Heart of Spain

Madrid • Toledo • El Escorial • Segovia • Avila • Salamanca • Burgos • San Sebastian • Zaragoza • Barcelona

This holiday includes 9 breakfasts

Spain’s wild, rugged interior and hilltop towns are a delightful step back in time. Visit the same picturesque landscape where Don Quixote enjoyed his adventures and El Cid led his victorious armies. Descend deep into the valleys and climb high onto the plateaux, where cathedral spires soar into the heavens and wander age-old seats of learning such as Salamanca.DAY 1 LONDON • MADRID
We begin with the Titan HiTours VIP Home Departure Service™® to London Heathrow or London Gatwick Airport and our direct, scheduled British Airways flight to Madrid. On arrival, we will be transferred to the Tryp Atocha Hotel, our base for the next three nights.

DAY 2 TOLEDO
An early morning departure for Toledo, perched high on a hilltop, roofed by the often luminously blue Castilian sky and with the green waters of the Tagus far below - a city seemingly halfway between heaven and earth, as were the painterly themes of its famous adopted son, El Greco. You need walking shoes to enjoy the maze of narrow lanes, stepped and cobbled alleys, flanked by churches, palaces and old houses.

DAY 3 EL ESCORIAL
This morning, we have a tour of Madrid, a compact and cosmopolitan city with a treasure-trove of art, some of which can be seen when visiting the Royal Palace with its fine collection of antiquities, and the Prado Museum. This afternoon, we visit the 16th century Palacio Real at El Escorial. The Library houses the greatest collection of rare books, and the New Museum contains notable works of many famous artists, either commissioned or acquired by Spanish royalty. We continue to Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen), where Franco built a giant stone cross in memory of those lost in the civil war, and where he himself is buried. The church is claimed to be the largest basilica ever built.

DAY 4 MADRID • SEGOVIA • AVILA • SALAMANCA
We drive north through rolling hills to Segovia. High on a triangular rock, its outline resembles that of a ship. On one side is the Roman aqueduct and, on the other, cathedral domes, spires, and the turrets of the Alcazar, the castle from whose terrace a view over the lush green Eresma Valley may be enjoyed. We ascend high into the Meseta to Avila, the walls are complete and dominate the landscape as we approach - one of the most vivid examples of medieval fortification, its battlements containing over 2,500 embrasures. We cross the long bridge over the Tormes River to enter Salamanca, where we stay for the next two nights at the Oasis Horus Salamanca.

DAY 5 SALAMANCA
A city long favoured by the rich, celebrities and royalty, Salamanca’s assemblage of narrow streets, squares large and small, arcades and buildings with exuberantly rich façades, exudes an atmosphere of discreet wealth. The noble university, founded 50 years after Oxford, has a long tradition of learning, and its sumptuous entrance is a masterpiece of sculpture, rising in ever-greater relief through three registers to the final pierced frieze and pinnacles. After a guided tour this morning, you are free to enjoy this delightful place.

DAY 6 SALAMANCA • BURGOS
North over the Duero to Valladolid, also a university city and rich in decorated buildings, such as the exquisite cloistered patio of San Gregorio College, a stonework fantasy that invites the imagination to take off. Burgos, our next stopping place, lies in a shallow valley at the centre of a 3,000 feet high plateau. The slender, openwork cathedral spires rise high to greet us and the River Arlanzon’s meandering course through the city, irrigates lush gardens lined with avenues - a sublime place in which to stroll. This evening our hotel is the Almirante Bonifaz.

DAY 7 BURGOS • SAN SEBASTIAN
Heading for the Cantabrian coast this morning, we come to the village of Santillana del Mar, unspoilt and highly evocative of a time long ago when its monastery was a place of pilgrimage and the great Castilian families built their fine mansions. Nearby Santander occupies a beautiful site along the north shore of a picturesque bay, we take the coastal road this afternoon to arrive at San Sebastian, with its lovely sweeping promenade. The scallop-shaped bay has been known for centuries as ‘the Pearl of the Cantabrian Coast’. Our hotel for tonight is the Amara Plaza.

DAY 8 SAN SEBASTIAN • ZARAGOZA
Navarre’s capital Pamplona, our first stop this morning, is known for the ‘running of the bulls’ memorably described by Ernest Hemingway in his first, and perhaps greatest novel, Fiesta. We continue to the Rioja Navarra wine-growing region, and an opportunity for wine-tasting in the medieval city of Olite. Later in the day we continue to Zaragoza for our overnight stay at the Hotel Melia Zaragoza.

DAY 9 ZARAGOZA • BARCELONA
After an early breakfast, we follow the course of the Ebro, then head east to Aragon across brilliant scenery varied in colour and relief, to Barcelona. This afternoon we have arranged a tour of this beautiful city. One can enjoy a stroll along the central pathway of the wide avenue known as Las Ramblas. Here are small traders selling a variety of goods from flowers to brass and leatherwear, in the centre of the warren of narrow lanes that make up the medieval quarter is the old Cathedral. We stay at the Tryp Apolo Hotel.

DAY 10 BARCELONA • LONDON
Today we depart for Barcelona airport and our direct scheduled British Airways flight to London. Arrival at London Heathrow or London Gatwick Airport, where our staff will greet you and transfer you to Titan HiTours transport for your journey home to your own front door.Duration 10 days, 9 nights in hotels - 3 Madrid, 2 Salamanca, 1 Burgos, 1 San Sebastian, 1 Zaragoza & 1 Barcelona.

Titan HiTours VIP Home Departure Service™

Check-in service by Titan staff.

Scheduled British Airways direct flights

Services of an experinced Titan HiTours Tour Manager plus local guides on city tours

First class air-conditioned coaching with experienced drivers.

Accommodation as specified in brochure or of a similar standard

Excursions, tours and entrances as detailed in the itinerary.

Hotel porterage (1 bag per person).

All airport taxes, security charges and UK Air Passenger Duty and applicable fuel surcharges.

Meals: Breakfast on days 2-10