The Sun Coast

View world-famous paintings by El Greco, Goya, and Velázquez, and much. much more, at the magnificent Museo del Prado.

At the palatial religious retreat of King Philip II, El Escorial, you will see the Royal Pantheon where the kings are buried, the Crypt of the Royal Children, the Apartments of King Philip, the Basilica with Titian's fresco depicting the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, and the lavish library, which contains 40,000 rare manuscripts, including the diary of St. Teresa of Ávila.

Stop at the Valle de los Caídos, a wooded belvedere nestled in the Guadarrama Mountains that features the world's largest monumental cross. It's also the site of an underground basilica that General Franco ordered carved inside a hill of solid granite by prisoners of war from the Republican side: it houses his tomb and was intended as a monument to Fascism. Make your way across the vast esplanade for a panoramic view of valleys and mountains.

You will stop in the beautiful city of Segovia, where Isabella, Christopher Columbus' sponsor, was proclaimed Queen of Castile.

Visit the most-photographed of all the Spanish castles, El Alcázar de Segovia. With its perfectly-proportioned features, it has become a symbol of Spain's medieval heritage.

Walk to the elegant aqueduct bridge built by the Romans c. AD 90 as part of a waterway that brought water to the city from mountains miles away.

Today, travel south through La Mancha, home of Don Quixote, to Córdoba, which was once as famous as Baghdad in the Islamic world. At that time, Córdoba's cultural life was centered around its 70 libraries, with the Caliph's library alone holding 400,000 volumes! Throughout the ages, exceptional scholars have blossomed here, including Seneca, the Roman author/statesman, and the medieval philosophers Maimonides and Averroes.

Cross the Patio de los Naranjos, where orange blossoms bloom in the spring. Enter the Great Mosque, in the heart of which a large Roman Catholic Cathedral was built after the Reconquest by the Christian Kings.

Marvel at the Mezquita's forest of "candy cane" arches adorned with precious stones, at its ceiling of carved cedar and 4,000 bronze and copper lamps. View the Mihrab shrine, where the Koran was kept.

A visit is included to the great Gothic cathedral, where you will see the flamboyant monument to Columbus, and the tomb of Ferdinand III: its trilingual inscription in Arabic, Hebrew and Castilian symbolizes this 13th-century king's vision of his kingdom as the home of all three faiths.

Then, climb the Giralda, a former minaret that stands near the cathedral. Instead of stairs, this tower was designed with an interior ramp which makes the climb almost effortless. From the top, visitors have a great overview of the cathedral's roof and buttresses.

Enjoy a visit to this UNESCO World Heritage Site over a thousand years old that's a stunning blend of Mudéjar and Christian architecture. Regarded as the most beautiful palace in Spain, El Real Alcázar de Sevilla was a residence of Spanish kings for nearly seven centuries after the Reconquista.

Board your coach for a drive to the last stronghold of the Moors: Granada.

Plan your free time or consider an optional excursion.