Northern Spain

Life in Madrid is centered around talking, toasting and tapas-eating. In a walk through this crowded and social city, your Tour Director will help you get to know the lay of the land. Then stroll over to the Puerta del Sol, the bustling city center. Next, you'll relax at the Plaza Mayor, a grand square where every sort of human drama has taken place-trails of faith, public burnings of heretics, royal marriages, the canonization of saints and countless balls and bullfights. End at the Plaza de España for a stop at an outdoor café.

Visit the Museo del Prado, home of works by Spain's great masters, including Francisco Goya, Diego Velázquez, and El Greco.

Take a taste of Spain's cultural, political, and economic center with a tour led by a licensed local guide. See Madrid's mix of traditional and modern as you visit the Royal Palace, an 18th-century masterpiece. The enormous Baroque palace currently has more rooms (2,800) than any other European palace, but it was originally supposed to be four times as large. The palace is dripping with porcelain, jeweled clocks, amazing ceiling frescoes — the most magnificent, in the Throne Room, was done by the Venetian artist Tiepolo when he was in his seventies. Next take a look at the Neoclassical architecture of the Prado Museum and the Puerta de Alcala triumphal arch, built to honor Carlos III’s entry into Spain.

Long the spiritual capital of Spain, Toledo still captures the heart with its spectacular surround of ocher-colored mountains. El Greco created some of his greatest works here, including his most famous painting, "The Burial of Count Orgaz." You’ll also visit the city's cathedral, St. Mary's Synagogue, and the Church of Santo Tomé.

Originating from gypsy music and dance in Southern Spain, flamenco dancing has become a Spanish institution. Dancers use intricate footwork and elaborate arm gestures to convey the mood of the music, which can range from lamentation to celebration.

Your tour takes you to the town’s Gothic cathedral, where you’ll see the tomb of El Cid. Visit the Cartuja de Miraflores, a Carthusian monastery where King Juan II of Castile, Queen Isabel of Portugal, and their son, Don Alfonso, are entombed.

Excursion to Bilbao. This commercial centre of the Basque country has been transformed in the past few years into a showplace of modern city-planning and world-class art. Architect Frank Gehry’s stunning new Guggenheim museum (entrance included) leads the way, along with Norman Foster’s futuristic subway and the Santiago Calatrava glass footbridge, which allows visitors to practically walk across water.

Though one of Spain’s most popular resorts, San Sebastián is not just beaches. With your Tour Director you’ll visit the old quarter, centered around Plaza de la Constitución (known to locals as “La Consti”). Look for the numbers on the balconies around the square – the plaza was once used for bullfighting, and those balconies were rented as private boxes for spectators. The nearby Saint Vincent church, built in the 1500s, is the city’s oldest standing monument.

Tapas purportedly originated when bartenders set a small plate ("tapa") over patrons' glasses of sherry and wine to keep the flies out. The bartenders starting piling the plate with cold cuts, olives, or salad, and the bite-size snack was born. (We're unsure how they kept the flies out of the cold-cuts... maybe that's how the sandwich was invented?) Over time these working-class snacks have become more elaborate, with each region adding its own specialties and cooking techniques to create unique tastes and combinations.

See brilliant Barcelona, a city of graceful Gothic churches, wrought-iron balconies and wide, grand avenues filled with outdoor cafés. Throughout the city, daringly innovative buildings sit side-by-side with the medieval past. A licensed, local guide will show you some of the high points of this architectural showcase. First stop: the pointy spires of the La Sagrada Familia (Church of the Holy Family), a half-finished church complex that became the obsession of Barcelona's famously eccentric architectural genius, Antoni Gaudí. Continue to the Spanish Village, where you'll view replicas of famous buildings and sights from every region of Spain. Then step back to the past with a journey up to Montjuïc (Hill of the Jews). See the fortress built atop an ancient Jewish cemetery. Site of numerous battles to control Barcelona, this hill was also the location of the 1992 Olympics.

Flowers, pedestrian boulevards, and decorative pavement make Barcelona a great walking city, and your Tour Director will show you where to stroll. See the Mercat de la Boquería, where the bright colors of fruits and vegetables, spices, fresh seafood and meat -- not to mention about a hundred different types of cheese -- vie for space in the market stalls. In the city center you'll see the Monument a Colom, a towering statue of Christopher Columbus. Gaze at the city stretched out before you, the mountains in the distance, and the Mediterranean Sea at your back. Then it's on to the best walk in the city, Las Ramblas, a mile-long pedestrian street that offers up the carnival of urban Barcelona. Have your palm read or browse through the strip's famous open-air shops. Enough walking for one day? Pull up a chair, order a café con leche, and watch the parade of street performers from your seat.