Page 180 - Discoveries Await in 2022 & 2023

Itinerary in Portugal. Tonight, walk to a local restaurant to DAY 7 • Roman ruins of Mérida •
enjoy a Welcome Dinner together. Carmona, Spain
DAY 1 • Depart U.S. B,D — Hotel Marquês de Pombal or similar Head to Extremadura, Spain, an autonomous
Depart today on your overnight flight from the U.S. DAY 4 • Cascais • Sintra National Palace Spanish province known as the homeland
to Lisbon, Portugal. Leave the city to visit Cascais and Sintra, and of conquistadores Pizarro and Cortés. Stop in Mérida,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to some of
explore Sintra National Palace, a 15th-century Europe’s best-preserved Roman ruins, including a
DAY 2 • Lisbon, Portugal palace where the Portuguese royal family resided
Arrive at the airport in Lisbon, where an O.A.T. until 1910. After lunch in a local restaurant, you have 6,000-seat Roman theater and amphitheater. Then,
representative will greet you. We’ll also meet those the time to explore Sintra on your own. continue on to Carmona.
who traveled on our optional Northern Portugal: B,L — Hotel Marquês de Pombal or similar B,D — Parador de Carmona
Porto & the Douro Valley and New! Medieval Citadels & DAY 8 • Carmona • Optional Seville tour
Chateaux: Carcassonne to Toulouse extensions. DAY 5 • Rural Portugal • Évora • Home- Explore Carmona on your own, or join an Optional
Hotel Marquês de Pombal or similar Hosted Dinner Tour to Seville, the Spanish city renowned for
Today, learn about azulejos, the ceramic tiles used bullfighting, flamenco, and Don Juan. During
DAY 3 • Lisbon • Controversial Topic: to decorate church walls, palaces, and the façades
Racism in Portugal of homes. We’ll also try painting some of these tiles. the Optional Tour, we’ll discover Seville’s
Explore Lisbon, including the Tower of Belém Then, visit a traditional artisanal cheese producer. whitewashed homes, 2,000-year-old plazas, cobbled
neighborhoods, and the massive Seville Cathedral.
and the Avenida da Liberdade. Discover Baixa, After, journey to Évora, where we’ll join a local
an area in Lisbon that was destroyed and rebuilt family for a Home-Hosted Dinner. B,D — Parador de Carmona
after the Great Earthquake of 1755. After, explore B,L,D — Pousada de Évora or similar DAY 9 • Ronda • Controversial Topic:
the Alfama district on foot, one of Lisbon’s oldest bullfighting
neighborhoods. Here, we’ll stop at a local café DAY 6 • Évora • Portuguese cooking lesson Today, journey to Ronda, admiring views of
for a conversation with a local woman about a Enjoy a walking tour of Évora, an ancient hilltop Andalusia’s “white villages” along the way. Stop
Controversial Topic: racism in Portugal. After town, where we’ll see the Roman ruins of the at La Cobatilla, a bull ranch, and tour the grounds
the end of Portugal’s colonial rule in 1975, Temple of Diana. After, gather for a Portuguese before enjoying lunch on the property. Then, we’ll
ethnic minorities from the colonies immigrated cooking lesson. Then, enjoy time to explore join the ranch owner Jose for a conversation about
to the mainland. However, racial inequality is independently. a Controversial Topic: bullfighting in Spain.
commonplace. We’ll learn about this issue during B,L,D — Pousada de Évora or similar Bullfighting is a tradition, but the country’s younger
a conversation with a local woman who is married generation views it as animal cruelty. After, we’ll
to a man of African descent, to get a firsthand continue to Ronda.
perspective of the discrimination their family faces
B,L — Parador de Ronda

Meet the people who
call Portugal and
Spain home

Artisanal Cheese Producer :
On Day 5, we’ll head out to the
farmlands south of Lisbon,
Portugal, where we’ll meet a
rural cheese producer to learn
about the production process behind a local
specialty: Azeitão cheese.
Portuguese Home Cook : On Day 6, we’ll venture outside of Évora and gather
in a local woman’s home to learn some of the secrets of Portuguese cuisine
during a cooking class. We’ll gain more insight about their culture and taste the
regional dishes that we’ve crafted as we sit down together for lunch.

Members of the Spanish Olive Oil Industry : Our Day 12 discoveries take us
to Úbeda, Spain for A Day in the Life of an olive grove and a nearby olive oil
mill, where we’ll learn about the harvesting, bottling, and sale of olive oil. After
sampling some for ourselves, we’ll sit down for lunch with some of the people
who make their living producing it.

Explore the eighth-century Mezquita in Córdoba on Day 11.

180 Back Roads of Iberia: Spanish Paradores & Portuguese Pousadas

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