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 ATTA New Member Profile - Saranjan Tours

Saranjan Tours

Address:
PO Box 22615
Seattle WA 98122-0615

Primary Industry Contact:
Sarah Banks

Saranjan Tours offers upscale escorted trips through Spain and Portugal, two countries that are not quite Europe and not Africa. Mountains and plains,  Mediterranean coast and deltas, ancient forests and  river lands—it’s all there. Cycle the white villages of Andalucia or Portugal’s Blue Coast, and do it in style; stay in manor houses, farms and castles and savor organic produce and wines produced by local growers. Step into a thousand year old tradition walking the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain or exploring the land that time forgot in Portugal’s Tras-os-Montes. Connect to the slow food movement—harvest saffron on the Plains of La Mancha and stomp grapes in the Douro Valley. Sail the coast of Celtic Galicia and discover ancient marks left by Druids. Express your inner chef in a Basque Cooking Club/Sociedad and your love of wine in the labyrinthine cellars of Rioja or the Dão. Learn from artists and craftsmen at work on the Costa Brava and Alentejo, and chat with a journalist over a coffee or cava.

Our private custom trips for family & friends, gay & lesbian travel, museums & schools, wine & culinary clubs, church & youth groups offer activity and reflection. Iberian history has zigzagged like the pattern on a Moorish tile into the 21st century--a surreal combination of ultra modern and utterly traditional. Our travelers cycle over Calatrava’s soaring bridges and walk alongside bullock carts plodding the backroads of the upper Minho. Even though Spaniards and Portuguese have embraced change--€uro-zone toll roads, international designers, architects, artists and even foreign foods—they remain doggedly traditional in many areas of life, including the pace. This gives our travelers a chance to glimpse the authentic and local, connected to a rich history.  Along the way, they often build bridges of their own.

If geography is history, what a history! If architecture and cuisine speak to high culture, what wealth! From Barcelona’s wacky Modernism (aka Gaudí) to the gleaming titanium waves in Gehry’s new winery in Rioja; from Madrid’s makeover as Europe’s swinging nighttime capital to Porto’s transformation as a capital of culture; from the Mediterranean cities’ reputation for beach and paella to their new dominance as cultural meccas and home to Europe’s hottest young chefs—Iberia offers a truly local interpretation on the 21st century.

The Adventure Travel Network facilitates connections between like-minded companies concerned with authentic, sustainable travel—travel that supports local growers and communities, craftsmen and artists, hoteliers and restauranteurs, and guides. The path to preserving  cultural diversity is to work with our destination suppliers, colleagues and friends to promote the authentic in their countries in an equal partnership; and the way to strengthen this process is by networking with Adventure Travel affiliates who share the same values. Or put another way, let’s keep the jamón organic, the artisans in their talleres, and the bikes on the road.