Portugal & Spain

Highlights

Itinerary

This itinerary represents our plan for the program. However, we may implement changes if we identify opportunities to improve the experience, to take advantage of unexpected events, or to accommodate local schedule changes.

Lisbon, Portugal • 4 days • Begin your journey in Lisbon, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. Stroll past Phoenician ruins that exist side by side with Gothic cathedrals and modern wonders such as the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology (MAAT). Learn how Lisbon’s famed seven hills and location at the mouth of the Tagus River influenced its development, and what changes were wrought by the cataclysmic earthquake of 1755. Take a day trip to nearby Sintra, home of several 19th century palaces with vivid pink, yellow, and red walls, a Moorish castle, and a mansion that once housed the initiation ceremonies of the Knights Templar.

Cáceres, Spain • 3 days • From Lisbon, head east into Spain. Stop first in the Portuguese town of Évora, where a 2nd-century Roman temple to Diana stands amid the whitewashed homes of the historic center. Continue to Cáceres, whose old town is a World Heritage site where Roman, Islamic, Gothic, and Renaissance structures both blend and compete for attention. Here, your Smithsonian Student Travel Expert joins the program to share insights into Spanish art and culture. Discuss the cultural melting pot that defines this ancient city while sitting in the shade of the olive grove at the heart of the Jewish Quarter, and see vestiges of the multi-tower defense system built by the Moorish rulers in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Madrid, Spain • 3 days • By contrast to Cáceres and Lisbon, Madrid is a relatively new city, with less than 500 years under its belt as an urban center. Delve into some of the modern ideas that influenced its urban planning—from the trade and service neighborhoods surrounding the 18th century palace to the impressive public gardens of Retiro Park, with its glass and iron Crystal Palace and unique monument to “The Fallen Angel.”  Visit the second century B.C. Egyptian Temple of Debod before stepping out on the pitch of the modern-day sports “temple” of Santiago Bernabeu. Examine modern masterpieces by Picasso and Dalí at the renowned Reina Sofía Museum, and see the dynamic tensions of the everyday lives of royalty and peasant classes as depicted by Goya and Velázquez at the world-class Prado Museum. 

Barcelona, Spain • 4 days • Even to this day, architects and urban planners around the world look to Barcelona, and in particular Gaudí and his fellow modernists, for inspiration. Peel back layers of this vibrant city, from the cobblestoned Gothic Quarters to the revolutionary grid and courtyard system of the Eixample, to the iconic effusiveness of Gaudí’s Parque Güell, Casa Batlló, and still unfinished Sagrada Familia Basílica. Visit the Picasso Museum, housed inside a medieval palace. This museum holds over 4,000 of the artist’s works. See the ongoing impacts of the 1992 Summer Olympics and the urban renewal that accompanied them, and end your journey with an independent project related to an aspect of Iberian art and culture that most fascinates you.

Return • Travel Day • Fly from Barcelona, Spain, to New York with your group and a trip leader, then continue on to your final destination.