A Taste of Andalucía

Insider’s Tour in Andalucía

The Taste of Andalucía Tour is culinary travel for adventuresome travelers.

We explore each stopping point on our journey and taste the authentic dishes, the regional specialties and the best wines selected by our wine expert. It is a ten day eating and drinking fest featuring hand-selected tapas bars, authentic fine restaurants, private Sherry bodega visits, tastings with the winemakers and lots of learned background to what you’re tasting as well as the stories behind the people and the customs and, well, a culinary adventure where the only thing you have to do is eat and drink.

You will try the specialties of Andalucía like Cadiz’s famous pescaíto frito, the prawns of Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the Atlantic, jamón de Trevélez (Serrano ham) in Granada. You can’t help but taste the legacy of seven centuries of Arab occupation in the desserts and pastries. You will be amazed at the range of flavors found in the wines from Montilla-Moriles in Córdoba and Jerez de la Frontera and the two other points of the Sherry Triangle in Cádiz.

Andalusians are passionate about their cuisine, which becomes evident when you meet the chefs and the winemakers. When you see the extent to which Andalusian gastronomy is based on local products and centuries of tradition, you realize that is so because those products cannot be surpassed in freshness and the traditional recipes make perfect use of the ingredients.

Lodgings are four-star hotels with personality. Transport is a deluxe touring bus. You will have a healthy balance between group activities and individual time.

Guides

Gerry Dawes has shown many epicurean travelers around the food and wine in Spain, including American chefs, wine clubs and the Culinary Institute of America. Mark Miller, chef and owner of the Coyote Café in Santa Fe, said this: I have taken eight trips to Spain, but the best trip was the one Gerry Dawes orchestrated. His love and knowledge of the foods and wines of Spain are intoxicating. His ever-present enthusiasm made my Spanish experiences with him memorable.

Gerry traveled to Valencia and Alicante with Terrance Brennan, chef at Picholine and Artisanal in New York City, this past spring. Brennan’s description is as follows: As with most culinary adventures, for Terrance Brennan it began as an occasional whisper. Then it became a persistent drone. And, finally a repetitive shout: Spain! Go to Spain! . . . Spain is the new France! It was hard to ignore, so when his long-time friend Gerry Dawes suggested [a whirlwind gastronomic tour of Spain], Terrance leapt at the idea. Dawes, often referred to as “Mr. Spain” (in culinary and wine circles), is an expert on that country’s food, wine, and culture, and was the ideal person with whom to maket the pilgrimage. Reigning in Spain: Blazing Through a Culinary Tour, The Artisanal Table magazine, Summer 2008.

Gerry Dawes writes on Spanish gastronomy for Wine News and Santé, and is a correspondent on Spain for Food Arts. In 2003 he was awarded the Premio Nacional de Gastronomía, Spain’s National Gastronomy Award. Gerry has lived in Spain and travels there regularly from New York writing and speaking about the food and wine.

See A Traveler in Wines, Gerry Dawes’ blog.

Jane Gregg has lived in southern Andalucía, Galicia, Madrid and Catalonia, and now divides her time between Barcelona and the U.S. She delights in the incessant variations, sometimes from town to town, of Spanish regional cuisines and culture. She shares with Gerry a passion for all things Spanish.

 

ITINERARY

10 Days/9 Nights

Madrid

Day 1 - Madrid

Arrive in Madrid. We meet in the early evening at our centrally located hotel before heading out to some of Madrid’s classic tapas bars.

The Alhambra of Granada

Day 2 - Madrid - La Mancha - Granada

We will take a private guided tour of the Prado Museum before leaving for Granada. We drive through La Mancha, stopping to see a couple of Don Quixote-related spots and have lunch in a typical manchego restaurant. Arrival in legendary Granada, where we visit the Cathedral in Granada and see the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs Isabella and Ferdinand, along with the exquisite collection of Flemish miniatures that belonged to Isabella and were hidden from view for centuries. Afterwards, we stroll through the labyrinthine streets of the Albaicín, the ancient Moorish quarter.

Moorish Granada and the Gorge of Ronda

Day 3 - Granada - Ronda

In the morning we will tour of one of the world’s greatest monuments, the Alhambra, the splendid 14th century Moorish palace. We then stroll through the gardens of the Generalife which was the summer palace of the Nasrid sultans of Granada. Lunch is in a typical granadino restaurant before leaving for the magical city of Ronda.

Ronda is a spectacular mountain town as well as a former bandit stronghold and Hemingway favorite, with one of the oldest, most beautiful bullrings in Spain. Sitting astride a 300-foot deep gorge, Ronda resembles a set from Carmen. In fact, a version of Carmen (Francesco Rosi, 1984) was filmed here.

The Ronda region has produced wine since ancient times, and that tradition continues today. We will have a wine tasting of the excellent red wines of Ronda before having a traditional dinner in a restaurant that is also a museum.

Pueblos Blancos and Cádiz

Day 4 - Ronda - Pueblos Blancos - Cádiz

We explore Ronda taking in the Puente Nueva, the 120-meter-high bridge spanning the canyon before driving through the unique pueblos blancos– the stunning white mountain villages of Cádiz province– which are among the most striking in Europe. After visiting the mountain village of Grazalema, we have lunch in El Bosque. We will eat fresh trout from the southernmost trout stream in Europe, cooked with artisanal mountain ham according to a traditional recipe.

After lunch we visit a winery for a wine tasting, and then we drive the short distance to Arcos de la Frontera and stroll through one of the most spectacular hill towns in Spain. Then we go on to the lovely, but little-visited, African-like city of Cádiz, which is surrounded on three sides by the sea. In the afternoon and evening we will explore this marvelous walking city of narrow streets and elegant 19th-Century buildings. Cádiz, the oldest continually occupied city in the western world, is a superb town for chilling out. There will be the option of taking a carriage ride around the city, where the views and sunsets from the esplanades are truly splendid, then sample tapas in old Cádiz and relax in an outdoor cafe.

Seafood in El Puerto de Santa María

Day 5 - Cádiz - El Puerto de Santa María - Cádiz

In the morning, we will visit Cádiz’s lively, colorful market, and then take a short ferry ride across the Bay of Cádiz to El Puerto de Santa Maria for a casual seafood lunch, where we buy pre-cooked shellfish by the kilo at one place, superb freshly fried fish at the other, order big salads and El Puerto’s excellent fino sherry and plenty of good Spanish beer. We eat this feast at outdoor tables under the archways. After lunch we will return to Cádiz, where the afternoon is free for strolling, hanging out, and, of course, the optional siesta. In the evening, we will dine on local specialties in one of Andalucia’s best restaurants in the old quarter of Cádiz.

Sherry and Manzanilla Wines

Day 6 - Cádiz - Jerez - Sanlúcar de Barrameda - Sevilla

In the morning we will leave Cádiz and go to Jerez de la Frontera and visit an exotic sherry bodega. We sample the many types of sherry and perhaps buy a bottle or two. After a walking tour of the city, we will head for the sherry town and fishing port of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. We meet up with a top sherry producer for another sherry tasting session. Seafood accompanied by Manzanilla sherry will be our lunch in one of Spain’s greatest traditional restaurants on Bajo de Guia beach overlooking the Guadalquiver River.

In the late afternoon we arrive in one of Spain’s loveliest cities, Sevilla, the city of Carmen. Sevilla is an exceptionally charming, magical, historic city that will be one of the highlights of our trip.

In the evening we will take a tapas tour of the Old Jewish quarter of Sevilla, a city your guide knows intimately. We take in a flamenco performance in this flamenco epicenter of Spain.

The Barrio de Santa Cruz in Sevilla

Day 7 - Sevilla

In the morning we take a guided tour of the Sevilla’s famous Gothic Cathedral, the Moorish Alcázar and the Barrio de Santa Cruz–the old Jewish quarter.

The afternoon will be free for shopping, sightseeing and exploring this lovely city. Option of private cooking class with dinner in the restaurant of a renowned Sevilla chef or dinner at a typical Andalusian restaurant.

La Mezquita and Tapas in Córdoba

Day 8 - Sevilla - Córdoba

We will leave in the morning for the historic Roman, Moorish and Jewish city of Córdoba, home of a magnificent Roman bridge, the Catedral-Mezquita (Cathedral inside the splendid mosque), the atmospheric old Jewish and Moorish quarter with its flower-bedecked patios.

En route to Córdoba, we will explore the ruins of the magnificient Medina-Azahara palace where the caliphs of Moorish Córdoba lived in exotic splendor. After the visit, we arrive in Córdoba and after checking into our hotel near the Mezquita, we meet up for tapas at one of Córdoba’s legendary tabernas owned by a flamenco aficionado.

In the afternoon, there will be a guided tour of La Mezquita–the Moorish Mosque–the ancient Jewish quarter, the Roman bridge, the exotic Julio Romero de Torres Museum, and the marvelous patios of this charming old city.

The rest of the afternoon we will continue exploring evocative Córdoba, and perhaps spend some relaxing time at the Moorish baths. This evening we will enjoy a Montilla-Moriles wine tasting session with a wine master from the region. The setting for the wine tasting will be as magical as the restaurant where we will dine: an ancient building with a Roman cellar used as the present day wine cellar. The food served is authentic Cordoban cuisine with flavors and ingredients harkening back centuries. After dinner there will be the option of sampling Córdoba’s flamenco scene.

Andalucía to La Mancha

Day 9 - Córdoba - Chinchón - Madrid

Drive from Córdoba to Chinchón. Winery visit and tasting in Chinchón followed by our farewell lunch. Drive back to Madrid. Evening free to shop and revisit tapas bars from our first night.

Madrid

Day 10 - Madrid Airport - USA

Transfer to Barajas airport for your flight back to the U.S., or stay on in Madrid. We can customize a culinary and cultural stay in Madrid.

What We Include: 9 nights accommodation Breakfast daily 7 lunches 1 tapas lunch 4 dinners 5 tapas dinners All group transport All restaurant gratuities Winery visits and tastings All tours and entrance fees Not Included: Airfare to/from Spain Airport transfers Accident/baggage/trip cancellation insurance

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