ROYAL ROADS
Royal Roads - Luxury Travel Magazine
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Royal Roads |
| By: Timothy Morrell, Issue 44 – Spring 2010 |
| (Spain and Portugal) |
| COMBINING EASE OF TRAVEL WITH SUPERB DESTINATIONS IS A FORMULA THAT SOME TOUR COMPANIES HAVE CAREFULLY PERFECTED. TIMOTHY MORRELL EXPERIENCED THIS KID-GLOVES TREATMENT ON A ROAD TRIP ACROSS THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. |
| Years ago, as a resolutely independent traveller, I vowed that I would never go on an organised tour. Group travel? No way. I was determined to experience the joy of drifting freely through magical new places. That is why I once found myself drifting freely around Riga, the capital of Latvia, in the rain struggling to get a visa for my next destination, and spending a night on the unfamiliar streets of Prague (magical but for the cold) because neither I, nor any taxi driver, could find the splendid apartment I’d booked for myself. That sort of thing doesn’t happen on organised tours. Especially if the tour is organised by Tauck, the company that allowed me to travel effortlessly through some of the loveliest but hottest parts of Portugal and Spain in midsummer. The alternative to being escorted deep into the Iberian Peninsula on a coach would have been to get creatively lost with the aid of a map and a hire car. Tauck provides fully accompanied tours for the carriage trade. Yes, you’re on a bus, but most of your fellow passengers are urbane, experienced travellers (mainly couples of a certain age) who know enough about the world to appreciate that it’s a much more attractive place when everything is being done for you. The company is U.S. based and it aims to buffer clients in a mobile comfort zone of exacting American standards of comfort and hospitality. Everyone seemed quite socially adept, but just in case, Tauck has a quaint practice of posting a new seating plan on the bus every day, moving each couple around to ensure mix’n’match conviviality. (This doesn’t happen at meals.) Free from the effort of negotiating tedious details like airport transfers, baggage-handling, hotel check-ins and where to sit on the bus, I was happy to do nothing but relax from the moment I was met at Lisbon airport until the fond farewell when I was delivered to my flight home. Tauck does allow guests plenty of free time to wander about, but it’s hard to resist the temptation to stay exactly where they’ve put you, especially when it’s some place like the Ritz (which is where we stayed in Lisbon). Five-star accommodation is a standard part of the Tauck treatment, and the company selects hotels that have more to recommend them than top tier ranking. The Lisbon Ritz is not a wedding cake of columns and curlicues (unlike much of this slightly crumbling, still spectacular city). The hotel is a rare and beautifully preserved monument to 1950s grand luxe, an improbable marriage of Napoleon I and Mamie Eisenhower. The well-bred European manners of the staff create an atmosphere of calm refinement, even when the temperature outside is over 40 degrees. After Lisbon, the itinerary meanders down to Gibraltar, then zig-zags up to Madrid. Some excursions track the seasonal relocations made by the royal court. The 14-day journey includes great palaces, cathedrals, monasteries, museums and Roman ruins, with a break for a couple of days at the halfway point, beside the sea at Marbella (very chic as beach resorts go, but officially a culture-free zone). The tour’s learned director, Joe Pereira, entertained us along the way with anecdotes about Kings, Queens, explorers and political intrigue. Despite incorporating seven UNESCO World Heritage sites, this is not specifically a culture tour. Nevertheless, at the end of it we had almost subliminally absorbed a remarkable amount of valuable information, together with special treats such as the director’s favourite local pastries, cheerfully distributed on the bus. His fluency in Portuguese and Spanish was particularly reassuring in this corner of Europe where English is not so widely spoken. When not being awestruck by landmarks of history, art and architecture, we had the opportunity to dine at a restaurant where Goya once worked as a dishwasher and, in the wine cellar of a monastery, to learn the useful party trick of cracking open a champagne bottle with a sabre. We enjoyed an excellent lunch of tapas in Jerez, home of sherry and the celebrated dancing white stallions. At the more remote locations, the principal attraction appeared to be our hotel. Not to underestimate the significance of Evora’s Roman Temple of Diana and Gothic cathedral, they frankly made less of an impression than the Convento do Espinheiro where we stayed. This too is a national monument - one with a spa and infinity pool. It was a popular retreat for the Portuguese monarchy centuries ago. Guests seeking a higher level of spiritual replenishment can visit the convent’s superbly restored abbey, just off the lobby. Even in Seville, one of the world’s most picturesque cities, our lodgings were part of the architectural display. Many of the more colourful buildings there were constructed for the 1929 World’s Fair, including the Hotel Alfonso XIII. In the glorious gloom of one of its marble halls we were treated to a private show by a flamenco troupe. It felt like a royal command performance. The tour gives proper coverage of the Iberian Peninsula’s enormous legacy from eight centuries of Moorish occupation. Apart from their feats of maths and astronomy, the Moorish invaders brought a highly sophisticated knowledge of elegant outdoor living. After admiring the refreshing garden courtyards in Moorish-built palaces on this trip I was able to appreciate the way some of the grander hotels have adapted the idea to create the perfect place to have breakfast. Madrid, where the tour ended, has so much to offer that it can be overwhelming. If your time is limited, seeing the city with Tauck is a smart option because you’ll do a lot while maintaining the illusion of a leisurely pace, essential to a proper experience of the Spanish way of life. |
| DETAILS: |
| The next Tauck Spain and Portugal tour departs Lisbon on 22 April 2011. Other tours depart on 13, 20, and 27 May 2011. |
| RATES: A$5,050 per person twin share or A$6,590 single. |
| CONTACT: Travel the World on 1300 950 622, www.traveltheworld.com.au |