Portuguese Garden Tour April 10-21, 2018

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1 Portuguese Garden Tour April 10-21, 2018 From Historic towns to stunning wine regions, along with exploring Madeira Island known as the Floating Garden of the Atlantic we are touring gardens influenced by Portugal's long seafaring history. This private garden tour through Portugal is rich in history, culture and offers a wide range of gardens, which bring together ideas from East and West in a style that is in both design and planting, confident, flamboyant, exotic, and distinctly Portuguese. We invite you to join us on a journey through Portugal. The list of inclusions are extensive, hotels chosen are 4 star and city center, plus private English speaking guides throughout. It s been designed to provide the best experiences and priced with value and budgets in mind. All the tour information, registration form, insurance and airfare details can be found on TimetoTravelTours.com. :: Detailed Itinerary :: Day 1 :: April 11 :: PORTO Arrival in Porto in the early morning, Check in at your hotel and time for lunch at your own. After lunch you will enjoy a walking tour with our official guide accompanied by the car. You will visit the Stock Exchange Palace, the Clérics Tower, with more than 250 years of history and at more than 75 high, after climbing 225 steps and reaching the top of the tower, the view over the city of Porto is absolutely stunning. No lift is available. Sé Cathedral and the Majestic one of the most historic and Romantics Café Houses in Portugal. Here you can relax with a drink. After this visit you will have get to enjoy a 50 minutes Douro cruise, passing under the 6 most famous bridges. Dinner on your own and back to the hotel for overnight.

2 Day 2 :: April 12 :: PORTO Today you will depart for a visit of the beautiful Douro Valley, visiting Amarante, Lamego, where you will have a guided visit to one of the best Estates including vineyards, wineries, and an old cellar ending with tastings of 2 Douro Wines + 2 Port Wines and we will enjoy lunch here. Following is a visit of Pinhão and their famous tiles at the train station, Mesão Frio and Peso da Régua. Then it is back to Porto for dinner on your own and overnight as today is your last night in Porto. Day 3 :: April 13 :: PORTO-COIMBRA Time for lunch and dinner at your own at Coimbra. After your breakfast, we will continue our journey to the Center of Portugal, mainly Coimbra, and the third most important city in Portugal. But before the arrival at this town, you will have a stop at Buçaco and visit their lovely gardens. Located in the interior of the National Forest of Buçaco, it is surrounded by gardens of mastic, geometrically designed around small lakes, fountains and flowerbeds of pergolas. Day 4 :: April 14 :: COIMBRA-LISBON After your breakfast and before leaving Coimbra, you will have a guided visit of the Joanina Library, a Baroque Library built in the 18th Century and considered as a National Monument that is at the Coimbra University. Then a visit of the Botanic Gardens close to the University. A visit to this Botanic Garden is like traveling around the planet Earth without leaving the city. The plant collections which occupy every corner of the Garden take us on a journey to distinct latitudes and regions of the world, thus transforming the garden into a living museum. It s time to have a late lunch at the Coimbra University before your departure to Lisboa. Arrival at your hotel for check in, but before you will have dinner at your own. Overnight.

3 Day 5 :: April 15 :: LISBON Today and after your breakfast the official guide will meet you at the front door of your hotel with our car and will travel to nearby Sintra. You will visit the UNESCO World Heritage listed city of Sintra. Sintra s stunning setting on the north slopes of the granite Serra, among wooded ravines and fresh water springs, made it a favorite retreat for the Kings of Portugal. You will admire the fabulous Palácio da Pena as well as their gardens, with their private guide. The Pena Park is one of the most important and ancient examples of Romanticism in gardens / parks. Before continuing your visit you will take lunch in a local Restaurant at Sintra. Then and with the guide you will enjoy strolling the pretty cobbled streets of the old town, Sintra Vila and perhaps sample queijadas or travesseiros the local sweet pastry. We will then continue for a visit of Monserrate Gardens at Sintra surroundings. Proceed en route to Lisbon, through Cascais, an old fishing town but now a very cosmopolitan city and Estoril, where you can take a look from inside the car, of the beautiful gardens of the Casino. Dinner at the Hotel or other nice Restaurant at your own. Overnight Day 6 :: April 16 :: LISBON After your breakfast, at your hotel the official English guide will wait for you with our Deluxe car and driver for a morning guided tour to the lovely Gardens of the Palácio Fronteira, where the guide of the Palacio Fronteira will share stories of its rich history. The Palace and the Gardens, whose unusual sets of tiles are worth mentioning, belong to the Foundation of the Casas de Fronteira and Alorna and are classified as a National Monument. This Palácio Fronteira is close of Belém, so after this visit, we will continue for a visit of the Torre de Belém, the Jerónimos Monastery and Cloisters, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites dating back to the 16th Century and the Monument to the Discoveries. You will visit the wonderful Estufa Fria or Lisbon Greenhouse, one of the most important parks that exist in the city. As a living museum and an ex libris of Lisbon, it is one of the most visited sites in the city, by both students and tourists. Initially thought as a place to simply shelter various types of plants, it has become one of the most pleasant green spaces in Lisbon, where you can spend a few enjoyable hours between lakes, waterfalls, brooks, statues and

4 hundreds of different plant specimens from all over the world. A place the gives its visitors a sense of tranquility and wellbeing. This Greenhouse is divided into three different areas: The Cold House ; The Hothouse and The Sweet House. Afterwards it is back to the hotel to relax. Day 7 :: April 17 :: LISBON Free day at your own. In the evening you can perhaps enjoy an OPTIONAL Fado Show and Dinner with pick up and drop off from/to your hotel. Day 8 :: April 18 :: LISBON-FUNCHAL, MADEIRA After your breakfast you will be transferred to Lisbon Airport for departure to Funchal Island in the morning. Arrival and check in at your hotel Porto Mare. Lunch at a local Restaurant. Afternoon you will be picked up for a visit to Palheiro Gardens, also known as the Blandy Gardens. These gardens are located on a hill to the West of Funchal and offer breath-taking views of the city of Funchal. These gardens are a paradise for camellia lovers. Back to the hotel to relax. Day 9 :: April 19 :: FUNCHAL After your breakfast you will enjoy of a visit of the beautiful gardens of this Hotel Porto Mare. Then lunch follows at the Hotel Belmond Reid s as in the afternoon you will have a private visit of the wonderful four acres gardens filled with tropical plants and rare species to explore, always with the surrounding Atlantic. Then it is back to the hotel and dinner at your own. Day 10 :: April 20 :: FUNCHAL Breakfast at the hotel and then you will be picked up by our car and driver for a visit to Roseiral da Quinta do Arco where we will find one of the largest collections of rose bushes in Portugal, made up of more than different species from the most traditional to the more unusual

5 ones produced by the owners. Lunch at a local Restaurant and in the afternoon visit to the Jardim Tropical Monte Palace. This tropical garden occupies an area of sqm and has huge exotic plants endemic to several countries as well as indigenous species of the Laurissilva forest of Madeira and swans and ducks, that populate the central lake, peacocks and chickens that walk free in the main areas of the property. You will have a farewell dinner at your hotel or in a local Restaurant as tomorrow you will depart to Funchal Airport for your return back home. Day 11 :: April 21 :: FUNCHAL-LISBON-USA After the breakfast you will be transferred to Funchal Airport where you say farewell to your driver and board your flight to Lisbon for connection flight to your final destination. Have a nice and safe trip back home. Carolyn Horne :: Time to Travel Tours carolyn@timetotraveltours.com ::