Some trips show you a country. This one shows you where your own city came from.

Madrid + Granada + Seville · a small group · the Spain that shaped St. Augustine

Cross the Atlantic and the connections start to make sense. We'll trace St. Augustine back through three Spanish cities, each one a piece of the story: Madrid, where the empire was run and decisions were made that reached all the way to Florida; Granada, whose arches and courtyards turn up again in the buildings you've walked past your whole life back home; and Seville, the port that opened onto the New World and still holds the original records of Spanish Florida.

We'll walk imperial Madrid with a guide who can connect the dots, then hand the afternoon back to you. In Granada we'll go inside the Alhambra, settle in for a sunset dinner and flamenco beneath Sacromonte, and work our way through the tapas bars. Small plates and a glass of something Spanish, the local way to eat. In Seville we'll tour the Alcázar and stand with the archives that historians used to piece together your city's earliest years, with long lunches, good Rioja, and free evenings to wander between it all.

It's a small group. The kind where the people across the table turn into friends somewhere over the second round of tapas.

Come curious. Come hungry. Go home seeing St. Augustine a little differently.

Get settled into your beautiful accommodations, centrally located and steps from the city. We'll gather for a welcome dinner on our first night together, around one table, to meet the group and settle in. The rest of the evening is yours to explore or relax after the journey over.

At 10 AM we'll set out on a guided walking tour through the Madrid of the Habsburgs, the city where the empire was governed and decisions were made that reached across the ocean to a small garrison town in Florida. The afternoon and evening are free for you to explore Madrid on your own.

We'll travel from Madrid to Granada by comfortable coach, arriving in the early afternoon with time to freshen up and settle in. Later we'll gather for a welcome tapas happy hour, your introduction to Granada and to eating the local way. The evening is yours, whether that means an early night or a long, late Spanish dinner.

We'll step inside the Alhambra together on a private guided tour of the hilltop palace complex. The afternoon is free to rest or wander before we regroup for a sunset dinner, followed by a flamenco performance in the caves of Sacromonte.

A full free day to discover Granada your way. Step inside the Cathedral, browse the market stalls, and lose an afternoon in the winding streets of the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter.

We'll ride west to Seville by coach, a shorter leg with a later start. Once we've arrived, we'll head out on our welcome food tour with local friends, equal parts great eating and getting our bearings. The evening is yours to explore.

We'll tour the Royal Alcázar and Seville Cathedral together, two of the city's UNESCO treasures and a window into how Spain's global empire was organized and displayed. Your afternoon and evening are free to explore at your own pace.

Today we'll go inside the Archive of the Indies for a private experience with the original records of Spanish Florida, the paper trail historians used to reconstruct St. Augustine's earliest years. The afternoon and evening are free to explore on your own.

Breakfast is included, but there are no group activities today. You can fly home from Seville or carry on by train to Córdoba, Cádiz, or Madrid, with easy connections across Europe from here for anyone not ready to head home just yet.