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DAY
1 DEPARTURE FROM NORTH AMERICA
Enjoy full meal service on your scheduled wide-bodied flight
to Bilbao.
DAY
2 ARRIVE BILBAO – PAMPLONA AREA (1 NIGHT)
You will be met at the airport by your tour manager/guide,
board your own private coach and be transferred to your
hotel in Pamplona. The city of Pamplona is universally
famous for the Festival of St. Fermin, which Ernest
Hemingway described in The Sun Also Rises. Each
July, men and boys run through the streets of Pamplona just
in front of the horns and hooves of the bulls that will
fight in that evening’s bullfights. Our Walking Tour
of Pamplona will include visits to the lovely Cathedral
and the Museo de Navarra, with its fascination
displays relating to the history of the area.
DAY
3 PAMPLONA AREA - EUNATE - PUENTA LA REINA - LOGRONO
AREA (1 NIGHT)
Today we travel through the famous Ebro valley, which the
Rio Oja has made famous for its wine. We will continue to
follow the famous Pilgrim’s Road to Santiago de Compostela.
Leaving Pamplona, we will pause at Eunate where the finding
of human bones suggests that the Romanesque Chapel
was once a funeral chapel. We continue on to Puente la
Reina where we will see a modern pilgrim statue near the
town entrance. On our walk in the town we will view the
Iglesia de Santiago with its beautiful carved doorway
and statues of St. James and St. Bartholomew.
DAY
4 LOGRONO AREA - SANTO DOMINGO DE CALZADA -
BURGOS AREA (2 NIGHTS)
This morning we will make an early start to Najera, once the
capital of the kingdom of Navarra. We will visit the
Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real and its cloisters
which are built against the cliffs. Traveling on our
pilgrim road we come to Santo Domingo de Calzada. The small
town was given its name by Dominic, a hermit who in the 11th
century built a causeway or calzada, to help the pilgrims on
their journey. He also founded a hospital and a hospice
here. We will view the Cathedral and see the tomb of
Saint Dominic before continuing on to Burgos. The riverside
promenade provides pleasant walks and the Old City has many
beautiful churches, as well as preserved medieval and
Renaissance palaces. This afternoon we will visit the
beautiful Real Monasterio de Las Huelgas. Once a
palace, it was transformed in the 12th century into a
convent. Many of the medieval rulers of Castilla are buried
here and there is a rare collection of medieval textiles on
display in the museum.
DAY
5 DAY TRIP TO COVARRUBIAS
A short journey this morning takes us to Rio Arlanza and the
town of Covarrubias. We will walk through the picturesque
old town to view the Rennainsance palace and the charming
half-timbered houses that have been well restored. In the
Colegiata, we will see the tomb of Fernán Gonzalez,
the first independent count of Castille who died in 970.
The Pantheon of the collegiate church houses some twenty
medieval tombs. Later this afternoon we return to Burgos,
time-honored for being the birthplace of El Cid, the
champion of the Spanish Reconquest. The city was also the
headquarters of Franco during the Spanish Civil War. We
will visit the Gothic Cathedral, which is of
exceptional quality and beauty and is the final resting
place of El Cid.
· Your First Concert Performance will be today
DAY
6 BURGOS AREA - FROMISTA - PALENCIA – LEON AREA (1
NIGHT)
Leaving Burgos and traveling to Fromista, we will view the
Iglesia de St Martin. The pilgrims halted here as
there were four hospices and they could pay homage to the
Benedictine San Martin. We continue on to Palencia, the
seat of Spain’s first university, where we will pause
to view the Cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece with many
beautiful sculptures, tapestries and paintings. Continuing
northwest we arrive at Leon, once an important stop on the
Way of St James. The medieval town was built on Roman
fortifications and by the 11th and 12th century, Leon was
almost the center of Christian Spain. We will view the
French inspired Gothic Cathedral.
DAY
7 LEON - ASTORGA - PONFERRADA – VILLAFRANCA AREA (1
NIGHT)
Leaving Leon we travel across the Montes de Leon to Astorga,
which was another important resting place for pilgrims and
known during the middle ages for its fairs. In Astorga we
will view Gaudi’s Palacio Episcopal, a most fantastic
pastiche of a medieval palace. Later in the day we will
visit the town of Ponferrada, dominated by the ruins
of the Castillo de los Templares. The town obtained its
name from the iron bridge, which was built in the 11th
century, again for the pilgrims to have access to Santiago
de Compostela. Tonight we will stay in the Villafranca
area.
· Your Second Concert Performance will be today
DAY
8 VILLAFRANCA AREA - LUGO - SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
AREA (2 NIGHTS)
As we continue along the pilgrim’s way, we arrive at Lugo,
another Roman town that was built in the 1st and 2nd
century. The Murallas (Town Walls) are over one mile long
and have 10 gateways into the old quarter. Finally, we
arrive at Santiago de Compostela at the end of The Way of
St James.
DAY
9 SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
We are at our journey’s end and today we will visit the
third most important city of pilgrimage after Jerusalem and
Rome. Arriving at the Praca do Obradoiro, we will view the
Cathedral, built on the site of the first basilica
erected over the apostle’s tomb. We will see the
Obradoiro façade and the Doorway of Glory. The
immense Romanesque cathedral is still intact from the days
when the pilgrims of Medieval times came here. Later we
will walk in the Old Town to the Plaza de la Quintana at the
eastern side of the Cathedral and soak up the atmosphere of
the Old Town.
· Your Third Concert Performance will be today
DAY 10
DEPARTURE
FROM SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA
Our enjoyable and rewarding tour will come to an end as our
tour manager/guide accompanies us to the airport for the return
flight home.
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