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You
Dream, We Organize...
You Experience and Enjoy More!
Experience the
Culture and Legends of Portugal and Spain exploring Lisbon
and Seville,
and Meeting Locals on a One-Of-A-Kind Tour with just 12 persons
or... take a private tour:
MagicalSpain.com is recommended
by PBS TV host & travel writer Rick Steves
Lisbon
to Seville:The Last of the Old World
Seaside Lisbon
to Sultry Seville: From a dramatic windswept coastline to
the ancient interior of southern Spain, the raw beauty and
authenticity are timeless. Our cultural adventure trip captures
the region's rich culture and unspoiled terrain as we explore
cities like the regal coastal town of Sintra with lush misty
hillsides, Seville's river city romance and medieval villages
with magnificent castles and rolling hills marked by vineyards
and groves of cork and olive trees.
What type of person enjoys this guided
tour? Independent upscale travelers who want to EXPERIENCE
& UNDERSTAND Spain & Portugal not just pass through.
Our discerning customers want to go beyond the guide books
and understand the value of peace of mind of hiring specialist
that save time and stress. Our clients enjoy the exclusivity,
comfort and unforgettable experiences and contacts that we
have developed with our collective 25+ years Spain travel
experience.
- You can experience walking in the footsteps of
world explorers, Templar Knights and Julius Caesar on 2000-year-old-streets
with select guides, a cooking class, a flamenco dance or castanet
class, a visit to a traditional olive oil mill, castle tours,
wine tasting's, visit toro bravo / fighting bull farms, hike
ancient trails, or enjoying some great regional dinners and
wines
2) ,
we know the hotels including modern boutique hotels, charming
village inns and rural cortijos and haciendas, country estates
often with huge tracts of land, Andalusian horses and rolling
olive groves......so we'd need to know the number of rooms
for your group?
3)
- Enjoy exclusive meetings over wine or dinners with locals
- a chef, government officials, a torero, a model, a teacher,
an art historian, artist, ceramic craftsmen, architects, historians,
writers, artist and many more are possible just ask!
- Fun Cultural wine tasting's with unique
Spaniards & Portuguese
- Exploring Lisbon, Évora, Merida, Seville
- Enjoy about Flamenco and Fado music
& dance
- Walking the ancient Roman capital of
Merida
- Secrets of Spanish & Portuguese
food & wine
- Savvy Insight of top local guides
- Discover unknown and known sights
- NO wasted time or stress with planning
& logistics
- Learn about legends, history
& architecture
- Memorable photo opportunities
- Peace of Mind of our 50+ year of experience
in Iberia
- World-class cheeses and cured Iberian
ham
- Seville tapas cuisine workshop
- Templar knights mysteries
- A Spanish guitar performance
- Dining al fresco in unique locals
- Revitalizing Old World sensations!
Click
here to read testimonials
Click here to see Itinerary
Click here to read about trip
leader Dan O'Beirne
Click here for what's included & pricing
Click here to
reserve your spot or ask questions
Moderate with 3+ hours of easy walking
+ lots of = interactive cultural fun!
Our driver awaits you at the Lisbon's airport so you avoid
log taxi lines. After hotel check-in, you'll have free time
to relax and we'll have a dinner reservation made at a unique
place
Our friendly expert private guide for today's
guided tour of Lisbon, recall the great explorers from Portugal's
past as you stroll the riverside Belém precinct, and
visit Ajuda Palace, a former royal residence. Travel through
the narrow streets of the Moorish Alfama district, along the
Tagus River, and into the Barrio Alto. Learn about the tradition
of Fado music at this evening's optional "Fado Evening."
Enjoy a guided excursion to Sintra, a favored
retreat throughout the past thousand years. Here you'll visit
Sintra Palace, which once served as the summer home of Portuguese
royalty and see charming shops and cafes.
In our private van, travel east to beautiful Évora,
where your Tour Director leads a walking orientation. This
unique medieval city offers a wide range of architectural
styles, from Roman to mudéjar to rococo. Arrive late
afternoon to ancient Merida, Spain, the former Roman capital
of Portugal and western Spain.
Our friendly expert private guide for today's
guided tour of Merida's incredible Roman heritage - After
lunch depart by our van to go south to Seville with a stop
on the way into town to see the intricately tiled pavilion
of the Plaza de España used in 2 major movies Lawrence of
Arabia and Star Wars.
If energy and time allows you might
choose to climb the 230-foot-high Giralda Tower or stroll
through the gardens of Maria Luisa Park
Our friendly expert private guide to experience the opulent
mudéjar Alcázar fortress, palace and gardens
used by the medieval Moors and later the home of Prince Ferdinand
and Queen Isabella. After your tour, consider attending an
optional "First Steps in Flamenco" class, at which
a professional instructor will teach you the basics of Spain's
most popular dance form. This evening, enjoy dinner and a
live Flamenco guitar and dance performance in a historic local.
Options: Day trip to Córdoba, a city that flourished
in Moorish times. Your guided tour of Córdoba includes
a walk through the Jewish Quarter and a visit to the famous
Mézquita. The Mézquita was once one of the world's
most important mosques; then Christian conquerors built a
cathedral within it, and today the structure is a vivid representation
of the blending of two religions. Or join a special optional
excursion to a local ganaderia (bull farm), where you'll tour
the facilities, enjoy authentic Spanish appetizers, and learn
the secrets behind the unique sport of bullfighting or visit
medieval villages and a working olive oil mill from 1755.
After breakfast we say adios. Transport can be organized to
the train station or airport.
- Leadership, daily orientation
& informal lectures of MagicalSpain.com partner Dan
O'Beirne
- Easy Planning & One-Stop-Shopping
- Select accommodations in historic
areas at first class hotels (double occupancy)
- Meetings with select Spaniards:
A Flamenco Dancer, Businessman, Bullfighter, and Teacher
are on schedule
- Hassle-free private transport
by air conditioned coach
- Insight of top local guides
for private guided tours
- Porterage of 2 pieces of luggage
per person
- Peace of mind of our 30+ years
Spain experience
- Known and unknown sights, legends
& savvy insight
- Daily Buffet Breakfasts + 6
memorable meals with wine (3 in restaurants, 3 deluxe al
fresco picnics).
- Tapas and Spanish Wine tasting
introduction
- Selected admissions, presentations,
tours, and contact with locals
- Spain Flamenco Guitar and dance
show
- Portugal Fado dance show
- All breakfast
- Tapas workshop / tasting
- FREE copy of our food &
wine report with your deposit!
1) A Refundable Deposit of 150 euros is required
to hold your place - space is very limited to a maximum of
12 persons
2) CLICK
HERE to contact us or email us on info@magicalspain.com
or call us in Spain: 011+ (34) 615 291 736.
3) Payments in US dollars or Euros
by Credit card, US check, bank transfer or cashiers check.
4) Your Tour Balance Due
- upon registration
Prices less deposit: 1987 euros/person - double occupancy
* max of 12 persons
6 - 8+ persons from 2887 euros /person / double occupancy
4 - 5 persons from 3263 euros /person/
double occupancy
2 - 3 persons from 3745 euros /person
/ double occupancy
THE
ONLY DISSAPOINTMENT IS TO MISS OUT.... LIMITED to 12 Persons!
NOT included: Flights, personal
expenses, meals not listed, massages, balloon rides, horse
and buggy rides & pre-tour transport , airport transfers
or post tour packages.
Also see:
Frequently Asked Questions and Terms
& Conditions
Single supplement apply - please consult
Our
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Frequently
Asked Questions
Terms
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What
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mail: info@magicalspain.com
PORTUGAL TRAVEL:
While Finely Aged, Oporto Cultivates a Taste for the New
By ANDREW FERREN
Published: April 1, 2007
Tasting port wine at the Offley cellars in Vila Nova da Gaia.
MENTION Oporto, and one tends
to think of well-fed British gents puffing postprandial cigars
as they sip garnet-colored wine and solve the world's problems
before rejoining the ladies in the drawing room. But what
that word — the name of Portugal's second-largest city
— ought to conjure is an almost impossibly picturesque
town of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque buildings cascading
down a steep gorge to the banks of the Douro River just before
its waters reach the blue Atlantic.
Michael Barrientos for The
New York Times.
 Six
stunning bridges — including two designed by Gustave
Eiffel and one of his students, and each a marvel of engineering
— loom hundreds of feet above. No wonder Unesco declared
the whole city center a World Heritage Site in 1996. Thanks
to the likes of Evelyn Waugh and P. G. Wodehouse, however,
Oporto has been overshadowed by its principal export, port
wine. Wines have been traveling downriver from the Douro Valley
almost since the Romans founded the town of Portus Cale. A
millennium later, the English developed such a taste for the
stuff that they bought up most of the wineries — hence
names like Graham's and Sandeman — and, after expelling
Napoleon's army, had to be evicted from the city themselves.
But rich wine alone does not a modern city make,
and Oporto has been keeping itself busy of late. There are
the new concert hall by Rem Koolhaas, an outstanding contemporary
art museum and a thriving gallery scene, not to mention a
whole riverfront of lively bars and restaurants.
Things are even changing in the fabled vineyards upriver as
younger generations of winegrowers update their staid family
businesses with an emphasis on lighter varietal wines that
want to be uncorked today rather than in 40 years. The traditional
flat-bottomed rabelo sailboats that once brought the wine
casks downriver continue to ply the waters, though now they
haul tourists who come to bask in the city's glow of intensely
saturated colors and crystal-clear light, which can be just
as intoxicating as any vintage port.
Assuming you've got a good pair of walking shoes in which
to trek up and down the steep hills of the historic center,
most of Oporto's major monuments can be reached on foot. Presiding
over the whole scene is the Sé Catedral, with its Gothic
cloister and gorgeous 18th-century tiles, which dates back
to the 12th century. Next door is the Bishop's Palace, a white
grand Baroque facade punctuated by gray curlicue stone window
frames. It almost takes precedence over the church itself.
Dom Luis I Bridge
Before taking the inland route down the hill, step out onto
the upper level — now used for pedestrians and the city's
metro — of the Dom Luis I Bridge, built by one of Eiffel's
disciples, to get a bird's-eye view back to the hilltop medieval
city and the remnants of its 14th-century fortifications.
The streets that fan out behind the cathedral are home to
many of its best-known shops, including the Lello Bookstore,
in a marvelous neo-Gothic building. Brace yourself with a
coffee at the grand Art Nouveau Café Majestic before
tackling the 225 steps of the Torre dos Clérigos for
yet another breathtaking view of the city and river.
São Benton Train Station
Also not to be missed is the vestibule of the São
Bento train station, a monument to the Portuguese love affair
with painted tiles (there are 20,000 of them there). Farther
downhill is the Igreja de São Francisco, in which someone
appears to have detonated an explosion of carved and gilt
Baroque ornament inside a decidedly more austere — but
no less impressive — 14th-century Gothic church.
After expanding into new neighborhoods for much of the last
century, Oporto is in the midst of recolonizing its most romantic
neighborhood, the Ribeira, as the arcaded warren of former
bacalhau warehouses along the river is known. Near the Casa
do Infante, the former home of Portugal's favorite son —
the 15th-century maritime explorer Henry the Navigator —
and now a museum of city history, you'll find a cluster of
clothing stores like Favela Chic and Shade, selling pan-European
hipster wear to Oporto's modern progeny.
Stretching in both directions from the Praça da Ribeira,
the rows
of weathered tile-clad buildings almost appear to be holding
each other up. Above the omnipresent laundry drying on the
balconies, women in floral housedresses lean over the railings
and watch city life stroll, sail, cycle or just drift by.
Down at street level, stylish interior design shops line up
next to Internet cafes and intimate wine bars.
At Presuntisco, diners are greeted by robust garlic bread,
tartly marinated green olives and roasted dates wrapped in
cured ham. There, you can tuck into a lunch of tangy goat
cheese topped with sultanas and toasted nuts; caldo verde,
the traditional Portuguese cabbage soup; and a plate of alheira
de Caça, a garlicky sausage of game served over rice.
Wash it all down with a bottle of crisply refreshing vinho
verde, the young white wine with just a hint of effervescence.
Across the river, along the waterfront in Vila Nova da Gaia,
the rows of old port warehouses offer tastings of their traditional
wines, with Ramos Pinto offering one of the most evocative
experiences. The wharf ends in a cluster of lively restaurants
and bars with names like Afrodisíaco, Vinotinto and
Real India, underscoring the city's embrace of things modern
and international.
A more bohemian scene can
be found back at Maus Hábitos, the current clubhouse
for Oporto's chilled-out youth culture. On the fourth floor
of a nondescript office building behind the cathedral, it
is a popular vegetarian restaurant by day and a sort of updated
1960s happening at night. A few people there sell handicrafts
and homemade cakes and even give massages, but for those who
really need to unwind, there are some very stiff cocktails,
and a D.J. spins excellent '80s and '90s house music.
For a real taste of Oporto
present, book a table for dinner at Foz Velha in the chic
Foz do Douro neighborhood overlooking the crashing waves of
the Atlantic. Plan to spend the evening strolling the neighborhood's
eclectic shops — sunglass stores, interior design studios
and trendy boutiques like Clube Chocolate — many of
which stay open until about midnight.
Another reason to venture
out into the new city is the Serralves Museum of Contemporary
Art by the Pritzker Prize-winning Portuguese architect Álvaro
Siza Vieira. It plays host to exhibitions of cutting-edge
international contemporary art, and the museum shop stocks
some of the best of Portuguese design, like the boldly architectonic
silverware of Ana Fernandes.
But the city's newest architectural
gem is the even more recent Casa da Música, which opened
in 2005 with a Lou Reed concert. Mr. Koolhaas's design looks
like a faceted meteorite that slammed into an otherwise tranquil
neighborhood of broad boulevards. At the top-floor restaurant
Kool, the Italian chef Augusto Gemelli makes culinary waves
with his original takes on authentic Italian fare, like rigatoni
in a tomato sauce tempered with the sweetness of grapes.
However multifaceted Oporto
has become, it hasn't forgotten its vinicultural roots. The
Alto Douro wine region is itself a Unesco World Heritage Site,
and 2006 marked its 250th anniversary as a demarcated wine
region, making it the oldest designated wine region in the
world. A trip upriver — be it by boat, car or helicopter
— reveals a landscape of steep hills terraced into vineyards
and dotted with centuries-old quintas, as the wineries are
called, most of which are open to the public.
At the historic Quinta da
Pacheca all grapes are pressed by foot in old granite tanks,
and visitors are invited to join in during the harvest in
September and October.
The nearby Hotel Vintage
House, with its sweeping views of the river and terraced hillsides,
is worth checking out for lunch, or better yet checking in
overnight. Bookings for harvest time should be made well in
advance, though. The hotel director, Paulo Teixeira de Carvalho,
said: “That is when everyone wants to come. The whole
valley is one huge party.”
Tap Air Portugal (www.flytap.com/USA) has flights from Newark.
In late April, round trips began at $623.
A three-day Porto Card (15.50
euros, about $21 at $1.36 to the euro) offers free rides on
some buses and free entry to some attractions. Available at
tourism offices and hotels.
Pestana Porto Hotel (Praça da Ribeira 1; 351-22-340-2300;
www.pestana.com) has 48 rooms in an updated clubby décor
and a lively lobby scene in the Ribeira's main square. Doubles
from 151 euros.
Vintage House (Lugar da Ponte,
Pinhão; 351-25-473-0230; www.hotelvintagehouse.com)
is a Relais & Chateau classic with 43 spacious rooms,
all with river views in wine country. It also offers cooking
classes and a wine academy. Doubles from 186 euros May into
October.
Foz Velha (Esplanada do Castelo 141; 351-22-615-4178; www.fozvelha.com)
fills the rooms of a grand former apartment painted deep shades
of scarlet and cornflower blue. The five-course tasting menu
is 38.50 euros without wine.
Kool (Casa da Música;
351-22-609-2876), a luxurious sky-lit loft, offers updated
Italian fare, like a salad of perfectly roasted vegetables
topped with scrambled egg, rolitos of bresaola filled with
a subtle cheese mousse, and signature pastas. Dinner for two
with wine, 70 euros.
Presuntisco (Cais da Ribeira
9; 351-22-203-8457) features regional dishes, heavy on pork,
in an intimate vaulted stone cellar or at outdoor tables overlooking
the river. Dinner for two with wine, 60 euros.
Casa da Música (Avenida da Boavista 604-610; 351-22-012-0200;
www.casadamusica.pt) has a grand auditorium and smaller spaces
for everything from classical to rock to fado.
At Maus Hábitos (Rua
Passos Manuel 178; 351-22-208-7268) drinks are less the 5
euros.
Serralves Museum of Contemporary
Art (Rua D. João de Castro 210; 351-22-615-6500; www.serralves.pt)
charges 5 euros admission.
Quinta da Pacheca (Lamego;
351-25-431-3228) is liveliest in fall, with grape crushings
and tastings.
Ramos Pinto (Avenida Ramos
Pinto 400, Vila da Gaia; 351-22-377-5011; www.ramospinto.pt)
has tastings for 2 euros.
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mail: info@magicalspain.com
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