SPAIN + Lourdes

SPAIN + Lourdes
May 17– 29, 2024

All Inclusive 13 Day
Escorted first class tour

MADRID – BILBAO – PAMPLONA – BARCELONA – LOURDES
plus: Toledo, Burgas, San Sebastian, Getaria, Zaragoza

Tour Land cost:         $3490 Land rate per person in double room
Single supplement:   $1150
Gratuities:                  $150
Arriving:                     Madrid
Departing:                  Lourdes

Included Features:

• • Arrival transfer from Madrid airport to the hotel

  • Centrally located 4*- 5* hotels

  • Luggage handling at the hotels

  • Breakfast daily

  • Welcome reception in Madrid (hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer, or soft drink)

  • Tasting of local tapas called “pintxos” in Bilbao

  • Dinner in Pamplona Compostela (coffee or tea included)

  • Farewell dinner in Barcelona (coffee or tea included)

  • Hotel taxes and service charges

  • Touring by modern air-conditioned motor-coach

  • Professional English-speaking tour director Madrid to Barcelona

  • Sightseeing tours with licensed local guides

  • Admission included where indicated

  • Whisper technology enhanced touring

  • Bus transfer from Barcelona to Lourdes

Tour spotlights:

• • Madrid: grand open squares, late dinners

  • Toledo, crafts, marzipan, captivating monuments

  • Sandstone architecture, prolific university and the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca

  • Pamplona: legendary “Running of the Bulls” festival, gothic style churches

  • Barcelona: fantastic Sagrada Familia, modernist landmarks by Gaudi

Hotels:

• • Madrid: Catalonia Goya (F) or similar

  • Bilbao: Catalonia Gran Via Bilbao (F) or similar

  • Pamplona: Maisonnave (F) or similar

  • Barcelona: Catalonia Gracia (F) or similar

  • Lourdes: Hotel Mercure Lourdes Imperial or similar

Optional Tours:

• • PRADO Museum $30

  • FLAMENCO Show with Dinner $100

  • Excursion to Getxo-Basque Coast near Bilbao $60

  • Excursion to Montserrat – Monastery with Black Madonna $20

Not Included:  Travel Insurance and airfare. We can assist you in purchasing your air.

Please be at departure airport at least 3 hrs prior to flight departure time. Check your baggage to Madrid.

You will be met and transferred to your hotel. The day is free to begin exploring the city. Later, join your fellow travelers and your tour director for a welcome reception.

We begin with a guided half-day city tour of Madrid. Our drive takes us through the Gran Vía and the Passeo de Castellana, past the Plaza de España, Plaza de Oriente, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Atocha Station, the fountain of Neptune, Cibeles fountain, the Bullring, the Santiago Bernabeu soccer stadium and much more. The afternoon is at leisure. (B)

Today we visit Toledo, a city with a wealth of monuments. It is known as the “city of the three cultures” because Christians, Arabs and Jews lived there together for centuries. During our guided tour we visit the Santo Tome Church with art by El Greco and the Synagogue of Santa María. From Toledo, we return to Madrid where the afternoon is at leisure. (B)

We depart for Bilbao. On the way, we stop in Burgos. Here, with local guide, visit the Cathedral. There will be time for lunch on your own. Afterwards, we continue to Bilbao where we have a tasting of local tapas called pintxos. (B, D)

During our visit to Bilbao, we discover a vibrant old town with many shops, squares and typical Basque tavernas. We enter the Guggenheim Museum, an architectural masterpiece designed by Frank Gehry. The collection includes large-scale and site-specific art by such contemporary artists as Jeff Koons and Willem de Kooning. The remainder of the day is free. (B) Optional tour: Visit to Basque coast

After breakfast, we depart for San Sebastian. En route, we visit Getaria, a charming Basque coastal village. Upon arrival in San Sebastian, we see the Maria Cristina Hotel. It is here, at the Kursaal Palace, that the International Film Festival takes place. We also see La Concha beach, a crescent-shaped urban seaboard. In the afternoon, we arrive in Pamplona. Dinner is served later that night. (B, D)

After breakfast, we have a half-day guided sightseeing tour of Pamplona featuring the Ciudadela, the city walls parks and gardens. We will hear about the ‘Running of the Bulls’ race, part of the San Fermin festival. From Pamplona, we continue to Zaragoza for lunch on your own. Later that afternoon, we arrive in Barcelona and the rest of the day is at leisure. (B)

Our guided half-day sightseeing tour includes Barcelona’s most important artistic sights: Gaudi’s Batlló, Casa Milá, the Cathedral Sagrada Familia and Guell Park, declared an artistic monument and mankind’s heritage by UNESCO. In the afternoon, you are free to explore more on your own. Join your fellow travelers and your tour director for the farewell dinner. (B, D)

After breakfast, we join our touring coach through the Pyranees for travel to Lourdes, France. Upon arrival check-in and evening free.

Breakfast. You will tour on your own one of the holiest Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world. Lourdes is a town in southwestern France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains. It’s known for the Sanctuaries Notre-Dame de Lourdes, or the Domain, a major Catholic pilgrimage site. Each year, millions visit the Grotto of Massabielle (Grotto of the Apparitions) where, in 1858, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a local woman. In the grotto, pilgrims can drink or bathe in water flowing from a spring.

Overnight in Lourdes. (BD)

Breakfast and day at leisure. Additional program TBA. Dinner tonight. Overnight in Lourdes. (BD)

Breakfast and transfer to airport for flights home.