Page 166 - Cork & Tee Sample Program Flipbook, 2018

Day 11: Art Masterworks of The Prado. Today, enjoy a 2.5-hr private tour of the world-
famous Museo del Prado with Hernan or another of our local art guides. The museum features
one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the twelfth century to the early
nineteenth century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection. Founded as a museum of
paintings and sculpture in 1819, The Prado houses the world’s finest collection of Spanish art as
well as important collections
of other types of works. We
have specified a tour
focusing on the history of
Spain as told through great
works of The Prado.
Wonderful works by the
greatest Spanish painters will
explain the foundation of the
Kingdom of Spain, the
powerful empire of the
sixteenth century, the kings of the Habsburg dynasty up until Charles I (Emperor Charles V) and
Philip II, the empire’s decline during the prolific Baroque Golden Century, the Hebrew
Mysteries of the seventeenth century, the Enlightenment brought about during the eighteenth
century by the widely-admired Bourbon Charles III and the decay which ensued thereafter
during the reign of Charles IV and his nefarious son Ferdinand VII.

Balance of the day at leisure, during which you might want to enjoy a stroll through wonderful
Retiro Park, which is located adjacent to the Prado. You could also view Picasso’s magnificent
work, Guernica, which is displayed in the city’s Museo Reina Sofia.

Proposed Accommodations: Hotel Orfila

Day 12: Excursion to Toledo. Join your Madrid-based guide for train service 35 min to Toledo
via the Avant high speed train. Considered to be the “Universal Capital of Tolerance” between
711-1085, the city is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site and truly a
melding of cultures. Beautiful
Toledo is known as the “city of
the three cultures,” because
Christians, Arabs and Jews lived
together there for centuries prior
to the Reconquest. Behind her
walls Toledo preserves an
artistic and cultural legacy in the

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