Mediterranean Interlude
Athens, the Greek Isles, Istanbul , Andalusia and Spain
A 19 Day Grand Mediterranean Dream Vacation

Here's the best of Spain and Andalusia in a week , locally escorted. Air fare is included in economy class Istanbul Madrid . One week covering Madrid , Andalusia and Costa del Sol.
The mystery of Istanbul . . . the treasures of Athens . . . the romance of the Greek isles.
Mykonos / Santorini What's better than a journey with a cherished companion to one of these prized destination? Why, an interlude that includes all three, of course. Add Rome
Add Crete . Click for Istanbul Santorini Edition ( Without Mykonos) .
Tour Starts weekly in Athens Apr - Oct

This is a trip tailored to make the most of that special company and unique occasion, be it an anniversary, a honeymoon, or a singular chance to be alone and away. We have selected superior and deluxe hotels in Greece and Turkey notable for their charm, atmosphere, and, of course, fine service. You'll be free to linger late in bed with breakfast brought to your room, stroll the romantic old Plaka district of Athens or frequent a seaside café in Santorini, entirely at your leisure.

Your schedule is your own, without planned group activities in Turkey or Greece , though you're free to select these at your whim and fancy, with our assistance. Of course, Travel in Style will see to all the details, from arrival to conveyance to the Isles to settling you into your fine accommodations, leaving you to do nothing but relax and enjoy-in your own style. In Spain it is a group tour and fully escorted locally in Spain .

Here is a sample itinerary, starting in Athens. Extend your stay in Athens ? Add a foray into Egypt
You may also start in Istanbul, and enjoy this escapade from east to west across the Aegean .
Do you prefer to extend touring into Greece Main Land ? MYCENAE, EPIDAURUS, Meteora & NAUPLIA?
Compare with the 14-Day Version

DAY 1 - ARRIVAL IN ATHENS - Wednesday - Tour Starts weekly in Athens Apr - Oct
Our Athens-based personnel meets you at the international airport, assists you with the formalities, and sees you to your charming and comfortable hotel. Check in, relax, then take a stroll through the lively streets. Browse for treasures and curios, savour a coffee or aperitif at a terrace café, or enjoy a fine meal in the old Plaka district. Extend your stay in Athens ?

DAY 2 - ATHENS - Thursday (B)
Enjoy the sights, sounds, and flavors of the Greek capital, including Syntagma Square, and the towering Acropolis. If you wish, we'll assist you with a tour to the city sights, or beyond, to Corinth, Olympia, and the heart of Classical Greece. Extend your stay in Athens ?

DAY 3 - ATHENS, MYKONOS - Friday (B)
Relax, and revisit a favorite café or shop today. Then we'll call for you and see you to the airport for your flight over the blue Aegean to Mykonos, Isle of Windmills. Extend your stay in Mykonos

DAYS 4 - MYKONOS - Saturday (B)
You'll spend days on Mykonos-enough to when your appetite for your return! Day at leisure.

DAYS 5 - MYKONOS- Sunday (B)
To stay in your lovely deluxe hotel and enjoy the beach, the service, and the amenities, or to venture out to explore some of the 350 whitewashed churches and chapels, dramatic cliffs, coves, and villages . . . that is the question! No doubt, you'll mix a bit of both; and with windmills to photograph and fishermen to watch along the sea, your days will be filled.

DAY 6 - MYKONOS, SANTORINI - Monday (B)
Spend another relaxing morning. Reserve some time to stroll the cobbled lanes of Mykonos, to sip an ouzo or retsina at a waterside café, to discover a beach or two, to pick up a loaf of fresh bread and cheese and olives, and picnic on a hillside as you look out to sailboats at sea. We'll rendezvous in time to take you to your fast ferry/hydrofoil for Santorini, where you'll find a room waiting in a four-star beach hotel.
Sample optional tours available based on Private arrangement or Local Group tour .

DAY 7 - SANTORINI - Tuesday (B)
Enjoy breakfast at your lovely hotel and linger for as long as you wish. When you venture out, explore the cliff top town of Thira with its winding paths leading from view to spectacular view. Day at leisure.

DAY 8 - SANTORINI - Wednesday (B)
Take a boat across to the dormant volcano, and ascend through a crater-pocked moonscape to the crater. Or savour a soak in hot sulphur springs. Arrange a winery visit, or an outing to Akrotiri, reputedly the site of fabled Atlantis. Click here for more info & Images: Villas on Santorini

DAY 9 - SANTORINI, ISTANBUL- Thursday (B)
After a leisurely breakfast, we'll pick you up and escort you to board a flight for Athens, and onward travel to Istanbul. Our personnel will be on hand to greet you upon arrival and see you to your Ottoman mansion-style boutique hotel in the Turkish capital.

DAY 10 - ISTANBUL - Friday (B)
You'll have today to experience Istanbul on your own . You won't want to miss the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, and Topkapi Palace, with its Ottoman treasures. The Grand Bazaar offers endless bargains in its 5000 stands, kiosks, and shops. Soak up the atmosphere of a traditional coffee house, complete with bubbling water pipes. And if you still have time, take a cruise on the Bosphorus. Extend to Kusadasi & Ephesus

DAY 11 - ISTANBUL - Saturday (B)
You'll have the day to experience Istanbul on your own . You won't want to miss the Blue Mosque and Aya Sophia, and Topkapi Palace, with its Ottoman treasures. The Grand Bazaar offers endless bargains in its 5000 stands, kiosks, and shops. Soak up the atmosphere of a traditional coffee house, complete with bubbling water pipes. And if you still have time, take a cruise on the Bosphorus.

DAY 12 - DEPARTURE ISTANBUL MADRID - Sunday (cB)
Our staff escorts you to the airport for your flight bound for Madrid. Air ticket is included in economy class , tax included. Gulgule - Bon Voyage . Tour code :  A-05/221. Upon arrival at Madrid Barajas Airport. Our local rep will escort you to your hotel.

Day 13 - Tour Madrid (B) Monday
Breakfast at the hotel. Then morning half day tour of Madrid:
Get set for views of Madrid from a variety of perspectives. Our itinerary will take you from the Bourbon to the Austrian, Isabeline and modern quarters of the capital, reflecting the history and influences that have shaped the nation.

Our neighborhood meanderings conclude in the Moorish Quarter (Barrio de la Morería), replete with fine town houses (Mesones) and tradition. But that's just the start.

We'll view the signature squares of Madrid, Oriente, España, Puerta del Sol, Cibeles, Neptuno, Puerta de Alcalá, and Atocha, each with its own character, ranging from elegant to workaday to frenzied. We'll travel along the famed thoroughfares, including the Gran Vía. And of course, we'll see Retiro Park, and the classic Bullring of the glory days of bullfighting, and a soccer stadium and modern quarters that rival any in Europe.

The tour will conclude at the terminal, at Oriente Square.

The tour uses deluxe motor coaches and certified tour guides, who provide full interpretation of our city, its history, monuments, characteristics, and of our own peculiarities and customs. It's a discovery! The afternoon is at leisure

DAY 14. MADRID - CORDOBA - SEVILLE Tuesday (Breakfast , Dinner)
We meet up at the hotel to escort you this morning to the coach terminal in Oriente Square in Madrid and set out by 9 a.m., making the most of our time aboard to introduce ourselves to each other and learn more about what lies ahead. Our route takes us into La Mancha, the landscape of romance and adventure where Don Quixote tilted at windmills. We’ll wind across hills and down into irrigated valleys, to Puerto Lápice, a town lost in time, looking much as it did in the seventeenth century. We might even espy the establishment where an innkeeper conferred knighthood upon Don Quixote. Then we’ll pass onward through the region of Valdepeñas, where fine Tempranillo grapes are grown, and cross the Canyon of Despeñaperros, and pass through the town of Bailén on our way to Cordoba. Here we’ll visit the famous Mosque, one of the most notable in the days of Moorish rule. Then we’ll continue onward to Andalusia, where dinner and comfortable beds await us in Seville.

DAY 15 . SEVILLE, (Breakfast , Lunch ) Wednesday
We’ll stay all day in Seville, where the Moors have left their mark in whitewashed houses, tile roofs, graceful archways, and a warren of intimate lanes with surprises at every turn. Our visit will take us to the monumental and stunning tower of La Giralda, the Cathedral that once echoed with daily calls to prayer, and the Palace of the Alcazar, with its delicately carved stonework and pleasure gardens that still delight. Your afternoon is free to wander the alleyways of Seville on your own, and perhaps to stop in and sample the tapas at an inviting establishment.

DAY 16. SEVILLE - JEREZ - CADIZ - VEJER - COSTA DEL SOL - Thursday
Breakfast, Dinner .
Departure to Jerez where an important wine cellar will be visited. Continuation through Cadiz. Panoramic sightseeing. Departure to Vejer. Lunch. The possibility to make an optional visit to Gibraltar. Departure to Costa del Sol. Dinner and overnight.

DAY 17. COSTA DEL SOL - GRANADA Friday ( Breakfast , Dinner )
Take your time! We’ve built an extra day into this itinerary to allow you to explore Granada independently. Perhaps you’ll return to the fabled Alhambra for a stroll through its fantastical gardens. Or, you can wander the Albaicin, the last quarter of the city occupied by the Moors, with its charming maze of alleys lined with houses with secret patios. According to whim and interest, you’ll visit the museum of composer Manuel de Falla, or the Fine Arts or Archaeology museum, or spend your day café-sitting and shopping. We’ll be pleased to arrange a tour, if you wish, from a number of options.

DAY 18. GRANADA - MADRID Saturday ( B)
Breakfast and visit Alhambra and its Gardens of Generalife.
Afternoon will see us back aboard the coach, on our way to Madrid and your hotel.

DAY 19 - RETURN HOME (B) -Monday
Our staff escorts you to the airport for your flight home , hasta luego.

Based on 5 stars in Greece & Turkey such as ( Spain always 4 stars ) :
Divani Palace in Athens, Royal Mykonian in Mykonos , Chromata in Santorini:

Based on Heritage Hotel Category for Athens : Grand Bretagne (Deluxe Room ) , King George .
Mykonos Grand Hotel ( Sea View-Superior Room with Jacuzzi )
Katikies ( standard room) , or Chromata ( Superior Room ) in Santorini
Four Seasons ( standard room) or Ciragan Palace Kempinski in Istanbul :

Rate includes:

• Air transportation from Athens to Mykonos, from Santorini to Athens, and from Athens to Istanbul and on to Madrid all in economy class , tax included .
  
• All guided sightseeing where included as per itinerary including all entrance fees.
  
• Transportation between airport and hotel in Greece , Turkey & Spain.
  
• Santorini Ferry/hydrofoil between Mykonos and Santorini.
  
• Accommodations with breakfast (B):
  In 4 stars in Spain and 5 stars based on your choice in Greece and Turkey , as indicated ,or at comparable properties, according to availability:
  
  For deluxe 5 stars Athens: Divani Palace.
  
  Mykonos: Royal Myconian on Elia Beach (deluxe)
  
  Santorini: Chromata, Nikos Villas or Dana Villas .
  
  
  Sample hotel in Istanbul, based on your choice :
  Ottoman-style boutique hotels, such as Arena or Armada, providing intimacy and fine service.
  Or the Inter.Continental hotel, Conrad , Hilton or similar
  Four Seasons or the Ciragan Palace Kempinski

Not Included:

• International air transportation from / to your home country .
• Optional excursions, such as city tours, sailing, cruising
• Any meal not specifically mentioned, beverages, and personal expenses
• Gratuities for local personnel
• Travel insurance ( please ask your agent for details)
• Airport taxes