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Destination > Europe > Spain

Glories of Spain and Portugal

Day 1: Home - Madrid

Depart home for your overnight flight to Madrid.

Day 2: Madrid (D)

Arrive in Madrid and transfer to your hotel. After checking into your hotel, the remainder of the day is free for you to acclimatize to the time change.

Day 3: Madrid (B)

After breakfast this morning, you will begin your day with a morning sightseeing tour of Madrid. This sophisticated, proud, stylish and outgoing city was at one time cloaked in authoritarian repression and insularity. Since the civil war, expansion has been vast and rapid but most of the great monuments of the 17th and 18th century survive. There are sweeping plazas and grand boulevards, fountains and palaces, elegant buildings and more than 40 museums. Your tour will take in the 18th century Royal Palace, the Puerto del Sol, the Cervantes Memorial, Plaza Mayor, Gran Via, El Retiro Park and the Prado. Highlights will also include a visit to the old city and the Cathedral. The afternoon will be free to visit the Prado Museum, the 18th Royal Palace the Reina Sofia Art Center, shop or enjoy sightseeing on your own.

Day 4: Madrid - Toledo - Granada (B, D)

Depart early this morning for the historic city of Toledo, the ancient Castillian capital. Toledo boasts a long history dating back to 193 B.C. when the Romans founded the city of Toletum. For centuries it flourished as a city of silk and steel where clergy, merchants and the military co-existed under Moorish rule. At one time it had a population of 200,000 almost 4 times what it is today. For centuries Toledo also enjoyed the reputation as a center for learning and was at one time the capital of Spain. With Toledo’s long history of peaceful coexistence amongst the Jews, Moors and Christians, the city is dotted with historically important buildings of religious significance. Tourists are hard pressed to view even the exteriors of all these monuments in a single day. Highlights of your guided tour will include the Gothic Cathedral, the 13th century synagogue and the El Greco House and Museum. Later you will depart and travel through the rugged landscape of Don Quixote’s La Mancha to the city of Granada.

Day 5: Granada (B)

Today begin your day with a guided tour of the spectacular 13th century Moorish palace, the Alhambra. This gorgeous hilltop fortress palace of the Nasrid kings has been declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site- Spain’s single biggest attraction. Your tour of the palace includes the Casa Real (Royal Palace) considered to be the Alhambra’s crown jewel, and Generalife Gardens, the colourful terraced flower gardens, cypress lined walkways and pools of the summer home of the Nasrid rulers. In the lower city, the Royal Chapel serves as a trophy to celebrate the triumph of the Catholic monarchs over the Moors to take the city as well as a mausoleum. Then have time on your own to shop in the Moorish Market.

Day 6: Granada - Seville (B, D)

Depart this morning for Seville, the vibrant capital of Andalucia. Seville is one of Seville’s loveliest cities and it works at preserving the fascinating Roman, Moorish, Judaic, and Christian past that made it so. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Seville was the richest and most powerful city in Spain filled with Renaissance palaces, churches and monasteries decorated with frescoes and paintings. But although Seville preserves its traditions, much of the city has a new look thanks to the changes brought about by Expo’92 the worlds fair celebrating the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ history making voyage. Remainder of day free for you to explore on your own.

Day 7: Seville (B)

Today you will enjoy a morning sightseeing tour of Seville. Visitors spend most of their time on the east bank of the river in the compact area of the Centro Historico, an old town that once huddled inside the city walls. Highlights of the tour will include Seville’s 4 greatest treasures, the Santa Maria Cathedral with the tomb of Christopher Columbus housed below, the Giralda Tower, the Alcazar, and the winding streets of the Barrio de Santa Cruz. Also see Maria Luis Park, the old Maestranza bullring, and the Barrio de Ttriana, a working class district with its own colourful personality. Once a gypsy haven, it resounds with flamenco music from tabernas. This afternoon is free to shop, enjoy lunch in an outdoor café, or just wander in this graceful and elegant city. This evening you will attend a traditional flamenco show.

Day 8: Seville - Lisbon (B, D)

After an early breakfast, depart this morning from the glorious city Seville and travel northwest past the Portuguese border. You will pay a visit to the enchanting city of Evora, set in Roman, medieval and 17th century walls and is home to over 20 churches and monasteries including the 15th century Sao Francisco. The churches gruesome 17th century Capela dos Ossos was created from the bones of 5000 monks. In 1986, UNESCO declared Evora a World Heritage Site. Then continue through rustic villages, oak forests, and cork tree groves to Lisbon.

Day 9: Lisbon (B)

This morning enjoy a guided sightseeing tour of Lisbon. The most impressive and beautiful tourist sights in Lisbon include the Old Moorish Castle and the part of the old city adjoining it known as the Alfama, Black Horse Square, Eduardo VII Park, the Tower of Belem, the 16th century starting block on the Tagus for many of the ancient explorers and a visit to Jeronimos Monastery to see the tomb of Vasco da Gama. Afternoon free to wander the colorful streets of the Alfama district or to visit other sites.

Day 10: Lisbon - Sintra - Cascais (B, D)

Begin this morning after breakfast a full day sightseeing tour to Sintra and Cascais. The road to Sintra is a spectacular drive along a beautiful mountain road through a national forest reserve. See the stunning medieval Royal Palace which was the summer home of the last kings of Portugal as well as some of the finest country estates of Portugal. On the road to Sintra, see the historic salmon pink Queluz Palace which is a peanut size replica of Versailles. Then it is on to Cascais where you will have time on your own in this resort town.

Day 11: Lisbon - Home (B)

Today transfer to the airport for your return flight home.

Tour includes:

Return Airfare from Home
Arrival and departure transfers
9 nights accommodation
Breakfast daily
5 dinners
Coach from Madrid to Lisbon
Guided walking city tour of Toledo
Panoramic city tours of Madrid, Seville, and Lisbon
Guided tour of the Alhambra
Entrance to the Alhambra in Granada
Entrance to Cathedral and Grecos in Toledo
Entrance to cathedral, Giralda tower, Alcazar and Maestranza in Seville
Famenco show in Seville
Coach transfer to Lisbon
Full day coach tour to Sintra, Cascais
Entrance to Royal Palace in Sintra

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