World Heritage Cities
Tour 204 -
8 Days/7 Nights
$988 plus
airfare from your home City!
Tour Features
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Itinerary (B = breakfast)
DAY 1: MADRID Arrival at Madrid Airport and check in to your hotel for the evening.
DAY 2: MADRID (B) Arrival Day at leisure to explore the capital city on your own or join one of sightseeing tours.
DAY 3: MADRID - EL ESCORIAL - SEGOVIA (B) After breakfast checkout from your hotel and depart to the Madrid-region town of San Lorenzo del Escorial, a Historic-Artistic Site, around the Monastery of El Escorial. This architectural gem, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, was ordered to be built by Felipe II in the 16th century to commemorate the Battle of San Quintín. An urban layout slowly developed around it, since the aristocrats and middle classes from the capital had their summer residences erected here. It is, in short, an elegant town rich in architectural heritage and surrounded by mountains and forests.
The Royal Monastery is a complex structure designed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and built by Juan de Herrera. The simplicity of its lines focus all the attention on the harmony of its courtyards, fountains, cloisters and towers. More than 4,000 rooms are distributed among the principal areas. The Courtyard of the Kings of Judea gives way to the Basilica, which has a dome base measuring 95 metres and paintings by Lucas Jordán among its major features.
San Lorenzo was also built to house the Royal Pantheon and the Spanish monarchs from the houses of Habsburg and Bourbon are buried here. The princes, infantes and queens who died without leaving royal descendents rest in the Pantheon of the Infantes.
Departure to Segovia. Overnight in Segovia.
DAY 4: SEGOVIA - AVILA - SALAMANCA (B) Visit Segovia by your own
Segovia, whose old town and Roman aqueduct are World Heritage, is located on high ground between the channels of the rivers Eresma and Clamores. As well as the famous Aqueduct, a multitude of medieval churches, the Cathedral and Alcazar fortress make up a majestic landscape which dominates these Castilian lands.
After being a military trading centre under the Roman Empire, Segovia lived its golden age during the Middle Ages, when it became the place of residence of the court of the Trastámaras and an important centre for cattlebreeding and textiles. This period was responsible for the construction of a large number of Romanesque buildings, a wealth of heritage that is still conserved today.
The entrance gate to the historic quarter of Segovia is the Roman Aqueduct, in the plaza del Azoguejo. This jewel of engineering, built under the Roman empire (Ist c.), brought water to the high city from 15 kilometres away. Its 163 arches and 29 metres at its highest point are supported by blocks of stone from the Sierra de Guadarrama without mortar, lead or cement.
Inside the city are important medieval and Renaissance buildings, such as the Casa de los Picos, the Corn Exchange or the Tower of los Lozoya. The first of these monuments dates from the XV century and its façade decorated with spots of granite currently hosts the School of Applied Arts and Trades. The Corn Exchange, a former Gothic barn, and the Tower, a XIV century defence structure, are now used for cultural exhibitions.
Departure to Avila
The extensive history of Avila begins with the primitive Celtiberian settlement of the Vetones around 700 B.C.
The first wall was built with the arrival of the Romans in the third century B.C., making Avila a strategic point of defence. Following several centuries of decadence, the city was repopulated and rebuilt in the 11th century. The legend says that Raimundo de Borgoña, son-in-law of King Alfonso VI, was in charge of supervising the reconstruction of the wall on top of the ruins of the ancient Roman fortress.
The peak period of the city would come in the 16th century, when wool manufacture would allow its economic take-off. During this boom, many civil and religious buildings were built in the city, which still stand in the historic quarter. The wall is the symbol of the city and it is one of the best kept, medieval walled enclosures in Europe. Its two and a half kilometre perimeter is marked by almost 2,500 crenellations, a hundred towers, six gates and three openings.
The Gate of Leales, one of the main entrances into the ancient city, leads directly to the cathedral, a temple which resembles a fortress, erected between the 12th and 14th centuries and the apse of which, called "cimorro", is attached to the wall, making it the largest round turret of the whole bastion. While Gothic and Baroque elements overlap in the façade, in the interior the elaborated relieves of the retrochoir and the alabaster sarcophagus of El Tostado are astounding. The Diocesan Museum has numerous art pieces, among which a monumental processional monstrance should be highlighted, work by Juan de Arfe.
Within the confines of the wall, medieval corners such as the Plaza de los Dávila intermingle with more than a dozen Renaissance houses of noble lineage, among which it is worth mentioning the Mansion of Velada, the Palace of Valderrábano and the Palace of Núñez Vela. But the most remarkable building is the Palace of Dávila. It is a severe fortress made up of four houses, the oldest of which dates back to the 13th century. The compound stands out for its crenellations and its famous Renaissance window.
Nearby stands the Tower of Guzmanes, erected in the 16th century and that presently houses the City Council. These are only a few of the more than a hundred mansions and palatial residences that existed in Avila between the 16th and 18th century, which can be seen in the full name of the city: Avila de los Caballeros, or Avila of the Noblemen. The square of Mercado Chico, the place where the ancient Roman forum stood, is now the city centre. The front of the City Hall faces it, as does the façade of the church of San Juan, rebuilt between the 15th and the 16th centuries.
Throughout history, Avila was the birthplace of famous Spanish mystics, like Santa Teresa de Jesús and San Juan de la Cruz. This is evidenced by the great number of churches and convents that are scattered around the city. In Plaza de Santa Teresa is the convent under the same name, built in 1636 on top of the house where Santa Teresa del Jesús was born. The building, with a Baroque main front, houses an important collection of carvings made by sculptor Gregorio Fernández, in addition to a chapel, remarkable for its profuse ornamentation, devoted to the Saint. In the interior there is an orchard where, according to the legend, the mystic of Avila played as a child. Departure to Salamanca. Overnight in Salamanca.
DAY 5: SALAMANCA (B) Visit Salamanca by your own
Stroll through the streets of Salamanca is the discovery at every turn of monuments steeped in history and wisdom, medieval towers alongside plateresque façades, and Baroque reredoses in Modernist buildings. This is a dynamic, welcoming city, the fruit of its position on the Vía de la Plata and its university history.
The axis that runs from the church of San Marcos - the circular plan of which constitutes an original example of the Romanesque style - to the Roman bridge over the river Tormes, takes in the most emblematic points of the city.
Calle Zamora leads from St Mark's to the Plaza Mayor, one of Salamanca's jewels and one of the of the most important main squares in Spain. Arcaded in the Churrigueresque Baroque style, one of the main features is the so-called Pabellón Real (royal pavilion), decorated with a bust of Philip V. It contains numerous medallions, several of them of key figures associated with the history of the city, such as Friar Luis de León and Unamuno, and others representing writers and professors of the University of Salamanca. Emerging from amidst the eighty or so arches around the square, and designed in the same style, is the City Hall. In the old-style bars and restaurants located here, visitors may sample the local dishes.
The route to the so-called Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells), the Renaissance façade of which is adorned with more than 300 pilgrim shells (the symbol of the order that protected the pilgims' road to Santiago de Compostela), takes in Rúa Mayor. This street contains major Renaissance palaces, such as the 16th-century palaces of Salina, Orellana and Anaya, whilst situated nearby is the so-called Clerecía or monastery, a Baroque construction that now houses the Pontifical University.
The University of Salamanca is situated only a stone's throw away. Founded in 1254 by Alphonse X, also known as Alphonse the Learned, it is one of the oldest such institutions in Spain. Construction of the present-day building commenced during the 15th century in the Gothic style, although the main façade is plateresque. It displays a medallion with the effigy of the Catholic Monarchs and the coat of arms of the Emperor Charles V. Local tradition dictated that the figure of a frog on a skull be found to guarantee academic success. An annexed building houses the so-called Escuelas Menores (Minor Schools).
Situated in the same Plaza de Anaya, together with the Anaya palace and the University, is the New Cathedral. Adjoined to this building, creating a complex of great beauty and balance, is the Old Cathedral. Commenced in the 12th century, the latter building combines Romanesque and Gothic elements. The most outstanding external feature is the Torre del Gallo (Tower of the Cockerel), a Byzantine-inspired gadrooned dome on a double tambour. The cloister leads to the Chapel of Santa Bárbara, where prospective Doctors of Philosophy would keep vigil the night before their final exam: if they passed they would ring the bells, whilst failure meant exit via the Carros door. The ground plan of the Old Cathedral was altered when the New Cathedral was adjoined. Commissioned by the Catholic Monarch, King Ferdinand, the New Cathedral is designed in the late Gothic style with Renaissance ornamentation, whilst the tower was constructed by the Churriguera brothers, the main practitioners of the Spanish Baroque style.
Here, en route to the Roman bridge over the river Tormes, the itinerary takes in the Casa Lis. This Modernist structure of iron, ceramics and glass houses the Museum of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, with more than 1,600 items of decorative art from the 19th and 20th centuries. Overnight in Salamanca.
DAY 6: SALAMANCA - TOLEDO (B) Departure to Toledo. The city of Toledo has its origins in Toletum, the name the Romans gave to this settlement on the banks of the River Tagus after its conquest in 190 BC. The city maintained its importance for centuries and, in the Visigothic era, became the capital of Hispania (6th C.). The arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century, together with the presence of Christians and Jews, made Toledo the “city of the three cultures”. This was one of the Toledo's most splendid periods when, among other important events, the Toledo School of Translators was founded. Later, when Carlos V came to the throne in 1519, the city became an imperial capital.
The way that Christians, Arabs and Jews lived side by side for centuries has been reflected in the form of a great artistic and cultural legacy. The maze of streets making up the historic centre of Toledo is only bounded by walls in which many gates were opened. The Bisagra gate, presided over by two bodies and a great imperial shield forms the main access to the city within the walls. This noble gate, of Muslim origin, includes a central courtyard and was altered during the reign of Carlos I (Emperor Carlos V)I. The Alfonso VI gate or Vieja de Bisagra gate, built in 838, is one of the most faithful reflections of Muslim art in the city. The Sol gate was built in the 13th century in Mudejar style and contains the remains of a paleochristian sarcophagus.
Via these and other entrances you can reach picturesque places, like the Plaza de Zocodover. In the Arab period, this central space housed an important market, and festivals and all kinds of social events were held here. Nowadays the square, surrounded by buildings with porches, continues to be one of the busiest places in the city.
Synagogues, mosques and churches jostle in the narrow streets of Toledo, which is characterised by the mixture of artistic styles.
The Mosque of Cristo de la Luz, which predates the Christian re-conquest, was built in 999 as a copy of the Mosque at Córdoba. It is an unusual building with a square floor plan covered by nine caliphal vaults (a type of groined vault leaving the centre free). To this, a Romanesque-Mudejar sanctuary was added in the 12th century.
Good examples from the Mozarabs (Christians who lived under Moslem rule) are the churches of San Sebastián and Santa Eulalia, while the Mudejars left in Toledo a style with rich Arab decoration. Horseshoe arches, lobed windows and other architectural elements can be appreciated in various buildings in Toledo. Santiago del Arrabal is one of the best examples of this style in the city, which has led this church also being known as the Mudejar Cathedral. The origin of its construction is uncertain, although it was probably in the time of King Alfonso VI when the church was built, taking advantage of an old mosque. The outstanding features of the early structure are a tower which recalls a Muslim minaret.
The same Mudejar style can be seen in the church of Santo Tomé, famous for housing El Greco's famous picture entitled “El entierro del Conde Orgaz” (The burial of Count Orgaz). A 14th-century Mudejar tower stands above the rest of the building, which dates from the 12th century and has Visigothic elements on its main façade.
If there is one person's name that defines Toledo it is that of El Greco (16th-17th C.). His House-Museum, a palace with the atmosphere of the period, exhibits some of the best works of the painter who made the city world famous.
Remains of the Jewish community are still preserved in the city in the synagogues of Santa María la Blanca and El Tránsito. The former, built possibly in the 12th century, is also a good example of Toledo's Mudejar art. It has five naves with decreasing heights as well as the characteristic geometrical and botanical decoration and horseshoe arches. Meanwhile, in the synagogue of El Tránsito, built in 1357, you can admire one of the best Mudejar coffered ceilings of all those preserved in Toledo, along with walls richly decorated with geometrical and botanical designs and Hebrew inscriptions. Nowadays, this Jewish place of worship houses the Sephardic Museum, in which an interesting collection of pieces of art and various objects used in Jewish ceremonies are exhibited.
One of the most outstanding buildings in the city is the Cathedral, considered one of the high points of Gothic art. The construction of this monumental building, with a basilica floor plan and five naves, because in 1226, although it was not finished until the 15th century. This is reflected in the great superimposition of styles in the building and the large number of renowned artists who left their mark on the church: from Pedro Berruguete, to Enrique Egás, Petrus Petri and Juan Guas. On its main facade the outstanding feature is the doorway, made up of three doors: Infierno (Hell), Perdón (Forgiveness) and Juicio (Judgement). The exterior is topped by the two cathedral towers, one of them in flamboyant Gothic style and the other in Gothic-Renaissance.
Inside, the choir stalls, located in the building's central nave, are outstanding. Other main features are the beautiful flamboyant Gothic reredos in the main chapel as well as the many minor chapels, like those of San Ildefonso and El Sagrario, where the Arfe Processional Monstrance is housed. This is a huge piece of precious metalwork decorated with 260 images and made of silver bathed in gold by Enrique de Arfe between 1517 and 1524. The treasure, at 2.5 metres high and weighing more than 160 kilos, takes the leading role in the procession of the Most Holy Corpus Christi, a festival declared of International Tourist Interest.
Meanwhile, the Cathedral Museum houses a rich collection of works by painters like Goya, El Greco, Lucas Jordán and Van Dyck.
Also Gothic are the San Martín bridge, which was built in the 13th century with its two characteristic defensive towers, and the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. This superb example of flamboyant Gothic was one of the masterpieces of Juan Guas, who carried out the scheme commissioned by the Catholic Monarchs. The building, in flamboyant Gothic style, has a church which is outstanding for its great ornamentation and for its cloister, of great sculptural value.
The Renaissance mark on Toledo can be appreciated in the Hospital de Tavera, turned into a museum housing pictures by El Greco, Ribera and Titian, among others. Important architects of the period, like Covarrubias, Berruguete and Bustamante took part in its construction. Inside, the outstanding features are its courtyard, the tomb of Cardinal Tavera, the work of Berruguete, and the pharmacy, which maintains its original appearance.
The palaces of Lorenzana, the site of the University, and Fuensalida are in Baroque style. Meanwhile, the Fortress, of medieval origin, presides over the whole city with its imposing image and contains a military museum and one of the largest public libraries in Spain. In its time it was an imperial residence, although the current building was later than the work carried out by Covarrubias and Herrera on the commission of Carlos I. Behind its thick walls it hides a large central courtyard and the imperial staircase. Meanwhile, on it southern façade, the oldest that remains, it has a viewpoint enabling you to see a beautiful view of the River Tagus and the city's surroundings. Overnight in Toledo.
DAY 7: TOLEDO (B) Visit Toledo on your own. Overnight in Toledo.
DAY 8: TOLEDO - MADRID (B) Departure to Madrid Airport and return flight.
Rates
DEPART: Daily
Jan $988 Feb $988 Mar $1,055 Apr $1,055 May $1,095 Jun $1,179 Jul $1,179 Aug $1,179 Sep $1,179 Oct $1,095 Nov $1,095 Dec $1,055Rates are per person, based on double occupancy. Car rental, Airfare and departure taxes are additional. Single occupancy please add $644. Triple occupancy please deduct $120 per person.
Prices are NOT VALID during Easter, Spanish Holidays or Special Events.
EXTEND YOUR STAY: Extra hotel nights or upgrades are available upon request.
