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New Tours in 2017

This section highlights some of the new programs on offer during 2017

on 31 August 2016
Frescoes of the Church of the Virgin, Gelati Monastery, Kutaisi, Georgia - by Kristen Hellstrom. The monastery, with its distinctive Georgian church architecture, contains a number of royal tombs, including that of King David, and a number of Georgia’s most important mosaics, frescoes and icons dating from the 12th to the 17th century.
Badami Cave Temple, India Bhutanatha group of Temples facing the Badami Tank
Badami Cave Temple, India
Bhutanatha group of Temples facing the Badami Tank

Ancient Kingdoms and Empires of Southern India
with Em. Prof Bernard Hoffert
20 January – 10 February 2017

Professor Bernard Hoffert introduces the epic history of Southern and Central India from ancient small kingdoms to great Hindu, Muslim and British empires.
This grand journey visits many of India’s most important and spectacular Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Islamic, monuments.

This tour is only offered every other year             more……

 

Roman city of Djemila, Setif, Algeria - photo by Kristen Hellstrom
Roman city of Djemila, Setif, Algeria – photo by Kristen Hellstrom

Ancient Algeria, the M’Zab & Saoura Valleys with Iain Shearer
16 April – 6 May 2017 (Waitlisted)  & 15 April – 5 May 2018 (Limited)

This tour is limited to 22 participants

This tour is led by archaeologist and former British Museum Curator, Iain Shearer who has been travelling and working in Algeria for the past decade. Algeria dazzles with glorious panoramas set against a backdrop of the azure Mediterranean and a mountainous, rugged hinterland of Berber villages that eventually transforms into an African desert-world. A necklace of extraordinarily well-preserved Roman ‘urbs’, similar to Pompeii, punctuate the country, while medieval oasis-towns, glorious Ottoman and French Belle Époque cities entrance and inspire.         more…..

 

Jardin Marjorelle, Marrakesh, Morocco. The high chroma ultramarine blue painted Art Deco style villa and surrounding gardens of Jardin Marjorelle designed by Jacques Marjorelle in the early 1930′s and lovingly restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1980
Jardin Marjorelle, Marrakesh, Morocco.
The high chroma ultramarine blue painted Art Deco style villa and surrounding gardens of Jardin Marjorelle designed by Jacques Marjorelle in the early 1930′s and lovingly restored by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé in 1980

Natural Landscapes & Gardens of Morocco with Sabrina Hahn
18 April – 9 May 2017 (Limited)

This tour, led by Sabrina Hahn, horticulturalist, garden designer and expert gardening commentator on ABC 720 Perth, is a feast of splendid gardens, great monuments and natural landscapes of Morocco. This tour explores the dynamic relationship between Morocco’s unique and diverse environments and the country’s gardening traditions. It focuses on five key themes: the tradition of the Andalusian courtyard garden; the cultivation of date plantations and palmeraies in the desert and in the south around Marrakesh; the creation of ecologically sustainable desert gardens; the cultivation of gardens and plantations in high mountain locations, and the innovations of expatriates in garden design. This tour explores the dynamic relationship between Morocco’s unique and diverse environments and the country’s gardening traditions. It focuses on five key themes: the tradition of the Andalusian courtyard garden; the cultivation of date plantations and palmeraies in the desert and in the south around Marrakesh; the creation of ecologically sustainable desert gardens; the cultivation of gardens and plantations in high mountain locations, and the innovations of expatriates in garden design.  more….

 

Gardens of the Alcázar, Seville - by John Patrick. Appended to the Muslim palace is one of Spain’s greatest and most interesting gardens. These began, at the time of the Almohads, as a typical Islamic ‘paradise’ garden, and although little remains of the original because of successive replantings by monarchs after Pedro the Cruel (especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), nevertheless much of the Mudéjar architecture (pavilions), the lovely discrete walled gardens near the palace, and the ubiquitous pretty pools and gently bubbling fountains, all reflect Spain’s cultural debt to the Muslims.
Gardens of the Alcázar, Seville – by John Patrick. Appended to the Muslim palace is one of Spain’s greatest and most interesting gardens. These began, at the time of the Almohads, as a typical Islamic ‘paradise’ garden, and although little remains of the original because of successive replantings by monarchs after Pedro the Cruel (especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries), nevertheless much of the Mudéjar architecture (pavilions), the lovely discrete walled gardens near the palace, and the ubiquitous pretty pools and gently bubbling fountains, all reflect Spain’s cultural debt to the Muslims.

Gardens in Spanish Culture with Professor Tim Entwisle
8 – 25 May 2017

This cultural garden tour in Spain is led by Professor Tim Entwisle, Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Anneli Bojstad, author of Great Gardens of Spain. While ASA has offered garden tours in Spain previously, this tour explore Spain’s distinctive gardening tradition shaped both by the country’s great climatic diversity and its powerful Islamic heritage. This cultural garden tour places special emphasis upon privileged private garden visits and meetings with Spain’s top landscape architects and garden owners. We visit splendid gardens and great monuments from Spain’s Mediterranean coast to Old Castile, north of Madrid. Sculptor and landscape designer Álvaro de la Rosa will show us some of his new and exciting projects in Madrid. Eduardo Mencos, author of Hidden Gardens of Spain, will welcome us at his family farm in Extremadura. We also visit private gardens hosted by their owners, including Jardín Rosales, designed by award-winning landscape architect Fernando Caruncho; and La Zarcilla in Madrid, San Segundo in Ávila, Galiana Castle in Toledo, Palacio del Marqués de Salvatierra in Ronda, the late Olga Mayans’ garden built around the ruins of Trujillo’s medieval castle, and the garden created by Eduardo’s grandmother, the Marquesa of Casa Valdés, author of the acclaimed book Spanish Gardens. In Madrid we view Patrick Blanc’s vertical garden at the CaixaForum and spend a memorable evening at the private home of art collector Sofía Barosso. With a local naturalist we visit the Monfragüe National Park, a UNESCO listed Biosphere Reserve, to study the many species of Mediterranean plants and trees and observe the birds along the course of the Tagus River. This tour coincides with the Córdoba Patio Festival when many delightful Islamic courtyard gardens are opened to public view. We also discover Toledo’s cigarrales (country houses). Encounters with these intimate spaces are juxtaposed with visits to grand urban palaces, including Seville’s Casa de Pilatos. We also explore a number of Spain’s greatest monuments: Granada’s Alhambra, Córdoba’s Great Mosque and Seville’s Alcázar. In the Prado we view masterpieces by El Greco, Velázquez and Goya. A highlight is our stay at heritage hotels.

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