Birding, Landscapes and Cultural Trip in Spain

In the morning, your private driver will be waiting for you to take you southeast to Extremadura where your bird watching adventure will start. Extremadura has the ideal conditions for bird watching and the region has more than 30 Special Bird Protection Areas with 338 species of birds recorded. Your destination is Valle del Jerte, stopping on the way in Ávila. This fortified city, a UNESCO Site, is nestled in the rolling green hills northwest of Madrid. Encircling it are imposing city walls featuring eight monumental gates, 88 watchtowers, and more than 2,500 turrets, making it one of the best-preserved medieval bastions in Spain. It’s a deeply pious city, which makes sense considering that there are supposedly more gothic and romanesque churches per capita here than there are in the whole of Spain. You will have some time to walk around Ávila before continuing your trip to Extremadura.

Valle del Jerte is an ideal destination during summer, a time that largely coincides with the harvesting of cherries and in the following months when you can see spectacular autumn landscapes coinciding with the so-called Otoñada del Jerte Valley. After arriving in Valle del Jerte you have the option of relaxing at your accommodation or you can opt for short excursion.

Options

• Visit the landscapes of Valle del Jerte and Yuste monastery accompanied by a guide
• Hike to a former Tungsten mine: the valuable mineral, the harsh working conditions and the tools used will guide our steps in the middle of an incomparable natural landscape
• Harvest the cherries and attend a gastronomic experience with local products

Today you will travel to Monfragüe National Park. The ornithological importance of Monfragüe is largely due to the extraordinary combination of slopes with dense vegetation and rocky areas of extensive open areas which provide the birds with a high availability of refuge and feeding places. Thus, the presence of up to 180 species of birds has been verified within the Monfragüe Natural Park including the black vulture with 250 pairs and which constitutes the largest colony in the world. Your guide will take you on a private 4×4 tour to discover the amazing species in the park. Depending on the month you are traveling your guide will adapt the tour so that you can see as many birds as possible.

The Monfragüe National Park offers a combination of different Mediterranean ecosystems, with meadows, rocks, rivers and lagoons with a great diversity of fauna. They highlight the great resident birds of prey such as the imperial eagle, golden eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, black vulture, griffon vulture, peregrine falcon in addition to other birds in the reproductive period such as black stork, Egyptian vulture, booted eagle, short-toed eagle or black kite. Another of the shows that can be enjoyed in Monfragüe is the bellowing of the deer between mid-September and mid-October. In the evening, return to Valle de Jerte.

We have designed an authentic adventure, so you can feel nature in a different way. A day that includes small sections by bike, on foot and by vehicle. We will enter with our vehicles on the Monfragüe Landscape farm, with pastures in a magnificent state of conservation and naturalness. We will get on the bicycles to begin our adventure, cycling through beautiful meadows with large plains, interpreting the pasture and its operation, seeing dozens of deer and birds of all kinds, and learning about the life of pigs in montanera, the autumn season of acorn foraging.

We have designed an easy itinerary, adapted to all ages. After a beautiful route through the meadows, we will approach the most protected areas of the Monfragüe National Park, so we will abandon the bikes and take a short walk to reach this enclave, with the idea of respecting wild fauna as much as possible and going unnoticed. The immense quartzite cuttings of the Boquerón will leave us speechless before the spectacle of hundreds of vultures and birds of prey flying over us. On the way back we will resume the bike ride until we reach a beautiful house in the center of the pasture, where we can enjoy a delicious traditional meal.

Today you will drive west to the Natural Park of Tajo Internacional to experience a unique kayak adventure in one of the most charming natural parks in Spain. The province of Cáceres hides some dream places to get lost in; there are many natural spaces to visit near the surroundings of the Tagus River such as the Monfragüe National Park or the Sierra de San Pedro SPA. The kayak activity takes place in the Tejo Internacional Natural Park, one of the wonderful protected areas of Extremadura. This area is a natural border between Spain and Portugal and its more than 50 thousand hectares are divided between the two countries.

This cross-border journey is a special kayak route through the waters of the longest river on the peninsula. In addition, a great example of Mediterranean forest awaits you. Among the plant species you will see are holm oaks, cork oaks and kermes oak. It’s also an ornithological paradise when you can observe the most emblematic birds that you will find in this area such as the vulture, black stork, golden eagle, Egyptian vulture, heron, and with a little luck, you will come across otters or deer. In autumn, listening to the rutting will impress you.

Other Activities

• River cruise on the Tajo River
• Guided hike in the park

Today you will drive to Trujillo, stopping on the way at the city of Cáceres for a gastronomic guided city tour. “Eat and drink, life is short” – this popular proverb is nourished, never better said, by an endless number of allusions to the history of the kitchen. Food, its preparation, hunger or after-dinner are part of this story. History and gastrohistories with a Guide-Historians of Extremadura to discover the regional cuisine in the culinary events and events that have forged it.

We will sail with Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans to know their contribution to the Mediterranean triad. Transported to the court of al-Mutawakkil, king taifa of Badajoz , we will know the delicacy of the Arab-Berber cuisine. And we will enter the pasture landscape between cattle ravines after the Christian conquest of these lands.

We will discover the New World and the food miscegenation lived in the Old Continent, which represents that of Toledo-Moctezuma like no other palace. Other stately homes will evoke opulent royal and aristocratic banquets. Those who enjoyed Isabel la Católica during her stays in the town, or the one who saved Cáceres from destruction thanks to a tableware in the presence of Marshal Soult. After the tour, you will visit Quesería Doña Francisca, where you will learn about the process making of the famous cheese Torta del Casar and you will be able to make your own cheese. At the end of the day, continue driving to Trujillo.

In the morning your guide will be waiting for you to start your guided tour of Trujillo. You will walk around the magical city while your guide explains you the architectonic characteristics of the buildings and tells you the secrets of the city.

In the evening you will enjoy a wine experience and visit one of the most famous wineries of Extremadura accompanied by one of the most renowned oenologists in Extremadura, who will teach you how to taste a wine, explaining the tasting method, the visual, gustatory and olfactory phase, the aromas, the service temperature … You will taste exclusively some of the most representative wines of the winery such as Taryala or Torre Julia. After the tasting we will proceed to make a Dinner-Pairing consisting of dishes designed to taste with these wines.

Stargazing! If you have the energy there are opportunities for stargazing in Trujillo. In the midst of the enveloping darkness, the nightscape offers a unique spectacle. However, due to light pollution many of us don’t see the sky. Here in the rural region of Spain, you are able observe the night sky as our ancestors once did.

The Sierra de las Villuercas stands out for its scenic geomorphology, a succession of valleys and parallel mountain ranges that give rise to the so-called Appalachian relief make it possible to find the most important ecosystems for birds. The geological weight that these territories contain have made them acquire the title of Villuercas-Ibores-Jara Geopark. This tour is a fabulous journey through interesting endemisms and botanical values, such as numerous species of orchids, relic trees such as the singular PARROT (prunus lusitanica) surviving the vegetation of the tertiary temperate climates. Your guide will highlight the extraordinary wealth of butterfly species and dragonflies, bio-indicators of the quality and diversity of the region’s natural environment, and we will interpret the footprints and signs of the geopark through history, its fossils and its exuberant vegetation. It will certainly be a day that you will never forget!

Included in the Activity

• Transportation in one of the vehicles to the geopark
• Ornithological, geological and nature guide
• Optical material for bird watching
• Reference material
• Lunch with organic products

After lunch, you will transfer to Parque Nacional De Cabañeros.

Your last adventure of the trip is in Cabañeros National Park , located in Castilla La Mancha, between the provinces of Ciudad Real and Toledo, currently one of the most important protected areas on the Iberian peninsula. The great diversity of fauna and botanical species together with its peculiar geology, make this a jewel of great natural value, being the representative natural area of the Mediterranean forest, within the network of national parks. The landscape of Cabañeros, derived from the action of man throughout history, has given rise to a peculiar landscape of extensive roots of former cereal use in dry land with rich seasonal grasses. Sheltered from the mountain ranges of the chorito and the Rocigalgo Massif among other mountainous formations, completely covered with Mediterranean forest and scrub land, perfectly preserved. Upon arrival your guide will be waiting for you to guide you around the park while you learn and discover all the beautiful species that the park have.

In the morning, drive north to Madrid Airport to catch your flight back home.

Adiós Spain!