£1900 (sgl supp £135) | Price without flights: £1600
Sun 23rd - Sun 30th May 2010, 8 days with Dr Paul Bahn
Tour Manager: Conchita Garcia. Availability: Singles Last one | Doubles Full
Introduction
This is a rare opportunity to visit rock art sites away from the beaten tourist trail, across the Spanish/Portuguese border region. The journey crosses unspoilt countryside and three of Spain’s most beautiful cities.
The engravings in Portugal’s Côa Valley, were only discovered 20 years ago when they were about to be drowned as part of a huge dam project. An international outcry saved the rock art for posterity. They make a wonderful gallery of art over thousands of years, and an interesting comparison with other depictions across the border in Spain.
Itinerary
Day One
Arrive Oporto and drive to our hotel.
Day Two
Time to make your own exploration of old Oporto, then depart by train on a journey along the Douro river valley to Foz Côa.
Day Three
Whole day in the Valley of the River Côa, a tributary of the Douro: the sites of Canada do Inferno and Penascosa have been chosen as the best representatives of different artistic styles, techniques and positions.
Day Four
Return to Foz Côa to visit the site of Ribeira de Piscos, and the brand new museum (should be open in time for our trip). Afternoon visit to Ervamoira vineyard for port-tasting.
Day Five
Drive to Siega Verde, where hundreds of figures have been found along another tributary of the Douro river. Afternoon in Ciudad Rodrigo, a typical and beautiful Spanish town with dramatic fortifications which were reinforced by Wellington during the Peninsular War.
Day Six
Explore Salamanca, which was one of the first Spanish cities to become a World Heritage Site.
Day Seven
Drive to Domingo García, dramatically situated on a rocky outcrop on a plateau, surprisingly covered in art spanning the Palaeolithic to the medieval period. Late afternoon free time in Avila, originally a Roman town but most famous now for its remarkably complete Medieval city walls with 88 towers and nine gateways.
Day Eight
Drive to Madrid to visit the Prado Museum - to consider the same human artistic endeavour after thousands of years of development. On to airport for flight home.
NB There isn’t a great deal of tourist infrastructure in the valley or the little village at Foz Côa, and our 4x4 vehicles have to traverse some steep dirt tracks on fairly precipitous hillsides of the Côa Valley in order to access the art. The visits last 1.5-2 hours and there is a fair amount of walking at each site (1-2km). No walking sticks permitted
Included
WHAT’S INCLUDED
- Flights Scheduled flights London/Madrid/Oporto; Madrid/London
- Transfers private coach provided to coincide with group flights
- Local Travel Private a/c coach.
- Meals All meals included (dinners with wine & water) except lunch on Days 2, 6 and 8
- Guide Lecturer(also local guides where these are compulsory) Not to be confused with "guest lecturers"! The guide lecturer will be with you from breakfast to supper, and probably even a drink in the bar afterwards. There is the occasional site where they may not be allowed to guide because of local regulations (we normally manage to circumnavigate these) but otherwise the guides are just that. They will have been chosen because of specialist knowledge and their ability to communicate and interest you. After 22 years of making tours worldwide, we are highly appreciative of the attributes of a good guide, and intensely critical of people who do not possess them. If you would like to know more about Dr Paul Bahn, please click his name.
- Tour Manager We never know how best to call the very special people whom we choose to accompany you on your tour. They are usually employed in this capacity only by us, and have been trained to do things in the Andante way - unobtrusive, friendly and quietly efficient.
- Fieldnotes written for the tour
- Entry & tips Entry to all sites in programme; tips included.
Flights & Visa
Please note these flights are an indication of what the flights are likely to be. Please contact the office for exact details.
Scheduled flights with Iberia
IB3163 London Heathrow / Madrid 10:55 / 14:15
IB8722 Madrid / Oporto 15:50 / 15:55
IB3166 Madrid / London Heathrow 16:30 / 17:50
Visa and Passport Requirements (for British passport holders only)*
Note: Passport must be valid for the duration of your stay
Hotels
1 night in a 3* hotel facing the Atlantic in Oporto
3 nights in a plain but pleasant hotel in Vila Nova de Foz Côa
1 night in a 3* hotel on a leafy square near the cathedral in Cuidad Rodrigo
2 nights in a 4* hotel on the cathedral square in Avila
Comments
The thing I found most exciting was the totally unexpected visit to the Prado. The rock art was interesting and was a chance to visit three cities......... unknown to me - Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca and Avila. Guest, September 2006
A well balanced tour of prehistoric art and historical cities. I was completely fascinated by historic Oporto, and I loved the train journey up the Douro valley; also the remoteness of the prehistoric sites. Quite an adventure. Guest, September 2006
The lovely weather, the walking and of course the sites & the art. Also the wealth of information, Portuguese guides I thought excellent. Also general feeling of being cared for as well. Guest, September 2006
The rail journey... once we came to the river it was obvious that an inspired choice of transport had been made as we could not have seen such wild countryside by road. The tiny stations with their tilework and ancient rusting stream engines and the setting sun gilding the dusty hills were quite magical. Lunch at the Ervamoira Museum in a valley empty of people with no sound of modern life or transport, and again in the tumbled rocks at Domingo Garcia, a site which had attracted human interest for millennia. Guest, September 2004
A thoroughly enjoyable holiday. The novelty contributed, of course, but the pace and level of information was excellent. Guest, September 2004
Reading List
This list is no more than a guide to some books that you may find useful to read in advance of the tour. Talks given on the tour will attempt to fill in the background to what we are seeing, so no prior knowledge or pre-tour cramming is expected or needed. In many cases, we expect that you will find some of these books even more interesting and useful to read once the tour is over. Some of the books are out of print, but in many cases they can be obtained through second-hand booksellers or your local library.
Unfortunately, little exists in English on the newly-discovered open-air Ice Age art of southern Europe.
* A month before the tour departure we will be sending you a copy of:
Paul G. Bahn (2007) Cave Art: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of Europe. Frances Lincoln.
Baptista, Antonio M. (2009) Paradigm Lost. Côa Valley and the Open-Air Palaeolithic Art in Portugal. Edições Afrontamento e Parque Arqueológico do Vale do Côa: Vila Nova de Foz Côa/Porto.
Bahn, P. G. (1998) The Cambridge Illustrated History of Prehistoric Art, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Bahn, P. G. & Vertut, J. (1997) Journey Through the Ice Age, Weidenfeld & Nicolson: London/ University of California Press: Berkeley. This has a full chapter on the open-air art.
Faustino de Carvallo, A., Zilhao, J. & Aubry, T. (1996) Côa Valley, Rock Art and Prehistory. Parque Arq., Vale do Côa. (This will be supplied at the site).
Ripoll, S. & Municio Gonzalez, L. J. (eds) (1999) Domingo Garcia, Arte Rupestre al Aire Libre en la Meseta Castellana. Memoria 8, Arqueologia en Castilla y Leon. Junta de Castilla y Leon. (This monograph on the Domingo Garcia sites contains an English summary).
On the Upper Palaeolithic of Spain
The most recent synthesis is:
Straus, L. G. (1992) Iberia Before the Iberians. The Stone Age Prehistory of Cantabrian Spain, University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque. Only available 2nd hand
General - Historical and Topographical
Salter, C. (1975) Northern Spain, Batsford.
Michelin Guide, current edition Spain.
Travel books
We recommend to you a publishing company with a mission to keep the classic works of travel literature in print. Eland and Sickle Moon Books produce an excellent catalogue of travellers' literature, old and new.
+44 (0) 20 7833 0762 - www.travelbooks.co.uk This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Archaeology books
Oxbow Books, based in Oxford, are suppliers of probably the biggest range of archaeology and history books. They produce a quarterly catalogue, and can be contacted on
+44 (0)1865 241249 - www.oxbowbooks.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
It also always worth exploring www.abebooks.co.uk and www.museumbooks.demon.co.uk for new, secondhand and out-of-print books.
