Spain – Food Culture in Andalusia

ITINERARY

• DAY 1
  Cultural, Spain

  Welcome to Spain!

  Your driver will be waiting in the arrivals area of Sevilla Airport, holding a sign with your name on it. They will transfer you to your hotel in the city center.
  Seville is one of the birthplaces of flamenco music. Suburbs such as Triana and La Macarena are a melting pot of flamenco influences and the city is full of superb venues offering live performances. Meet your local resident guide in your hotel lobby and enjoy a stroll through the city center to a renowned flamenco venue. As you walk, your guide will prepare you to dip your toe into the underworld of flamenco, its history, origins, and influences before sitting down to watch a live flamenco performance. The venues that we select invite different professional artists to perform each night to ensure maximum spontaneity and quality in each show. After enjoying the flamenco show, your guide will take you on a tapas tour where you can rub shoulders with the locals and sample some of Seville’s top tapas in the buzzing bars of the city center.

  What's included?

  • Dinner
  • Accommodation
  • Transfer
• DAY 2
  Travelers having private horse carriage ride in Seville, Spain

  Seville - Explore Seville’s Greatest Monuments

  Meet your private guide and set off to explore Seville’s greatest monuments. Visit the Santa Cruz suburb and the old Jewish quarter. This is an area peppered with narrow, meandering streets and charming plazas. Learn about Seville’s great cathedral, the largest gothic cathedral in the world and holder of the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Visit the Alcázar, a royal palace built by Moorish kings, with beautiful gardens and the finest examples of Mudejar architecture to be seen today. Learn about the fascinating relationship between Peter the Cruel and Mohamed V which allowed the Alcázar to benefit from the finest artists and architects in Spain.
  This afternoon is all yours to explore at your leisure. Your TNA Pack will hold the secrets to the city including our favorite tapas bars and restaurants and things to see and do.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 3
  Placa Espana, Seville

  Seville - Art Restoration Studio

  The area of Triana began as a working-class settlement on the fringe of Seville city. It was often shunned by the main population, left outside the city walls, and unprotected against the wrath of the Guadalquivir River. Against all adversity, it gradually created its own identity. For centuries it was a working-class mariner’s suburb, full of gypsy flamenco, exquisite ceramics, famous bullfighters, and the headquarters of the Spanish inquisition. In the silent side streets and behind closed doors are hidden tales and legends from centuries past.
  We invite you on a very different walking tour. Step away from the city center monuments and the tourist bustle. Enjoy stunning views across the river towards the main city. Delve into Triana and listen to swashbuckling tales from the times of Columbus, discover the origins of their renowned ceramic tradition, hear humbling stories of the Spanish inquisition, and meet some of Seville’s most unique characters of today and yesteryear.
  In the old town of Seville, hidden down a small side street, a simple, nondescript door opens to welcome us into a nineteenth-century abode filled with artistic treasures. Renowned art restorers, Jesus & Pablo invite us into their home and studio to share with us their passion for their profession and reveal the techniques they use to save age-old pieces and bring them back to life.
  Far removed from museum queues and shuffling tour groups and in the privacy of their home, these experts in their field, take the time to talk us through the numerous works of art that are being restored. Depending on the day, you might find Golden Age paintings, rococo mirrors, ivory crucifixes, or Roman pottery over 2000 years old. They will demonstrate how to remove the dirt and grime from an age-old canvas, leaving a clean and fresh original image. Watch them piece together ceramics to recreate Roman pottery. Discover how chips, rips, and tears can be cured and hidden as if they had never happened.
  If you have a passion for art, spending a morning with these experts is a truly unique and unforgettable experience.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 4
  Vejer de la frontera

  Vejer de la Frontera - The Day Trip to Jerez and Cádiz

  Take a day to visit the beautiful cities of Cádiz and Jerez de la Frontera. Jerez is the capital of the sherry region, the cradle of flamenco song, and home of the Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art. Spend your morning exploring Jerez where you will discover the city with a guided walk, stopping outside important monuments and passing through the elegant center. Arrive at a local sherry winery where you will enjoy a visit and tasting before traveling to Cádiz. Cádiz is the oldest city in Western Europe. It juts out into the Atlantic ocean with water on all sides and charming colonial architecture that reminds many of Cuba. You’ll have free time for lunch in the old city before exploring the center and its charming streets and plazas. In the afternoon, continue to your accommodation in Vejer.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 5
  Tiny Streets of Vejer de la frontera

  Vejer de la Frontera - Explore the winding streets and whitewashed houses of the old town

  This excursion combines hilltop white villages, beautiful coastal scenery, and incredible seafood. Meet your guide in reception and begin your morning by exploring the winding streets and whitewashed houses of the old town of Vejer. Enjoy the 360º views of the Atlantic, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the surrounding countryside. Learn all about Vejer’s rich and curious history. Pass through Barbate, Spain’s most famous tuna fishing port. Your drive will take you through the Breña park pine forest before dropping down to perhaps the most beautiful beach in Andalucia. On a clear day, you can gaze across Africa. Enjoy the silky sand dunes and cool Atlantic waters on the beach, or hike to the lighthouse viewpoint where the Battle of Trafalgar was fought. There will also be the chance to sample some of the renowned seafood of the Costa de la Luz is one of the traditional local restaurants. There will be time to further explore the “Coast of Light” and its picturesque seaside fishing villages before making your way back to Vejer, digesting all that you have seen and eaten during the day!

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 6
  Ronda street balloons in Andalusia, Spain

  Ronda - Visit Zahara de la Sierra and Grazalema

  Prepare yourself for an excursion full of breath-taking scenery and enchanting villages. We travel to the beautiful Sierra de Grazalema, taking in some of the most spectacular views in Andalucia. Driving through olive groves, then rolling meadows, cork forests, and mountainous terrain we will visit Zahara de la Sierra & Grazalema, perched atop limestone cliffs like snowdrops, with their immaculate streets, whitewashed houses, and artisanal craft and food producers. There will be the chance to delve further into the Sierra to explore tracks and trails formerly used by bandits and ideal for hiking, that take us through pine forest and nature reserve, stopping along the way to enjoy the views. Don’t forget to keep your eyes on the sky to spot a great array of birds of prey. Sample the renowned local food including Payoyo cheese, cured meats, and mountain stews in a local restaurant. Immerse yourself in the true Andalucia, away from the hustle and bustle, where the siesta thrives and the locals are so laid back they’re falling over!

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 7
  Ronda is a stunning white town in the Andalusia region, Spain

  Ronda - Experience the tiny backstreets of one of the oldest towns in Spain,

  Meet your driver in reception this morning and set off to explore Ronda and its surroundings. Your driver will be at your disposal throughout the day and will return you to your accommodation in the afternoon.
  Today one of our favorite locals will take you on a private guided tour of the Ronda very few visitors get to experience. You'll stroll through the tiny backstreets of one of the oldest towns in Spain, past incredible buildings, and be absolutely mesmerized by the views of the River Tajo from the Ronda Bridge. Free time for lunch.
  Ronda is a small wine region that is making a lot of noise amongst wine connoisseurs. Varying altitudes and microclimates and a wide variety of grapes and techniques make it a fascinating region to visit and taste wines in. We have arranged a visit to one of the area's smaller, family-run bodegas. Learn all about their journey with its trials and tribulations, before sitting down to try their finest wines with your delightful and very chatty host!
  
  

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 8
  Ronda, Spain

  Ronda - Spending a day in the life of a Mountain Villager

  Today your guide is going to take you to a beautiful rural area, to the South of Ronda, sandwiched between the Sierras and the sea, called the Genal Valley. Here you'll be able to explore tiny towns and beautiful countryside with a really striking hike, really getting under the skin of the local culture and far removed from the areas that are more frequented by tourists.
  When you arrive at this little mountain village, you will meet Pepe, a warm and jovial resident who will be your guide and host whilst here. Pepe will take you for a wander through the local countryside, telling you all about the local lifestyle, the fruits and products that they farm, and their seasons. You'll meet donkeys, dogs, cats, local neighbors and you'll take in some breathtaking views of the village and the surrounding sierra. Drop down into the settlement itself and let Pepe show you around this charming village of 300 inhabitants!! Visit the restored olive mill and the local breadmaker. See how they make their bread in an 18th-century oven and chat with the owners as well. Pepe will then take you to his pride and joy, his 300 square foot winery!! Once you've met Pepe's family and he's told you about the wines he's making, sit down to a sumptuous lunch, prepared by Pepe's wife and enjoy a true country meal "en Familia". We can't highlight enough how personal and touching this experience is, as well as delicious! We hope you enjoy it!
  

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 9
  The Alhambra is a palace in Granada, Andalusia, Spain

  Granada - Explore of the Albaicín district

  Your driver will transfer you from Ronda to Granada. The trip takes about 2 hours.
  A relaxed, informal exploration of the Albaicín district, the one-time Moorish quarter of Granada, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. Our expert guide will show you how this medieval Islamic city has kept its identity into the modern age, explaining its social history and character in anecdotal style, and also answering your questions about current-day Spain. As you walk through its cat’s cradle of twisting alleyways you will come across stunning views of the city, the majestic Alhambra palaces, and, beyond, the often snow-capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. You will pass by churches built on the sites of mosques, stroll underneath the walls of the scented gardens of Carmenes, and stop in squares to take in the slow rhythms of daily life in this most traditional and yet singular neighborhood. A stop for refreshments in a bar or café is included.
  For dinner, we have reserved you a table at Restaurant Aben Humeya. Aside from the excellent food and service, you'll also be able to enjoy spectacular views across the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada.
  

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 10
  Alhambra is one of the most important Islamic architecture located in Granada, Spain

  Granada - Guided Tour to the magnificent Alhambra

  This morning will be one of the highlights of your holiday in Spain! You're in for a guided tour of the truly magnificent ‘Alhambra’ with a private guide to bring it alive. With as many myths and legends as there are arches and fountains, the Alhambra is enthralling so expect the next few hours to fly by. It’s also got the best view in Granada and that’s worth pausing over too.
  
  After the visit, you’ll have free time to explore the Alhambra at your leisure and then make your own way back down to Granada when you’re ready.
  

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Accommodation
  • Tour
• DAY 11

  Depart to Granada Airport to fly back home

  Your driver will be waiting for you in the lobby of your hotel to transfer to Granada Airport.

  What's included?

  • Breakfast
  • Transfer