New Cultural Tours 2011

The 2011 brochure from Martin Randall Travel, featuring around 160 small-group cultural tours, is now available. There are numerous itineraries running for the first time in 2011, including many in the UK. New tours include:

LEBANON (5–14 April & 3–12 May 2011)
Explores extensive Phoenician and Roman remains, Crusader churches and castles, Mamluk and Ottoman town centres in this beguiling country, which boasts the best food in the Middle East. Price £3,280 per person includes: air travel (economy class) with bmi—travel by private air-conditioned coach for all the excursions and airport transfers—accommodation in two charming 4-star hotels—all breakfasts, five lunches and seven dinners with wine, water, coffee—admission to museums and sites—tips for guides, drivers and waiters—all taxes—the services of the lecturer and local guide.

GASTRONOMIC ANDALUCIA (9–16 April 2011)
Surveys the history of the region with its cuisine: Roman, Jewish, Moorish, Christian, from the simplest cooking to the elaborate and contemporary. Also visits some of Spain’s greatest monuments, including the mosque at Córdoba and Seville Cathedral, as well as good museums, small towns and spectacular countryside. Price: £2,780 per person includes: air travel on scheduled flights—private coach travel throughout—accommodation in three separate hotels—breakfasts, 6 lunches (including 2 ‘tasting’ lunches) and 4 dinners (including a tapas walk) with wine, water and coffee—all other tastings—all admission to museums and sites—all tips for waiters, drivers and guides—all state and airport taxes—the services of the lecturer.

GASTRONOMIC SICILY (3–10 May 2011)
Explores many types of food: street food in Palermo, hand-made pastries in Erice, country vegetable cooking on an organic farm and some of the Mediterranean’s freshest seafood. Learn about making wine, olive oil and artisan foods from the craftsmen and women who carry on these age-old traditions. Price: £2,370 per person includes: air travel with Alitalia—travel by private coach—accommodation in converted 16th-century palace in Palermo and 4-star hotel in Trapani—breakfasts, three lunches and five dinners with wine, water and coffee—all admission charges to museums, sites, etc.—all tips for restaurant staff, drivers, guides—all state and airport taxes—the services of the lecturer and tour manager.

HILL WALKING IN EXTREMADURA (6–14 May 2011)
Remote and deeply rural walking in the sierras around Guadalupe and Yuste, featuring varied and dramatic landscapes: hills, plains, forests, river valleys, farmland. Themes include pilgrimage, conquistadors and empire – as well as the natural environment. Small group: maximum 17 participants. Price: £2,650 per person includes: air travel on Iberia flights—travel by private coach throughout with additional back-up vehicle—accommodation in three 4- and one 3-star rural hotels—breakfasts, 6 lunches (including 5 packed lunches) and 6 dinners with wine, water and coffee—all admissions—all tips for drivers, waiters, guides—all state and airport taxes—the services of the lecturer, tour manager, walking guides and additional baggage handler/driver.

SNOWDONIA AND ANGLESEY (23–30 May 2011)
The tour visits the finest group of mediaeval castles to be found anywhere, as well as a choice variety of country houses, gardens, and historic walled towns, all to be found in some of Britain’s most beautiful landscape, highland and lowland. A geologist joins the tour to explain remarkable and beautiful rock formations. Price: £2,360 per person includes: accommodation in superb hotels in Bodysgallen Hall and Portmeirion—breakfasts, five dinners and two lunches (with wine, beer, water and coffee)—private air-conditioned coach—admission to sites and museums—tips for restaurant staff, drivers, etc—the services of the lecturers and tour manager.

ART & MUSIC IN DRESDEN (31 May – 6 June 2011)
Visits one of the most admired cities in Europe, where rebuilding and restoration has reached a peak. The small-group tour enjoys Dresden’s outstanding art collections and fine 18th- & 19th-century architecture and attends two concerts at two excellent venues (Semperoper & Frauenkirche), with the option of attending more concerts. There are two excursions to the surrounding area, the lecturer is a German art historian. Price: £2,120 per person includes: air travel on Lufthansa flights—private coach for transfers and excursions—two concert tickets costing c.£170—accommodation in a traditional 5-star hotel, a reconstructed baroque building—breakfasts, three dinners and two lunches with wine, water and coffee—all admissions—tips for restaurant staff and drivers—all taxes—the services of the lecturer.

ARMENIA (15–22 June 2011)
Visits monasteries and other sacred buildings from as early as the 7th century throughout Armenia’s outstanding mountainous landscape. There is ample time to get to know Yerevan, with its squares, cafés and street life. Price: £2,490 per person includes: air travel on bmi flights; accommodation in a 4- and 5-star hotel—travel by private air-conditioned coach throughout—breakfasts, all lunches and all dinners with wine, water and coffee—¬¬all admission to museums, churches and sites—all tips for restaurant staff, drivers and guides—all state and airport taxes—the services of the lecturer and a local guide.

VERSAILLES (30 June — 3 July 1011)
Examining the most influential of European palaces and related buildings, this is a study of not only art, architecture and gardens but also of history and statecraft. Participants stay in one hotel throughout, a stone’s throw from the palace. Price: £1,240 includes: rail travel (superior class, standard premier) by Eurostar from London to Paris—travel by private coach—accommodation in a modern 4-star hotel—breakfasts and three dinners with wine, water and coffee—all admission to gardens and châteaux—all tips for waiters and drivers—all taxes.