Payment of bespoke tour program of Southern Spain | 18th – 23rd of July | 3 pax
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Description and schedule of services
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18th of July: arrival of your flight to Seville airport, transfer to your hotel and rest of the day at leisure to recover from your flight
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8:15pm: upon arrival of your flight to Seville airport, collect your luggage and walk to the arrivals hall. Your personal driver will be waiting for you there holding a sign saying “Theresa McManigan – Genuine Andalusia”. Then be transferred in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan to your hotel in Seville.
9:15pm (estimated): arrival to your hotel in Seville and rest of the day at leisure to recover from your flight. We will give you recommendations of things to do and see in the city and of places to eat too.
Overnight in Seville: hotel Alfonso XIII (not booked through Genuine Andalusia).
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19th of July: morning walking tour of Seville most impressive World Heritage Sites followed by a cooking lesson with a local chef in her cooking studio.
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9:15am: be met by your personal local guide at your hotel in Seville to start a private walking tour that will take you to visit its impressive World Heritages Sites: the Alcazar or Moorish palace and the Cathedral with its Giralda tower.
You will start your discovery journey by visiting the Alcazar, which is a massive complex of palaces erected in different periods and of breath-taking gardens of different styles. The Alcazar 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 splendor 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 landscaping from the 16th until the 20th centuries.
Then you will be taken to visit the Cathedral, which is the largest gothic temple in the World and where Christopher Columbus is buried. The Cathedral of Seville was built on a vast extension of land where previously a Mosque had been erected. An important part of the Mosque was preserved and it is now a part of the Cathedral. This makes it a unique construction featuring styles as diverse as Hispanic-Muslim, Gothic, Renaissance, Neoclassical and Baroque. A most important part of the Cathedral is its bell tower known as la Giralda, which is a perfectly preserved Hispanic-Muslim minaret from the period when a Mosque occupied the grounds where the Cathedral stands today. During your tour you will be taken to the top in order to enjoy the wonderful views of Seville that one can admire from there.
12:15pm: after your visit to the Cathedral, get on a taxi with your local guide towards the cooking studio of a selected local chef.
12:30pm: upon arrival, 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, through 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 in the cooking studio of your instructor. Finally and after a sweet indulgence, your culinary experience will finish leaving you with a happy belly and a happy soul!
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 is a must on every trip to Spain for any food lover. 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 tour.
3:30pm: end of your cooking experience with your local host and rest of the day at leisure.
Overnight in Seville: hotel Alfonso XIII (not booked through Genuine Andalusia).
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20th of July: day trip from Seville to Córdoba and evening flamenco and tapas tour through the quarter of Triana
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8:15am: be met by your personal driver at your hotel and be transferred in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan to Córdoba old town.
10am: upon arrival to Córdoba old town, be left in the hands of your personal local guide to start a private walking tour 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 significance.
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 Chapel of Saint Bartholomew as its most representative constructions.
The Great Mosque-Cathedral is probably the most thought-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.
In the Chapel of Saint Bartholomew you will be explained about the transformations that the Jewish quarter of Córdoba suffered after the pogrom of 1391 and how it was repopulated with Christians, who were also very heavily influenced by Hispanic-Muslim decorative arts.
1pm: after your tour, enjoy some free time in the city for lunch at leisure. We will give you recommendations and will book a table for you if you wish.
2:30pm: reconnect with your driver and be transferred back to your hotel in Seville.
4:15pm: arrival to your hotel in Seville and free time to relax and maybe have a siesta and/or a dip in the pool, before your evening flamenco and tapas tour through the quarter of Triana.
6:30pm: meet your personal local host by the reception desk of your hotel to start a guided walk towards a selected flamenco venue in the iconic quarter of Triana.
This introductory walk is aimed at learning how flamenco music emerged from South West Spain as a result of a slow fusion of the ancient multicultural musical heritage of Southern Spain with the original gypsy rhythms and musical roots. 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 Seville old town. Your tour will take you to 2 – 3 selected tapas bars where the 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). This will make an excellent opportunity to learn about Southern Spanish gastronomy and wines, about the connection of different foods to different festivities, regions and specific periods of history and also about the dynamics of tapas bars in Southern Spain.
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: hotel Alfonso XIII (not booked through Genuine Andalusia).
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21st of July: from Seville to Cadiz via Jerez for an immersion into the local culture, food and wine scenes
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9:45am: meet your personal driver at your accommodation and be transferred in a modern and comfortable Mercedes vehicle to Jerez old town.
11am: upon arrival to Jerez, meet your personal sherry host and start a private walking tour of the old town aimed at learning about the Hispanic-Muslim origins of the city and about the transformations that it experience (architecture, urban planning, social composition and overall character) in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the local wines became probably the most fashionable drinks in the world.
Your visit will also include a tour of the local market in order for you to understand not only the produce that shapes the local gastronomy but also the very important proximity service it is for the local community and the role it plays in the social fabric of the city.
12pm: end of your walking tour in a selected sherry bodega and private tour with the owner aimed at learning about the aging process of the different types of sherry. This will be followed by the corresponding tastings and by some basic notions about the art of pairing food and sherry.
1:30pm: end of the visit to the sherry bodega and private transfer to a selected local restaurant just outside Jerez on the way to Cadiz.
1:50pm: arrival to the restaurant and pairing lunch there. You will be given further notions about the local art of pairing food and sherry, this time through practice. During lunch, you will learn and experience how different sherries can boost the flavors of different foods.
3:20pm: end of lunch and private transfer to your accommodation in Cadiz.
4pm: arrival to your accommodation in Cadiz and end of services for the day.
Overnight in Cadiz: hotel Parador (not booked through Genuine Andalusia).
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22nd of July: culture and gastronomy walking tour of the colonial coastal city of Cadiz
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9:30am: meet your personal local host at your accommodation to start a private walking tour of Cadiz old town with a special focus on the foundation of the city by Phoenicians 3000 years ago and on the period when it held the monopoly of all trade with America, formerly established in Seville.
You will start this tour seeing incredibly well preserved evidence of the Phoenician past of the city. This will allow you to understand who the Phoenicians were, where they came from, why they based themselves in Cadiz 3000 years ago and the impact that their arrival had in the present history, culture, gastronomy and wines of Southern Spain.
Later, you will travel forward in time to the 18th century, when the city held the monopoly of all trade with the Americas, formerly established in Seville. The bourgeoisie that settled down in Cádiz in this period transformed the city completely into a refined and cosmopolitan colonial hub. These new inhabitants of the city erected some impressive colonial mansions and brought to Cádiz not only gold, silver, mahogany and other precious materials but also new ideas that transformed the mentality of the city and later of the whole of Spain.
Along this second part of the tour you will visit some selected buildings that will reveal the wealth, refinement and change of mentality that the city enjoyed in this colonial period.
12pm: end of your introductory walking tour in the local market of Cádiz. At the market, you will be taken to selected stalls to do some tastings of selected local produce. You will also be given explanations about the similarities and differences between the markets in Jerez and Cadiz and between the gastronomy of both cities.
12:30pm: end of your tour of the market and small walk to a selected local tavern. Once at the tavern, you will enjoy a wine tasting aimed to learn about the wines that traveled from Cadiz to the new world.
1:30pm: end of the wine tasting and small walk to a family-owned and family-run tapas bar. There you will enjoy a tapas and wines lunch based on local specialties and including a selection of 6 – 9 dishes to share and up to 3 drinks per person.
3pm: after lunch, enjoy a coffee with a special local dessert in a historic grand café where the local bourgeoisie used to gather in the times of thriving Transatlantic trade.
3:45pm: end of the tour and shot walk back to your accommodation.
4pm: arrival to your accommodation of services for the day.
Overnight in Cadiz: hotel Parador (not booked through Genuine Andalusia).
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23rd of July: private transfer from Cadiz to Seville airport
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10am: meet your personal driver at your accommodation and be transferred in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan to Seville airport.
11:30am: arrival to Seville airport and end of services for the day.
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Pricing
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The cost of this bespoke tour program for a private group of 3 people is 4390 Euros
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This price includes
– All private transportation services mentioned above in a modern and comfortable Mercedes minivan with A/C and a dedicated uniformed driver.
– All private tours and travel experiences mentioned above with a knowledgeable, personable, kind, flexible and interactive fully licensed guide.
– All entrance tickets and admissions for all the guided tours mentioned above.
– A private cooking lesson in the cooking studio of a selected local chef from Seville including lunch with three starters, a main course and a dessert, plus wine and pre-lunch educational tastings.
– Taxi ride to get from the Cathedral of Seville to the cooking studio of your cooking instructor.
– Admission to a selected flamenco performance in the quarter of Triana with 4 artists onstage (2 dancers, 1 singer and 1 guitarist)
– A tapas and wines dinner through 2 – 3 selected tapas bars in the quarter of Triana and including a selection of 6 – 9 local dishes to share, up to 4 drinks per person (beer, wine, refreshments, water) and a sweet local treat to finish.
– A private visit to a selected sherry winery in Jerez with the corresponding tastings there (5 different types of sherry).
– A pairing food and sherry lunch in a selected traditional restaurant in Jerez including a selection of 3 starters to share, 1 main course per person, 1 dessert per person and up to 3 sherries (or wine, beer, refreshments or water) per person.
– Tastings of selected local produce in the local market in Cádiz.
– A wine tasting in a selected local tavern in Cádiz old town (2 wines).
– A tapas and wines lunch in a selected tapas and wines bar in Cadiz old town including a selection of 6 – 9 dishes to share and up to 3 drinks per person (beer, wine, refreshments, water).
– A coffee with traditional local sweets from Cadiz in a selected historic café in Cadiz old town.
– A list of recommended things to do and see and of places to eat in each of the places where you will be based.
– 24h support throughout your trip.
– All taxes
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This price excludes
– Your flights.
– Accommodation.
– Any meals not mentioned right above.
– Anything else not mentioned right above.
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Confirmation and payments
In order to confirm this bespoke tour program, we require a 25% deposit of the grand total no later than the 10th of June 2023 via credit/debit card. The final 75% must be paid via the same method no later than 20 days prior to the start of the tour program.
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Grand total of this bespoke tour program: 4390 Euros
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25% deposit needed no later than the 10th of June 2023 to confirm the tour program: 1097,5 Euros
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Final 75% needed no later than 20 days prior to the start of the tour program: 3292,5 Euros
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Cancellation policy
If you cancel your tour program more than 20 days prior to its scheduled start, we will charge the 25% deposit only.
If you cancel your tour program between 20 and 8 days prior to its scheduled start, we will charge 50% of the full cost of the tour program.
If you cancel your tour program between 7 and 3 days prior to its scheduled start, we will charge 75% of the full cost of the tour program.
If you cancel your tour program between 2 days or less prior to its scheduled start, we will charge 100% of the full cost of the tour program.
(*) Please note that partial cancellations won’t result in partial refunds. This applies to the group size and to the activities / duration of the tour program.
