Day 1—SEVILLA 

 Where to start?  Believe it or not, Sevilla is truly everything you’ve ever read about colourful, dramatic,  exciting, beautiful Spain! It  encapsulates everyone’s corniest ideas about Spain. My earliest impressions of  Spain were formed from Munro Leaf’s wonderful ink drawings in his timeless book Ferdinand the Bull and  by watching  the opera  Carmen when I was still  pretty young. Well,  they weren’t far off the mark when it  comes  to  Sevilla! The  city is dramatic, alive, colourful,  and passionate. The women really do wear their  mantillas and  their flamenco  dresses but usually only in  religious  processions  and  during fiestas. The city throbs with a life of its own and so do the Sevillanas! Enjoy a free evening with dinner or tapas.

 Day 2—CARMONA 

 Meet in your hotel lobby for your  10am  pick up from Seville and we transfer 31km/19m slightly NE to the  walled village of Carmona. 
 

On our transfer, we'll visit a Roman cemetery located just outside the walls of Carmona. This Roman  Necropolis, discovered in 1881, is located close to the town of Carmona, beside the Seville road, and  contains more than nine hundred family tombs dating from the second century BC to the fourth century AD.  Enclosed in subterranean chambers hewn from the rock, the tombs are often frescoed and contain a series  of niches in which many of the funeral urns remain intact. Some of the larger tombs have vestibules with  stone benches for funeral banquets (so jolly) and several retain carved family emblems!  Carmona is one of the oldest towns in Europe.  Its name is of Semitic origin, 'Kar'meaning 'city', and is  explained by its probable Phoenician foundation. The Romans called it 'Carmo', and the Moors 'Qarmuna'.  In 206 AD. Carmona was conquered by the Roman Empire, becoming one of the most important urban  centers of the region and so was surrounded by a walled enclosure. The haunting Roman Necropolis just  outside of town attests to their presence. 

 +/- 5:00: Bike Fittings in hotel courtyard   
7:30:  Meet in the downstairs lounge for a Welcome Sherry.   
8:00: WELCOME DINNER at our Parador -  Excellent, imaginative, Andaluz cuisine.   

Day Three— CARMONA  (50km / 31m)

 Today you cross  La Campiña  (the Andalusian Plain) also known as the "frying pan", with good reason in  mid-August!  Springtime is delightful, however.  Poppies splash crimson over the verges and crops stretch  away in a sea of green.  The area is sparsely settled with huge estates on either side of the road.  It gives an i dea of Andalucía's agricultural wealth.  Grain crops flourish and - here and there - fighting bulls, too.  In fact, it was in the fields around Palma del Rio that El Cordobes, Spain's most famous and controversial  bullfighter, used to creep out on moonlit nights to practice fighting the bulls.  He was born into a poor family i n Palma del Rio.  The ride will be mostly flat with only a few low hills.  LUNCH – In Palma del Rio at Casa Manolo. 

 Palma  de  Rio,  your  night's  destination,  has  a  name  derived  from  the  Arab  word  balma  (palm) due to  the large  quantity  of  palm  trees  that  existed i n  the  area  at  one  time.  Now, it's  orange  trees  -  the  first  orange  trees i n  America  came  from  here!  The  town i s  Moorish i n  origin  and  was  conquered  by  the  Christians i n  1241. 
 Tonight you’ll be guests at the Hospedaria San Francisco,  Ave. Pio XII, 35  -  This was a Franciscan  monastery who’s construction dates from 1492, the year of the discovery of America, under the orders of the  VII Lord of Palma del Rio.  Much later, monks from this monastery went to California on Brother Junipero  Serra's expedition, where they founded numerous cities such as San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Los  Angeles. Furthermore, as the 18th Century fresco on the entrance depicts, they brought numerous fruits to  these new lands, including Palma del Rio's oranges. In the 19th Century, the monastery passed to the  secular hands of the Moreno de Cova family who restored the monastery. Then, in the middle of the 20th  Century, it was fitted out and converted into a hotel, with the building's original architecture being fully  respected.A 16thC monastery converted to an inn.  Many of the Spanish priests (including the recently  canonized Frey Junípero Serra) who went to California as missionaries, were from this monastery.  Many of  the rooms have the names of different Californian missions.   

Day Four — PALMA DEL RIO  –  CÓRDOBA  (69km / 43m)

 Today's ride follows the life-giving Guadalquivir River, known to the Moors as Wadi al-Kabir, the Great River.  This river neatly divides the province of Córdoba between the  sierras  to the north and the  campiña  (plains)  to the south.  It also served as the boundary between Christian and Moorish Spain for centuries, hence the  ruins of many castles and fortresses that you'll see all through this part of Andalusia. Most of the ride will be l ow-rolling hills punctuated with flat stretches through farmlands.   

On your way you'll have a lunch detour to  Almodóvar  del Rio,  a little town that once belonged to the  Order  of Calatrava, is completely dominated by its very grand, very austere castle perched on a hill above the  town. The castle, built in the 8thC, originally was Moorish and has been restored and added on to several  times since.  The mysterious Opus Dei branch of the Catholic Church now owns it.  It was also a filming l ocation for the popular season 7 of TV series Game of Thrones.  LUNCH – Lunch will be just below the castle at Asador  el Campero with a lovely terrace looking up to the  castle, enjoy a tasty bocadillo! 

 Your home for the next two nights – Cordoba was at one time, one the greatest seats of learning in the  world.  A settlement existed here on the banks of the Guadalquivir in early times.  Córdoba's name is  believed to come from Kartuba, Phoenician for "rich and precious city." You’ll be staying in the very comfortable  Hotel Eurostars Patios de Cordoba,  within easy walking distance  of all of the sights. Tonight we will enjoy a group Dinner. 

Day Five—Visit to the Great Mezquita (Mosque) & Patios! 

 9:40am – Meet in the Hotel lobby to walk to the Mezquita   
10am - The Great Mosque (  Mezquita  ).  One of the wonders of the world and a Moorish masterpiece – the  only medieval mosque in existence.  It’s difficult to find words to describe this incredibly beautiful, mysterious  place of worship. History states that is was started in the 8  th  C on the site of a Visigoth church, which in turn  had been built on the site on a Roman temple dedicated to the god, Janus. 
 Optional Afternoon Kayaking (2hrs) 
 2:30pm  – Meet in your hotel lobby for an afternoon  kayaking on the Guadalquivir river through Cordoba.  You'll be afforded an exceptional view of this city and be guided through some of it's history whilst paddling  the calm waters of the Guadaliquivir. 2 hours duration, 15 minute walk from the hotel. Enjoy dinner with a free evening.

Day Six—CÓRDOBA - ZUHEROS (77km / 48m)

 This ride has a sort of feudal air about it with castles in the distance, vast surrounding vineyards of the  Montilla-Moriles  wine country (a sherry-like wine famous throughout Spain and hardly known outside) and  a never-ending sea of olive groves.  Olive trees were brought to Spain by the Greeks in the 1 st  millennium  and later, under the Romans, the oil produced in the Iberian Peninsula became the finest, most expensive in  the Empire.  Nowadays, Spain produces and consumes the most olive oil in the world.  The olive groves that  you’ll see today produce the most famous olive oil in Spain; even the air smells of it.  In the afternoon we will  stop in Baena and visit the renowned  Nuñez de Prado Oil Mill. 

 The  Nuñez  de  Prado  olive  mill  which  has  been i n  the  Nuñez  de  Prado  family  since  1795.  This  charming  mill,  through  a l aborious  process  of  stone-crushing  the  olives  and  then  extracting  only  the  flower  of  the  oil,  produces  a  delicious  oil  used  only  for  eating  and  not  for  cooking  (although  a  wonderful  cooking  oil i s  also  produced).  Often  one  of  the  Nuñez  de  Prado  brothers  will  explain  exactly  how i t’s  done.  The  olive  oil  from  here  has  been  rated  the  best  in  the  world  by  several  of  Europe's  top  food journals.  Personally,  I  can  say  I’ve had none better!   LUNCH  -  Picnic (weather permitting) in the park in Castro del Rio   Finally, it’s time to head to your night's destination, the beautiful white washed town of Zuheros.  8:00 - Group dinnr at our charming hotel.

Day Seven—ZUHEROS -  PRIEGO DE CÓRDOBA  (27k / 18m) 

 Before heading out on our short  ride to  Priego  de  Córdoba  we’ll  walk  up  the  hill  for .5k  to  the  Iberfauna  Animal  Sanctuary -  a center  of  environmental  education for the  Subbetica  region.  Here you  can see species  of  Iberian  fauna such as the Iberian  wolf,  fox, l ynx,  roe  deer,  owls  and  also  visit the  sanctuary’s farm.  The tour is totally guided by a specialized monitor and lasts approximately 1.5 – 2 hours.   LUNCH - Light lunch in Zuheros by the Castle before biking. 

 After our visit to the Iberfauna we ride south following the edge of the wild  National Park of the Sierra  Subbética -a remote unspoiled region of the southern Córdoba Province. The most characteristic feature of  this semi-mountainous region is the beautiful karstic shape of the limestone rock. The vegetation is typically  Mediterranean, rich in oak and Iberian maple.  Wild flowers such as irises, peonies, narcissi and orchids  abound.  Birds to look out for are Hoopoes, Bee-Eaters, Cuckoos and Partridges. There are, also, a lot of  birds of prey such as falcons, eagles, owls and vultures.  

Day 8—PRIEGO DE CÓRDOBA -  MONTEFRÍO (Granada)  (44km / 27m) 

 This ride takes us through the very wild and sparsely inhabited area of the northern Granada Province.  Many of our participants consider this the most beautiful ride of the tour. There will be almost no traffic and  the scenery is glorious, however, it may also be the toughest ride of the tour.   The countryside, still part of the Sierras Subbéticas, will have all of the characteristics of yesterday's ride for  a while, until it gradually gives way to olive groves - lots of them. You'll ride to Montefrio, a spectacularly situated town, it sits between 2 rocky outcrops each topped with a  church.  This area is ancient and has been in continual use since the stone-age, as attested to by the many  tombs and caves with paintings and carvings found in the vicinity. Here we’ll meet our transfer for Granada  at Jomy Restaurant (GREAT tapas!).  LUNCH – Jomy Restaurant, outdoor seating.   On our way to Granada you'll drive down to the  Vega  , the fertile plain west of Granada, characterized by  gently rolling countryside full of asparagus fields  and dotted with wildflowers, passing quiet little villages with  views of the beautiful snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the distance. 
 
You will also drive by many tobacco plantations and shamies (little huts for drying the leaves) as you get  closer to Granada.   Finally we arrive in the sleepy little town of  Fuente Vaqueros  (Cowboys’ Fountain) the last stop before  Granada. 
 It was here in 1898 one of the 20thC greatest lyrical poets and playwrights was born -  Frederico García  Lorca  .  His upbring in this little town had a profound influence on his work.  He became famous in 1928 and i n 1929 spent a year at Colombia University in New York where he gathered material for his collection of  poems,  Poet in New York  , published posthumously.  In the early thirties he wrote his most famous plays –  Blood Wedding  (Bodas de Sangre) and  Yerma. In 1931,  he was given a grant to run a traveling theatre to  bring drama to the countryside. However, this period of enlightenment was short lived.  Lorca was a  Republican sympathizer, an intellectual and  a declared homosexual – an unpopular combination. 
 In 1936, at the beginning of the Civil War, Franco’s right-wing Falangists hunted Lorca down at the house of  a friend in Granada.  He was then taken  to the hills east of Granada and brutally murdered.  His body was  never found.   There's an excellent little museum in the house where he grew up with a revolving collection  of memorabilia plus a very short film that shows him working with his traveling theatre company. Visits are all guided and run at the following times:  Morning 10-11-12 & 13. Afternoon 17 & 18.   

Day 9—VISITING THE ALHAMBRA 
 To try and control the flow of people visiting the Alhambra, tickets are issued for ½ hour increments. This  means you  have  to go in sometime during this ½ hr period but once in, you can stay as long as you like.   

Meet in our hotel lobby at  17.00  to head up to the Alhambra.  The Alhambra, from the Arab word  al-qala’at al-hamra  meaning red castle, is one of the  top sights in the  world and, like the Mosque in Cordoba, words fail to convey its astounding beauty and voluptuousness!  A  glorious reminder of Muslim sophistication in Spain.  Delicate stucco work repeating passages from the  Koran and geometric tiles decorate the airy halls of this palace.  Scented gardens with burbling fountains  separate the different areas.  Here everything was designed to please the senses. Built on one of the 2 hills i n Granada, the Alhambra has 3 separate areas dating from different periods. The  Alcazaba  was  constructed in the 9thC as a fortress and the  Palace of the Nasrids  was built during the period of the Nazrid  dynasty (mid-13thC to 1492).  The  Generalife,  with its terraced water gardens, was the summer palace and intended to represent heaven on Earth.  It dates from the same period as the Palace.   One of the most astounding things about the Alhambra is the fact that it’s still here at all. Mostly constructed  of wood, brick and adobe, it was not built for posterity but for the moment – with each succeeding generation  expected to add on to it.  It was only when Washington Irving, who spent 6 months in the Alhambra while he  was serving as a young diplomat to Spain, wrote the  Tales of the Alhambra  that the Alhambra was  rediscovered and finally made a national monument.   

8:00pm–FAREWELL DINNER  with a light cocktail in  the gardens  at  the fabulous  Parador de Granada,  wonderful views to the red palace and delicious food.

DAY 10  – Farewell  A.M. lift to the airport/train/bus station.