Day 1: Sevilla - Tapas Tour. Transfer you to your hotel, a group of medieval and Renaissance palaces and houses connected by patios and passageways located in the center of Seville’s historic Santa Cruz district. We gather for jerez (sherry), an ideal prelude to our tapas crawl through the ancient streets, many now pedestrianized. Day 2: Sevilla - Barrio de Santa Cruz and cooking. You take a walking tour of the Barrio de Santa Cruz, formerly the Jewish Quarter, and the Royal Alcázar, a 14th century palace built in the Mudéjar style, where the gardens command as much attention as the palace. After lunch there’s time for a siesta or swimming in the rooftop pool. Then you’re off to your first cooking class in our chef’s restaurant. The menu will focus on some of Andalusia’s most famous recipes and might include variations on gazpacho, and its cousin, salmorejo, rice dishes, seafood, and dessert. After cooking we eat dinner with wine. Day 3: Jerez de la Frontera and Sanlúcar de Barrameda - Bodegas and Prawns on the Atlantic Coast. Today’s visit is a must as the sherry bodegas are unique in the world. Jerez is home to myriad bodegas–cavernous palaces housing stack upon stack of wine barrels. We tour our first bodega and learn the intricacies of making sherry, brandy and sherry wine vinegar. After sampling a number of different types of sherry, we move on to a small family-run bodega to sample some remarkable wines. For lunch we travel to Sanlúcar de Barrameda on the Atlantic seacoast, home of Manzanilla wine, another Denominación de origen sherry. We will enjoy a lavish spread of Andalusian dishes, most notably the famous prawns and shrimp, accompanied by Manzanilla. Day 4: Ronda - Neoclassical Bullring in Ronda. En route to Ronda, we visit two small vineyards that are causing a small stir among wine watchers. Our wine tastings feature a number of outstanding reds, accompanied by a sampling of Andalucía’s legendary jamón ibérico, ham from the black-hoofed Iberian pig. We make our way to Ronda for lunch in a fine restaurant that specializes in traditional local fare. Ronda is one of Andalucía’s most beautiful white towns (pueblos blancos) set on two sides of a 120 meter-deep river gorge. Connecting the two sides is a bridge you won’t soon forget! Ronda’s previous incarnations were as the capital of a 14th century Moorish kingdom and as the central hideout spot for roaming 18th century bandits. After visiting the finely preserved Arabic baths and the Neoclassical bullring, we return to Seville. Day 5: Aracena and Cooking - The World's Best Ham in the Sierra de Aracena. Many people call Iberian ham Spanish caviar. The Sierra of Aracena in the province of Huelva is home to some of the finest jamón ibérico produced in Spain. The region is one of the four Denominación de Origen ham-producing areas of the Peninsula. In this region the Iberian pig is raised on the grasses, herbs and acorns of the dehesa, the tree-studded meadowland. We pay a visit to the pig’s habitat, proceeding afterwards to the curing facilities. A guide explains the process of producing the ham, the curing of which takes 24 to 36 months. We then enjoy lunch in one of the region’s best restaurants. We return to Seville for our second cooking class, where we continue our immersion into Andalusian cuisine, preparing a multi-course meal. Dinner with wine will be in our instructor’s restaurant. Day 6: Sevilla. Transfer to airport or train station. There is time after breakfast for a walk through Seville’s narrow winding streets or a visit to the massive Gothic-Renaissance cathedral. Transfer to the train station or the airport. Notes:
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