Day 02 Thursday, April 30 Madrid
Lunch at Casa Lucio. Lucio is legendary and the food is great
authentic Castilian fare. I am family
there and we get treated as family.
Dinner will be at La Catapa, one of
the greatest tapas restaurants in Spain.
This place is casual, but the food is supreme and the owner is a great
friend of mine and so are many of the waitstaff.
Day 03 Friday, May 1 Madrid – Segovia – Ávila – Salamanca
We will leave Madrid and drive
through the Guadarrama Mountains to Segovia, where we will take a tour of the
city with a licensed Segovia guide.
Mesón de Cándido, Segovia. Chef Cándido López cuts up roast suckling pigs with a dinner plate for our group.
Weather permitting, we will have lunch
outside in the shadow of Segovia’s 2000-year old Roman aqueduct, one of the
great wonders of Spain, at Mesón de Candido has had many of the world’s
greatest celebrities as guests, but the food, including the roast suckling pig
is still excellent and so are the judiones, pig fat beans. Plus, I have known the owner for decades.
After lunch, we will
visit the splendid, awesome walls of Ávila and view them from an overlook on
the site of a former Roman temple.
After Ávila, we will
arrive at our hotel in Salamanca on Salamanca’s beautiful Plaza Mayor, one of
the most emblematic of all Spain’s Plazas Mayores. After we check in to the hotel, we will be led
on a guided tour of Salamanca’s historic old town. Dinner will be at Arturo Sánchez, the
restaurant of a great producer of Ibérico jamón and charcutería.
Plaza Mayor, Salamanca. Those who are game can
linger over a copita of vermut or other libations or refreshments at one
of the cafés in La Plaza Mayor.
Day 04 Saturday, May 2 Salamanca Guijuelo – Hervás – Trujillo – Mérida
Thirty minutes south
of Salamanca, this morning we will stop for a private visit to a major jamón
Ibérico de bellota (exquisite hams from pigs who forage on the
acorns of the oak forests of Extremadura and Andalucía) producer in Guijuelo,
just over half an hour south of Salamanca.
We will sample the producer’s Ibérico de bellota hams and charcuteria.
Some of us may get to try our hands at
carving one of these €700 hams. (50 kms.; 45 mins.) Visit 9:45 – 11:15 a.m.
Less than an hour
south of Guijuelo, we will visit the charming, ancient town of Hervás, which
has an important barrio that was the Jewish quarter. (50 kms.; 45 mins.)
Visit 12:00 – 13:00
Statue of Francisco Pizarro, Conquistador de Peru, in la Plaza Mayor of Trujillo.
We will travel just
over an hour to Trujillo, the hometown of conquistador Pizarro and
Orellana, who was the first European to travel by boat the length of the Amazon
from Peru to the Atlantic Ocean, some 2500 miles. We will have lunch on regional dishes and local wines at a restaurant on the
monumental Plaza Mayor. After lunch, we
will have time to explore the Plaza with its palaces and equestrian statue of
Pizarro. (160 kms.; 1:30 mins.) Lunch
and visit Trujillo 14:30 – 17:00
After lunch, a half
an hour ride throughout rugged countryside will bring us to the provincial
capital of Cáceres, where we will explore the old quarter, which is filled with
great palaces and Medieval buildings. (45
kms.; 30 mins.) Visit 17:30 – 19:00.
By 20:00, we will
arrive at our wonderful hotel on the Plaza de España in the Roman legionaires
city of Mérida. (75 kms.; 55 mins.)
Dinner on own in Mérida, with suggested restaurants and tapas
bars.
Day 05 Sunday, May 3 Mérida (No Bus Day)
The day will be free to explore Roman
Mérida and tour the ruins of the arena, Teatro, amphitheater, circus maximus,
the Rafael Moneo-designed Roman archeology museum, the exceptional Roman bridge
across the Guadiana River and the various Roman temples, archways and other
sites scattered around this compact easily strollable city.
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| Roman theater in Mérida. |
Lunch will be at the
option of each of our travellers as you continue to enjoy Mérida at your own pace.
The afternoon will
be free to continue exploring this fascinating town.
We will have dinner at a restaurant
with a Roman name, Rex Numitor, just two blocks from our hotel.
Day 06 Monday, May 4 Mérida – Villafranca de los Barros - Monesterio –
Farm of Eduardo Sousa – Sevilla
We will leave Mérida in the morning
and travel 30 mins. south to Villafranca de los Barros, where we will visit a
first-rate cheese producer. (45 kms. 35 mins.)
Visit 10:30 – 11:30
We will stop in the picturesque
Extremaduran village of Monesterio to visit one of Spain’s greatest small
artisan producers of non-D. O. Ibérico hams, sample their products and even buy
some to take with us. (56 Kms., 35
mins.) Visit 12:00 – 13:00.
Eduardo Sousa feeding his geese and ducks corn to fatten them with non-gavage, no force feeding, methods to produce exceptional foie gras and duck and goose ham.
Gerry Dawes and Eduardo Sousa at Eduardo Sousa Farms. We will have lunch on the old Jewish-origin curing room, where Eduardo cures his duck and goose hams.
Lunch, Eduardo Sousa
Farm, natural non-gavage foie gras producer, with echoes of Jewish Spain. We will likely help Eduardo feed corn to his
wild geese and ducks. (15 kms., 15
mins.) Visit & Lunch 13:30 – 16:00
After lunch we will drive to Sevilla
and check into our hotel in the epicenter of Sevilla, arriving around
17:30. (100 kms., 1 hour)
After we check into the hotel, Gerry
will take the group on a walking tour of his old barrio, the Barrio de Santa
Cruz, the old Jewish quarter. Weather
permitting, we will have a tapas dinner at an outdoor restaurante in a colorful
plaza in the barrio.
Day 07 Tuesday, May 5 Sevilla (No Bus Day)
Breakfast in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, churros, etc.
La
Giralda bell tower (the former minaret of the Mosque) and Cathedral from an archway in the Barrio de Santa Cruz,
the old Jewish Quarter.
Guided Tour of Sevilla.
Free Afternoon. Lunch on own from a
list of recommended restaurants and tapas bars.
Optional Flamenco at one of Sevilla’s
top tablaos.
Dinner
at a classic Sevilla restaurant specializing in Andalucian cuisine.
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| Barrio de Santa Cruz (Home barrio of Gerry Dawes for parts of five
years.) |
Day 08 Wednesday, May 6 Sevilla – Sanlúcar de Barrameda
We will have breakfast at the
emblematic Bar Plata, which looks out on the Arco de la Macarena, where
improbably I first entered Sevilla on foot. I will tell you the story during
breakfast or you can read it in the chapter on Sevilla in my book Sunset in
a Glass.
After breakfast, we will ride an hour
and 15 minutes to the wonderful river-and-ocean town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda,
where my soul resides—and before our three days there are up, yours may abide
there as well.
In late morning, we will take a private tour of one of Spain's greateest Sherry bodegas, Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana, guided by a member of the family.
Short orientation
tour of Sanlúcar.
Lunch in Sanlúcar at
Casa Bigote overlooking Bajo de Guía beach.
Bigote is one of the greatest fish restaurants in Spain.
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Bar Bigote. |
Depending on the weather, we may make a post-lunch excursion, crossing by
ferry to the other side of the Guadalquivir River and explore the iconic
wildlife and bird sanctuary, the Coto Doñana.
The lost city of Atlantis lies below the Coto Doñana. I have been there, but that was 3,000 years
ago and since it has long be silted over, and since visiting it would require a
decade or so of excavation, that will not be on our agenda.
One evening (or more), we watch one Sanlúcar's spectacular sunsets with a glass on Manzanilla Sherry.
Dinner on own in tapas bars that I
will recommend.
Day 09 Thursday, May 7 Sanlúcar de Barrameda
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| Map of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. |
Breakfast in la Plaza de San Roque,
at the bottom of the hill from our hotel, followed by a visit to the Mercado de
Abastos.
Picnic lunch in Coto
Doñana
Optional excursion to Chipiona.
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| Dinner at Restaurante Mirador de Doñana on Bajo de Guia beach. |
Day 10 Friday, May 8 Sanlúcar de Barrameda –
Cádiz – Barbate – Bolonia (Roman ruins and Roman
fish processing factory [garum]) – Algeciras (Views of Gibraltar) – Sanlúcar de
Barrameda
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| Cadiz. |
We will take the catamaran from El
Puerto de Santa María across the bay to Cádiz, where we will stroll around this
fascinating ancient city, the oldest continually occupied city in the western
world. Cadiz is a peninsular city,
surrounded almost completely by the Atlantic Ocean.
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Flamenco singer in the old fishsermen's quarter of Cádiz. |
Lunch at El Campero, Barbate, 45
minutes east of Cádiz. El Campero is one
of the world’s greatest seafood restaurant, specializing in tuna from the
Almadraba tuna roundup which takes place off the shores of Barbate and
neighboring Zahara de los Atunes, where Chef José Andrés has a summer house.
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| Seared almadraba tuna with pureed pumpkin at El Campero, Barbate. |
After lunch we will ride
45 minutes the Bolonia to visit the Roman ruins with its fish factory and the
beach.
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Roman fish factory at the restoration of the ruins at Bolonia. |
From Bolonia, we
will ride another 45 minutes to Algeciras, where we will have a drink on the
terrace of the classic Hotel Maria Cristina, which looks out to Gibraltar. In late afternoon, we will return to Sanlúcar,
where we will be free to have dinner in one of the many tapas bars and
restaurants near our hotel.
Dinner on own in Sanlúcar.
Day 11 Saturday, May 9 Sanlúcar de Barrameda – Pueblos Blancos (White Villages of the Sierras de
Cádiz and Málaga provinces) – Ronda
Visit to the Mercado
de Sanlúcar de Barrameda to buy food for our picnic lunch in the Sierras at
midday.
We will have visited a Sherry bodega
in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but we can discuss visiting another in Jerez de la
Frontera this morning on our way to the Pueblos Blancos.
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Zahara de la Sierra. |
We will see and visit a few of the
stunning pueblos blancos, the famous white-washed villages in the
Sierras de Cádiz y Sierras de Málaga.
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| Olvera. |
We will find a suitable spot in the
shade with spectacular views of one of the white villages in the Sierras, where
we will have what will surely be a memorable lunch in the campo with our mercado
purchases.
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| Girl on the route of the pueblos blancos selling asparagus alongside the road. |
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After lunch, we will travel 45
minutes through wonderful, picturesque countryside to Ronda, where we will
check into our hotel in the center of town, which has spectacular views into
Ronda´s historic bullring and of the Serranía de Ronda.
After we check in, Gerry will take us
on an orientation walk through the old town of Ronda, then the rest of the
afternoon will be free to explore this fascinating place.
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Monument to Ernest Hemingway in Ronda (there is also one to Orson
Welles), both of whom were friends of Ronda Maestro Matador Antonio
Ordoñez, who was also a friend of mine. |
There will be the option of attending
another Flamenco performance (quite good
here) and the dinner will be at Ronda’s ambience-filled Pedro Romero Restaurant
across the street from the bullring and half a block from our hotel.
Day 12 Sunday, May 10 Ronda (No Bus Day)
In the morning, at an excellent
restaurant which is emblematic as a great place for churros, Churreria Alba, we
will have breakfast on chocolate and/or café or té with churros. We will get to see the owner making churros
in his vats of oil, in incredible scene.
After breakfast, there will be a
guided tour of Ronda.
Lunch will be at an
outdoor restaurant, weather permitting, in Ronda.
The afternoon will
be free to explore this stunning town, shop take a siesta, etc.
Evening free.
Day 13 Monday, May 11 Ronda – Granada
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| Granada. |
This morning we will leave for our
two-hour ride to Granada, with a couple of stops at interesting towns along the
way.
We will check to our spectacular
hotel on the Alhambra hill, then have lunch at an outdoor restaurante
overlooking the entrance to the Alhambra.
After lunch we will tour the Alhambra
with a guide.
In late afternoon, we will have
optional drinks, including gintonics on the terrace of our hotel, which
overlooks downtown Granada.
There will be the option for those
who so desire to attend a zambra Flamenco performance in the Gypsy caves on
Sacromonte.
In the evening for those game to
walk—with at taxi for those who do not wish to descend the hill on foot, we
will walk down or meet at the Campo del Principe and have a pre-dinner drink
and a tapa at one of the many bars and restaurants located in this lively spot.
If the weather permits, we will dine outdoors at one of this spot. If not, we will go on to the great classic
restaurant Las Tinajas in downtown Granada.
Day 14 Tuesday, May 12 Granada – Málaga
In the morning, we will have
breakfast downtown, then visit the Cathedral and see the tombs of Isabella and
Ferdinand and their daughter Juana and her prematurely deceased husband Felipe
el Hermoso. Off the Capilla Real, we
will spend some time perusing the remarkable collection of Flemish miniatures
that were collected by Isabella and Ferdinand, then stored behind an altar and
forgotten for a couple of centuries.
By late morning, we will depart for
an hour and a half ride to Málaga, check to our historic hotel, the have lunch
on La Malagueta Beach at a chiringuito, an outdoor beach café, where the food
is cooked over a wood fire.
The afternoon will be free to explore
this recently rejuvenated, delightful, elegant old city, visit the Picasso
Museo, Picasso’s birthplace, the Alcázar fortress, great shopping and other
attractions in this easily walkable city.
Dinner on own in the old quarter.
Day 15 Wednesday, May 13 Málaga (No Bus Day)
In the morning, we will have the
option of going to a classic tejeringo place for breakfast, tejeringos
being the naughty name for churros in Málaga.
After breakfast, we will visit the
spectacular Atarazanas market and have a copita de vino and a tapa at the
classic Bodega de la Guardia, then for those who so desire, you will have the
option of joining one of the free guided tours that the city of Málaga offers.
The rest of the day will be free to
explore this marvelous city, with lunch on our own with advice on some of the
good restaurants to be found in the city.
Farewell dinner at Antonio Banderas’s
el Pimpi, at a chiringuito or at a colorful old café that used to be a
legendary Flamenco hangout.
Day 16 Thursday, May 14 Málaga – Home Cities
Málaga airport.
End of trip. Optional taxis and possibly the new air taxi
to Málaga airport.
Option to stay more
days in Málaga.
Option of pre-trip
or post-trip adventure, possibly five days in northern Spain in Galicia and
Asturias, ending in Bilbao before returning to Madrid to meet the main group.
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