Payment of bespoke trip to Andalusia and Madrid. 7th – 13th of November 2021. 2pax.
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Description and schedule of services
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7th of November, Sunday: arrival to Madrid and high-speed train to Seville. Overnight in Seville.
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2:30pm: upon arrival of your flight to Madrid airport, head to the arrivals gate and take a taxi to Madrid Atocha Train station for your afternoon high-speed train to Seville.
4pm: departure of your high-speed train from Madrid Atocha train station to Seville. We will buy you flexible tickets so that if there’s a delay in your flight, we will know in advance and postpone your train tickets accordingly.
6:30pm: upon arrival to Seville train station, take a taxi to your hotel in Seville old town.
6:45pm: upon arrival to your hotel in Seville, check-in and spend the rest of your day at leisure recovering from your trip and/or enjoying a welcome dinner in one of the restaurants we’ll recommend. We will give you recommendations to make the most of your free time in Seville.
Your hotel is located in the less touristy and authenic Santiago – Encarnación district and near casual bars and restaurants and small local shops.
Overnight in Seville. Superior double room with breakfast included in hotel Casas del Rey Baeza (4*)
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8th of November, Monday: Seville Royal Moorish Palace and cooking lesson in the morning and flamenco and tapas tour in the evening. Overnight in Seville.
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9:30am: be met by your personal local guide at your hotel to start a private walking tour that will take you through the winding streets of Seville’s Jewish quarter to the most impressive World Heritage Site of the city: the Alcazar or Royal Moorish Palace. Along the way, you will be given an introduction about the history, architecture and urban planning of this section of the city, before entering the Alcazar.
The Alcazar is a massive complex of palaces erected in different periods and of breath-taking gardens of different styles. It has stunning historical constructions featuring a very particular crossover between Hispanic-Muslim and Christian architecture styles, called Mudejar. This style became very fashionable in Spain in the 14th and 15th centuries amongst the Christian nobility and it reached its maximum splendour in Seville. Another essential part of the Alcazar is the famous house of Trade, which once hosted the offices from where all the commerce with the new world was managed. After enjoying these inner areas, you will be taken to the gardens which are an exquisite sample of European gardening from the 16th until the 20th centuries.
12pm: after your visit to the Alcazar and the Jewish quarter, you will be escorted by your local guide to the house of a local lady who has a cooking studio in her house.
Every trip to Spain should include at least one meal cooked by a caring and knowledgeable Spanish host in a house. Spanish home food is the best that can be found in the country, so a homemade Spanish feast (at least!) is a must in every trip to Spain for any food lovers.
Besides, learning how to cook some Spanish recipes will allow you to travel back to Spain from your own kitchen whenever you like! All this and more is what you will get to experience and learn during this cooking lesson.
Upon arrival to the house of your cooking instructor, you will be offered something to drink and then your culinary experience will start with some explanations about the origin and quality of some selected produce accompanied by some tastings. Then it will be time to cook a selection of regional recipes that will make an excellent and comprehensive lunch, that you will be able to enjoy alfresco (weather permitting) in the fabulous terrace of your host, which overlooks the Cathedral of Seville, or in the dining area of her kitchen (depending on the weather). Finally and after a sweet indulgence, your culinary experience will finish leaving you with a happy belly and a happy soul!
3pm: end of your cooking lesson and lunch and free time until your evening flamenco and tapas tour.
6:30pm: reconnect with your personal local host by the reception desk of your hotel to start a guided walk towards a selected flamenco venue in Seville town. This introductory walk is aimed at making you learn about the origins of flamenco music and also about its evolution throughout the centuries. This will set the context for (and enhance your appreciation and enjoyment of) the flamenco performance in a small and intimate venue that will follow, with 4 people on stage (one singer, one guitarist and two dancers).
7:30pm: start of the flamenco performance.
8:30pm: after your flamenco performance, enjoy a tapas tasting tour through some selected bars of Seville old town. Along the journey, you will learn about and enjoy this genuinely Spanish approach to enjoying a meal. Your tour will take you to 2 – 3 selected tapas bars where locals like to gather with family and friends and where you will taste a selection of 6 – 9 local dishes to share and up to 4 drinks per person (wine, beer, refreshments, water).
10:30pm: after your tapas and wines adventure, be escorted back to your hotel stopping along the way for a sweet local treat.
11pm: arrival to your hotel and end of services for the day.
Overnight in Seville. Superior double room with breakfast included in hotel Casas del Rey Baeza (4*)
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9th of November, Tuesday: Day trip to Córdoba. Overnight in Seville.
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9am: private transfer in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan with your own personal driver from your hotel in Seville to Córdoba old town.
10:30am: upon arrival to Córdoba old town, be met by your personal local host to go on a 3h discovery journey of the historical centre of the city. A UNESCO site since 1994, Córdoba is an inspirational city, which during the Middle Ages, saw a peaceful interaction between the three great Mediterranean cultures. Jews, Muslims and Christians coexisted then in the city turning it into a unique intellectual hub that gave birth to very renowned philosophers, poets, scientists and doctors. This also resulted in the construction of unique buildings of remarkable historical signficance. During your private walking tour, you’ll learn about the period of maximum intellectual splendour of the city and you will see beautiful examples of architecture and urban planning that will allow you to recreate all the grandeur of this era, which has the Great Mosque – Cathedral, the synagogue and the Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs as its most representative constructions. The Great Mosque-Cathedral is probably the most though-provoking building in Spain and your personal local host will uncover all its beauty and complexity for you. You will understand its origins, its different enlargements and the role that the building has played in the culture and social fabric of the city throughout the centuries. The synagogue will allow you to understand the very important Jewish – Sephardic community that Córdoba once had and how much it embraced Hispanic-Muslim decorative arts in its places of devotion. The Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs is a fortification treasuring Roman and Visigothic remains that became an important royal residence in the Hispanic-Muslim and Christian times. Your tour of this landmark will be a journey through the history of the city and also through probably the most beautiful gardens that one can find in Córdoba.
1:30pm: end of your tour and free time for lunch at leisure and to do some further exploration of the city.
4pm: private transfer from Córdoba old town back to Seville.
5:30pm: arrival to your hotel in Seville and end of services for the day.
Overnight in Seville. Superior double room with breakfast included in hotel Casas del Rey Baeza (4*)
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10th of November, Wednesday: From Seville to Granada through rural Andalusia, meeting artisanal food producers along the way and with lunch in a small whitewashed village. Overnight in Granada.
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8:30am: meet your personal local host at your hotel and be transferred in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan with a dedicated driver to a traditional olive oil mill. Along the way you will be explained about rural life in Southernmost Spain and about its artisanal producers, before meeting some selected ones yourself!
9:45am: arrival to the traditional olive oil mill. Meeting with the owner and explanation of how they make their olive oil, with olives coming from both the surrounding groves and wild olive trees. Tasting of their olive oil at the end of the visit.
11am: private transfer from the olive oil mill to the farm of a salt producer where everything has been done manually since the Roman times.
11:15am: arrival to the farm of the salt producer and private tour of the area where he has a natural salt water spring and the facilities that he uses to extract the salt from this water. These facilities have been used since the Roman times and the family who owns them now still follows the same ancient methods to extract the salt. You will learn about them and about the different types of salt that they produce.
12:15pm: private transfer from the salt farm to the farm of a local goat shepherd.
12:45pm: arrival to the farm, meeting with the shepherd, understanding of his very artisanal approach to cheese making and tasting of selected cheeses in the farm with him.
1:30pm: end of the visit to the shepherd and lunch in the nearby whitewashed village of El Bosque.
3pm: end of lunch and private transfer from the restaurant to Granada.
5:45pm: arrival to Granada and end of services for the day.
Your hotel is located in the iconic quarter of El Albayzín, which was granted the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. It is a delightful quarter of traditional houses of Hispanic-Muslim architecture offering the most beautiful views of the Alhambra that Granada has to offer. We will give you recommendations to make the most of your free time in Granada.
Overnight in Granada. Double room with Alhambra views with breakfast included in hotel Palacio de Santa Inés (3*)
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11th of November, Thursday: Day at leisure in Granada and high-speed train to Madrid. Overnight in Madrid
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12:50pm: private transfer from your hotel in Granada to Antequera Santa Ana train station to catch your high-speed train to Madrid from there at 2:25pm.
2:05pm: arrival to Antequera Santa Ana.
2:25pm: departure of your high-speed train from Antequera Santa Ana train station to Madrid.
4:55pm: upon arrival to Madrid Atocha train station, take a taxi to your hotel in Madrid.
7:30pm: arrival to your hotel in Madrid and rest of the day at leisure in Madrid. We will give you recommendations to make the most of your free time in the city.
Your hotel in Madrid is located in one of the most vibrant and centrally located quarters of the city and surrounded by numerous casual bars, restaurants and interesting small local shops.
Overnight in Madrid. Premium double room with balcony with breakfast included in hotel Only you Boutique (4*)
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12th of November, Friday: Day at leisure in Madrid with enough time to visit a Covid19 testing clinic if necessary
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Overnight in Madrid. Premium double room with balcony with breakfast included in hotel Only you Boutique (4*)
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13th of November, Saturday: Departure from Madrid airport.
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10am: take a taxi from your hotel in Madrid to Madrid airport
10:30am: arrival to Madrid airport on time for your flight at 12:30pm.
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Pricing
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The price of this bespoke trip for a private group of 2 people is 4850 Euros.
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This price includes
– 3 nights with breakfast included in Hotel Casas del Rey de Baeza in Seville (4*) in a superior double room.
– 1 night with breakfast included in Hotel Palacio de Santa Inés in Granada (3*) in a double room with Alhambra views.
– 2 nights with breakfast included in Hotel Only Boutique in Madrid (4*) in a premium double room with balcony.
– High-speed train tickets (1st class seats) to travel from Madrid to Seville and from Antequera Santa Ana to Madrid.
– All private transportation services mentioned above (day trip to Córdoba, trip from Seville to Granada and transfer from Granada to Antequera Santa Ana) in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan with a dedicated driver.
– A carefully selected, knowledgeable, enthusiastic and kind personal local host for every tour as per mentioned above.
– All entrance tickets and admissions for each of the sites included in the tour program.
– A cooking lesson in Seville with all the necessary ingredientes and wine followed by lunch in the house of your instructor (on the terrace if the weather is gentle or in the dining space of her kitchen). A menu suggestion will be sent to you in advance for you to approve or suggest modifications.
– Tickets for a selected flamenco performance in a small and intimate venue in Seville old town.
– A tapas dinner through 2 – 3 selected tapas bar of Seville old town including a selection of 6 – 9 dishes to share and up to 4 drinks per person (wine, beer, refreshements, water).
– Private visits with tastings to an olive oil mill, to a salt farm and to a cheese farm in rural Andalusia.
– Lunch in a selected local restaurant in the whitewashed village of el Bosque including starters to share, one main per person, one dessert per person and wine / beer / water / refreshments.
– Petrol, parkings, tolls and all expenses of your drivers and of your guides.
– Maps of Seville, Córdoba and Granada delivered to your hotel in Seville prior to your arrival.
– A list of recommended things to do and see during your free time in each of the cities you will visit.
– A list of recommended places to go for food in each of the cities you will visit.
– A list of recommended testing clinics in Madrid where to get a fast Covid19 test with the corresponding certificated of results shortly afterwards.
– All taxes.
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This price excludes
– Any taxis you may need / want to take.
– The costs of your Covid19 tests should you need them.
– Any meals not mentioned right above.
– Anything else not mentioned right above.
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Confirmation and payments
In order to confirm this tour program we require a 30% deposit of the grand total no later than the 30th of August 2021 via credit/debit card. The remaining 70% must be paid via the same method no later than 30 days prior to the start of the tour program.
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30% deposit needed no later than the 30th of August 2021 to confirm the tour program: 1455 Euros.
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Final 70% needed no later than 30 days prior to the start of the tour program to fully pay it: 3395 Euros.
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Cancellation policy
– If you cancelled your tour program more than 30 days prior to its start: we’d charge the 30% deposit only.
– If you cancelled your tour program between 30 and 15 days prior to its start: we’d charge 50% of the full cost of the tour program.
– If you cancelled your tour program between 15 and 8 days prior to its start: we’d charge 75% of the full cost of the tour program.
– If you cancelled your tour program 7 days or less prior to its start: we’d charge 100% of the full cost of the tour program.
*If the travel restrictions related to the pandemic didn’t allow for the tour program to happen, we’d give you a full refund.
