The Royal Palace (Palacio Real) in Madrid, Spain.

October 13-20, 2015

Plan your arrival in Barcelona, Spain for October 12, 2015
Plan your departure from Madrid, Spain for October 21, 2015

Barcelona and Madrid are the settings for a world class collection of art and museums. The vast Spanish Empire provided the gold which fueled the art collecting of the Spanish monarchy. Come and see the riches that were assembled over the centuries! In Madrid, the Prado, described as the greatest painting museum in the world, was begun by King Carlos III in 1785 and opened as a museum in 1819. The Baron Hans-Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza’s collection opened in 1992, and provides a concise survey of the history of western art. Pablo Picasso’s renowned painting, “Guernica,” is the jewel on display at the Museo Reina Sofia. In Barcelona, the Picasso Museum has one of the best collections of his work, and the National Museum of Catalan Art has Europe’s  largest and oldest collection of Romanesque art from the 11th to 13th centuries. The city boasts many masterpieces by the architect Antoni Gaudi including the “still-in-progress” Sagrada Familia church. Feast your eyes on masterpieces by Spanish born artists: Velazquez, Goya, Ribera, Miro, Picasso, and Gaudi. Revel in the exquisite art of Titian, Rubens, Caravaggio, El Greco, Durer, and Hieronymous Bosch. Visits to cathedrals and castles will enhance your trip, and wonderful Spanish wine and food (including the little bites called tapas) will refuel you after you feast your eyes on art. Amy will add special talks and discussions, as will local guides.

Arrival Day
Overnight in Barcelona
Arrive in Barcelona and transfer to the hotel on your own. Your lodging on this evening is included in the trip price. Meals are on your own.

Day 1
Overnight in Barcelona
Breakfast & dinner included
Begin in the old quarter of Barcelona (Barri Gòtic) where you’ll visit the Barcelona cathedral. This beautiful Gothic cathedral was built between the 13th and 15th centuries on the foundation of a fourth century basilica. Then visit the History Museum of the City of Barcelona to view the Roman ruins followed by a tour our first Gaudi building, the Palau Guell.  Here you’ll find the only domestic interior that Gaudi designed that is open to the public. Tour the waterfront area where you’ll see the well-known statue of Christopher Columbus. Return to our hotel via the Rambla—a mecca for people watching. If time and energy permit, visit the open-air market known as the Mercat de la Boqueria whose origins date to the Middle Ages; there are more than 250 stalls offering upwards of 20,000 products. Immerse yourself into Barcelona and enjoy the bustle of this lively European city. Enjoy a welcome dinner together tonight.

Facade of Antoni Gaudi’s Casa Battló in Barcelona (Photo credit).

Day 2
Overnight in Barcelona
Breakfast and lunch included
Visit Barcelona’s Picasso Museum (one of the best collections of his work anywhere) and then two architectural masterpieces by Gaudi—the Casa Battló and the Casa Milà (also known as La Pedrera). Ascend to the rooftop of the Casa Milà where there is a rooftop garden filled with Gaudi fantasies. At Casa Milà you’ll also find a wonderful museum and gift shop. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Day 3
Overnight in Barcelona
Breakfast included
Pay a visit to Gaudi’s “work in progress,” the enormous Basilica of the Sacred Family (Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família). Later, tour the whimsical Parc Guell on the outskirts of Barcelona. Here, you can visit the house where Gaudi lived. Dinner is on your own this evening.

Antoni Gaudi’s Salamander in the Parc Güell, Barcelona (Photo credit).

Day 4
Overnight in Barcelona
Breakfast & dinner included
Above the city in the Olympic Park (Parc de Montjuic) enjoy the site of the 1982 Olympic Games, and tour two extraordinary museums. The National Art Museum of Catalonia has the best medieval art collection in Europe as well as Renaissance, Baroque, and Modern art. A portion of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection is on exhibit here (the rest is in Madrid) as are masterpieces by Titian, El Greco, Valazquez, Rubens, Picasso, Gaudi, and Miro. Continue to the Miro Foundation housed in a splendid building designed by Josep Lluis Sert. Enjoy dinner together, our last in Barcelona.

Facade of the Museo del Prado (Photo credit).

Day 5
Overnight in Madrid
Breakfast and dinner included
Today travel from Barcelona to Madrid. Settle into our centrally-located hotel and stroll the historic avenues of Spain’s capital city. Marvel at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real), linger at the Mercado de San Miguel, a covered market built in 1913, and perhaps watch the sunset from the Temple of Debod, a two thousand year old Egyptian temple presented as a gift to Spain. Dine on local specialties this evening.

Day 6
Overnight in Madrid
Breakfast and lunch included
Today is devoted to the Prado Museum (Museo del Prado), one of the finest painting museums in the world. Begun by King Carlos III in 1785, the museum collections were formed between the 15th and 17th centuries by the Spanish monarchy. King Felipe II (1556-1598) purchased art by Hieronymous Bosch. King Felipe IV (1621-1665) was a major patron of Rubens and hired Velazquez as his court painter. King Carlos IV (1788-1808), in turn, hired Goya as his court painter. Feast your eyes on selections of the over three thousand paintings in the collection including the Italian Renaissance works of Botticelli, Titian, Caravaggio, and Raphael as well as the works of Bosch, El Greco, Durer, Goya, and Velazquez (including the latter’s masterwork Las Meninas). There are more rooms in the Prado dedicated to the works of Goya than there are to the works of any other artist—three floors in the southern portion of the museum are dedicated to his art! Enjoy this evening on your own.

Sagrada Familia by El Greco at the Museo del Prado (Photo credit).

Day 7
Overnight in Madrid
Breakfast and dinner included
The grand finale is the Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum which offers a feast of western art from the 13th to the 21st centuries! Begin with Duccio and end with Lichtenstein! Savor art by Memling, van Eyck,  Cranach, Durer, Titian, Caravaggio, Canaletto, Tinteretto, Bernini, Goya, the Impressionists (Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas), van Gogh, the German Expressionists (Marc and Kandinsky), Braque, Mondrian, Klee, Picasso, and Georgia O-Keefe! This afternoon we will visit Pablo Picasso’s masterwork, Guernica, on display at the Museo Reina Sofia. Then continue through the museum’s galleries to see works by Dali and Miro. Nearby, the Caixa Forum (by architects Herzog and de Meuron) includes Patrick Blanc’s Vertical Garden; this artist also did the growing walls of the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Contemplate the richness of our Spanish art feast over dinner together this evening.

Departure Day
Breakfast included
Depart Madrid. Consider joining an optional two-day extension to Granada where you can tour the famous Alhambra, an exquisite Moorish palace in the south of Spain. Indicate your interest in this extension when you pay your deposit for the Barcelona and Madrid trip.

Other Details about this Trip
Trip Dates: October 13-20, 2015
Trip Leader: Amy Boyce Osaki
Price: $4,295 (A deposit of $400 is required to guarantee your reservation)
Single Room for entire trip: $850
Meeting Point: The trip begins at the hotel in Barcelona on the morning of October 13, 2015.
Departure Point: The trip concludes after dinner on the evening of October 20, 2015. However, your overnight lodging in Madrid this evening and breakfast the following morning are included in the trip price.
Included in the trip price: Access to museums and attractions, admission to all sites, fourteen meals, eight nights lodging, all local transportation including train from Barcelona to Madrid, expert insights into art provided by your trip leader and local experts. PLEASE NOTE that your hotel accommodations on the evening of the arrival day (October 12) are included in the trip price.
Not included in the trip price: Airfare, excess baggage charges, airport transfers from Barcelona airport and to Madrid airport, personal insurance, meals not mentioned in the itinerary, and all items of a personal nature such as drinks, laundry, telephone, and internet access.
Customize your trip to Spain! Come early or stay longer by adding extra nights at the hotel. Take advantage of all the museum visits included in the itinerary, or pick and choose, as you desire. Opt out of some of the museum visits in favor of more time relaxing, or set off to explore other museums not on the schedule. 

El Quitasol by Francisco de Goya at the Museo del Prado (Photo credit).