Northern Spain: Gaudí, Guggenheim & Gourmet
June 6-14 (9 days, 9 nights)
ALL MEALS ARE INCLUDED IN PRICE
PRICE INCLUDES:
Airport transfers and transportation for all included program activities.
Full program of activities organized by Travel Grackle.
Bilingual trip leaders and local guides.
All meals in Spain.
Entrance fees to museums and activities in itinerary.
Meals include non-alcoholic beverages and limited alcohol.
All gratuities for activities in itinerary.
Detailed Itinerary:
June 16: Welcome to Barcelona-Orientation & Walking Tour
-Arrival and transportation from airport to hotel. Enjoy lunch & welcome orientation together.
-We'll take a leisurely afternoon stroll to see highlights such as the Gothic Quarter, La Rambla, the Boqueria Market, Liceu Theater, Gaudí's Palau Guell, the Cathedral and Santa Maria del Mar church.
-Drinks and a welcome dinner will be enjoyed together near our centrally located hotel.
June 17: Barcelona-Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia & Parc Güell & Picasso Museum
-Begin with Gaudi’s Park Güell, followed by his masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia cathedral. We’ll spend the first half of the day with guided tours of both of these Barcelona highlights.
-After lunch we visit the Picasso Museum. Some free time for shopping in the late afternoon. Drinks and dinner will follow in the evening.
June 18: Barcelona-Gaudí’s Casa Battlo & La Pedrera
-See Gaudi’s creative, idiosyncratic architectural designs as we stroll along the Passeig de Gràcia, with its quirky buildings designed by Gaudí and other Modernists.
-We’ll take tours of the otherworldly Casa Batlló and La Pedrera, two residential buildings Gaudi designed.
-After lunch together, we’ll stroll along the beachside promenade of La Barcelonata, taking a break to enjoy drinks along the way. We end the day with a seafood dinner together and return to the hotel to pack up and head to La Rioja the next morning.
June 19: Welcome to La Rioja: Logroño Orientation, Pintxos & Wine
-Drive by private coach to La Rioja and check into our hotel in Logroño.
-Lunch together followed by stroll along the river and tree-lined squares, seeing the cathedral and San Bartolomé church along the way.
-We’ll take full advantage of Logroño’s lively pintxos (tapas) scene on the nearby Calle Laurel, enjoying specialties like papas bravas (potatoes with a spicy tomato sauce), champiñones (sautéed mushrooms), pimientos rellenos (red bell peppers stuffed with meat), and calamares, to name a few. We’ll get a chance to sample a great variety of La Rioja wines during our pintxos outing.
June 20: La Rioja: Winery Visits to Laguardia & Haro
-Today we enjoy our first full day of wine tasting, starting with the nearby town of Laguardia, a beautiful, quaint medieval town. We'll have some time to walk the gorgeous, narrow streets in town and enjoy lunch together.
-Next we head to Haro, the wine capital of La Rioja region. We will visit one of the most famous wineries with a wine connoisseur.
-We’ll return to Logroño in the early evening for dinner together.
June 21: La Rioja-Winery Visits near Logroño
-Today we start with a private, guided tour and tasting of three fine wines at a boutique terroir-oriented winery. After our first wine tasting, we enjoy lunch together at a quaint restaurant in Casalarreina. Finally, we enjoy tasting five top wines at a high-end winery near Logroño.
-You’ll have some time to relax at our hotel before we head to dinner together.
June 22: Welcome to Bilbao-Orientation & Walking tour
-Today we head north to Bilbao, where we’ll spend the next three nights in a centrally-located hotel.
-Lunch together followed by a stroll through the Old Town, seeing the Catedral de Santiago and the churches of San Nicolás and San Antón along the way.
-Dinner and drinks at the picturesque Plaza Nueva.
June 23: San Sebastian-Cooking Class, Walking Tour & Michelin Restaurant
-Today we visit San Sebastian, a gourmet foodie’s mecca with numerous restaurants that have been awarded Michelin stars.
-We begin with a pintxos cooking class, learning how to make some of the recipes of San Sebastian’s world-renowned chefs. -Pintxos and wine lunch.
-Leisurely walk, including the Santa Maria and San Vincente Churches, city hall, and Palacio Miramar. Once we have worked up an appetite, we will head to one of the famous restaurants for dinner.
-We return to Bilbao after dinner to get ready for tomorrow’s full day!
June 24: Bilbao-Guggenheim Museum & Fine Arts Museum
-We start the day with the Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum, including sculptures such as Nakaya’s mist sculpture, Bourgeois’ “Maman” spider, Koon’s “puppy” & the museum’s permanent collection. We'll enjoy a 5-course lunch together's at the museum's top-notch restaurant.
-Next we head to the Museum of Fine Arts. Masterpieces include those of Gauguin, van Dyck, El Greco, Francisco de Goya, and others.
-In the evening we enjoy drinks and head to dinner at one of Bilbao’s famous restaurants for our farewell dinner!
June 25: Flights back to U.S.
-Private transportation to Bilbao’s airport to take flights home to the U.S.
PRICING:
Trip starts at $4100, double occupancy. Single supplement $600 (limited availability). Final price determined by number in group.
PRICE DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Airfare from the U.S. to Spain and back.
Personal items such as laundry, fax or telephone calls, liquor, room service, excess baggage charges, medical expenses and private transfers.
Activities not included in itinerary.
Trip cancellation fees.
Any insurance.
Unlimited alcohol at meals.
Any increases in the in-tour airfare (included as part of the program cost), airport taxes, security, or fuel surcharges imposed after the initial pricing of this program are not included.