Portugal Pilgrimage Creative Holiday
02.06.2019 - 13.06.2019
Lisbon
| 
Renata Lahalle
watercolour,
painting,
urban,
sketching
3290 EUR
Spend 12 days in a small group adventure in Portugal and northern Spain with three fabulous guest urban sketchers and watercolourists showing us their city and their techniques. You will learn to sketch or improve your skills with fellow sketcher and tour manager Kate Stedman and with outstanding local guest urban sketchers Pedro Alves and Pedro Loureiro from Lisbon and Renata Lahalle from Madrid.
From Lisbon we travel north to the cooling majesty of Sintra to sketch for 2 nights and then English speaking French sketching tutor and fabulous artist Renata Lahalle will then join us in Porto till the end of the tour providing 5 daily sketching workshops in Porto and Santiago de Compostela.
Each day we have a sketch demo and sketching workshop as well as orientation walking tour and free time to do what you like in each wonderful town we visit.
ITINERARY:
- Lisbon 3 nights
- Sintra 2 nights
- Porto 3 nights
- Santiago de Compostela 3 nights
The tour starts in Lisbon on June 2 in 2019. Join it for 3 fun nights in Lisbon taking in the tram cars, the fabulous architecture, huge squares, fascinating history and the wonderful people of Lisbon. We meet the two Pedros for an inspiring demo sketch of their home town and tips on how to achieve such great effects in their sketches.
We travel up the coastline of Portugal from Lisbon staying in our favourite spots such as the mystical mountainous Unesco world heritage Sintra. Further North to artistic Porto full of Delft Blue wall tiles, stunning graffiti art and funky architecture like its railway station and its Livreria where J.K. Rowling got her inspiration for the staircase in Harry Potter's Hogwart's castle. We visit and dine down at the stunning Ribeira port area with its mighty spanned bridge. This is a treat and a visual feast to sketch and journal. We avoid the crowds by spending 2 nights here and wandering around when the others have departed back to Lisbon. The sketching opportunities are limitless! Sintra is built on an escarpment, with breathtaking views and is not to be missed.
From Sintra we travel a short trip up the superb coastline of Portugal to the famous little town of Porto where the 2018 Urban Sketchers annual symposium was held. Like nowhere else in the world, this creative, winding picturesque town is a wonderful blend of European architecture and English 19th century warehouses, port and sherry buildings. Wander the streets full of blue and white delft tiles and we will meet marvellous talented artist Renata Lahalle for daily sketch lessons and workshops.
We will dine at the wonderful scenic port, eat the best pulpo and pastries in the world and sketch in fantastic surroundings.
Then we depart from Portugal with a short drive - switch our watches forward an hour - and arrive in Spain to the ancient, mystical and beautiful town of Santiago de Compostela. Renata will show us how to decorate and write in our travel journals as well as depict this historic city in sketches.We will explore the wonders of this special town, feel plunged back in time and sketch nuns selling wafers, monks ringing bells, medieval architecture, weary pilgrims and maybe even sketch one arriving with his donkey!
Sadly, after our farewell dinner and then breakfast the next morning we must leave on June 13. Flights depart to Paris and other international cities from Santiago de Compostela airport.
Even if you have never put a pen on paper to sketch anything – or if you have been sketching for a long time – you will find this 12 day experience in Portugal and Northern Spain magic and inspirational. These Sketching Holidays suit everyone and you will learn in a supportive, caring and happy environment every day. You will be amazed at what you can achieve when shown how. The bond created within the group becomes very special as everyone learns from and encourages each other in being creative. A skill and a present to take home with you for life.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Non-sketchers are welcome on this tour too.
Deposit amount: $1,000 AUD which is 50% refundable until 150 days before tour commencement (03 January 2019). After this date the deposit is non-refundable. All tour participants are required to have travel insurance at time of booking to protect against your possible illness cancellation costs.
Please note that in the eventuality of the artist being too ill to attend: the tour will go ahead and there will be no reimbursement/compensation made to clients. Every effort will be made to replace the artist with someone of similar standing.
