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Four Spanish Mystics

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Four Spanish Mystics LAURA DUNHAM INVITES YOU TO JOIN A STUDY TOUR: F OUR S PANISH MYSTICS St Ignatius of Loyola, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and María de Jesús de Ágreda Including visits of: * BARCELONA * MONTSERRAT * MANRESA * ZARAGOZA * AGREDA * AVILA * SALAMANCA * MADRID * TOLEDO Ending at the great pilgrimage site: SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA S EPTEMBER 5-14, 2015 |$4,499 FROM N EWARK www.206tours.com/4mystics Santiago de Compostela Cathedral For more information, contact Diana at 407.620.8380 or [email protected] St Ignatius of Loyola St. Teresa of Avila St. John of the Cross Ven. Maria de Agreda S AMPLE D AY- BY- D AY I TINERARY Day 01 | Saturday, September 5: Depart USA Day 06 | Thursday, September 10: Avila - Madrid Board your overnight transatlantic flights from your home town. Meals are After breakfast, we will visit the city of Avila. Here the atmosphere has served on board. changed very little since the days of St. Theresa, to whom the city is dedicated. St. Theresa the great mystic, was the first woman to be named a Day 02 | Sunday, September 6: Arrive Barcelona Doctor of the Church. We will visit: the crypt of La Santa Convent, built on the Upon arrival you will be greeted by our tour guide and driver. Pending our site of the house where she was born; La Encarnacion Convent, where St. schedule and arrival, we will begin our tour of Barcelona; including a guided Theresa became a nun and home to the most comprehensive museum walk through the Gothic Quarter to visit the cathedral and to view Gaudi's dedicated to her life; the Cathedral and the Cuatro Postes (four columns) Sagrada Familia, a beautiful, unfinished Roman Catholic basilica of impressive which commemorates St. Teresa, at the age of seven convinced his brother to proportions. Transfer to our hotel where you will enjoy free time to rest and run away with her to die as martyrs in the land of the Moors. The uncle caught refresh before Dinner and overnight in Barcelona. them at this site, Cuatro Postes, and returned them home. We continue on to the Capital of Spain; Madrid where we will meet with Catholic Pilgrims who will Day 03 | Monday, September 7: Barcelona - Montserrat - Manresa - be our travel companions for the remainder of the tour. Dinner and overnight Zaragoza with 206 Tours Pilgrims. After breakfast we make our way to Montserrat, home to the dramatically set Benedictine monastery. On a rugged mountainside we will visit the Shrine of Day 07 | Friday, September 11: Madrid - Toledo Our Lady of Montserrat. Since the 12th-century, pilgrims have been drawn to After breakfast we will enjoy a tour of Madrid including the Royal Palace and the mountain to venerate the miraculous statue of the Black Madonna. Plaza Mayor. We then depart for Toledo which sits on a rocky mound isolated According to Catholic tradition, the statue of the Black Virgin of Montserrat on three sides by a looping gorge of the Río Tajo. Every available inch of this was carved by St. Luke around 50 AD and brought to Spain. It was later outcrop has churches, synagogues, mosques and houses heaped upon one hidden from the Moors in a cave, where it was rediscovered by shepherds in another in a haphazard spi-ral, which the cobbled lanes infiltrate as best they 880 AD. They saw a bright light and heard heavenly music that eventually led can. Toledo is known as the City of the Three Religions or Cultures because for them to the grotto and the statue. The Bishop of Manresa, present at the many centuries the Christians, the Moors, and the Jews lived together in discovery, suggested that it be moved to Manresa, but the small statue was relative equality and peace. The city surrounded by walls hides great discovered to be so heavy it could not be lifted. Thus the Virgin had indicated treasured: its awesome Cathedral, the church of Santo Tomé, the Tránsito her will to stay on Montserrat to be venerated there. In the 11th century, the Synagogue, Santa María La Blanca Synagogue, the superb church of San Juan abbot-bishop Oliba founded a monastery on the mountain of Montserrat next de los Reyes, Puerta de Bisagras, Puerta del Cambrón, Puerta del Sol, etc. We to one of the chapels, where the Benedictine Abbey is still preserved. In 1522, return to Madrid for dinner and overnight. St. Ignatius of Loyola lived in La Cova between Montserrat & Manresaa & witnessed a vision of Our Lady which changed his life and has has a lasting Day 08 | Saturday, September 12: Madrid - Santiago de Compostela effect on the Jesuit order. Continue on to Zaragoza, home of the magnificent After breakfast depart towards city of Santiago de Compostela. Stop in Basilica del Pilar, built in the place where tradition holds that Our Lady Villafranca del Bierzo, where we will visit to the Collegiate Church of Santa appeared to Saint James. Dinner and overnight in Zaragoza. María, the churches of Santiago and San Nicolas, as well as the Agua Street, full of palaces and emblazoned houses. Later we enter Galicia by Lugo, not far Day 04 | Tuesday, September 8: Zaragoza - Agreda - Segovia - Avila from Santiago. We will stop in O Ce-breiro, the first village in the region of This morning, we visit the town of Agreda, where the Venerable Maria de Lugo along the Route, with an altitude of 1,300 meters. A group of "pallozas" Agreda lived her life and died in 1665. Her body was later examined some can be seen and a beautiful Pre-Romanesque temple, from the 9-10 C, years later and discovered to be incorrupt. Maria de Agreda is credited with containing a Chalice, the Paten of "Santo Milagro" and a precious Romanesque authoring the "Mystical City of God" through revelation from the Blessed carving of Santa Maria la Real. We continue on to Santiago de Com-postela for Virgin. Her body has been examined again in later years, including in 1909 and dinner and overnight. 1989 with no degradation to the body. Her body has remained incorrupt for over 340 years. We continue on our way to the town of Segovia, a medieval Day 09 | Sunday, September 13: Santiago de Compostela walled city bordered by twin rivers and miles of shaded walks including After breakfast we set out to join the walking pilgrims at the Monte del Gozo pedestrian streets. Here we will visit the St. John of the Cross Shrine and from which the spires of the Cathedral are first visible. We will walk the last Reliquary in the Convent of Carmelite Friars. St. John of the Cross and St. couple of miles of El Camino arriving at the Cathedral, the destination we have Teresa founded a discalced Carmelite monastery together in Segovia. We been yearning to reach. We will attend the International Pilgrim Mass at the continue on to Avila for dinner & overnight. Cathedral of St. James, one of the finest examples of architecture in all of Europe. Tradition invites us to perform some rites. The most important and Day 05 | Wednesday, September 9: Avila - Alba de Tormes - meaningful one is the hug to the Saint, go under the main altar and visit the Salamanca - Avila crypt where the relics of St. James are preserved. In the afternoon we will visit Breakfast in the hotel. In the morning we will do an excursion to the to the city of Santiago to see: Obradoiro Square, Fonseca Palace, Gelmirez surroundings of Avila including a visit to the town of Alba de Tormes and the Palace, Franco Street, etc. Dinner and overnight in Santiago de Compostela. city of Salamanca. In Alba de Tormes is where Saint Theresa died in 1582 and where she is buried. In the museum of the Carmelite Convent of the Day 10 | Monday, September 14: Santiago de Compostela - USA Annunciation we will be able to see the incorrupt heart and left arm of the After breakfast we depart for our return flights home to the USA. Saint. It was in Salamanca where Saint John of the Cross studied Theology and was ordained priest and where Santa Teresa founded the Carmelite Convent in 1570. For four centuries Salamanca was the seat of one of the most prestigious universities in the world and, despite losing this reputation in the XVII Century, it has kept the unmistakable atmosphere of a seat of learning. It is a small place, and it is given a gorgeous harmony by the golden sandstone from which almost the entire city seems to be constructed. The city’s architectural sights seem endless: two cathedrals, one Gothic, the other Romanesque, vie for attention with Renaissance palaces and gems of Plateresque decoration. The Plaza Mayor is the finest in Spain; and the surviving university buildings are tremendous throughout, all of them distinguished by the same warm stone. Today we will visit this impressive and beautiful city: The grand Plaza Mayor is the hub of Salmantine life, the vast Baroque church of La Clerecía, the Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells), named after the rows of carved scallop shells symbol of the pilgrimage to Santiago which decorate its façade, the University, the cathedrals, the Roman Bridge, San Marcos and San Martin churches, etc. Dinner and overnight in Avila. Salamanca Cathedral S AMPLE D AY- BY- D AY I TINERARY YOUR TRIPESERVATION INCLUDES: A PPLICATION ● Round Trip Airfare from Newark ● All airport taxes and fuel surcharges ● 8 nights accommodations in 4 stars hotels as follows: (or similar) ~1 night | Sep 06 - 07: Barcelona: Hotel Ayre Caspe ~1 night | Sep 07 - 08: Zaragoza: Hotel Silken Zentro ~2 nights | Sep 08 - 10: Avila: Hotel Palacio de los Velada ~2 nights | Sep 10 - 12: Hotel Moratin, Madrid ~2 nights | Sep 12 - 14: Hotel Compostela, Santiago de Compostela ● Transfers as per itinerary ● Breakfast and Dinner daily ● Wine and mineral water with dinners ● Transportation by air-conditioned motor coach ● Assistance of a professional local Catholic guide(s) ● Sightseeing and admissions fees as per itinerary ● Luggage handling (1 piece per person) Avila, UNESCO Site ● Flight bag & portfolio of all travel documents Not Included: Lunches.
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