0:00: Intro to ExperiencePlus
8:00: Overview of tour map: Camino de Santiago
11:50: Overview of tour map: Andalucía
14:20: Overview of tour map: Catalonia
16:32: Camino day-by-day
26:15: Andalucía day-by-day
34:20: Catalonia day-by-day
42:45: Q&A
52:00: Connect to a tour and to us
So welcome everybody my name is Carol Bush I am the marketing manager here for experience plus and we’re excited to have you join us uh this is our first webinar ever so if things seem a little bumpy at times uh just bear with us we’re still learning uh all the finer
Points about how to use this platform um joining us today is Jan escosura from uh from Spain um Mariela price she is the owner of experience plus and I’m just going to give you a couple of uh I’m just say a couple things before I um
Punch it over to Emmy but um I wanted to give you an overview of what we’re going to do today first U Mar Elena is going to talk a little bit about experience plus and then she’s going to have Jan um get to the bulk of our presentation
Today about the our three classic tours that we offer in Spain and when if you’re new to experience plus we have five different types of five styles of touring and classic is our original um it’s what most of our tours are um those classic tours come with tour Leaders
With fan support um with traveler Services the nuances of all of our tour styles are available on our website um Emmy if you get a chance maybe you can drop the link uh for tour Styles page into the chat um and then we are going to save all of your questions until Jaan
Is finished talking about the three tours you can post your questions in the chat uh we’ll be monit moderating those and um Emmy is going to feed those to Jan um and then when we’re finished with all that just as a way of closing I’m going to share with you a little bit
More about how you can get connected to a tour and to more information from us uh so with that uh ammy I’d love for you to take over I can do that um okay so that means I going to take control of the slides as well excellent thank
You well so I we probably have a split here from what I can tell the recognizing of the names of people who have traveled and have not traveled with us so I’ll try and keep this brief um uh my name is Maria Elena price and me and my sister Monica price own experience
Plus our parents are pictured here in this photo and they started the business back in 1972 and we love this photo this is the first bike tour that ever pedal from Pisa across the appenines to fot um we look a little bit different now when
We get on our bikes but it’s always fun to see what it was like back in 1972 we run um about 170 guided tours throughout the world mostly in Europe but also in Cuba and Chile and Argentino we have two bases um our official headquarters is in Colorado
Fort Collins where we do a lot of our all of our sales marketing departure planning and uh where we um answer most people’s questions and manage all of the pre-trip planning for all of our Travelers and then in Italy is actually where my sister is based we have a
Separate company that runs the operations that manage most of our tours and that’s where we have all of our bikes um all of our tour leaders go there to pick up band and bikes for any trips going throughout Europe so that’s just a very brief rundown about
Us few highlights about how we design our trips and a little bit of the ethos that surrounds um our philosophy in cycling and bike touring on our classic tours we do navigate with chalk arrows the goal is to let everybody ride at their own pace um we feel strongly that
The bike is an independent vehicle so that you don’t have to worry about trying to keep up or try if you want to stop stop and take that photo or stop and have that coffee you should be able to and not worry about what the rest of
The folks are doing and we manage the navigation with these chalk arrows on all of our classic and bike and boat and Expedition trips this particular tour photo was taken probably about 15 years ago with an old Fleet of bicycles Joan and I were reminiscing I think maybe he
Or I even took that photo but that is in Spain on the cabila Santiago um so it’s um we really as I said feel that the cycling part of this matters but also the independent part of this matters and we enable that through war- free navigation um and uh hopefully all the
Logistics are planned as well of course one of the most important parts about travel is to meet people and to understand the local culture and to truly get to know a place and that we do that through our tour designs with various visits but also just by the way
We we create certain experiences we have guided trips we have tastings depending on where you’re at it’s it’s embedded in the trip design and Jan will probably talk about how each of the trips in Spain do that and of course the the entire the Comforts of going with a a
Guided trip is that ideally you don’t have to worry about anything we’ve planned all the logistics on our classic tours we even do pre and post trip plan planning for you we will help with um arrival and departure hotels and logistics for getting to the meeting of
The tour and departing from the tour on tour we have a van and two or three tour leaders on our guided classic trips and the point is that you should be out there you’re out your vacation and you shouldn’t be worrying about anything except for what where your next coffee stop
Is if you haven’t traveled with us we like to give a little bit bit of a rounddown on the logistics of what a day on tour looks like just so you can picture it also because we’re talking about specific trips um this this won’t be brought up uan is talking more about
The highlights of each tour not necessarily how a tour runs so this is a very brief outline about what to expect on a day on tour we have breakfast in every Hotel all hotels and breakfast are always included and we do have a time that we ask for people to bring their
Luggage down because the van is usually loading and then we have a arrows down time usually which is when we suppose people leave because that’s when the arrows have been set on the classic trips um coffee and lunch spots are generally marked by our our scout who’s
Out there marking the route but we also have information in your digital um experiences that explains what towns we’re going to go through gives you some highlights and also suggests where to stop for snacks we don’t generally have group lunches because part of that Independence is to not feel like you’re
Rushed to try and get somewhere and most of our destinations there’s cafes every 15 20 kmers especially in Europe in places where lunches are harder to find we do provide pack lunches or picnics or meet together for lunch once you get to the hotel your tour leader is usually
There to greet you and your luggage is in your room and then sometimes there’s an afternoon Gathering um for an activity if we’re maybe doing a guided walk of the town or going to dinner together there’s also always a note that explains what to see in town because one
Of the points of traveling is to explore new places so we hope that that you take some time um after relaxing to go out and explore town or sometimes we’re out in the countryside and it’s a nice chance to jump into the pool or have a
Beer by on the cafe and on the patio what a you it all depends on where you’re at that’s a very quick logistical rundown of the day but hopefully it’s gives you a flavor of what to expect um from here I think I’ll have Joan take
Over okay if you want to I will well my name is janura I was born 46 years ago in Barcelona in Spain and I’ve been I’ve been I mean I get to know experience plus uh it was through through internet back in the days the beginning of
Internet I would say at least for me and basically I I jump in as a as a guide I I love cycling and I like to travel I studied tourism before I was more into the business travel kind of style and then I mov into the sport and more
Leisure travel and that’s where experience plus show up and I thought wow that could be a good uh a good thing to try and I start guiding and through the years I start also managing some some tours as long as the company was increasing the number of Tours and also
The areas that they were working especially Germany and Portugal and those are the three areas that I take care of and where I mostly guide daily I’ve been guiding less and and managing more because it it gives you more time to stay at home which I think that
Through the years it’s something that when you have family and so on everybody understand that it it makes more sense so the way we want to organize that basically is I’m going to make a short comparison about the three tours I say short I will try to make it short I
Promise I don’t say I will succeed but I will try and then we will jump into each tour and we’re going to talk a little bit day by day of every also very very short just a short description of what’s going on every day little bit and the
Highlights okay so we use those maps that you can see to give a clear idea of where each tour happens uh this first tour we’re going to talk about is a cin Santiago it was the first tour that they the company started in in Spain it
Starts in the pyrames as you can see in these uh in the in the green Rus and then it goes all the way to the coast to the to the Atlantic in Galicia um in terms of uh another thing we want to talk about is how the different tours
That we have in terms of how you can start or end and that’s interesting because the three tours we’re going to talk about are the three good examples for example in the Camino you can start in the beginning which is rones bz and go all the way to the end or you can
Just start in the middle of the tour in Leon in the in the blue dot and go all the way to the end so you can just do the entire thing or the second week okay uh in terms of difficulty the cun Santiago would say it’s medium high
Depend if you do the entire tour or just do half of it okay uh it’s interesting because it’s a very rural part of Spain that we go through also it’s interesting because it’s one of the tools that has more landscape changing Spain you go from the mountains you have the wine
Region from loha then you get to see the high plateau of uh of liseta basically it’s a weed fi area and then you get into Galicia which is much Greener it’s there’s much more rain it’s very different I would say that the the highlights of this tour the first one is
The fact it’s a p pilgrimage that makes it really unique uh not only the pilgrimage but also the the effects of the pilgrimage the comrad ship Among The Travelers everybody seeking for the same goal and and yeah I would say that uh that tour through my experience is one of the
Tours that engages more the people because no matter if people travel because of religion proposer or because of just sport or for whatever reason they all get into the sense and the family and the feeling of the Camino and this is really cool because this is something that we’ve been we have
Experienced that through the years and and and people they really get uh great experiences and the fact of everybody finishing in Santiago it’s it’s really cool it’s it’s I think it’s a tour of it’s one of those tours that everybody should do at least once in their life
It’s very unique so the next one I’m going to talk about is Andalusia you can see this one happens in the south of Spain okay uh this tour uh it’s in this in the way that it’s organ organized it’s like a twole tour okay you can do
The first week which would be Seva to Cordova the second week which will be from Cordova to Granada or both weeks okay in terms of difficulty I would say that this is slightly harder than the Camino if you do the entire thing because there’s more climbing included among the entire the entire trip
Nevertheless we have organized our T in a way that if people that they don’t have the let’s say the the physical level to do the enti thing we always offer shuttles we try to make the shuttles in a way that people they you know they get rid of the toughest part
And they still can write what it’s uh interesting and more doable for them Andalusia it’s very very very unique uh for me it’s very special it was the first tour I I lead with experience plus with Marena there um quite some years ago and Andalusia is very unique because
As you know Andalusia was it’s a south of Spain it was occupied during 800 years by the Moors and there’s a footprint there not only in Gastronomy not only in in in construction but also in in how people live uh there’s there’s a complete different sense and way of
Style Andalusia in the rest of Spain that makes it very very interesting not to talk about uh some of the really really really unique things in the world that you get you get to see there like for example the mosque of um of Cordova or the Alam in Granada or C itself all
The old town of C it’s really cool I would say that the another of the highlights would be the fact that we go through very of the bat and path areas where you get to see no single no single tourist only us and that reflects on how
The locals behave among us because it’s different when you are somewhere where you have a lot of tourist and you know people is used to see them or when you are in places that they don’t see that much tourism the interaction between locals and and and Riders is very
Different then the olive trees uh Andalusia has the biggest concentration of olive trees in the entire world and the senic rights we have some great Hills there with great climbs and great descends and if you are uh I mean if you are seeking for some challenging and and
Beautiful rights this is also a very good destination and last but not least I’m going to talk about Catalonia this is a tour that is also very special for me because I I kind of proposed the company putting it together we went there with Mar many years ago and I think we came
Up with an interesting tour this one is the easiest among the three of the Spanish tours is the easiest in Catalonia it’s different in the style of how is organized because you can start in but basically you start in Jona and you can do just the first section all
The way to figas and then step out from the tour or do the entire thing all the way to Barcelona with an extension okay which would be the one of the characteristics of this this area uh Catalonia is one of the wealthiest and more developed areas in Spain and that
Translate in I would say higher level of services that’s why Catalonia is one of the and especially Jona where most of the tour happens is one of the areas with more Michelin star restaurants in in not only in Spain but also in the world we get to go to very good
Restaurants there and the highlights I would say that first is the cultural highlights Del the famous painter not only because we go to his Museum in us but also because we get to go to where he had his summer house and where he used to get inspired and visiting this
Area first and then going to the to the museum a few days after I think it’s really cool then I would say also the the modernism as you know Barcelona is the capital of the modernism in the entire world and um yeah it’s uh if you are into different architecture
Modernism for sure it’s something it’s going to it’s going to impact you because it’s something very unique then the costaba with the rugged coast and those small beaches and and and and Coastal you know caves and so this is really cool the Gastronomy as they say and also the the high tourism
Development which sometimes it can be something not that nice when you have too many houses and so on but then it can be very cool when it goes to the bike lanes and how everything is organized to give good service to the to The Travelers then Barcelona itself and
Some of the coastal RS which which are really really beautiful so now we’re going to jump to the first tour and I’m going to talk a little bit about the The Camin Santiago I’m going to do that I’m going to try to be very conis because
You know every tour has more or less between 12 and and 14 days so I don’t want to extend too much so we start the tour in in Pamplona we pick up the guests in pona and we shuttle them to rones VES rones VES is in the border
With friends okay you can see here it says 790 km all the way to Santiago uh R is in the mountains in the p is very green it’s very Basque uh because this is Navar but it’s the it’s a basque area and this is a very very
Interesting start of the tour we go to a mass it’s an international Mass we encourage everybody to go even if they are not there in to because of religion but it’s really cool to see all those travelers from worldwide Gathering there kind of starting their
Adventure from there we go to P Arena P arena is a cool not I would say medium small uh Town P Arena before getting there you get to see this church that you see in the left it’s an octagonal church it’s something super unique and Pena it’s also in in Navar it’s Navar
It’s historically part of the Bas County Kingdom let’s say it’s a very it was it’s it’s been always a very let’s say rich in terms of gastronomy so and there you start to feel the approach to to loha the wine the wine region and there where we go when we go to LaGuardia
LaGuardia is not only an airport in the US as you know it’s the name of a town which basically it means the guard because that was a an area that they were kind of containing the the mors and this beautiful town is in the top of the
Hill you can see that on the left and it’s surrounded by whe fields and and Vineyards it’s very interesting we enjoy their uh wine tasting and we stay in a castle it’s kind of a modern Castle but it’s a really cool and the owner of the
Castle who is our host is a is a charm and and and very good cook also from there we go to Santo Domingo laada Santo Domingo de laada is a very Camino style uh town we stay there in a old Monastery which has been turned into a hotel it’s really cool because it
Gives you a um the sense of how pilgrims were kind of feeling back in the days where sometimes one of the hospices would be a monastery or sometimes just the outdoors of the monastery good for us we stay inside with all the comfort of the of nowaday let’s say travel travel
Standards from there we hit Burgos Burgos has one of the most spectacular Cathedrals at least from the outside you can see now in the photo in the left and as a town is very vibrant in Spain you know we are a lot into Street Life bars Tapas and so on that that that
Night for example dinner is on on your own because we mentioned before some of the dinners are included some not and Burgos has a great staish offer of uh bars if you want to go just for tapos or you want to go for a real meal and seat
It’s a really interesting place to sit to from there we go to k rondes uh it’s interesting because we get to travel through history sometimes in Spain and this is a cool example here in the photo on the left what you see there that used to be a huge Monastery which nowadays
Most of it it’s it’s it’s broken down and the way they build the road the road goes below one of the arches in fact two of the arches of the old Monastery this is really cool also we stay in an old building in K rondes which used to be also a um a
Monastery part of it is still active as a monastery and part of it has been turn into a into a hotel from there we get to Leon Leon is very interesting it’s one of my favorite cities uh when I was talking before about modernism it’s interesting because
Here on the top on the left you can see a modernism building which was designed by Gaudi it’s one of the first buildings that GOI designed and constructed and is not in Catalonia this is veryy interesting Leon it’s with we stay right in the in the main square and
It’s very cool because the day we leave from the hotel we stay two nights in Leon and the day we live we have this they they basically build this day Market in front of the hotel and it’s really cool because people have the chance to get out buy some fruit and and
Get to see how a real local market is also Leon Cathedral it’s uh known as the cathedral without walls because it has this huge beautiful glass windows that you can see in one of the photos and is really really interesting too next stop we go to asga uh on the
Right you can see one of the one of the I would say one of the cyclist nightmares which is the Cobblestone this is Casto thebasis that was declared one of the beautiful one of the most beautiful towns in Spain like four or five years ago and on the left you see
Again another building design by G also in also outside from Catalonia in this case it’s it’s this town of sto which is also famous because of of its chocolate from there we go to canedo canedo it’s uh it’s getting into Galicia canedo it’s uh this area it’s a area
That is they also they also have wine because there we get we get off the of the meseta we get into a lower area those are valleys with much more different crops Letta is basically wheat and here you get to see wine fruit all all kind of fruits etc etc and
The photo on top of the left is the that’s very famous because it’s it’s a place where you people is supposed to throw a stone people supposed to take a stone from home and drop it there in a way to get rid of your scenes on the way
To Santiago this is very cool and the photo below is our hotel which they have their they produce their own wine and it’s it’s surrounded by by Vineyards from there we keep on going and our next destination is Samos s is in Galicia already uh Galicia is
Also very different you see a big difference from from Leon to Galicia and we stay in a minor house there and also we have um a visit to a very very big Monastery Monastery the Samos this is very cool one of the of the folks they did
The one of the how you call one of the monks is the one who who does the visit one of the guides usually translates because they don’t speak uh English and we have sometimes to encourage them to go faster because they have so much to explain because there’s so much history
Behind behind those walls you can imagine from there we go to PTO Marine PTO Marin it’s a it’s another Tiny Village in the middle of Galicia it’s right next to a reservoir and it’s a very it’s a very it’s one of the experiences of the
Of the tour I will say because there the guy Mario he performs a kada a kada is this thing you can see on the left this is a pot where they have a kind of a we call it aente would be like a graa where they they burn it they put some
Slices of lemon some coffee beans and they already burn for many time and they make a cono which is a kind of a spell in order to get rid of the bad spirits and this is very fun and at the end you get to drink the the the kada which is
It has a kind of special flavor it’s not super strong because it’s been rning for hours but it’s it’s something very unique it’s very it’s very Galician that um that uh let’s say this um experience from there we go to andad andad it’s I I for me it’s like the the
Door of Santiago because that’s the day before and after two weeks of cycling uh you can almost smell Santiago you’re so close uh that day we stop in in in Mel and we suggest people to e to eat octopus uh we know that for us eating I
Mean in Spain we almost eat everything let’s put it that way and for some people from different countries they are not that much into some flavors and and and textures we encourage people to try the octopus because even people say no I don’t like octopus I I tried it and I
Didn’t like it we say go for it try it because it is different and most of the people they love it it’s very typical from Galicia this uh way of cooking the octopus and we also stay in a minor house which uh I don’t know how W it but
It’s a really really old place and it’s really really cool Tob and from there finally we get into Santiago this is the Santiago Cathedral where the aposto Santiago is bred and this Square you get to see all the pilgrims arriving there you know like laying in the floor some
Of them crying you know embracing one each other is a really it’s um it’s a vibrant moment it’s it’s really touchy uh you just stay there for half an hour and you constantly get to see people arriving and leaving and and how they feel when they they finally achieve
Their goal no they they the Final Destination which is Santiago as I say this is one of the most uh special tours because of the fact of the pilgrimage okay I’m going to be moving forward and we’re going to move South now to Andalusia Andalusia tour starts in sevil
You probably all heard about sevil sevil is interesting combination between the tradition from Andalusia you know all those uh all these lifestyle you know the flamingo this um this this idea of the you know the the bull fighting I mean it’s it’s very intense and and let’s say and
Traditional and on the other hand side you can see on the right photo this very modern building they have been able to kind of uh adapt Seeva to the to the new times and it has a very interesting blending between the tradition from Andalusia and trying to be a more you
Know modern cosmopolit city okay there from sevil we go outside from the town and we get to hit Carmona this is something that we’re going to see almost everywhere in Spain the different layers of History okay Carona was uh probably was originated by the I don’t
Know I think it was the kagis then it was the the Romans and then it was the Arabs and then it was the Christians and you get to see sometimes the blending of of of styles and and and some leftover from previous cultures this is something
That happens a lot all over Europe but especially in the South Carmon is one one good example of that we get to see different crops outside of towns especially orange and tangerines that you get to see a lot outside of of Seville after Carona we we hit the hills
And we go to constantina constantina it’s interesting because you get to see the theas the it would be like a ranch you will call it a ranch in the US and that is where they grew two important things one is the Bulls for the bull fighting don’t worry they’re fences so
They don’t get into the road if they get into the road you better you better hurry and rush and the other things you will see in the desas is the iic porks those porks that they are not pink they are black and they are the porks that
The that in Spain we use to to to do the ham the break ham something very cool in constantina we go to this historical building not going to talk about the building because it’s a complete different chapter but the the guy who runs the place he makes
A paa for us and we get opportunity of help him to do the paa so we learn how to do a Paya and I think this is very cool you don’t only enjoy a great meal but you learn how to do it and you can try to do it and replicate it at
Home from there we will head to Palma Del Rio H Palma Del Rio we will be seeing outside of it in the theas there’s different trees acorns when they want them to feed the porks and sometimes you get to see the the cork trees what you see in the middle this is
A cork tree and this red color is because it’s been recent recently peeled off and then the the trunk is red and when through the years they do that every was it 14 15 years something like that it’s the time that they they take
To you know to grw the the Cork and they look red when they are just peeled and then they go darker like the upper part of the tree you can see here we have a picnic that day you can see on the right on the bottom on the right in a
Reservoir really beautiful spot and a piece of History here we again we sleep in a monastery that Monastery in Palma Rio was where Christo colon christopal Columbus slept before heading to the Americas this is a great piece of of History for you guys getting to sleep in
The same place that Columbus Sleep slept sorry from there we head to Cordova Cordova we stay two nights in Cordova um there’s so much to say about Cordova I would say that Cordova is the capital of of of flamingo uh we give you the opportunity of visiting the flamco
Cardal which is probably one of the best flamco shows in Spain and then the second day we have the visit of the of the mosque of the mosque of Cordova the mosque of Cordova for me probably it’s the most beautiful building we have in Spain we have lot of beautiful buildings
But this one it’s really special I mean the way that the Arabs designed that it’s a it’s a masterpiece definitively and then on the right photo you can see at the very end that’s the mosque and what you can see on the left part of the
Photo this is the Roman bridge that you cross to get into Cordova and at the very end there is like a Roman door again this layer you know the superposition of different layers of History which you find l in Spain from there we get to Theros Theros
It’s the the area that you start to get in what I call the the olive trees Ocean or the olive trees sea Spain is the country with the with the biggest area of Olive Tree Plantation and I call it Olive Tree sea because there’s some spots like for
Example where the hotel is located basically you look around and you can just see Hills filled and covered with those olive trees this is something very very unique I guess it happens also in some areas in in in Greece or in southern Italy but Andalusia is the area
That has more olive trees in the entire world here on the right side you have a good example of of what I was explaining and hen is the capital of the Olive Tree in in in Spain you see some bigger mountains here beautiful and as again as
I say all them covered by olive trees there we go to UA we stay two nights in UA too UA it’s completely different UA it’s not Arab construction it was constructed by the Christians it’s a Renaissance town and we get to UA was a potery a pottery
Town I mean there has a lot they have a lot of clay and there used to be like hundreds of uh pottery places there now very few are left because they are more just focused for tourism not anymore for General construction like they were originally designed for and we get to
Visit the Tito Pottery which is one of the most interesting in in town I would say from there we go to venal deik uh it’s difficult to to see here in the photo well we have a wine a WI a winery visit but in the center this photo in
The center what you see there this is our hotel and this is a a cave you get to sleep in a cave in balua deik which it can sound like strange but this area is so hot that from many many years ago people start to build their houses
Inside of the mountain because it was much cooler when there was no AC that was the way to stay cool and it’s very interesting because I don’t think you will have more more chances to s in a cave with comfort of course and we get to the Final Destination this is Granada
Uh Granada has one of the I would say it’s pretty close but for me it’s not as I mean me personally I think it’s more beautiful the the mosque of Cordova but the alambra of Granada for sure is not too far in terms of design and and and and how beautiful
It is and what you can see here it’s the two the photo in the center it’s the lion Pat this is called and then the left is the alambra from the outside which doesn’t seem that doesn’t look like spectacular but the Alam is spectacular inside not outside and on
The right you can see the Alin which was the old Arab neighborhood in in Granada which nowadays is like the trendiest and and livest liveliest neighborhood in in town so I’m moving forward because I think I’m overdoing with with the explanations and we get to our third and
Last tour this is the Catalonia tour it’s called bicl Catalonia cost braa plus Barcelona uh what you see here is an example of the Costa braa Costa Braava means rugged Coast which basically means that means that it’s a coast which is not flat and it’s not straight it’s all you know those small
Rocks and small Bays it’s spectacular I mean it’s it was one of the first tourist tourism destinations in in in Spain because it was close to France and also because of is beautiful because of how beautiful it is and and still nowadays it’s one of the I would say one
Of the most valued uh tourism areas in Spain for those who are seeking for for for Beach for Beach ocean and and this kind of um of landscape we start in Jona the tour Jona I don’t know if you heard about it Jona it’s uh at least in Spain
Is probably the capital of cyclism uh it’s like a mea you go there it’s plenty of bars that they focused for for cyclist it’s plenty of companies that they do performance tours or I mean it’s super Lively when it goes into bikes as you know Lance Armstrong was leaving
There he in fact he was staying the hotel that we that we stay he was living there for I think one year or something like that then he bought also a house there and for many years most of the pros they and still nowadays they they moved there because they were they were
Kind of escaping a little bit from the Alps because they were chased by the French authorities because of all the scandals with the EP Po and so on and that’s how jiron become the maker of the of the cyclism but it’s not only the maker of the cyclism it’s a really
Beautiful Town medieval town with one of the most interesting Jewish neighborhoods in Spain and it’s also one of the cities with more Michelin star in fact SE can Roa I don’t know if you ever heard about it which was declared more than one year the best uh restaurant in
The world it’s it’s it’s there from there we go to S sagaro is in the coast you can see the photo from those two ladies in the middle that’s our hotel the beach is behind and the Beautiful Blue Water right after it and yeah from there we keep on moving
And we go to payada in payada we stay two nights uh peray it’s um it’s interesting because this area it’s uh it’s like a flattered area near next to the it’s like between Jona and the and the Costa braa and there there’s a lot of medieval towns and there’s not only medieval towns
There is also I mean we have nearby we have one of the biggest uh Greek sites in Spain well not the biggest Greek site in Spain and also the biggest um pre Roman site in in Spain those guys were the the iers those were the guys
That they were living in Spain before in the iian peninsula before the the Roman show up and we get to see this amazing well preserved the iers side that day and also that day we have a we have a pottery visit too you see in Spain we
Are still do pottery and as I say we stay two nights there and the second day we have also wine tasting a very interesting wine tasting because it’s oriented in a historical way it’s it’s it’s really cool it’s it’s the lady comes to the hotel and she performs her
Her show and it’s very it’s completely historically oriented it’s a completely different kind of a wine tasting from there we go to kakes kakes is probably the most wellknown coastal town in in in katalonia at least and we also get to to spend there two nights because it just it’s just worth
Staying there two nights it’s beautiful we have an amazing dinner there I would say probably the best dinner I would say we have in all the tours in Spain for me it’s here in in KES and the site is just just gorgeous something really cool the day
We leave from kakes to feras we take a boat we go through the C de and we get to see the C de and the cost from the ocean it’s a completely different perspective and as you can see here we go to the Del Museum this guy the X and all these uh
Surrealistic masterpieces that he that he created and designed people that they only want to do the short version of this tour then the day we get into figas the day after is when they leave the tour and and those who want to go to Barcelona they have like three four more
Days all the way to Barcelona from figas we go to Ot Ot is in the it’s more Inland it’s uh very it’s I would say it’s like the I would say it’s like the this area is like the heart of Catalonia because it’s the area they feel more Catalan would say OT and
Big and so on and it’s completely different we quit the coast this is a an area that used to have well it was uh um it’s a volcanic area and is very different than the rest of the the the sites that we get to see in
Catalonia from there we go to bak bak for me it’s the Hidden Gem from this tour because it’s a really beautiful Town it even has a huge Roman Temple and uh nobody knows about it there’s almost no tourism and it’s uh great for visiting it’s great for for food has a
Very good selection of restaurants this is one of the nights that we have uh free dinner so you can get to go wherever you want we offer you a lot of choices and then the next day we have something very funny on the morning we have a visit to a
Artisanal um producer of cured meats and people you get to get dressed like a professional cured me producer and you get to see how they work and perform the typical Catalan sausages and this is this is something I don’t know if people is offered that in other tours but we
Like to do it in people that have lot of fun and that day we stay in kaldas kaldas is in the it’s in the outskirts of Barcelona and it’s a termal town it was founded by the Romans and we have a spy in our hotel and we getting close to
The end because from Calas we jump into Barcelona Barcelona I’m not going to say much about Barcelona because everybody heard about Barcelona but we want to finish the tour with something special and we have a culinary dinner we have a we go to a place where there’s some
Cooks that they perform an activity for us it can be different depending on the group but we kind of teach people how to cook a little bit and we make like a competition a little bit and people they get to eat what they have cooked plus some things that the local Cooks prepare
For us so now having said that that I’m going to pass the word and let you keep on going hello thank youan you’re welcome I hope I didn’t over do I tried to make no you did it great great you did I think the H I need to bring
The the show back up though yeah has it disappeared completely yeah it somehow disappear okay know if it was that make it disappear absolutely it was you but that’s trying to make you feel at EAS no it’s all good it’s right back we’re right back at it so continue it’s all
Good oops that’s there you are yeah let just go to the I’ll find the right I’ll find the right slide here you go if anybody has any questions we’ve got plenty of time for some questions we also have a couple of other um tidbits to finish up with but we wanted to keep
It open to questions you can drop them in the chat if you can get to the chat button um we’ve also been putting some links in the chat to the actual trip itineraries online um if we don’t have many one one thing I did want to comment
On is Spain is a special place for me as well I guid did for many years before I was sitting in the office and um doing more a lot more office work I was out on tour myself self for many years with Jan for many years in his first uh almost 10
Years of trips and I think that that Spain is a little bit of a proxy for the legacy of a lot of our tours we’ve actually been running a version of the Camino since 1997 and um we’ve been running a version of andalia since 2004 and we’ve been running a version of
Catalonia since 2013 so it’s those these trips have endured quite a long time um we got a question from Jan about ebike options and whether we can do ebikes on some days and regular bike on other days generally we don’t mix ebikes and and regular bikes on tour that’s a good
Question because it just doubles up on the resource and the availability of that particular bike um we can talk more details offline and you can always call call in and check but we would just recommend sticking with one type of bike throughout the whole trip and um I would
Say one thing we found with as more and more people are taking ebikes and the nice thing about ebikes is we have a couple of different types of ebikes we have e hybrid bikes that are more upright and we also have e-road bikes now that actually can even be used
Without the assist that are much more efficient um in fact they have a lower uh power battery so that they have to be used more efficient don’t run out but that might be an interesting option um for those who are actually kind of straddling don’t feel
Like you really need an ebike for the whole trip but maybe you want it to help the Boost we found the e-road bikes to actually be a really good solution for that if you’re comfortable on a road bike I hope that helped answer that question yeah I would say that also
Because of comfort using the same bike all the days really helps compared to changing from one bike to the other in the same trip yeah yeah I will put a link to our bikes page here in the chat so you can take a look at the type of bikes that we
Offer yeah and if you guys have any other questions about logistics or the trips themselves that’s this is a good example of one just about what what the options are um we will be having our uh just to mention a little bit about the future planning um our 2025 tour dates will be
Coming out around the beginning of April right now we still have plenty of space on tours in 2024 in Spain and we do have some new tours and development in Spain that will be announcing um in a couple of months so that’s something to look forward to as
Well um but yeah feel free to drop a question into the chat I don’t know Jan is there anything else that comes to mind for you that you you wanted to say that you were concerned about time and didn’t get to no I mean I would say that uh that
Spain is slightly different from from well you know all the countries are different but I would say that Spain it’s pretty unique compared to other ones and I would say especially if you head to the South like if you go to Andalusia because uh we like to say that
We are the south of the North and the north of the South you know probably this is kind of the same feeling you can get in in in Italy somehow because those countries that they are you know they covered a long range but long for our European size don’t don’t think about
The American size okay but um you get to see a lot of difference between the South and the north of Spain inside of the country itself but also I mean you get to see a big difference between what is like Center Europe and where we are
Located and this this covers all I would say all the things I mean not only in terms of U construction but also in lifestyle because I think that there’s like a big jump from let’s say southern France and and Northern Spain and I think it’s more or less the same in
Italy if you go to Northern Italy and you go to Austria I mean it’s like a you know just the mountain range but you see a big difference between lifestyle you know this much more Street I think it’s like the kind of like the Mediterranean Vibe somehow that you can feel all over
The coast of the Mediterranean no matter if you are in Italy or maybe you are in southern France will have it too but Spain more and also for example Croatia you have the same for me it’s funny because traveling in this same let’s say latitude it’s there’s so many things
That they are the same and then when you jump North you go like to medium northern France or you go to Germany it’s like a completely different style of Life yeah one question actually speaking of of timing a little bit Jean there was a question about what’s the
Best time of year for some of these for and the best weather do you want to talk briefly about each trip and then we have another very specific question about the Catalonia tour which we can also quickly answer for everybody talking about weather this is a work in progress I
Would say because I’ve seen so many changes on the weather on Spain I would say since I started guiding to now I mean uh it’s been very different usually we don’t get bad weather I mean the time we run the tours it’s basically you will have if you’re unlucky you’re going to
Have like two or three days that you may have some showers and that’s it if you have more than that you should buy a a lottery number because you’re going to win it for sure because we don’t get like that many days of bad weather in a
Row I would say that in terms of of of of beautiness I prefer spring because you know we are a little bit of a southern country and the summer here is pretty dry so usually we have the tours in Spain or either in the in the spring
Or in the early fall in the early fall it’s been drier throughout the summer so it’s not that shiny in terms of of colors okay so for example andalia I think is the best example if you go in in in May it’s very green all those
Desas where they have the Bulls and the and the porks is full of flowers and very green if you go in October it’s after the summer and it’s it’s not that colorful anymore so but I understand that most of the people they try or they
Choose to travel on on at the end of the summer because they have all the summer to train and to cycle and going on tour at the beginning of the SE sometimes it’s like harder because if you live somewhere with a strong winter it’s not
That easy to be fit on the bike yeah me personally I would say spring but it’s a it’s another Pro for spring for sure um one question that Joan you can answer is uh there was one question specifically someone is obviously looking at this this map very closely
And realized there was a big hill getting in and out of kak do you want to explain our route in and out of kadak briefly well get the that you had yeah yeah getting in is interesting because I mean I think that those Hills they look nastier than they are that’s the first
Thing uh the way in it’s very gentle so most of the people I mean we get to see how people are performing before getting there and very few people end up getting the shuttle because it’s not that long and it’s not that steep it’s it’s very
Gentle so it I would say that 80 I would say 90% of the people they do the climb even if at the beginning they are scared and the way out it’s even better because we get out with a boat so we just go around the cape we get to see the cape
From the ocean and that’s the way we get it flat because once we are in in in roses is where we quit the boat it’s almost flat all the way to to figas but that’s the the the somewhat longer answer Philip to your question we
We we do ride in but not on the whole hill to the north the hill just if you’re looking at the map it’s the hill kind of to the West I would say South West yeah on the top and we get to come and then on the way out that’s when
We’re taking the boat we don’t redo that hell that was that was good you’re you’re digging into that route and I definitely feel free to to ask us any specific questions like that even email us if you have other specific questions like that for anyone well Carol do you want to why
Don’t I just go ahead and Men a few other things here on if another questions comes up please don’t hesitate to drop it into the chat um you’ll see here I just put into the chat a link for scheduling a call with one of our sales team to chat about
Any tour in Spain or any any tour at all um the QR code here on the screen also takes you to that link but if you want to do that through the through that link I put you can schedule a 15minute call and and um we happy to talk with you
About anything and what I want to do here in the um oh I’ll let um I mean let’s talk about that question I yeah there was a good question about asking for elevation profiles we’re happy to send out elevation profiles for any trip you’re looking at we don’t send the
Track specifically but we’ll send the profiles out for if you’re any trip that you’re looking at absolutely um yeah just send an email to info@ experience plus.com and tell us what trip you’re looking at uh which itinerary and we’ll be able to send you the elevation
Profiles we have all of those that we often get that question and are happy to send that out yeah those will come to you as a PDF all of the days um together collectively on one page I would say don’t don’t get scared by the altitude profiles usually usually they look
Nastier than they are and it is something many of you know been on trips right and the scale is not the same for every day so that can also be tough to sort out some but you those of you who’ looked at these before know that and I
Think I think we have improved through the years because they used to look even nasty when they were those scales like this like it seemed like a like a saw you know and then when people they they cycle through and say that was not that
Bad was of course it was not that bad it was just the altitude profile that seems more challenging yeah so this is the homepage the photo that you’ll see on the homepage of our website which is experience . the blue box here is our tour finder
And you can use this to um put in any country that you’re interested in any date month by the month of the year that you’re interested in the tour style and also our tour levels we’ve vaguely um referred to those but you can do a search right from our homepage you can
Also though go into the header not up here but you can search our bicycle tours by destination and um this here this page is what appears a pre-populated tour finder page for all the tours that are in Spain that you can connect to from our destination section
Of our website you can look at all of our tours by country by Style by level um so it’s it’s a very friendly way to access tour information and even better is that once you dive into to a tour page this happens to be the bicycling Catalonia’s coost Brava
Plus tour page it’s it’s below the fold so to speak our our our our photo is up top here but I wanted to point out that there are a couple of buttons that uh can be of use to you the first one is if you are super interested in a tour um
You can hold a space on any tour without any obligation um you can just click that button and it will ask you what date departure departure date you’re interested in um and ask you a couple of other questions and you submit that form and then we’ll be in touch with you to
Let you know about the tour status uh and um and as a way to keep in touch with you to to gauge your interest and then the other great thing you can do is download the itinerary for the tour which basically it is a PDF that contains all of this juicy information
That you see up above from dates and pricing and booking the the full itinerary um all of our arrival and departure information we give very detailed um arrival and departure uh notices and um then you can also connect to photos from all of our tours that we’ve had uh through through photo
Gallery and so one other thing I’ll just mention as a way to stay connected with us is that we do send out um weekly email we call it email blast and has features anything from a recipe to a new tour announcement to uh last week’s email we uh connected folks to an
Article about train travel so we try to mix it up a lot and give you helpful information that’s relevant to both planning your trip and to considering what you might want to do in the future to um sharing recipes from the road so you can scan that QR code you can also
Connect to um you can join our email list through the homepage of our website uh and again you can send any questions that you have to info experience plus.com and in the couple minutes that remains I’ll just ask my colleagues if they have anything else that they want
To say before we sign off or if anybody has one last question that that’s a great question Jan which tour would you recommend to a first first time Spain traveler I would definitively I mean the first time traveler to Spain then I would that’s um that’s the kind of
Question that is I’m just thinking of the different tours you know and they all have something that will make it special but I think that if you get into Spain for the first time and you really want to see this uniqueness I think that would be probably Andalusia because uh I
Think it’s the more cultural shocking you know because it’s it’s the area I would say it’s the area that is more different even within for for as for Spaniards is the area is more different so I think that’s the one that probably attracts more because there is
This idea you know of Spain you know with the bull fighting and and and and the Flamingo and all that and this is really only from Andalusia and sometimes people they come to Spain expecting something like that and they go to Madrid you can get some Maybe to
Barcelona this is not really local from there the really place to get this say traditional perception that people have from Spain is Andalusia I would definitively recommend probably inia not do you agree that’s I was going to say this whole debate could probably take us another whole hour um at the end
It it depends on what you’re seeking for it depends on what you’re looking for is the constant answer to all of our whatever yeah it’s funny because that’s actually one of the reasons what I don’t recommend that to her because I’m like well that’s the Spain that is exported
To to us culturally I think and I’m like oh the Camino is like you you get to see a part of SP I you don’t even know exists I think I actually really liked Jean’s answer and I feel like that’s a really good way of explaining this how
Special Andalusia is it really does have the heart of Spain and it’s its own uniqueness and it’s some of those pieces of Spain have don’t exist in other regions but I would have probably said the Camino because it’s but I have a big bias towards the Camino I when I’m asked what
My favorite tour is of all of our trips I’ll tell you all a secret I hate to have a a favorite trip because of course all of our trips are great I say the Camino when I’m really pressed so maybe I’m biased for that but the Camino has
This incredible energy and you you’re basically cycling through history um and it is very unique though I think that’s one of the fascinating things about Spain even more in other countries each region has retained so much of its culture that you you you have to go to
All of them to truly understand the country and even the ones we’ve shown don’t give you the center Madrid the nice thing is you can go to Madrid either way when you’re arriving under departing and spend a few days and and really get to know Madrid as well you
Probably will go through Madrid anyway yeah I’ll say the best food in Spain that I’ve ever had though was in Catalonia for sure hands down restaurant inot was is phenomenal but it’s it is now uh 2 o’ we just want to respect everybody’s time today we thank you so
Much for joining us we really um look forward to uh connecting with you if you have any questions and please keep your eye out for future webinars with experience plus we feel like this is a great format for us to be communicating about our tours and if you agree drop us
A line and let us know um what you thought of today’s and and what you’d like to see uh as we move forward so thanks every thanks everyone thanks so much thanks for your timeing for joining and