Spain with a femenine approach

2021 Spain Program

First stop Barcelona, home to the extraordinary Catalan architect Gaudí. Our guide will collect you at the agreed meeting point and take you to your lodgings in a design hotel, where you will get a real feel for the city.

Overnight and breakfast.

After a delicious breakfast, a ride on public transport takes us to meet a woman storyteller in the Gothic Quarter, where we will be introduced to the city’s oldest district in the most original way: through the telling of its ancient stories. Next is a walking tour of one of the rehabilitated districts, where we visit the innovative and environmentally friendly urban farm projects. Do you fancy yourself as a gastronome? In the afternoon, we visit some of Barcelona’s most authentic places for food and try out some traditionally-made products in the company of a nutrition expert. Under her instruction we explore the Catalan gastronomic tradition, including an opportunity to buy exceptional products to take home and enjoy.

Overnight and breakfast.

Prepare to be astounded by the inspirational architecture of the ground-breaking architect Gaudí and his Modernist contemporaries, who stunned the world with their visionary and coulorful works. With a woman architect to lead us to some of the city’s hidden gems, our first stop is the Sagrada Familia, followed by a tour of the houses of L’ Eixample district. After lunch, we meet a female fashion designer before we set you loose to wander the designer fashion district and buy whatever takes your fancy!

Overnight and breakfast.

This day offers an introduction to modern Barcelona, the Picasso museum and one of the places considered most representative of the birth of Catalan feminism. The day’s activities include a tour of the port area, which has long attracted merchants from all the over the world and played a major part in the development of Barcelona as such a progressive city in so many ways. Views of the sea can be enjoyed from one of the seafront restaurants over a glass of Vermouth. For the rest of the afternoon you are free to explore the rest of the city as you please. In the evening, we bid farewell to Barcelona and meet a singer-songwriter for an impromptu mini concert at her home (if we are lucky enough to find her in residence).

Overnight and breakfast

Early in the morning we take the high-speed AVE train to the Spanish capital Madrid, known as Magerit by the Romans. After a quick baggage drop at our boutique hotel, we head for the old centre of the city, taking in the Palacio Real and other historic places that inspired the paintings of Francisco de Goya and have provided the setting for some of the best swashbuckling tales.

Overnight and breakfast.

Today the morning is devoted to a tour of Spain’s fi- nest art gallery El Prado, in the company of a female art expert as our guide. We finish off the morning with a chance to take in the peace and tranquillity of the city’s largest park, El Parque del Buen Retiro, built and originally owned by the monarchy. If we arrive in time, we can sample a cake at one of the excellent patisseries located around the park, or even an aperitif. In the afternoon, on the most impacting roofs we get acquainted with Madrid’s typical pavement cafés and have the chance to see a spectacular sunset in a magical setting, with the sky a riot of colour and the surroundings reminiscent of an earlier age.

Overnight and breakfast.

After breakfast, our first stop is a museum dedicated to female costume through the ages, followed by a tour of a house converted into a museum of the Romantic era. We round off the morning’s tour with drinks and tapas in one of Madrid’s most popular tapas spots. The afternoon is free for shopping in Madrid’s poshest shopping area.

Overnight and breakfast.

A day trip to Toledo, World Heritage site, home to Renaissance artist El Greco and the writer Garcilaso de la Vega. The city is exceptional for its Sephardic culture and synagogues. We explore the city through the works of this greatest of painters and meet a female artisan who describes the difficulties she experiences as a woman working in an occupation traditionally dominated by men. We will also make time to get a sense of the soul of Toledo in a tour of its most ancient streets.

Overnight and breakfast.

An early start on the ninth day gives us time to enjoy the wonders of Córdoba. The Phoenicians and the Greeks passed through but it was the Moors who left the most indelible mark with the magnificent Mezquita or Great Mosque, today a World Heritage site, the beauty and harmony of whose architecture will leave you spellbound. But there is so much more to Córdoba, and our extraordinary host will show us around this city brim-full of picturesque spots and equestrian culture. In the afternoon we meet another inspirational woman, who will guide us around the stunning courtyards of an Intangible Cultural Heritage site. Later we explore Córdoba ́s Sephardic cultural heritage before relaxing at a wonderful Hammam baths, in the way of the Arab women of Moorish times. Dinner in a very special place rounds of the evening and we spend the night in lodgings worthy of the Thousand and One Nights.

Half board.

After breakfast, we board the AVE high-speed train bound for Seville, home to Merimée’s Carmen. What better place to begin our tour than Seville’s Santa Cruz quarter, the setting for countless movie scenes and the inspiration for Bizet’s famous opera! In the afternoon, we visit the Archive of the Indies, which houses one of the greatest documentary legacies of Spain’s conquest of America and contribution to the Age of Discovery. We finish the day’s activities with a visit to a local businesswoman who has set up a traditional workshop.

Overnight and breakfast.

We continue to explore Seville with a tour of the Triana district and a visit to one of the best-preserved examples of houses of the al-Andalus era. Before lunch we meet a female flamenco artist who talks to us about her profession. The afternoon is free to soak up the atmosphere of Seville and enjoy a rebujito (sherry cocktail) to the soundtrack of the city’s typical bars and taverns.

Overnight and breakfast.

Today we are privileged to visit Granada, the jewel in the crown. Among the most prosperous of the kingdoms that came together to form modern-day Spain, the spirit of the Moors is visible everywhere you look. It was in Granada that Christopher Columbus secured the patronage of the Catholic Kings be- fore leaving to discover America in 1492, and not far from here the fall of the Moorish Empire was sealed. Boabdil was the last of the Moors to rule Granada, today a heartland of flamenco. Arriving in the city, a short walk through the centre leads us to the Albaicín and the cave-houses of the Sacromonte district, source of the most authentic flamenco music in Spain. Our host is a writer and historian who will draw on her specialist knowledge of the women in Granada’s history as she guides us around the city’s hidden corners and narrow streets.

Overnight and breakfast.