the city’s 16^th and 17th century, as is its impressive Plaza Mayor. This evening, make your way to Restaurant Taberna de Alabardero in the-Royal Palace area for a welcome dinner. (D)

DAY 3 MADRID: Enjoy breakfast in your hotel. Madrid is a strikingly modern city, the showcase of a country resolutely turned towards the future. Your Local Guide takes you to the Puerta del Sol, Plaza de España with its monument to Cervantes, the Parliament, Cibeles Fountain, elegant Calle Alcala, and Paseo de Castellana. Then, enjoy a highlight visit to the palatial Prado Museum with its priceless art treasures. Enjoy the remainder of your afternoon in Madrid. This evening, you will have your first Spanish Experience, flamenco lessons in one of the best flamenco venues in the city, the famous Villa Rosa. This sanctuary of flamenco first opened as a “tablao” in the spring of 1911; at that time the greats of the flamenco scene met at Villa Rosa. People like Lola Flores, Ava Gardner or Hemingway, all of them loved what Villa Rosa was and meant. Enjoy the show, dinner, sangria and wine! (B/D)

DAY 4 MADRID / TOLEDO / GRANADA: This morning after breakfast, depart from Madrid and start your journey towards Granada. Pause in Toledo, spectacularly situated on a granite hill surrounded by a loop of the Tagus River. Your walking tour with a Local Guide features the Moorish bridge, a visit to an early Synagogue, and the 13th-century gothic Cathedral. Toledo is one of the Spanish cities with the greatest wealth of monuments. Known as the “city of the three cultures”, because Christians, Arabs and Jews lived here together for centuries. Behind its walls, Toledo preserves an artistic and cultural legacy in the form of churches, palaces, fortresses, mosques and synagogues. Afterwards, continue on to Granada where you enjoy dinner in a local restaurant. (B/D)

DAY 5 GRANADA / SEVILLE: Enjoy breakfast in your hotel. Your day starts with a visit to Alhambra Palace & Generalife with your private local guide. The palace complexes of the Alhambra and Generalife, beside the Albaicin, have been declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The Alhambra’s reddish hill houses the old Alcazaba and the Nazarite Royal Palaces. This artistic gem of Arab Granada, built between the 13th and the 15th centuries, is composed of many rooms linked by courtyards, gardens and fountains. Afterwards, enjoy some time at leisure. Granada has, along its historical streets and towns, a great variety of shops. In some of them, time seems to have stopped and conserve the centennial trades of the clay and the ceramics, of the wood and the leather, the construction of guitars, the textile or the forge and the boiler making. Later this afternoon, depart and make your way towards Seville. This evening you are free to explore Seville. (B)

DAY 6 SEVILLE: Today you will discover the most emblematic monuments of Seville in your city tour: the University, the Old Tabacco Factory, setting of Bizet’s opera Carmen. We will then see the Plaza de España, the centerpiece of the 1929 Iberoamerican Exposition. The Bullring, Triana Bridge – the oldest in the city, – designed by none other than Gustav Eiffel. We will visit the Cathedral, the largest gothic cathedral in the world, where Christopher Columbus’ remains rest, Giralda, the church’s bell tower that is Seville’s universal symbol. It is over 100 meters high. Head up to the top and enjoy a bird’s eye view of Seville. Enjoy an afternoon at leisure in Seville. For dinner, you will have your next Spanish experience: you’ll live as a Spaniard. Enjoy a Tapas tour. The most inescapable element of Spanish cooking is tapas, small snacks now popular the world over.  In all of Spain’s cities, towns and villages you will find bars, taverns, even entire neighborhoods, specialized in tapas. Your tour and dinner includes: A Spanish market bursting with smells and colors; a traditional tasca / meson; a meson, where you will enjoy different tastes and flavor of Spanish food. Later, return to your hotel for overnight. (B/D)

DAY 7 SEVILLE / CORDOBA / MADRID: After breakfast, depart and begin your journey towards Madrid. Pause in Cordoba, a World Heritage Site by UNESCO city. Enjoy a city tour of Cordoba with a local guide. Take a stroll through the historic quarter of Cordoba. Entry tickets to Mosque Cathedral included. The Mosque reflects the importance of the city during medieval times and which is a real symbol of Arab domination in the Iberian Peninsula. In the tenth century, during the rule of Abd-al-Rahman III, the medina at one point had a thousand mosques.  Afterwards, continue onwards to Madrid. This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner in a local restaurant in Madrid. (B/D)

DAY 8 MADRID / USA: Enjoy breakfast before departing for Madrid airport and your return flight back to the USA. (B)

OPTIONAL BARCELONA EXTENSION

May 24 – 26, 2019

$839.00 per person

Optional Barcelona Extension Package Includes:

• 2 nights, 4-Star Hotel Catalonia Eixample 1864
• Breakfast daily
• Private group transfer from Madrid hotel to Madrid rail station
• Train ticket from Madrid to Barcelona (Tourist Class)
• Private group transfer from Barcelona rail station to Barcelona Hotel
• Barcelona city sightseeing tour (6 hours)
• English speaking guide (6 hours)
• Entrance to Sagrada Familia
• Private group transfer from Barcelona Hotel to Airport
• Air deviation to return from Barcelona
• 24-hours emergency customer service in Spain

 Optional Barcelona Extension Itinerary:

DAY 1 MADRID / BARCELONA: After breakfast, transfer to Madrid rail station where you board your train for Barcelona. On arrival in Barcelona, you will be met and transferred to you hotel. The remainder of your day is at leisure in Barcelona. (B)

DAY 2 BARCELONA: Enjoy breakfast before meeting with your guide and starting your sightseeing tour of Barcelona. Visit a unique creation that has become Barcelona’s most universal symbol: Sagrada Familia. The brilliant Gaudí agreed to direct this work, succeeding Francisco de Paula. The artist worked on it until his death. Started in 1883, works to complete this grand church continues still today. Afterwards, return to your hotel and enjoy the remainder of your afternoon and evening at leisure in Barcelona. (B)

DAY 3 BARCELONA / USA: Enjoy breakfast before departing for Barcelona airport and your return flight back to the USA. (B)

Please Note: The above optional Private Group extension is based on a minimum of 10 passengers to operate. Single supplement additional $299.00. City taxes are not included and must be paid on checking out of the hotels.

→ Inclusions

 Inclusions

• Round-trip air from Chicago to Madrid on Iberia Airlines
• Madrid – 2 nights, 5-Star Hotel Melia Madrid Princesa
• Granada – 1 night, 4-Star Hotel NH Granada Victoria
• Seville – 2 nights, 5-Star Hotel Gran Melia Colon
• Madrid – 1 night, 5-Star Hotel Melia Madrid Princesa
• Professional English speaking Tour Director throughout
• Luxury motorcoach with services of a professional driver for transfers and sightseeing
• Breakfast each morning, except day of arrival
• 4, three-course dinners with wine in local restaurants, including a Flamenco show in Madrid
• Tapas Tour in Seville
• Madrid city tour with local English speaking guide (3 hours)
• Prado Museum, Madrid
• Toledo city tour with local English speaking guide (3 hours)
• Entrance to Toledo Cathedral
• Local English speaking guide in Granada (2 ½ hours)
• Entrance to Alhambra & Generalife in Granada
• Seville city tour with local English speaking guide (3 hours)
• Entrance to Seville Cathedral and Giralda
• Cordoba tour with local English speaking guide (3 hours)
• Entrance to Cordoba Mosque
• Portfolio of travel documents
• Hotel porterage of one suitcase per person
• 24-hour emergency customer service while in Spain

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