Best of Spain and Italy for Couples: Seville to Ravello

It was a very nice, well-planned trip. Most hotels were nice and centrally located. All the guides and drivers were excellent.

Words can't explain just how important this trip was for my 90-year-old Uncle.  In 1944, he was a  U.S. soldier in Germany, and during that time, he had one week's leave from the Army.  He decided to visit Spain for that week, and he absolutely fell in love with the country.  He promised himself that one day he'd return.   Nearly 75 years later, I had the privilege of helping him make that dream come true.  However, I could never have made that trip as smooth and absolutely enjoyable and free of all stress that it was if it weren't for our travel planner and her associates at the travel agency.  They were careful and thoughtful in their assessment of what and how we needed to travel the country, given my Uncle's age.   

The travel agency asked all the right questions, then created an amazing itinerary that encompassed all the cities and towns we wanted to experience without rushing from one place to another.  My Uncle did not want to be herded on a bus tour, nor did he want to sit on a bus with lots of other tourists and not be able to understand the tour guide.  He wanted private tours of major sites in each of the towns we visited and he wanted to be able to have resting time each day.  Additionally, he wanted four-star accommodations, rather than whatever accommodations a group tour was providing. 

Our travel planner and her team created the most incredible vacation for my Uncle, that included professional, patient, and incredibly knowledgeable tour guides who were also personable and fun-loving people.   They all spoke excellent English besides their native Spanish, and had tickets to the most popular sites, bypassing huge long lines to get us into the facilities ahead of everyone.  They also provided wheelchair accommodations and made sure my Uncle had access to bathroom facilities when necessary.   I made sure each private tour guide received a generous tip for their wonderful services. 

Additionally, I can't say enough about the accommodations that we had along the way.  They were all four to five star that all included an AMAZING delicious breakfast buffet each day.  I can still taste the wonderful cheeses, fruit, huevos, ham, chocolate croissants and perfect cappuccinos!  The presentation of each breakfast was outstanding! 

We first visited Barcelona and had a two bedroom apartment that was absolutely perfect and located near food, fun and transportation. The staff was friendly and amazing, and everyone spoke English.   The apartment was five star all the way!  We had a wonderful tour with our guide where we got first class treatment, bypassing the long lines for the Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia, which was designed by famous architect Antonio Gaudi. Then she took us to the Old City of Barcelona where we walked on the same streets built by Romans.  My Uncle is still talking about that experience!  

The next day, we boarded a bus with a small group of travelers to see Monseratte,  a Benedictine monk mountain retreat.  It was one of our highlights of the entire trip, and was quite emotional for my Uncle.  The views from Monseratte are absolutely breathtaking and I was able to get some fantastic photographs from the top of the mountain.  Absolutely recommend this day trip.  After we left Monseratte, we enjoyed an afternoon of wine tasting and tapas at a family vineyard with our small group of about ten travelers.  We had so much fun and we all bonded as a group.  Such a wonderful way to end our day.

From Barcelona, we were flown to Granada, where we stayed in another fantastic five-star hotel adorned with Marble and decorative rod iron throughout the facility.  It was also in the heart of the town and easy access to shopping and sites.  We took a taxi up the mountain to the La Hambra where we met our next tour guide who gave us a wonderful tour of the city within a city.  What a site to see and such history to learn!   Later in the day, when we returned to Granada, we walked the city and shopped- lots of great shopping- and had a wonderful dinner at an outside cafe.  This is definitely a trendy, upscale shopping area.

Next, our travel agency arranged for a private driver to take us from Granada to Seville because the train was inoperable and we would have had to take a bus for part of the nearly three-hour trip to Seville.  Our private ride was smooth, relaxing and our driver was very personable.  He also had a very clean, comfortable car.  I highly recommend this mode of transportation!

Once in Seville, we checked into our hotel- yet, another spectacular accommodation- including a rooftop pool and bar that overlooked the entire city of Seville.  The rooms are spotless and I absolutely love the bathrooms, equipped with glass showers, large overhead showerheads and excellent craftsmanship.  Our evening Tapas and wine tour with our guide was so memorable.  She took us for a walk through her neighbourhood of narrow cobblestone streets and rod iron balconies to see various historical sites such as a Music museum and conservatory, an ancient breathtaking Cathedral that was still operational, and the town plaza where neighbours would meet and children would play.  The area was so quaint, we didn't want to leave.  Moreso, our guide had arranged for us to go from one Tapas bar to another in the neighbourhood- never waiting in any lines- and tasting the most exquisite Tapas and wine/beer we'd ever had on the trip!  She paid all expenses and ordered the food and drink throughout the night. 

Sadly, we had to leave Seville and take the highspeed train to Madrid, where we stayed for several days in an absolutely beautiful hotel on Jorge Juan Avenue.  Newly renovated with an old European flair of gorgeous white marble everywhere, beautifully decorated lobby and bar, a lower-level cellar that was renovated into this amazing kitchen, breakfast buffet with old brick and wood decor, including an old iron stove, and central to the whole hotel was a gorgeous rod iron cage-elevator that Europe is so well-known for.   Can't speak highly enough of this hotel!

Madrid is a very large city and quite majestic.  They have a large central park in the midst of the city and it's filled with people walking their dogs, scooters, joggers, and kayakers surrounding a beautiful small lake adorned with marble monuments.  We really enjoyed eating ice cream and walking in this park, and also saw a lovely art exhibit while there.  Our second day in Madrid included a 25-minute train ride to Toledo, where we met our tour guide who showed us all over this quaint historical town.  She grew up in Toledo and knew everyone, so we got private tours of little businesses that would make gold jewelry by hand, as well as a six-generation business that handcrafted amazing pottery with 24K gold inlay.  The town is also known for its steel and sword making.  We saw amazing swords and gold- lots of gold.  Absolutely a must for gifts of gold or steel products at amazingly low prices.   We truly loved the Cathedrals and narrow winding cobblestone streets of Toledo.  It's a small town with a rich religious history of various religious backgrounds. Now I know where "Holy Toledo!" came from! 

Overall, the trip was a life changer.  My Uncle shed a tear when we had to leave because he enjoyed this trip more than any other place he's ever visited in his life.  At 90 years old, he said he is now complete.  To our travel planner and everyone at this company, I can't thank you enough for providing such a memorable gift for an old man who wanted nothing more than to have one last trip to a beautiful country he has never forgotten.  Muchas gracias!

We had an amazing 10 day trip to Madrid, Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada arranged by this Spain travel agency!  Our travel agent helped me plan our customized itinerary, giving great suggestions for hotels, restaurants and things to do in each city.  All arrangements and tours were flawless!  We had several private tours and our guides were knowedgable and extremely enjoyable to spend time with...our guides in Sevilla and in Granada were just wonderful!

I would highly recommend this travel agency to anyone!

Amazing, Amazing, Amazing!! If I could give our agent and her team 10 stars I would!! From the very beginning our agent listened to my thoughts and desires for my dream trip and came up with an amazing itinerary that covered all the items I was looking for -- history, architecture, Game of Thrones, adventure, and some down time "off the beaten path". I had two travel agencies reach out to me through Zicasso, but once I saw this agent's initial itinerary, I knew she had listened to me and her company was the best choice for what I wanted. She gave honest advice on places to go and "must see" attractions and worked hard to accommodate all of my "wants" within our budget. Not being a big city person, I wanted to cut out a day or two in Barcelona which would mean missing out on a Gaudi tour. Our agent told me "visiting Barcelona and not seeing Gaudi is like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tour". Love her for her honesty and I'm so glad we listened to her advice and stayed in Barcelona longer!!! Thank you!

Our 10 day trip included major historical sites, private guided tours of Game of Thrones filming locations, scuba diving, paragliding, hiking, and two nights in a fantastic castle. Hotels and restaurants were booked based off of our agent's recommendations and only one was a disappointment (which was not our agent's fault). All hotels were 4 or 5 stars, but the hotel we didn't like was the hotel in Granada which is supposed to be a fantastic place. The room was great and the food there was fantastic, but I think we just caught the concierge on a bad day. When checking in we were told we had to wait a couple of hours for our room to be ready (not a big deal, we just went for lunch). When we returned, our luggage was just sitting out in the lobby and not a single person offered to help us get it to our room (my feet had swelled up from an allergic reaction the day prior and it was obvious I was struggling to just get one suitcase). My husband ended up making two trips, but I would have expected a place as nice as this hotel to be more accommodating and at least offer to help. Later that evening we asked for some ice to help with the swelling and the concierge just said none was available. Again... my feet were swollen to the point that my toes looked like little sausages and we thought the hotel would have at least tried to help rather than just dismissing us. I only add this piece in so that others are aware we did not have the best experience at this hotel, I do not intend any of it to be as a negative on our agent and her team as the hotel was nice and the events that happened were not in her control.  All of our transfers/traveling was arranged as well. I told our agent that a vacation that included me driving in a foreign country wasn't relaxing (or much of a vacation for that matter). She understood and made it happen. From private drivers to pick us up at the hotels to trains and even a quick plane trip, she had it covered. Every single transfer was on time, the people were polite, and not a single issue occurred. That alone is a feat that deserves recognition as so many issues could come up during a 10 day trip.

The guides our agent used were great. They spoke English well, were more than happy to discuss Spain's history and answer questions. So informative and so fun to discuss history, politics, and culture with them. If you are able to take private guided tours, I would highly recommend it each time. What you get is more than worth the cost.

Our agent also made her and her team available to us at any time. Vouchers were provided with her contact as well as other contact information, addresses, etc. There was never any question of where we should be or what should be going on. Plenty of down time was also scheduled in and overall it was a fantastic and memorable trip! At one point my husband and I wanted to add dinner to the Flamenco show we were attending that evening. I emailed our agent asking if she could arrange this (completely forgetting it was a Sunday) and she responded within an hour and contacted the Flamenco show to arrange everything! Fabulous service. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better person or team to handle our dream trip. And to our agent -- if you see this, I'm really sorry for bugging you on a Sunday!!