Day Eleven, Tuesday April 1 - SEVILLA (B)
After breakfast we will continue our exploration of historic Sevilla by visiting the Royal Alcázar of Sevilla. It was formerly the site of the Islamic-era citadel of the city, begun in the 10th century and then developed into a larger palace complex by the Abbadid dynasty (11th century) and the Almohads (12th to early 13th centuries). After the Castilian conquest of the city in 1248, the site was progressively rebuilt and replaced by new palaces and gardens. Among the most important of these is the richly decorated Mudéjar-style palace built by Pedro I during the 1360’s. We will continue to the nearby General Archive of the Indies. It was created by Carlos III and inaugurated in 1785. It is housed in the former merchant guild or lonja which was built in the late 16th century. It became the repository of archival materials documenting the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and Asia. The building was designed by Juan de Herrera; it is an Italianate example of Spanish Renaissance architecture. This structure and its contents were registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, together with the adjoining Seville Cathedral and the Alcazar of Seville.

Day Twelve, Wednesday April 2 - GRANADA (B) (L)
Breakfast and check-out. Our destination today is Granada. On our way we will stop in the town of Antequera for lunch and a visit to the Antequera Dolmens Site. We will visit the Neolithic Dolmen of Menga, one of the most impressive and important masterpieces of megalithic architecture. These mass tombs, made of huge slabs of rock, were created by the original Iberian people and date back 5,000 years. Upon our arrival in the fabled city of Granada we will visit the Abadia de Sacromonte, located on a rise on the east side of town. We will visit its museum, regarded as an Asset of Cultural Interest, which displays works from the 16th and 17th centuries, including incunabula, codices, manuscripts, sculptures and tapestries, and the portrait of Don Francisco de Saavedra, attributed to Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Saavedra received his doctorate in theology at 17 years old, when the Abbey was a school. Granada was first settled by native tribes in the prehistoric period, when it was known as Ilbyr. When the Romans colonized southern Spain, they built their own city here and called it Illibris. The Arabs, invading the peninsula in the 8th century, gave it its current name of Granada. In 1492, the last Muslim ruler in Iberia surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella.