Tours
SPRING BREAK 2009: SPAIN
April 10-19, 2009
$3528.00 LAND ONLY PRICE
(AIRFARES NOT YET PUBLISHED)
Toledo, Madrid, Segovia, the windmills of La Mancha, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, and BARCELONA
This trip is making our pulse race just writing the brochure. This trip is over a year in the planning and is custom designed with a healthy blend of culture, art, architecture, and guided tours, along with personal time for additional site-seeing and shopping in small groups. Everything is well thought out so that our time is used wisely. Our mostly four-star hotels are all centrally located so we can tour the cities on foot and we have day trips planned by private coach. Our tours appeal to both students and adults and we have many repeat participants, both students and adults. We will see and experience Spain from top to bottom and Spain is an amazing country, with Roman ruins, Moorish and medieval architecture, Renaissance and Baroque palaces and some of the most outstanding Art Nouveau architecture, anywhere. This blurb cannot do justice to all that we will see. Spending money will be needed for lunches and the dinners in Seville and Barcelona and for shopping. There are no hidden costs or optional tours. Our trips have never been the cheapest tours on the market; we like nice hotels, centrally located and full and not continental breakfasts, etc. This will be our twenty-ninth year organizing and leading educational tours. Our chaperones are experienced travelers and work very hard to make the tours memorable, safe and exciting.
TOLEDO was ruled by the Romans, the Visigoths and the Moors, before being re-conquered by King Alfonso VI of Spain. Most of the architecture is medieval and the Gothic Cathedral is known for its amazing polychromed and gilded, life-size, wooden altar. This is the city where El Greco settled and features the Burial of Count Orgaz in Santo Tome, where El Greco is buried. In MADRID we will visit the Prado Museum to see works by Bosch, El Greco, Velásquez, Goya and other giants of art. The Reina Sofia is a modern art museum and is the home of Picasso's Guernica. We will also visit the Royal Palace with its over-the-top lavish banquet rooms, royal residence, armory and pharmacy. Not far from Madrid is the beautiful city of SEGOVIA, known for its Roman Aqueduct and Alcazar (castle). Both of these are amazing, as are the windmills we will see on our way to Seville. Don Quixote battled the windmills of LA MANCHA in Cervantes romantic novel. SEVILLE, the cultural capital of Southern Spain, has been inhabited for over 2000 years by Romans, Vandals, Visigoths and Moors until reconquered by the Catholics. Seville has the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and La Giralda, the bell tower, was once a minaret. The Alcazar is stunning and the city is a charmer. CORDOBA was the Muslim capital of Spain from the 8-11 centuries. Le Mequita (the Great Mosque) is the third largest structure in the Islamic world and features a prayer hall with approximately 500 striped columns. There were many additions and it took eight centuries to complete. GRANADA was the Moorish city in Spin to fall to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. The Alhambra was a palace and fortress built by medieval Moorish rulers and is one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in Spain. Our last stop is BARCELONA the Catalan jewel on the Mediterranean. Barcelona is another world, a richly decorated city full of Gothic, Moorish and Art Nouveau architecture. We are talking about the unique world of Antonio Gaudi with his still unfinished La Sagrada Familia Church, his apartment buildings reminiscent of dragon scales and Guell Park, overlooking Barcelona.
TOUR PRICE INCLUDES:
Airport hotel transfers and travel within Spain by private bus.
Centrally located, mostly 4 star hotels based usually on 3 to a room.
Full breakfasts daily and dinners in Toledo. Entrance fees to Prado and Reina Sofia museums in Madrid.
Guided walking tour of Toledo with entrance into Santo Tome to see El Greco's Burial of Count Orgaz.
Entrance fees and guided tours of Royal Palace in Madrid and Alcazar in Segovia.
Guided tour of the Cathedral and Alcazares Real in Seville.
Entrance fees and guided tour of Mezquita in Cordoba and the Alhambra in Granada.
Private bus tour of Barcelona with emphasis on Gaudi architecture.
Jet-Setter newsletter for packing, budgeting and other travel tips and general information.
A guide booklet for the cities we will be visiting in Spain.
Full time tour director and chaperones.
Airfare, Round-trip from New Orleans, and flight from Seville to Barcelona will be added to price when fares become available. Our past several tours sold out within a couple of weeks of the information being published and we really are reducing the number of tour participants. High school juniors or seniors may earn 3 hours of college credit in conjunction with this tour. Tuition is not included in the tour price. Contact Miss Rich for more information.
DO NOT delay in getting in your deposit or contacting:
Francie Rich or John Hodge: 985.892.5108 / richodge@bellsouth.net
Anne or David Arbo: darbo@ssacad.com
Ms Paige Holtgreve: pholgreve@ssacad.com
This tour is not affiliated or sponsored by any school or organization and participation is at the sole discretion of the chaperones.
"I would go to a garbage dump with Francie and John, that's how much I trust them and how much fun I have with them."
Our tours are totally custom designed by us.
We have been designing, organizing and leading tour for 29 years.
We have been using the same tour company for 27 years.
The tour company, Euro-American Tours is a small company that gives us personal attention day or night.
We don't pride ourself on being the cheapest tour around. We are not. We believe you get what you pay for and we pride ourselves on giving good value for your money. We stand behind what we offer and we have many repeat participants, both students and adults, that back this up. Our tours will never be cheaper than they are now, unless we compromise on quality and we won't. We glady offer references and will answer every questions you have.
Our chaperones are tried and true with experience living and studying abroad or with extensive travel experience as well as really chaperoning. We are on call 24-hours a day.
3-Hours of college credit (Art Appreciation) is offered in conjunction with this tour for high school juniors and seniors, as well as college students. Tuition is not included in the tour price.
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When in San Miguel de Allende we highly recommend the services of Rafael Tovar, Rafa Tours rafatours@hotmail.com
Airport shuttle and tours