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36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel gerrydawesspain.com

"My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life. . .” - - Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019; Chef-partner of Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, New York 2019

1/25/2020

Gerry Dawes & Janet Cam Taste of Spain Tour 2020: Madrid, Ribera del Duero, Burgos, La Rioja, Bilbao, San Sebastián, Navarra, Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo & Chinchón


* * * * * 
Gerry Dawes &  Janet Cam Taste of Spain Tour 2020
 Madrid, Ribera del Duero, Burgos, La Rioja, Bilbao, San Sebastián,  
Navarra, Barcelona, Valencia, Toledo & Chinchón

Wednesday, June 17 – Monday, June 29, 2020
(12 Days, 11 Nights)
 
A Customized Itinerary for Washington, D. C. Restaurant Consultant Janet Cam & Friends

Tour Designed and Guided by Gerry Dawes
Premio Nacional de Gastronómía 2003
(Spanish National Gastronomy Award)

$5,250 per person; $6,250 single supplement
(without airfare*) 


A complete prospectus and trip contract will be sent to each interested party. Travel insurance is recommended. Check with your credit card provider or personal insurance company. 

 (*Airfare not included. For credit cards, please add costs for credit card company fees and processing of 3.9% + .30 to each payment. *Example $5250.00 = $5455.05.  Minimum of $1000 deposit required upon reservation. Full payment due 90 days before departure.  Important, see Tour Terms & Conditions sheet for payment instructions.)


About Gerry Dawes and Janet Cam


Gerry Dawes and His Unique Experiences in Spain


"But, for Gerry, Spain is more than just the Adriàs and (Juan Mari and Elena) Arzaks. He has connected with all manner of people working at every level and in every corner of Spain. I’m always amazed at this reach. You can step into a restaurant in the smallest town in Spain, and it turns out they know Gerry somehow. I remember one rainy night in Madrid during the 2003 Madrid Fusión congress. I wanted to go to my favorite place for patatas bravas, but Gerry had another place in mind, and I didn’t know about it. But Gerry is always right. The potatoes at his place were amazing.” - - Chef-restaurateur José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019; Chef-partner of ThinkFoodGroup and Mercado Little Spain, Hudson Yards, New York. 

Gerry Dawes received Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003.  He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish gastronomy, wine and cultural themes leads customized gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain.  He has shown Spain to many top American chefs and culinary personalities, such as Thomas Keller, Mark Miller, Michael Lomonaco, Michael Chiarello, Mark Kiffin, Norman Van Aken, Ryan McIlwraith, Michael Whiteman, Rozanne Gold, and many others.

Gerry Dawes will lead an exceptional, intensive, insider’s food, wine and cultural of the Basque Country’s Atlantic food and wine regions, with an excursion into la Rioja and Navarra and on to Barcelona, Valencia and Alicante’s contrasting Mediterranean interpretations of food and wine, before ending the trip in Spain’s capital city, Madrid.

In all our travels, we will be dining in restaurants specially selected by Gerry Dawes for their authenticity, quality and uniqueness and our meals will be accompanied by wines chosen by Gerry to reflect the best aspects of each locale.  Although the emphasis will be on food and wine, there will be cultural activities and some spectacular countryside to see and photograph as well.  Participants on this trip will meet and interact with Spanish chefs and wine personalities, with whom Gerry Dawes is very well acquainted, see spectacular coastal and mountain scenery; and relax and enjoy the company and camaraderie of our fellow travelers.

About Janet Cam

Janet Cam, best known as co-proprietor of the elegant LePavillon restaurant in the nation’s capital, the first Nouvelle Cuisine restaurant in America, winner of The Wine Spectator’s grand award, included in Who’s Who in America’s Restaurants.  Paired with Chef Yannick Cam’s dazzling gastronomic abilities, the restaurant became one of the few dining experiences comparable to a Michelin three star restaurant in Paris.

Lutèce, the legendary French restaurant was in need of revamping and revitalization following the retirement of the former owners, Simone and André Soltner. The dining rooms were renovated with renowned architect Hugh Hardy, the wine cellar expanded, and new as well as old customers of the New York landmark saw it come to life again under Janet’s direction.

Janet Cam has appeared in W, GQ, The New York Times, Washingtonian Magazine, Washington Woman, Food Arts, Washington Post and numerous other publications, as well as Television appearances on CBS, PBS and others. 

Born and educated in California, Janet Cam holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Los Angeles and UCLA Professional Degree in Fashion Design. Ms. Cam has served on the board of American Institute of Wine & Food and Les Dames d’Escoffier (Washington, DC).

Gerry Dawes & Janet Cam A Taste of Spain Tour 2020 

Itinerary (All photographs by Gerry Dawes©2020)



(B=Breakfast, L=Lunch, T=Tapas, D=Dinner)
   
Day 00 Wednesday, June 17 U.S. to Madrid

Each traveler or group of travelers will arrange their air transportation from their departure city to Madrid, Spain.  Many airlines such as American or Iberia have special pricing to cities in Spain via Madrid.  Flights should be booked U.S. to Madrid and return from Madrid to U.S. 

Terminal IV, Madrid Airport.

Day 01 Thursday, June 18 Madrid (T, D)

For early arrivals or those who arrive the night before*, the morning will be free to enjoy Madrid, visit museums, shop, etc.  (For day before arrivals, please inquire about hotel arrangements.)

We will meet in our hotel by 2 p.m. and where we will have an orientation session and family style tapas luncheon nearby at a colorful, typical typical Castilian restaurant. 

The rest of the afternoon will be free to explore Madrid, shop, relax, etc. 

In the evening, Gerry Dawes will lead us through Madrid’s Literary Quarter and down into old Madrid and the Plaza Mayor and on to Cava Baja, we will have dinner at one of Madrid’s emblematic tabernas.

Hotel NH Collection Madrid Paseo del Prado (or comparable).

 Tapas and gourmet shop, Literary Quarter, Madrid.



Day 02 Friday, June 19 Madrid  (B, L, T)

Guided Tour of the Prado Museum in the morning.  Tour guide. 

After the Prado Museum, we will stroll through Retiro Park and visit a couple of the best tapas restaurants for lunch in the most vibrant area for tapas in Madrid. 

After lunch, we will have free time to visit more art museums, shop or relax and take a siesta.

In the early evening, we will walk to nearby Palacio de Cibeles, one of the most emblematic buildings in Madrid and have drinks and dinner in the sixth-floor bar & restaurant with spectacular views over Cibeles fountain and downtown Madrid.  

Optional visit to one of the top Flamenco clubs in Madrid.   

Hotel NH Collection Madrid Paseo del Prado (or comparable).


 Plaza Mayor, Madrid.


View of downtown Madrid from the Palacio de Cibeles.

Dancer at one of the top Flamenco clubs in Madrid.

Day 03 Saturday, June 20 Madrid – Roa de Duero – Burgos – La Rioja (B, L, D) 

 
Our Esteban Rivas company bus and driver. 

In the morning, in our comfortable, well-equipped bus, we will ride north through the Guadarrama Mountains to Aranda de Duero, where we will stop for a wine tasting and tapas with the winery owner and winemaker, then move on farther into the Ribera del Duero wine region. We will stop to visit a winery, then to nearby Roa de Duero, where will have lunch in a spectacular restaurant with superb views of the Ribera del Duero and have roast lamb and other Castilian specialties prepared by a musical chef who sometimes plays for his customers.

After lunch, we will ride less than an hour to the great Castilian capital of Burgos, hometown of El Cid, and take a walking tour of the historic old quarter, then ride east for an hour to La Rioja, where will check into our hotel, then visit Bodegas Lecea, a nearby charming family winery which still makes wine in cement tanks in hand-hewn underground caves. 

For dinner, in winery’s rustic dining room we will have salad, Spanish tortilla de patatas, baby lamb chops and chorizo cooked in the dining room fireplace over grape vine cuttings and enjoy the winery’s unique wines with dinner.

Hotel Parador de Turismo de Santo Domingo de la Calzada (or comparable).

 Castillo de Peñafiel, Ribera del Duero.


Roast suckling lamb, Roa de Duero.

 Gerry Dawes with a bottle of rosado at an outdoor cafe in Burgos.

 The great Gothic Cathedral of Burgos.



Meals are cooked over grapevine cuttings in the chimney at Bodegas Lecea, La Rioja.

Day 04 Sunday, June 21 La Rioja – Bilbao – San Sebastián(B, L, T)

In the morning, we will visit the Marqués de Riscal winery and Frank Gehry-designed hotel, stroll the nearby Basque walled hilltop town of LaGuardia (no vehicular traffic), then go on to Bilbao, where we will visit the Guggenheim Museum, then have lunch in a colorful sidrería, a cider-house that specializes in great steaks, salads, roasted red peppers and plenty of Rioja Alavesa tinto joven red wine and cider poured into wide-mouth glasses from bottles held high above the pourer’s head. 

After lunch, we will ride an hour to San Sebastián and check into our charming hotel next to Ondarreta beach. 

The rest of the afternoon will be free to stroll the beach and relax.  In the early evening, we will gather in our hotel lobby and stroll the Paseo de la Concha to the old quarter of San Sebastián and sample tapas in one of the area’s best pintxos bars. 

Hotel Galeria (or comparable), San Sebastián.


 Frank Gehry-designed hotel at Bodegas Marqués de Riscal, El Ciego, la Rioja Alavesa.

The dramatic walled town of Laguardia in la Rioja Alavesa.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao.


Bar de pintxos (tapas), San Sebastián.


Paseo de la Concha, San Sebastián.

 
Gintonics maestro Juanjo, Bar Dickens, San Sebastián.

Day 05 Monday, June 22 San Sebastián (B, L, D)
 
This morning will be free for strolling, relaxing, shopping and enjoying this wonderful city. At 1 p.m., we will make a short excursion via bus and a five-minute charming ferry ride to Pasaia Donibane, a beautiful, one-street Basque village where Victor Hugo lived for a year.   We will stroll the town, then have lunch at a memorable restaurant that overlooks the Pasaia estuary, where we usually see teams of Basque rowers passing by.

After lunch, we will return to the city to allow our tour members time to stroll the La Concha beach, re-visit the old quarter, shop or just relax and enjoy the charms of this unique city. 
In the evening, we will have dinner in a new restaurant headed by one of the Basque Country’s most famous chefs, Michelin three-star Chef Martín Berastegui’s new restaurant, Eme Be Garrote, then have the option of a ending our evening in a classic bar that is credited with starting the Spanish gintonic craze among great chefs, who drank them here after attending one of the legendary gastronomic conferences held in San Sebastián.

Hotel Galeria (or comparable), San Sebastián.


 Ferry to Pasajes de San Juan, a one-street seaside village where Victor Hugo once lived, near San Sebastián.

Day 06 Tuesday, June 23 San Sebastián – Getaria – Olite - Tudela (Navarra) (B, L, D)

After breakfast, we will visit the La Brecha market in San Sebastián’s old quarter, then we will take our medium-sized, maneuverable bus along some of the awesomely beautiful coastal roads west of San Sebastián and to the fishing village of Getaria, hometown of the dress designer Balenciaga, opera singer Plácido Domingo’s mother and birthplace of Juan Sebastián Elkano, the first man to complete the circumnavigation of the world (Magellan was killed in the Philippines and Elkano completed the voyage).

In Getaria, where we will visit the Balenciaga Museum and the fishing port, then have a relatively light lunch in a spectacular restaurant overlooking the port, dining on exceptional, whole, wood-grilled rodaballo (turbot), other dishes such as txangurro (the classic Basque crab dish) and baby squid, all accompanied by special wines from the restaurant’s exceptional cellar.  
Balenciaga Museo entrance fees.  

After lunch, we will ride southeast to Navarra and stop to stroll in the striking Medieval castle village of Olite, have a coffee or refreshment, then ride half an hour south to historic Tudela, the capital the Ribera de Navarra vegetable-growing district, and check in to our hotel and visit the old Jewish quarter and other sites in Tudela.  

In early evening, we drive 20 minutes northwest to visit some D. O. Navarra vineyards, then in the wine town of Corella, we will have dinner with the vineyard-and-winery owner at a superb little-known restaurant that specializes in vegetable-based dishes (a salad of cardoons and pomegranate seeds, great plump pochas beans, asparagus and foie-gras with fried artichoke hearts) from this great vegetable district in Spain.  We will also taste a lineup of white wines, exceptional  garnacha  rosados (rosés), red wines and sweet dessert wines with the winemaker.  

Hotel Cuidad de Tudela, Tudela (or comparable).

Fishing port of Getaria, hometown of Juan Sebastián Elkano, the dress designer Balenciaga and Plácido Domingo's mother.

Getaria´s famous seafood restaurants specialize in fish, like the exquisite grilled rodaballo (turbot) shown here, grilled on open grills outdoors alongside the restaurants.

 
Balenciaga Museum, Getaria.


 
Olite, a striking Medieval castle village in Navarra.

Bodegas Aliaga owner, Carlos Aliaga, Navarra.


Day 07 Wednesday, June 24 Tudela – Barcelona (B, L, D)


This morning, we will leave early from Barcelona, stopping outside Barcelona in San Sadurni d’Anoia, the Cava sparkling wine capital of Spain, where we will visit and taste with a very high-quality artisan Cava producer, then continue 45 minutes northeast to Barcelona and check into our hotel.

After checking in, we will go to in the pleasure port area of La Barceloneta and have lunch at a wonderful seafood and arroz en paella (rice dishes cooked in paella pans) restaurant with a covered aire libre outdoor terrace that looks out on to the beach at La Barceloneta.  The restaurant’s owner is a long-time friend of Gerry Dawes, so we will a very special experience.


After lunch, we will take a walking tour of the old quarters of Barcelona with George Semler, an American author who has lived in Barcelona for many years and has written extensively on his adopted city and will join us for lunch in la Barceloneta.  George says: “I normally give our guests information on architecture, history, gastronomy, random anecdotes, juicy cultural morsels…none of which sounds like a history class, I might add…Barcelona street sense…” George will also join us for lunch.


After our walking tour, we will return to our hotel to relax, before going out to dinner at a restaurant whose Michelin-starred chef is one of the top practitioners of modern Catalan cuisine.

After dinner, our group will have the option of going to one of the best cocktail bars in the city.

Hotel Duquesa de Cardona (or comparable), Barcelona.



Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.



Enric Suárez, owner of Can Majó in La Barceloneta and a long-time friend of Gerry Dawes, with one of the restaurant seafood paellas.

Touring the Old Quarters of Barcelona with George Semler, Gerry Dawes's friend for decades.


 
Dry Martini at Javier de la Muelas Dry Martini Bar, Barcelona.


 
Antoni Guadí´s Casa Mila, La Pedrera, Barcelona.

Day 08 Thursday, June 25 Barcelona (B, L, D)

In the morning, we tour a vanguardia pastry chef’s facilities, then have a jamón Ibérico de bellota cutting session with a professional ham cutter and sample these remarkable hams from pigs that feed free-range on acorns. 

By late morning, we will visit the famous la Boquería market and have a tapas lunch with Cava (Spanish Champagne) at the best market bar, Quím de la Boquería, whose owner is a maestro and very good friend of Gerry Dawes.

The rest of the afternoon will be free to explore Barcelona, shop, relax, etc.

In the evening, we will dine at a restaurant owned by Ferran Adrià’s brother, Albert, one of the world’s greatest chefs and a partner-creator of Mercado Little Spain in New York. 

Hotel Duquesa de Cardona (or comparable), Barcelona.
Quim Márquez, Quim de la Boquería, La Boquería Market, Barcelona with his costillas de ternera (veal ribs) with potatoes, Maldon salt and black Chinese garlic.


Albert Adrià, Ferran Adrià´s brother and José André’s partner in Mercado Little Spain in New York.

Day 09 Friday, June 26 Barcelona – Tarragona – La Albufera – Valencia
(B, L, T)

This morning, we will depart Barcelona and drive southwest, stopping briefly to visit Roman Tarragona, then continue to the magical Albufuera lagoon and rice fields, just a few kilometers south of Valencia.  We will visit a restaurant set in the rice fields and lend a hand in making the paellas we will have for lunch. 

After lunch, we will check into our hotel in Valencia, then we will tour some of the attractions of the city’s remarkable Ciudad de Artes y Sciencias (City of Arts & Sciences). 

In the evening, our tapas dinner will be at Casa Montaña, a marvelous bodega-restaurant founded in the 1830s and owned by one of the best restaurateurs and wine experts in Spain and is a long-time friend of Gerry Dawes. 

Hotel Valencia Palace (or comparable).


Helping to make a paella at La Matandeta in La Abufera south of Valencia.


Emiliano García, owner of the Valencia classic Bodega Casa Montaña and a long-time friend of Gerry Dawes.

Day 10 Saturday, June 27 Valencia – La Mancha – Toledo (B, L, T)

In the morning, we will visit the Mercat Central de Valencia and have the purveyors of the top spice stall there explain their wares to us.  In late morning, we will begin our journey through la Mancha to Toledo, stopping for lunch at Las Pedroñeras, the ajo morado (purple garlic capital of Spain), at a restaurant of one of the top chefs of La Mancha, before continuing through Don Quixote windmill country to the great city of Toledo, the city of El Greco and much more. 

We will check into our hotel in Toledo, then take a guided tour of the city. 

In the evening, we will have a light dinner at one of the best spots in Toledo, a tapas restaurant that in owned by the top chef in Toledo, right in front of the Cathedral. 

Hotel Boutique Adolfo Toledo (or comparable).

 
Antonio Catalan spice shop, Valencia’s Mercat Central (Central Market).

 Valencia Mercat Central, paella pans and botas (wineskins).
 
Windmills in La Mancha, Don Quixote Country.

Toledo from the estate of Chef-restaurateur Adolfo Muñoz.


Day 11 Sunday June 28 Toledo - Chinchón (B, L, D)

We will spend a relaxing Sunday morning in Toledo, visiting this monumental city with its to great restored Jewish synagogue, El Greco home with some of his best-known paintings.

At lunchtime, we take a ten-minute trip to the spectacular estate of Gerry’s chef friend Adolfo Muñoz, whom he calls fondly “The Emperor of Toledo,” because his home, winery, olive groves and catering facility has a view overlooking the city that is fit for an emperor.  We will tour the estate, the vineyards, his winery (they produce an exceptional Syrah), and his olive groves.  We will have a casual outdoor lunch at this special place on a terrace overlooking Toledo.  
 
 Santa María la Blanca, the exquisite 13th-Century former synagogue in Toledo.

El Greco home and museum, Toledo, Burial of the Conde de Orgaz.


Gerry Dawes’s chef friend Adolfo Muñoz, whom he calls fondly “The Emperor of Toledo,” because his home, winery, olive groves and catering facility has a view overlooking the city that is fit for an emperor. 


After lunch, we will ride an hour to Chinchón, one of the most magical towns in Spain.  We will stay in a charming hotel with a lovely Castilian outdoor patio, just steps from the town’s legendary porticoed, balconied, supremely romantic Plaza Mayor. 

We will stroll the town and look in some of its quaint shops, bakeries, bars and restaurants, then have our farewell dinner in a favorite restaurant, whose woman chef-owner will prepare some of her special dishes to go with the area’s unpretentious, but delicioius wines, then we can linger over snifters of the town’s famous licor de anis reminiscing about the high points of our journey.  La Balconada.

Hotel Condesa de Chinchón.

Like a page from of the 16th Century, Chinchón's legendary Plaza Mayor is one of Spain's best restored, loveliest and most romantic plazas.

Day 12, Monday, June 29 Chinchón, Madrid Airport to USA (B)

Leave Chinchón early enough for our tour members to catch their flights to the USA.


* * * * *

  Shall deeds of Caesar or Napoleon ring
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?
 


Poem by Archer M. Huntington inscribed under the Don Quixote on his horse Rocinante bas-relief sculpture by his wife, Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington,in the courtyard of the Hispanic Society of America’s incredible museum at 613 W. 155th Street, New York City.
 ____________________________________________________________________________________

 Gastronomy Blogs


In 2019, again ranked in the Top 50 Gastronomy Blogs and Websites for Gastronomists & Gastronomes in 2019 by Feedspot. (Last Updated Oct 23, 2019) 

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."  

36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel


 
About Gerry Dawes



My good friend Gerry Dawes, the unbridled Spanish food and wine enthusiast cum expert whose writing, photography, and countless crisscrossings of the peninsula have done the most to introduce Americans—and especially American food professionals—to my country's culinary life." -- Chef-restaurateur-humanitarian José Andrés, Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and Oscar Presenter 2019





Gerry Dawes is the Producer and Program Host of Gerry Dawes & Friends, a weekly radio progam on Pawling Public Radio in Pawling, New York (streaming live and archived at www.pawlingpublicradio.org and at www.beatofthevalley.com.)



Dawes was awarded Spain's prestigious Premio Nacional de Gastronomía (National Gastronomy Award) in 2003. He writes and speaks frequently on Spanish wine and gastronomy and leads gastronomy, wine and cultural tours to Spain. He was a finalist for the 2001 James Beard Foundation's Journalism Award for Best Magazine Writing on Wine, won The Cava Institute's First Prize for Journalism for his article on cava in 2004, was awarded the CineGourLand “Cinéfilos y Gourmets” (Cinephiles & Gourmets) prize in 2009 in Getxo (Vizcaya) and received the 2009 Association of Food Journalists Second Prize for Best Food Feature in a Magazine for his Food Arts article, a retrospective piece about Catalan star chef, Ferran Adrià. 






". . .That we were the first to introduce American readers to Ferran Adrià in 1997 and have ever since continued to bring you a blow-by-blow narrative of Spain's riveting ferment is chiefly due to our Spanish correspondent, Gerry "Mr. Spain" Dawes, the messianic wine and food journalist raised in Southern Illinois and possessor of a self-accumulated doctorate in the Spanish table. Gerry once again brings us up to the very minute. . ." - - Michael & Ariane Batterberry, Editor-in-Chief/Publisher and Founding Editor/Publisher, Food Arts, October 2009. 

 


Pilot for a reality television series on wine, gastronomy, culture and travel in Spain.
 

 

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