Major trip to Portugal - 20-27 October
Itinerary:
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Thursday 20 October: fly from Gatwick to Oporto and transfer to the hotel.
Friday 21 October: in the morning we visit Rem Koolhaas’s Casa da Música and the Museu de Serralves by Alvaro Siza. In the afternoon we visit Siza’s 1966 Leça Swimming Pool, a national monument and his Boa Nova Tea House (1958-63), built on the rocks above the sea and one of his first works.
Saturday 22 October: by mini-bus to Viana do Castelo, one of Portugal’s oldest towns and now an architectural Mecca thanks to Siza’s white concrete Biblioteca and the notable building in the Praça da Liberdade by father and son architects the Tavoras. Then to Braga and the epic Estádio de Futebol (2004) by Souto Moura – carved out of a granite hillside. Finally to Siza’s Santa Maria Church at Marco de Canaveses –and its pure white geometry. Back to Porto.
Sunday 23 October: by mini-bus to the University of Aveiro. Where there’s a range of projects by the cream of Portugal’s architects – including Siza’s Library and Water Tank; Souto Moura’s Geosciences Department; and many more. We also visit the nearby city of Ílhavo, to see the Maritime Museum and Library by the ARX studio, before heading for Lisbon.
Monday 24 October: visiting the historic centre and the Baixa, constructed after the 1755 earthquake and a remarkable example of urban planning on a grand scale. Then more works by Siza ,and the remodelled Museum of Contemporary Art. In the afternoon we visit the site of the 1998 expo including work by Siza, Calatrava and Chermeyeff.
Tuesday 25 October: a day mixing ancient and modern including Belem [World Heritage Site] and the cultural centre by Vittorio Gregotti and Manuel Salgado.
Wednesday 26 October: at the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, a pioneering 1960s modern art museum set in a superb garden, before flight home.
Travel Arrangements
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Depart: Thursday 20 October - Gatwick to Oporto on Easyjet leaving at 17.20 and arriving at 19.40.
Return: Wednesday 26 October - Easyjet flight to Luton leaving at 15.45 arriving 18.25.
Cost: £825 sharing / £990 single
Deposit: £100
To book: please
Important information - please read
These tours are the result of requests by an informal friendly group of architectural enthusiasts. Tim Bruce-Dick is the co-ordinator of this group which you are welcome to join. Tim books travel and accomodation upon request; all responsibility for all aspects of insurance rest entirely with individual participants who should ensure they have adequate insurance for the tour they choose to join. Hotels are usually centrally located modern three star hotels. The cost of airport transfers/local transport/food/drink are all extra unless specifically mentioned.
In these unpredictable times these programmes are subject to variation both in cost and content. The prices shown are accurate now and Tim will do his best to keep costs down; any notable variations will be discussed with the group before final amendments are made.
