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CATALANYA
DAY ONE
The Tour meets in Barcelona, the vibrant and exceedingly dynamic capital of Catalonia.
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Hugging the Mediterranean, Barcelona is perhaps Spain’s most cosmopolitan city, revivified originally by its economic prominence in the 19thC and in a second wave, by the massive makeover since the Olympics of 1992. It is now considered the chic city for its avant-garde artists, art, architecture, and innovative chefs.
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We urge guests to arrive several days before the tour to absorb at your own pace and according to your interests the many wonderful offerings in this pedestrian-friendly city:
its remarkable architecture from Gaudí to Santiago Calatrava and Mies van der Rohe;
the splendid food markets of Santa Caterina (signalling the gentrification of La Ribera) and the famous la Boqueria off La Rambla;
its magical parks , Diagonal Mar, Gaudí’s Parc Guell, and the promenades along the beach at la Barceloneta;
its museums from Picasso to MACBA;
its eclectic and thrilling dining scene from Catalan cooking traditions to the nueva cocina espańola.
Art of Living will assist with hotel recommendations and reservations. We also arrange expert guides for shopping, walking, sightseeing and up to date dining notes.
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Your hotel tonight, ‘ABaC’, is an exquisite new boutique hotel of only 15 rooms built within a zen-like garden. After Welcome drinks here you will enjoy a special tasting menu designed for us by the rising young talent, Jordi Cruz, who has retained the 2 Michelin stars.
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BASQUE COUNTRY
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Day Two
This morning is a short flight to Bilbao.
One of the bastions of Basque nationalism, fierce pride, and strong sense of unique identity, Bilbao, in microcosm, sheds light on Spain’s regional capacity to both reinvent itself and remain true to a quintessential spirit and rich traditions.
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Arrive in time for a latish lunch at the Guggenheim Museum Restaurant where protégé of the acclaimed Michelin ranked chef, Martín Berasategui, Josean Martínez Alija presides over an imaginative and seasonal menu gastronomique.
After lunch check into your designer chic hotel where your rooms and terraces have great views of the incomparable iconic Museum.Phillip Starck and Arne Jacobsen fittings to Javier Mariscal interiors distinguishes this 5* property that enshrines a fun, contemporary concept avoiding ostentation.
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This afternoon in the seductive twilight enjoy a walking tour of the old town led by our charismatic local habitué from whose lips rolls an appreciation of art + history, of Basque culture + politics and to boot, a "foodie extraordinaire with a great knowledge of wine. See some of the old city’s more notable sights before a casual roving txikiteo dinner- a typical Bilbao tradition of “bar hopping’ with glass of wine in hand, sampling exceptionally delicious pinxtos.
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Day Three
This morning after breakfast visit Frank Gehry’s famed titanium spectacle, affectionately known as ‘el goog’ that evokes the site’s original use for shipbuilding.
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Later, drive to the tiny village of Axpe in the mountains where between a church, the square and a bocce court stands such a simple building, yet one of the world’s most remarkable restaurants established over 20 years ago by the humble but brilliant Victor Arguinzoniz who has taken the world’s oldest form of cooking: fire and wood coals, and totally reinvented the art of grilling. Expect truly luscious, pristine local ingredients turned into culinary wizardry, such as three types of smoked butter to whole turbot, goose barnacles, to mussels served in sardine tin!
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After a "long lunch" drive east along the coast to Getaria, a tiny medieval fishing harbour that was the birthplace of Magellan’s navigator and also fashion designer, Cristobal Balenciaga. Enjoy a refreshing sea walk.
Also visit a bodega in the heart of the country’s smallest D.O. wine region: Txakoli de Getaria, a tart white wine made from Hondarrabi Zuri and Hondarrabi Beltza.
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This afternoon, check into your exceptional rural boutique hotel that feels like an extremely well appointed home away from home with only 8 rooms. Inspired by the people who own Villa Soro in San Sebastian, this property combines rural charm with urban sophistication in gorgeous rooms, with a peaceful ambience and dreamy swimming pool.
This evening join local friends around the old town of San Sebastian exploring atmospheric pintxo bars as enticing as Aloña-Berri, Cuchara de san Telmo, la Cepa, Bar Ganbara
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Day Four
This morning join us for a walking tour of San Sebastian with our inimitable local guide, Gabriella who recently shared the Wall Street Journal pages with Marieke as amongst the top ten culinary guides in the world. Visit specialty providores, have tastings at the wonderful markets housed in the Old Quarter (Mercados de la Brecha y Percaderia), stop for a local cider, and appreciate the many charms of this wonderful town.
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San Sebastián (aka Donostia) is a pedestrian friendly town that was formerly the elegant and fashionable watering hole for Royalty and is still so beguiling for its La Concha beach, one of the world’s great city beaches that is totally integrated into the lifeblood of the city, its chic boulevards with Belle Époque mansions, cafes and boutiques, its mazelike Parte Vieja (Old Town) with thick-walled buildings pressing up against stoic Romanesque churches and small bars and pintxos everywhere.
Stop for a light lunch, the later wander about this enchanting town at your whim.
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This afternoon, check into your exceptional boutique hotel that feels like an extremely well appointed home away from home. In a city where even the most luxurious accommodations tend toward the dowdy, Villa Soro offers a dose of modern luxury. This intimate 19thC mansion has preserved its manicured gardens and heritage status while updating the rooms with a soothing colour scheme, wooden furniture and local art. Only 25 rooms, it is located 5 minutes walk to the centre of San Seb, Zurriola beach, the Kursaal Concert centre and the old part of town. This is your exclusive residence for the next 3 nights.
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This evening we have snared a chef’s table (the same one Anthony Bourdain sat at and countless others lust after) at Arzak, at the fashionable Spanish hour for dining which is late (the only late dinner on this trip).
Ranked 3 stars by Michelin and 8th by San Pellegrino’s Wolrd’s 50 Best. This 110-year-old roadside tavern is nicely poised between an older, French-inspired style of innovation, and the new wave of ground-breaking Spanish cooking, as exemplified by Ferran Adrià and his disciples.
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Juan Mari Arzak’s quest to reinvent Basque cuisine, was inspired after attending a short course with French chef Paul Bocuse in 1976, and led him on a boundary-busting journey of discovery involving new techniques and unusual ingredients. Together with his talented daughter Elena, who trained with Adrià for 8 years, they have created an enriched, reinvigorated Basque cuisine that retains a sense of tradition and place.
Be prepared for a Menu that is witty, entertaining, celebrating exceptional local ingredients.
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Day Five
Enjoy a leisurely morning at your hotel or some shopping and browsing in the elegant shops of the town. Later drive to the Museo Chillida Leku an open air park that celebrates the sculptural and artistic work of Basque Sculptor Eduardo Chillida renowned for his open space monuments like Lugar de Encuentros that hangs from a Madrid bridge. Chillida is a sculptor whose work spans the 20th century. A renovated farmhouse serves as a gallery space.
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Later depart for today’s highlight, a lunch at Akelarre with its incomparable sea views high above the Bay of Biscay just outside the city and 3 Michelin stars. Despite its 35-year history, acclaimed chef, Pedro Subijana has evolved a contemporary, playful, whimsical, innovative cuisine with a nod to molecular playing fields, yet preserving utmost respect for stunning local ingredients.
This evening at leisure or take another pintxos crawl in the Old town.
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NAVARRA + La RIOJA
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Day Six
Today’s lunch is at Restaurant Tubal in the Navarran village of Taffala where an exemplary reputation has been carved by it elegant owner Axen whose son Nicolás Jiménez has worked in restaurants such as Zuberoa, (under Chef Martín Berasategui) and Arzak yet continues the family tradition. We love it for Axen’s infectious generosity and hospitality and that it preserves luscious traditional dishes based on an abundance of local seasonal ingredients, as well as taking up new techniques to create an avant-garde cuisine of great integrity.
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Later take the scenic drive to the heart of la Rioja to check into the region’s newest, modernist and elegant boutique hotel, your charming abode the next 3 nights. This is the latest avant-garde addition designed by Joseba + Xavier Arambru. Set next to a 17th century church against the backdrop of the Sierra de Cantabria mountains, all rooms that are like nonchalantly piled up cubes, have stellar views direct to the charming picturesque medieval village.
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La Rioja is the cradle of the Castilian language and the character of these lands has been moulded by the vineyards and the pilgrims' road, the Camino to Santiago de Compostela, by smooth landscapes, fertile valleys, dramatic piedmont escarpments, medieval towns and strategic crossroads.
The wines are amongst the finest in Spain and utterly delectable and fascinating as within the region you can experience uniquely traditional wine styles from firms such as Muga, Marqués de Murrieta and Marqués de Riscal that belong to the Rioja aristocracy as well as New Wave wines whose reputable producers include the Mendoza family, Roda, and Ysios.
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Day Seven
Today we have a private tasting arranged at Contador owned by oenologist extraordinaire, Benjamin Romeo, who has enjoyed the highest praise from the hardest hitting critic Robert Parker. The purpose built complex stands on the crag of San Pelayo on the outskirts of San Vicente and each part of its design fulfills both an aesthetic and functional function. On the outside he has created a thyme garden covering the entire construction. Interiors have been designed with indirect lighting, distribution of the wine works through gravity all adding to the creation of very natural, limited editions of perfect wines. Benjamin is both passionate in the bodega and obsessive in the vineyard personally travelling to Extramadura to select the trees for his corks (incidentally the same that supplies Ch Petrus).
A typical regional lunch will be enjoyed in the very picturesque and historic village of Laguardia.
This evening stroll through the old town of Logroño, the town of the region best regarded for its tapas.
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Day Eight
Today visit the incomparable Dinastia Vivanco Museum of the Culture of Wine that covers every aspect of wine culture from the vineyard, to the winery, wine accoutrements, archaeology and art.
Later view Ysios, one of the astounding New Wave vineyards, designed by Valencia-born Santiago Calatrava in the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria and named after the Egyptian goddess of magic. The materials used throughout are appropriately those used in winemaking: oak, assembled horizontally and enhancing the length of the building, and metal for the shine of the roof and the interior elements. In a manner consistent with the facade, the most distinctive feature is a radiant aluminium roof, formed in rolling waves that both recall and interact with the surrounding landscape.
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Travel on to the small town of Haro to visit one of the most significant innovators, Bodegas Roda founded 1987 by Mario Rottlant and Carmen Daurella, a Catalán couple who met through their business affiliations in gourmet products and wine. Well aware of excellent traditional wineries in Rioja, their objective was to create superb, unique high expression, fruit-driven red wines of maximum freshness in a modern style reflective of the region and the constituent varietals. “Roda are very much new-wave Rioja and not interested in the lengthy ageing in barrel demanded by the time-honoured Reserva and Gran Reserva styles. Their main wines are the Tempranillo-based Roda I and Roda II, aged in new French oak.
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Lunch is at the exciting Gehry-designed Marques de Riscal complex where famed Michelin awarded Hotel Echaurren chef, Francis Paniego presides over a menu that ranges from exquisite traditional croquetas to nouvelle dishes of great delicacy.
The rest of the afternoon is free for you to relax at the hotel or enjoy the village.
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Day Nine
After a substantial brunch at the hotel take the scenic drive of 2 hours to Bilbao airport for the short flight to Mallorca. On reaching, you will be transferred to the delightful village of Soller where your charming accommodation awaits.
(It is also possible to end your Tour today and arrange to leave from Bilbao if time does not permit the charming extension to Mallorca).
Dinner this evening is in one of the village’s typical local traditional restaurants.
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The Tour ends today after a leisurely breakfast.
Bilbao is an international airport with connections to innumerable European hubs and is an hour’s distance from the hotel.
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© This Tour remains the Copyright of marieke’s Art of Living and we reserve the right to amend the itinerary at any time in the best interest of our clients
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Tour Leader
Marieke Brugman’s Academic (Fine Arts) beginnings segued into the culinary world where she is a highly regarded chef, educator, consultant, public speaker and occasional writer. She has been both a pioneer in Food/Wine Tourism and an ambassador for creating a distinctive Australian identity in the evolution of our gastronomic culture.
Marieke co-established and operated Howqua Dale Gourmet Retreat - an exceptional hospitality destination experience in north-east Vitoria, and over 30 years, cemented its outstanding reputation for superb cuisine and innovative cooking schools.
In 1990, Marieke co-founded and conducted an international niche-market Travel Company so that her passion for human experiences and cultural connections could open doors to world class journeys, enabling guests to see the world differently, and always in superior comfort and with great culinary inquisitiveness.
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Tour Assistant
Baxter is Marieke’s Assistant. Originally from Adelaide, she has spent the last decade as an inveterate traveller sailing ships, flying planes, cycling mountains, and trekking the globe, along the way accumulating fluency in German, Italian and Spanish and a good smattering of French. A naturally gifted linguist, Baxter is currently attempting Hindi.
Her culinary skills were honed on board luxury yachts that plied the Med and the Caribbean. When not traveling she teaches yoga and has a special affection for India and Spain. She lived intermittently on the island of Mallorca over a decade and fondly considers it her second home.
Baxter has assisted Marieke’s cooking classes and culinary programs in Rajasthan, South India and Normandy.
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To Request a Brochure and Booking Form for this Tour Go To>
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