2008
BICENTENNIAL TOUR

Charge of the Polish Light Horse at Somosierra

Northern Spain
In the Footsteps of Napoleon

(and Sir John Moore...
not to mention Hemingway and el Cid)

The 2008 Todd Fisher tour will concentrate on the castles and battlefields
of Spain (and its palaces, museums and restaurants, too).

The medieval walled city of Carcassone

We begin our trip in Toulouse, staying in the magnificent old medieval walled city of Carcassonne. We will visit the homes of Marshals Lannes, Soult, Murat and Bernadotte. This area is also one of the most splendid regions of France and one of its gastronomic strongholds.

A model of Bayonne at the time of Napoleon

Then through Gascony to Bayonne, where the Peninsular Wars began, to see where Napoleon deposed the Spanish Kings. Bayonne was the doorway to Spain, not only for Napoleon but most of his troops over the following years as well.
Then we cross the border and mountains to Vittoria, seeing battlefields and mountain passes and ancient cities as we go, and settling in for the night in Spain’s fine paradors along the way.

We will visit Burgos to see El Cid’s home city and the castle that witnessed Wellington’s only defeat.

We’ll follow the Polish Lancers through the fabled pass at Somosierra to Madrid, and spend three days exploring that great city: the Prado, the Palace and much more.

Madrid's famous Prado Museum

Again into the mountains, this time through the pass of Guadarrama, but without the snowstorms that Napoleon defied and marched through anyway<

Another stop will be Benevente, where Lord Paget and his hussars defeated the Chasseurs of the Guard, and where Sir John Moore began his epic retreat. For him and his army the road to Corunna was long and hard, but for us it will be a swift and comfortable passage through the mountains, until we arrive at his final resting place on the Spanish coast.

Brigadier Craufurd and the 60th Rifles during Sir John Moore's retreat

The final leg of our journey takes us down the coast to Oporto, for our flight home (and a few glasses of Port before we go!)

A NOTE ON PRICING

The original price of $3300 per person (double occupancy) was calculated on a dollar to Euro value of 1 Euro = $1.35. The dollar has since fallen to nearly 1 Euro =  $1.50. This means that we could not guarantee the $3300 price per person past the end of 2007. Anyone whose nonrefundable deposit of $500 per person was received by December 31, 2007 will be guaranteed the $3300 price.

For people registering after that date we will have to add a percentage adjustment for any change above a 1 Euro = $1.40 exchange rate. This adjustment will be pegged to the value of the dollar on the April 1 final payment deadline.