Tour begins: 5:30 PM, Le Meridien Barcelona. A transfer is included from Barcelona Airport or the Barcelona Franca train station to Le Meridien Barcelona, ideally located on Las Ramblas. Join us for a private welcome reception and dinner tonight at the hotel as you get your first taste of life in Northern Spain.

Venture into the mountains today, stopping at the saw-toothed mountain of Montserrat, just northwest of Barcelona, to visit the Benedictine monastery and see the shrine of la Moreneta, the Black Madonna. According to the legend, the statue was discovered in the year 880 by shepherds who saw a strange light in the sky and heard music coming from a cave in the mountain. Since then, it has become one of the most famous pilgrimage sights in Spain. Continue on to Cardona for a visit to the Romanesque Church of Saint Vicenc, consecrated in 1047. Enjoy lunch in the medieval dining room at 9th-century Parador de Cardona, holding court over the countryside from its hilltop perch. Drive through the snow-capped Catalonian Pyrenees to your hotel in La Seu d'Urgell for a memorable two-night stay. Dinner tonight is at the hotel, with wine included.

Depart La Seu d'Urgell this morning and head to the town of Elciego in the province of Alava in the Basque Country of northern Spain, part of the renowned Rioja wine-producing region. After stopping en route for lunch at a parador in Zaragoza, you'll arrive late afternoon in Elciego (Eltziego in Basque), home to the Marques de Riscal winery and the remarkable five-star hotel that will be your home for the next two nights - the visionary Hotel Marques de Riscal, designed as a 21st-century chateau by world-famous Canadian-born American architect Frank Gehry, which opened in 2006. After settling in, enjoy dinner at the hotel this evening.

Leave Elciego this morning and drive to famous Pamplona, immortalized in Hemingway's famous book, The Sun Also Rises; where you'll have the opportunity to walk the route followed during the town's celebrated annual running of the bulls. Then it's on to coastal San Sebastian in Basque Country, where your first view of this popular oceanfront town is from the top of Mt. Igueldo. Regarded by many as Spain's culinary capital, this ancient town also boasts great surfing beaches, stunning architecture and myriad pintxos bars tucked into the maze of medieval lanes in its Old Town (Parte Vieja). Have dinner at your elegant Belle-Epoque hotel tonight.

Visit the iconic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao this morning, discovering its collection of modern art as you wish. Designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry (who also designed the Hotel Marques de Riscal, where you stayed in Elciego), the museum is a showcase for large-scale, site-specific contemporary works of art by international and Basque artists, as well as exhibiting a selection of modern art from the Guggenheim Foundation's collection. Continue on to the Cantabria region, stopping for lunch and time at leisure in the perfectly preserved medieval town of Santillana del Mar, then on for an overnight stay one of Spain's architectural gems, historic Parador de Leon - one of the most important monuments of the Spanish Renaissance.

When what was believed to be the grave of St. James the Greater was discovered in this region of what is now northern Spain in the ninth century, hundreds of thousands began making the arduous pilgrimage along El Camino de Santiago - the Way of St. James - on foot to visit it. Legend has it that a bright star led a shepherd boy to the forgotten tomb of the apostle; today your local guide leads the way on a guided walking tour of the town's historic quarter and a visit to the world-famous 11th-century Romanesque Cathedral of St. James, home to the relics of the saint. Following lunch at your historic parador, the rest of the day is free to spend as you like, walking in the footsteps of pilgrims who have made their way here from around the world for centuries.

Join a local guide for a morning tour of Madrid's landmark sights that includes a guided visit to the Royal Palace. One of largest royal palaces in Europe, the opulent Baroque palace was home to Spanish kings from 1764 to 1931 and today is used for state ceremonies. The remainder of the afternoon and evening are yours to spend as you wish in Spain's storied capital city. We invite you to join us this evening for a farewell reception and dinner at your stylish Madrid hotel, converted from a 19th-century palace and boasting spectacular, historic gardens in the very heart of the Spanish capital.