Abacela Winery and Nature Photography Adventures September 2 12, 2017 Itinerary September 2 Arrival Arrive in Madrid you ll have an English-speaking transfer to our starting hotel, Las Letras. Las Letras Hotel No meals included today September 3 Madrid at leisure Today is a casual day, at least for the first part of the day. Bob and Diane will be happy to walk with some or all of you to some historic sites and help you get on track with cameras. Some or all of you may want to visit Reina Sofia Gallery to see Picasso s Guernica (our last day together will involve time in Guernica, the site of this terrible war tragedy) and other great art. Let s end our ramblings and meet back at the hotel at 6 pm for a group orientation. Earl and Hilda will host and guide us through an introduction to Spanish wine with tasting involved. Then we re off to a welcome dinner. Las Letras Hotel Breakfast, Dinner (including wine)
September 4 Off to Ribera del Duero We ll pack up and leave Madrid, crossing the Sierra de Guadarrama, heading toward the village of Aranda de Duero. Earl and Hilda have a special relationship with Aranda! We ll take time to explore the city and the labyrinth of tunnels and cellars below the town. Those tunnels date back to medieval times. We ll have plenty of great opportunities to create images in a challenging environment below ground and a number of great opportunities above ground. We ll visit our first bodega (winery), Tinto Pesquera. Unlike a winery visit in the US, visiting a bodega is, as Earl explains, not so efficient. We ll spend more time in each winery, see more of the workings of the winery, have opportunities to create photographic art, and, of course, taste! West of Aranda, we ll find our new lodgings at Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena a converted 12 th century Cistercian monastery with a thermal spa and elegant rooms. This is our new base camp from which we ll explore the Ribera del Duero wine region! Tonight s dinner is a local classic feast of Castilla y Leon: lechazo, roast suckling lamb. Note that it is possible that we ll move this dinner to an alternate date. Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena (superior rooms with unlimited spa access) Breakfast in Madrid, Tapas lunch in Aranda de Duero, Lechazo dinner (which might change dates) September 5 Wineries and Castles! We ll spend today in the heartland of Castille surrounded by history and deep in the wine experience. We ll weave together opportunities to photograph wineries with castles on the skyline, a visit to Peñafiel Castle, and three great wineries: Bodegas Ismael Arroyo, Bodegas Felix Callejo (only female winemaker in Duero), and Bodegas Hermanos Perez Pascuas (where we ll have lunch). Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena (superior rooms with unlimited spa access) Breakfast, Lunch at Bodegas Hermanos Perez Pascuas, Dinner in Hotel (wine not included)
September 6 Historic Segovia We ll start early this morning to catch dramatic light on the Alcazar of Segovia and play, photographically, its many angles! We ll also build compositions with the intact Roman aqueduct right in the heart of Historic Segovia. This will be a great morning to work on those new photographic skills! Segovia is famous in a culinary sense for suckling pig roasted over wood. Bet there is a way for you to sample that for lunch! This afternoon, we have two bodegas to explore: Bodegas Protos and Viñedos Alion. Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena (superior rooms with unlimited spa access) Breakfast, Dinner in Hotel (wine not included) September 7 Monasteries and Bodegas This is our last day in Ribera del Duero let s have a splendid day! First, let s explore the Augustinian Abbey of Santa Maria de la Vid. Diane and Bob can tell you that a strictly photographic group could spend an entire day here and feel cheated when we said we had to leave. We ll be there to suggest compositions and help you with exposures! We know you ll love exploring the abbey and creating great photographic art but we also know you ll grow thirsty after a while and that wine called you to join this outing in Spain! We have three bodegas on the list this afternoon: Bodegas El Lagar de Isilla, Domino de Cari, and Bodegas Arrocal. Castilla Termal Monasterio de Valbuena (superior rooms with unlimited spa access) Breakfast, Dinner in Hotel (wine not included)
September 8 Let s go to La Rioja! It will be hard to leave our comfortable base camp in Ribera del Duero, but let s look forward. There is excitement ahead. Halfway to our destination in La Rioja, we ll stop for the Cathedral in Burgos. Like yesterday, the architecture is worth an entire day of photography and Bob and Diane will be right there to help you succeed. We ll break off, sooner than we are ready, to dine (Burgos has been nominated as Spain s culinary capitol) who would have thought we would eat again! Lunch is included at 24 de la Paloma but wine is on your own! We won t dawdle or seek naptime after lunch we have to get to Laguardia where we ll find the Church of Santa Maria and another set of wine caves beneath the streets! We ll be pressed for time to explore these with cameras and our two bodegas of the day: Bodegas Urbina and Marques de Riscal! You ll love the architecture of Marques de Riscal! Dinner on our own this evening and there are great options! Hospederia de Los Parajes, superior rooms Breakfast, Lunch at 24 de la Paloma
September 9 Wine and Landscapes in Rioja Alta Let s go out early and walk among the vineyards surrounding the walled town of Laguardia this morning and photograph the town with a vineyard foreground and the Cantabrian Mountains as a backdrop! Today we have some serious wine explorations and have your cameras handy. We ll head to Haro and start at R. López de Heredia Viña Tondonia. Then go next door Rioja Alta where we ll taste four vintages! Finally, we ll stop at Muga and you need to have your cameras ready. At Muga, in addition to exploring the wines and winemaking we ll be able to watch and photograph coopers making wine barrels and casks! We ll travel south, this evening, to Venta Moncalvillo, run by the Echapresto brothers. We ll enjoy a maridage a meal where every course is paired with a different wine! Hospederia de Los Parajes, superior rooms Breakfast, Dinner at Venta Moncalvillo
September 10 Winemaking then and now We ll start the day, again, walking through vineyards, this time toward the Castillo de Davalillo! Another castle atop a hill more striking photographic angles! Then it s off to Dinastia Vivanco wine museum, where we can explore and learn and photograph about the different parts of the winemaking process. Earl is sure to have many observations on all of this! Then, we re off to join in a local, family-run winemaking process, where we can take part in making wine. This should be a fun deviation and give the group a chance to photograph each other and laugh together, while learning. Today s winery is Marques de Murrieta. Then off to downtown Logroño, Rioja s largest city for a promenade on La Laurel Street. This street and section of the city has the most tapas bars in Rioja and there is something for everyone there. Hospederia de Los Parajes, superior rooms Breakfast, Lunch at Dinastia Vivanco, including wine Tapas Dinner, including wine
September 11 to Gernika and Bilbao It s time to abandon wine making and move up to the coast for one final day together. We ll journey north to the coast and over to Gernika. It s market day the day of the week when, during the Spanish Civil War, the Luftwaffe bombed the town. Picasso s painting of the event (which we may have seen in Madrid) focused the world on the horrors of war! We ll get insights from a local historian and dine in a Napoleonic Castle. Then it s off to Bilbao for our last night and our farewell dinner together. Hotel Lopez de Haro, deluxe rooms Breakfast in Hospederia de Los Parajes, Lunch at Castillo Arteaga with wine, Dinner at Etxanobe September 12, Homeward Bound After breakfast at the hotel, we ll travel to the Bilbao airport for our departures. Breakfast included