Day 1: Arrive in Madrid, Spain.
Check in to your hotel. The rest of the day is free to start exploring lively Madrid. Tonight, meet your Tour Director and fellow travellers. Included meals: Dinner
Day 2: Madrid-Avila-Salamanca-Coimbra, Portugal.
Visit fortified Ávila with its intact medieval city walls, then on to Salamanca. Be sure to spend some time wandering around Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor, considered the most beautiful square in Spain. Journey into the valley of the Serra da Estrela on your way to Coimbra in Portugal. Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 3: Coimbra-Fatima-Obidos-Lisbon.
Enjoy an orientation tour of Coimbra, strategically situated on a hill overlooking the Mondego River. Continue to Fátima to visit the Sanctuary, a catholic pilgrimage site where the Virgin Mary appeared to three shepherd children—Francisco, Jacinth, and Lucia—on May 13, 1917. On to Obidos, a fortified city still flanked by towers and bastions overlooking the countryside dotted with windmills. Overnight in Lisbon. Included meals: Breakfast
Day 4: Lisbon.
Henry the Navigator made Lisbon the 15th-century “Mistress of the Seas.” You’ll see his monument, the Belem Tower, the Moorish Citadel, the impressive Black Horse Square, and other highlights on your guided city tour. Spend the afternoon at leisure in the Alfama’s tile-decorated streets, or discover the Portuguese Riviera by joining our optional excursion. Included meals: Breakfast
Day 5: Lisbon-Seville, Spain.
Drive into the Alentejo through the countryside, famous for its production of cork. Cross the border at Vila Verde into Spain and journey into Andalucia, enjoying quite different scenery as you skirt the Sierra de Aracena before reaching delightful Seville. Included meals: Breakfast, Dinner
Day 6: Seville.
Seville is the city of passionate flamenco and one of Spain’s most colorful and vibrant cities. Enjoy an included sightseeing tour with all the main highlights, including the iconic Plaza de España, located in the centre of the Parque de María Luisa. The park was designed in a "Moorish paradisical style," with a half mile of tiled fountains, pavilions, walls, ponds, benches, and exhedras; lush plantings of palms, orange trees, Mediterranean pines, and stylized flower beds. Numerous buildings were constructed in the park to provide spaces for the Ibero-American exhibition World Fair of 1929. Included meals: Breakfast
Day 7: Seville-Cordoba-Madrid.
Travel to Cordoba, Spain’s most Moorish city with its Mezquita, which is rightly known as one of Islam’s greatest pieces of architecture outside the Arab world. Continue through the very heart of La Mancha, famed for its castles and windmills, to Madrid. This evening, why not join the optional traditional tapas dinner and highlights of Madrid? Included meals: Breakfast
Day 8: Madrid.
Enjoy free time in Madrid, or join the rewarding optional trip to Toledo. The splendid setting of this old walled city
above the Tagus was made famous in El Greco’s painting—even now, it’s like a great open-air museum of Spanish history and art. Later, join the included Madrid city sightseeing. As the capital of Spain and situated 2,180 feet above sea level, the Spaniards call Madrid the nearest thing to Heaven. Included meals: Breakfast
Day 9: Madrid
Your holiday ends with breakfast this morning.
