Historical Trips 2016 main brochure

2016 TOUR PROGRAMME

HISTORICAL

TRIPS

THE HISTORY THAT SHAPED US

WELCOME TO HISTORICAL TRIPS 2016 PROGRAMME Dear Traveller, Here it is, our 2016 programme of tours - examining a broad span of history across the continents and the centuries. Travel with us through four periods: Medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern and 20th Century history.

Travelling the world, with thirty expert-led tours, we delve into every aspect of human history.

Alongside a number of our old favourites, you will find 19 new tours. From religious orders in Medieval Italy, to Sugar Barons in the Caribbean, we even have an alternate history tour examining the Nazi invasion that never was. There are several important Great War anniversaries to be marked in 2016 too. We will pay our respects to those lost during Verdun and the Somme standing on their front-line trenches 100 years to the day of the battles.

History is the backbone of all our tours, but we’ve also included a number of cultural elements that we are sure will enhance your journeys with us. Enjoy a wine tasting at one of the finest wineries in Umbria; venture across South Africa’s wide-open savannah and enjoy game drives in the stunning iThala National Park; or stop for a drink at the Floridita, Ernest Hemingway’s favourite bar in Havana.

This year’s roster of Expert Guide Lecturers includes some of Britain’s most renowned historians... including a familiar face. Paddy Ashdown will join our new tour Secret War - French Resistance in the South. Paddy is one of the country’s long standing political figures and will join our tour in Vercors, to share his extensive knowledge of the harrowing resistance campaign of 1944.

I hope you enjoy our brochure and look forward to welcoming you on tour in 2016.

Michael Ivey Director, Historical Trips 2

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“

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”

- CHURCHILL

CONTENTS Tours by Era

page........................ 4-5

“

Travelling with Us page........................ 6-7

Guide Lecturers

Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”

page........................ 8-9

- NAPOLEON

Medieval World

page.................... 12-23

The Renaissance

page.................... 24-35

Early Modern Life page.................... 36-47

20th Century

page.................... 48-79

Booking Info

page.................... 80-81

F.A.Qs

page..........................82

Get in Touch

page..........................83

“

“

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”

- THOMAS PAINE

- GEORGE ORWELL

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TOURS BY ERA

THE RENAISSANCE

MEDIEVAL WORLD

UK

Italy NEW

POPES, POWER AND PURITY | Religious Orders in Medieval Italy

NEW

22nd - 29th May | with Dr Sophie Ambler............................... page 14

Spain NEW

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH | The Medieval Pilgrimage

13th - 20th Jun | with Jason Webster............................................. page 16

NEW

A MOST SERENE REPUBLIC | The History of Venice

16th - 23rd May | with Jonathan Keates.................................... page 30

10th - 17th Sep | with Dr Hugh Doherty...................................... page 18 NEW

THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING | A History of Istanbul

5th - 11th May | with Dr Hugh Doherty................................... page 20 NEW

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I GIGANTI | Art, Love & War in the Renaissance

18th - 25th Apr | with Anton Gill................................................... page 28

WARRIORS OF CHRIST | The Knights Templar in France

Turkey

20th - 27th Sep | with Elizabeth Norton........................................ page 26

Italy

France NEW

THE DARTS OF LOVE | The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Spain NEW

LA CONVIVENCIA | Moors, Jews and Christians in Southern Spain

6th - 13th May | with Jason Webster............................................. page 32

Israel & Palestine

Mexico

2nd - 11th May | with Dr Nick Slope........................................ page 22

30th Oct - 8th Nov | with Dr Keith Brewster............................ page 34

DEEDS DONE BEYOND THE SEA | The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CORTÉS | The Conquistadors

EARLY MODERN LIFE

20TH CENTURY France

France

LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ | Paris and the French Revolution

NEW

CHURCHILL’S WARRIORS | The Women of SOE 29th Sept - 3rd Oct | with Clare Mulley....................................... page 62

Austria

NEW

WAR AND WINE | Bordeaux in the Second World War 5th - 11th Jun | with Giles MacDonogh........................................ page 64

29th Mar - 1st Apr | with Prof Munro Price................................ page 38 NEW

CITY OF DREAMS | A History of Vienna

3rd - 7th Jun | with Nigel Jones...................................................... page 40

Spain

South Africa

BROTHERS IN ARMS | The Spanish Civil War - 80th Anniversary Tour

15th - 22nd Oct | with Jason Webster....................................... page 58

ZULU! | The Zulu Wars

14th - 24th Nov | with Ken Gillings............................................... page 42

Germany

USA NEW

THE FACE OF EVIL | Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

A HOUSE DIVIDED | The American Civil War

11th - 19th Jun | with Nigel Jones............................................. page 66

14th - 24th Sep | with Dr Nick Slope........................................ page 44

CITY OF SPIES | Cold War Berlin

Barbados

NEW

16th - 19th Sep | with Roger Moorhouse.................................. page 72

THE SUGAR BARONS | Profit & Plunder in the Caribbean

UK

10th - 19th Nov | with Matthew Parker.................................... page 46

20TH CENTURY

NEW

5th - 7th May | with Prof Gary Sheffield................................... page 68

Jordan

Russia

ALL MEN DREAM BUT NOT EQUALLY | Lawrence of Arabia

NO GREATER COURAGE | Russia & The Great Patriotic War

17th - 26th Oct | with Dr Neil Faulkner........................................ page 50

17th - 26th Sep | with Dr Michael Jones........................................ page 70

Belgium/France

Czech Republic/Hungary/Austria

THE GREAT WAR | An Introduction to the Western Front

NEW

11th - 15th Jul | with Nigel Jones................................................... page 52

Vietnam

300 DAYS AND NIGHTS | The Battle of Verdun

LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE| The Vietnam War

12th - 16th May | with Nigel Jones................................................. page 54 NEW

RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH | The Battle of the Somme

NEW

SECRET WAR | The Resistance in Southern France

BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN | Post-War Eastern Europe

11th - 18th Jun | with Roger Moorhouse.................................. page 74

France

NEW

OPERATION SEA LION | The Nazi Invasion of Britain, 1940

15th - 25th Apr | with John Giannini........................................ page 76

Cuba

5th - 9th Sep | with Prof Gary Sheffield........................................ page 56 NEW

8th - 15th Jun | with Martyn Cox & Paddy Ashdown................ page 60

RED HEAT | The Cuban Revolution

21st - 29th Nov | with Alex Von Tunzelmann........................... page 78

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TRAVELLING WITH US Expert-led and all-inclusive Founded and run by historians, at Historical Trips we like to think that a love of things past does not stop us knowing how to have a good time in the present. As well as being expert-led, our tours are convivial, all-inclusive, welcoming and fun. Tours are also accompanied by a Tour Manager, to ensure unobtrusively and efficiently that the day-to-day business of our holidays goes to plan. Professional planning combined with a personal touch.

“

A very stimulating and thoughtprovoking journey enhanced by our dedicated and personable guides, on hand at all times to answer any questions we had.”

- JANE MILLER | UK

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All Inclusive

Expert Guides

Tailormade Tours

The price of our holiday includes accommodation in 4* hotels (and the very occasional 3* and 5* hotel, see individual tour pages) and all meals, the vast majority with wine at dinner. We choose our hotels carefully for their character, location and comfort. On tour, we always try to eat in local restaurants, and we have some spectacular meals along the way – including dinner at the Rex Hotel roof-top restaurant, former nerve centre for the American PR effort.

Professors, broadcasters, best-selling authors and leading historians. Our expert Guide Lecturers are at the heart of every Historical Trip – from conception, through planning to the journey itself. With you throughout each day, they tell the whole story of the crucial events that shaped our history – offering their own eye-opening take on the past with verve, expertise and enthusiasm.

If you are a member of a group, club or society and are interested in our tours please do get in touch.

Small Groups – Maximum 22 Guests

Special Access

No Surcharges

In 2015 our average group size was 16 guests: good company but small numbers, which give our tours a convivial and personal feel. As well as a Guide Lecturer, every Historical Trips tour is accompanied by a professional Tour Manager to take care of the practicalities.

With unrivalled contacts at sites, museums and battlefields across the world, our experts are able to arrange privileged access on many of our tours: from out-of-hours access at the Palace of Versailles; to a drinks reception at the beautiful Venetian Church of the Madonna Dell’Orto; and an exclusive wine tasting at one of the finest wineries in Umbria…

The price you see is the price you pay. We won’t alter the prices in this brochure regardless of currency fluctuations, the price of oil or for any other reason.

Like-Minded Travellers - From Around the World

In Memoriam – Tracing Your Ancestors

We welcome everyone on our tours. Couples and single travellers are equally welcome – and we always do our best to keep single supplements to a minimum. We have travelled with people from all over the world and of all ages. While most of our tours meet in, or depart from London, we are also happy to arrange flights from airports across the USA and UK – contact us for more details. No prior knowledge of the historical period is required, just interest, curiosity and a desire to see the great historical sites of the world.

Every year, we have a number of guests who wish to visit the graves of relatives, ancestors and loved ones who fell in the great conflicts of the 20th century. We will always do our best to trace, locate and visit these memorials. It is an advantage of our small group size – which gives us the flexibility to pay our respects and accommodate this most personal connection with the past.

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We have previously arranged bespoke trips for Alumni of Harrow School, Clifton College and Sherborne among others.

Do contact us to discuss your specific needs.

Other Dates Available Seen a tour which interests you but can’t make the dates? It’s always worth getting in touch: we add new departures all the time and may well have alternative dates that suit you better.

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OUR GUIDE LECTURERS Historians, broadcasters, writers and experts on just about every conceivable corner of history. Our Guide Lecturers include best-selling authors, history professors, regular television presenters, filmmakers and a member of the House of Lords. These are the people who conceive, plan and lead our journeys, and are at the heart of what we do.

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Dr Sophie Ambler is a published Medievalist and Research Associate on the prestigious Magna Carta Project. A rising star in her field, she has held academic positions at King’s College and Glasgow University.

Dr Neil Faulkner is an archaeologist, writer and broadcaster. The editor of Military History Magazine, he has published to great acclaim on topics from the Roman Britain to Zeppelin warfare.

Paddy Ashdown is one of the country’s best-known and respected political figures. His book, The Cruel Victory marked the 70th anniversary of the Vercors Tragedy. He joins Martyn Cox for our Secret War tour.

John Giannini is an American photojournalist and filmmaker with more than forty years of experience.

He began his career as a US Army combat photographer and served two tours in Vietnam.

Dr Keith Brewster is Senior Lecturer in Latin American History at Newcastle University, and previously worked at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of many publications on the politics and history of Mexico.

Anton Gill is a writer and historian specialising in European history and historical fiction. An expert on the Italian Renaissance, his books have been translated and published worldwide.

Martyn Cox is a historian who has interviewed numerous British and French World War II veterans. Most of these had taken part in clandestine operations in support of wartime resistance in France.

Ken Gillings has a lifelong interest in South African military history and has written extensively on the subject. He is the author of Battles of KwaZulu-Natal, and The Relief of Ladysmith.

Dr Hugh Doherty lectures at the School of History at UEA. Educated at Jesus College, Oxford, he has an enduring love of Istanbul – whose history is “as tangible and relentless as the waters of the Bosphorus”.

Nigel Jones is a historian, journalist and broadcaster who has published widely on topics ranging from The Tower of London to the Valkyrie plot to assassinate Hitler. He is also a co-founder of Historical Trips.

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Dr Michael Jones is a respected military historian who has held academic positions at the Universities of Bristol and Glasgow. His first book, The King’s Mother, was shortlisted for the prestigious Whitfield Prize.

Elizabeth Norton is a British historian and author. She has written numerous books on the Tudors. Elizabeth has also appeared as an expert on Sky Arts and National Geographic channel documentaries.

Alex Von Tunzelmann is a historian and writer who has worked as a researcher on books for authors including Jeremy Paxman and John Kay. She writes the weekly Guardian column “Reel history”.

Jonathan Keates is a writer, biographer, and historian. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford and is the author of a number of acclaimed books. He is also Chairman of the ‘Venice in Peril Fund’.

Matthew Parker is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and acclaimed author of books on Caribbean history. He has written for the UK national press as well as The Literary Review, History Today and BBC History Magazine.

Jason Webster is a historian and author of a number of books on Spanish history and travel. He has written on numerous periods of Spanish history and is a frequent contributor to national newspapers.

Giles MacDonogh is a British historian and the author of fourteen books, including eight on German history and four on wine. He is one of the foremost authorities on German history of the Nazi period.

Prof Munro Price is an award-winning historian and Professor of Modern European History at the University of Bradford. He specialises in the French Revolution and has published widely on the subject.

Roger Moorhouse is a historian specialising in the history of the World War II. He is one of the co-founders of Historical Trips and has led many tours exploring the legacy of the Nazis in Europe.

Prof Gary Sheffield is one of the leading authorities on the First World War. He has been at the forefront of the debate about the legacy of the Great War and frequently appears on television and radio.

Clare Mulley is an award-winning author. She is also a busy public speaker, blogs monthly and writes articles and reviews for publications such as History Today and The Spectator.

Dr Nick Slope is a military historian and archaeologist who has excavated widely in the UK, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Egypt. His most recent excavation saw him rescue the remains of some of Nelson’s sailors.

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KEY Medieval World

Early Modern Life

The Renaissance

20th Century

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2016 TOURS Throughout History

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MEDIEVAL WORLD Shining light on the Dark Ages

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3

1 2

T he Medi e v al e ra w a s f ill ed w ith breathtaking artistic achievement spurred on by tremendous religious faith. Alongside the beauty, life could be coarse and cruel; cut short by famine, disease or the religious zeal that spurred on wars that still echo today...

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Our 2016 tours offer the perfect opportunity to explore the many facets of the Medieval world. Travel To The Ends of the Earth following the exact route through France and Spain taken by pilgrims. Discover the enthralling story of the rise and fall of The City of the Great King - Constantinople. Receive an introduction to the Warriors of Christ, a fantastic cast of characters, including: knights, popes, and Templar Grand Masters.

Explore Jerusalem, the Holy Land, catalyst for the Crusades. Visit ornate Medieval palaces and basilicas in central Italy, the stunning backdrop of Popes, Power and Purity.

This era is one of the most intriguing yet misrepresented periods of history. Did people really think the world was flat? No, that enduring myth was created by a 19th-century American journalist. Were witches put on trial and burnt at the stake? Yes, but you’d have to wait for the refined Renaissance period to bear witness to that. Travel alongside an expert guide lecturer, and separate fact from fiction in this fascinating period...

“

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Italy

NEW

1. POPES, POWER AND PURITY | Religious Orders in Medieval Italy 22nd - 29th May | with Dr Sophie Ambler............................... page 14

Spain

NEW

2. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH | The Medieval Pilgrimage 13th - 20th Jun | with Jason Webster............................................. page 16

NEW

3. WARRIORS OF CHRIST | The Knights Templar in France 10th - 17th Sep | with Dr Hugh Doherty...................................... page 18

France

No student of history can fail to see the moral interest of the Middle Ages, any more than an artist can fail to see their aesthetic interest.”

- GOLDWIN SMITH

Turkey

NEW

4. THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING | A History of Istanbul 5th - 11th May | with Dr Hugh Doherty................................... page 20

Israel & Palestine

NEW

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5. DEEDS DONE BEYOND THE SEA | The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem 2nd - 11th May | with Dr Nick Slope........................................ page 22

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NEW

POPES, POWER & PURITY Religious Orders in Medieval Italy Unrivalled power - in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit...

I

n the early 13th ce ntur y, on the slopes above Assisi, a young man named Francis rejected his wealthy upbringing in 1204 to found a new Order. His mission lay amidst the Church’s flock, where friars would wander in apostolic poverty and preach the word of God. In 1210, Pope Innocent III, moved by a dream in which he saw a ragged Francis bearing the weight of the Church on his shoulders, endorsed the Franciscan Order, which grew swiftly across the lands of Europe.

Explore the monuments to the glory days of papal power in its heartland of central Italy. Visit the Roman forum, under whose arches the popes processed in dramatic fashion to proclaim their imperial heritage. Make your way to the Monastery of St Benedict, nestled dramatically on Subiaco’s cliff-side; it encompasses the cave where Benedict lived as a hermit in the early 6th century. Discover Viterbo, where popes took up residence in the later 13th century. Finally, return to the birthplace of St Francis - Assisi - home to the Franciscan Order that transformed the spirit of Medieval Christianity.

Uncover the story of the 12th and 13th century popes who rose from their Early-Medieval place as titular heads of the Church to become official shepherds of the souls of Western Christendom. These men were not just spiritual, but political leaders of unrivalled power…

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GUIDED BY Dr Sophie Ambler is a Medieval historian currently working on the prestigious Magna Carta Project.

From 2012-2013 she was employed on the AHRC-funded Breaking of Britain project. Sophie is an expert on Medieval Religious Orders and has published articles in ‘Historical Research’ and ‘13th Century England’.

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Basilica of St Francesco d Assisi, Umbria

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We fly to Rome and enjoy a lecture before dinner.

Day 2 | Rome We explore Rome as it was in the days of its most powerful Popes - beginning at Saint Maria di Trastevere. We move on to San Clemente, and view its richly-adorned 12th century basilica which sits atop a sanctuary of Mithras.

Day 3 | Subiaco We begin the day within the cradle of the Benedictine Order, nestled on Subiaco’s cliff side. After lunch we visit the complexly comprised Monastery of Saint Scholastica, decorated with beautiful frescos.

St Francis Assisi knight statue

HIGHLIGHTS • Visit ornate Medieval palaces and basilicas set against the stunning backdrop of central Italy.

• Enjoy a wine tasting at one of the finest wineries

Day 4 | Montecassino and Casamari St Benedict spent the later part of his life in Montecassino, where we travel today. Here simple, spectacular buildings are set atop a mountain. After lunch we visit the Abbey of Casamari, a rare testimony to unadorned Gothic elegance.

in Umbria, at Spoleto.

• Guided tour of historic Montecassino, a Medieval

masterpiece destroyed in the Second World War, but triumphantly restored.

Spedalicchio

£2495 incl. flights

£190 single supp

Tour Code: QRO16A

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Rome 7 nights in 4* hotels in Rome,Viterbo & Spedalicchio

Spoleto Viterbo

Day 5 | Viterbo We travel to Viterbo, the region’s best preserved Medieval town. After lunch we visit the Church of San Silvestro scene of one of the period’s most shocking crimes.

Day 6 | Spoleto We head to the picturesque town of Spoleto. We explore San Salvatore Church in the north of the town before spending a leisurely afternoon at a local Montefalco vineyard.

Day 7 | Assisi We visit Assisi and discover the Basilica of St Francis, decorated with late 13th century frescos depicting the saint’s life. Our day ends at Eremo della Carceri.

Day 8 | Assisi and depart After a free morning exploring the town of Assisi, we head back to Rome, stopping for lunch in the Medieval town of Narni. We then reach Rome for an afternoon flight home.

Assisi

8 Days Sat 22nd - Sat 29th May, 2016

View of the River Tiber in Rome

Narni

Rome Subiaco Casamari Montecassiano

“

The pope is the successor of St Peter, the Lord’s anointed, ... set in the midst between God and man, ... less than God but greater than man, judge of all men and judged by none.”

POPE INNOCENT III

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH The Medieval Pilgrimage Take your own Medieval pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela...

A

ccording to l ege nd , the ‘lost tomb’ of St. James, Moor Slayer, was found by a monk guided there by the stars. Compostela Cathedral was erected on the spot where the tomb stood. Pilgrims joined the route in the 9th century, convinced that their sins would be forgiven on arrival. French monks followed, bringing new customs and architectural styles to Spain. Christian resurgence provided the springboard for the great ‘Reconquest’ and capture of Moorish territories, enabling the birth of the Spain we know today.

There are many roads that lead to Santiago de Compostela. We embark on the ‘Camino de Santiago’ - Way of St James’ - via the classic French route, favoured by many pilgrims before us.

We journey from Roncesvalles, at the heart of the Pyrenees, to Estella, home of the Monastery of Irache, where pilgrims would stop to sate themselves with the wine flowing from a tap in the back wall. Our tour ends at Finisterre -the ‘End of the Earth’ - finishing point for pilgrims, who view it as symbolic for their journey to the afterlife.

Join us as we question who is really buried inside Compostela Cathedral. The Saint, whose image has endured since the middle ages, with his staff and the scallop shell motif? Or could it be someone else entirely? Travelling the ‘Camino de Santiago’ has barely changed over the centuries, but remains an experience with enough power to stay with you forever.

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GUIDED BY Jason Webster is the author of a number of books on Spain, ranging from travel to history and crime fiction. He has written on numerous periods of Spanish history, from the Reconquista to the Spanish Civil War. He is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and The Sunday Times.

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The Camino de Santiago winds through the mountains of Castilla y Leon

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We enjoy a lecture on Santiago de Compostela and the Medieval pilgrimage, during our first night in Toulouse.

Day 2 | Along the Arles Branch We visit the 12th-century Romanesque Basilica of St Sernin, Toulouse. We continue to Oloron, a small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and end our day in Roncesvalles, the start of the traditional ‘French Route’.

The Church of San Pedro de la Rua in Estella

HIGHLIGHTS • Journey from Toulouse to Santiago de Compostela, following the exact route of the Medieval pilgrims.

• Visit beautiful churches, cathedrals and castles

in the picturesque towns and cities of Northern Spain.

Day 3 | Estella - One of the Prettiest Towns in Navarre We begin the day with a tour of the Roncesvalles Church.

After lunch, we visit the Church of San Pedro de la Rua in Estella. We end our day in St Domingo de la Calzada, named after the saint who cared for pilgrims on the Route.

Day 4 | El Cid’s Final Resting Place We begin at Burgos Cathedral, burial site of El Cid, before stopping in Sahagún, a focus for Medieval Cluniac monks.

We also visit the Mudejar style Church of San Lorenzo.

• Led by Jason Webster, writer and historian, fluent Arabic and Spanish speaker, and authority on Spanish history.

8 Days Mon 13th - Mon 20th June, 2016 £ £2245 incl. flights

£ £300 single supp

Tour Code: QRS16A

FRANCE Toulouse Coruna Finistere Santiago

Leon

Roncesvalles Burgos

Astorga

Day 5 | Spanish Romanesque We spend time at León Cathedral and walking through the Medieval old town. We also visit San Isidoro basilica, where Pilgrims could receive absolution if they were not fit enough to carry on to Santiago.

Day 6 | Bishops’ Palaces & Templar Castles In the morning, we travel to Astorga to visit the Cathedral and Bishop’s Palace. Built by Gaudí, this is also the home of the Pilgrimage Museum. In the afternoon, we stop at the Templar castle of Ponferrada.

Day 7 | Pilgrims in the Old City We spend the day exploring sites in Santiago, including the main square, Cathedral, and Pilgrimage Museum. We wander around the old city quarter in the afternoon.

Day 8 | The End of the Earth Before our afternoon flights home, we travel to Finisterre, the real finishing point of the Route for many pilgrims.

Oloron Estella

“

Sahagún

The pilgrim route is a very good thing, but it is narrow. For the road which leads us to life is narrow; on the other hand, the road which leads to death is broad and spacious.”

Tour Manager Flights London to Toulouse, Coruña to London 7 nights in 4* hotels in Toulouse, Roncesvalles, Burgos, Leon and Santiago

Re aut entis autetIratxe mi, toMonastery corro imusand aut vineyards ut dEris et,on sita the nobitis Camino debis de dolore Santiago co

SPAIN

CODEX CALIXTINUS

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

WARRIORS OF CHRIST The Knights Templar in France Saints or Sinners? The world’s most powerful order...

T

he Te mpl ars w e re the famou s d e fe nd e rs of Christians in the Holy Land. The religious-military institution was set up around 1120, but would not be given official Church approval until 1129. In 1307 King Philip IV of France accused the brothers of heresy. A long trial followed, during which the Templars were tortured to obtain confessions of blasphemy. By 1312 Pope Clement V declared that the Templars’ guilt was unproven, but it was too late. The Order had been so defamed that there was no other option but to dissolve it.

The Templars most widespread land holdings were in France.

They held large estates, farms and churches in the countryside, and had houses and churches in towns. After the Order was dissolved, some of their properties passed to their sister order, the Hospitallers, while others fell into the hands of local landowners or the crown. Join historian Dr Hugh Doherty and explore the village of Payns, home of Hugh de Payns, the founder of the Templars. Discover the original home of the strict Cistercian order, Cîteaux Abbey, whose austere way of life became a model for the Templars. Uncover where it all went wrong in Domme, Dordogne - the fortress where the Templars were held during the trial of 1307-12.

GUIDED BY Dr Hugh Doherty has taught at King’s College, London, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.

He has worked on two ARHC-funded research projects on royal writs and charters in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Hugh has an enduring fascination for the Medieval Military Orders.

Discover the story of the rise and fall of the Templars - across the properties and museums that commemorate their legacy…

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The Medieval town of Provins

ITINERARY Day 1 | Paris – the Last Grand Master We visit the Templars’ former house in Paris and the island where Jacques de Molay was burned at the stake in 1314.

We continue to Provins and the Church of Saint-Éliphe.

Day 2 | Champagne – the Birth of the Templars We explore the Medieval centre of Provins, and the village home of Hugh de Payns. The day ends at Troyes, and the cathedral in which the Templars gained their approval.

The fortified town of La Couvertoirade

HIGHLIGHTS • Explore magnificent castles, churches and fortified

Day 3 | Burgundy – Abbots, Kings and Crusades We head south to a Templar caveau of Le Domaine de Marsoif. This afternoon we walk the streets of the old Vézelay and visit La Chapelle Saulce d’Island, a simple but beautiful Templar church in a remote setting.

Day 4 | Burgundy – Among the Cloisters We travel to Beaune to see where Jacques de Molay joined

towns.

• Discover a fantastic cast of characters: Knights, Popes, and Templar Grand Masters.

Paris

• Hear about the rise and fall of the Templars as we

Auxerre Vezelay

8 Days Sat 10th - Sat 17th September, 2016 £2295 incl. flights

£250 single supp

Flights London to Paris, Montpellier to London 7 nights in 4* hotels in Provins, Auxerre, Mâcon, Figeac & Millau

Day 5 | Auvergne – Into the Mountains and the South We travel into the mountains to Clermont Ferrand and explore the old town of Montferrand. In the afternoon, we venture to Ydes church with its fine Romanesque carvings and Celles, a Templar commandery near Murat.

Day 6 | The Templars Fall from Grace We walk around the old town of Figeac, before going to Domme, where the Templars were held during trial. We head on to the village of Sergeac.

Day 8 | Return Home We explore the fortified town of La Couvertoirade on our last morning. We then continue to Montpellier to catch our return flight in the afternoon.

Macon Clermont Ferrand

Tour Code: QTF16A

Tour Manager

Beaune

FRANCE

the order. In the afternoon we continue to Cîteaux Abbey.

The day ends at the Templar church at Châlon-sur-Saône

Day 7 | Larzac Plateu - Templar Strongholds We spend the day visiting the Templar and Hospitaller properties at La Cavalerie. On to St Eulalie de Cernon, we also visit the Museum of the Templars at La Cavalerie.

Provins Troyes

travel from Paris in the north to Montpellier in the South.

St Mary Magdalene Cathedral atop Vezelay hill , a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Figeac Millau

Montpellier

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING A History of Istanbul Caesars, emperors, patriarchs, sultans, viziers and holy men...

I

stanbul i s a c it y r i ch in historical experience. The modern metropolis is anchored in the depths of its past, when it bore witness to the ambitions and grievances of countless rulers. The megalopolis of Istanbul is the only city in the world situated across two continents, and is a historical palimpsest of unparalleled richness.

Istanbul isn’t easily defined as one city. We begin our tour in late antiquity, at Galata bridge, where we sip tea with locals and silhouetted mosques greet us in the distance. We find the Byzantine city touring the great Hagia Sophia and the great chariot arena of the Hippodrome. A tour of Istanbul is of course incomplete without visiting the Ottoman influences, specifically Topkapi Palace, Süleymaniye Mosque and the incomparable Blue Mosque.

Join us as we re-live the terrible devastation of the Nika riots that began in the chariot stadium in AD 532; the violent drama of the ecclesiastical council convened by Irene of Athens in AD 786; the seizure and sack of the city by Frankish crusading warriors in 1204; and the events of the hard-fought capture of the city by Ottoman forces in 1453. Uncover the imprint of all the people, ruled as well as rulers, that can still be traced across the surviving landscape of this complex city.

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GUIDED BY Dr Hugh Doherty was taught at King’s College, London, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Oxford.

Dr Doherty has an enduring love of Istanbul – a city whose history is “as tangible and relentless as the waters of the Bosphorus”.

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Gold in glass religious mosaic in Chora Church, Istanbul

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Istanbul, in the late afternoon.

Day 2 | The Late Antique City We start on the Galata Bridge, before taking the tram to Beyazit Square. We proceed down Divan Yolu Cad, following the main thoroughfare of the ancient city, stopping to explore the monuments raised by Emperor Constantine and his successors. We spend the afternoon viewing the National Archaeological Museum’s collections.

Sultan Ahmed mosque in Istanbul - famously known as the Blue Mosque

HIGHLIGHTS • Experience 1500 years of Istanbul’s history.

• Dr Hugh Doherty tells the enthralling story of

Constantinople’s rise, its cultural and economic dominance, decline, and re-emergence in 1453 as the Ottoman capital, Istanbul.

Day 3 | The Byzantine City We explore the two most significant monuments to the power and passions of the Byzantine city and empire: the great chariot arena of the Hippodrome and the Hagia Sophia. Over the course of the day we will also visit various buildings from this complex: the churches of Aya İrini and of SS. Sergius and Bacchus (now Küçük Aya Sofya Camii), the basilica cistern, and the martyrium of St Euphemia.

• From the great sites of Old Sultan Ahmet to

fabulous, little visited, collections of Byzantine art in Galata.

£350 single supp

Tour Code: QIS16A

Day 5 | The Ottoman City We visit the palaces and mosques raised by the Ottomans in the 16th and 17th centuries, notably the Blue Mosque.

Our day ends at the Mosque of the Conqueror, constructed on Emperor Constantine’s own Church of the Apostles.

Day 7 – Edirne & Return Home Our visit to Edirne continues. We end our tour with a visit to the Edirne Archaeology Museum, which contains an excellent collection of Thracian burial steles. We travel on to Istanbul this afternoon, for our return flight home.

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Istanbul 6 nights in a 4* hotel in Istanbul & Edirne All meals included with wine at dinner

Day 4 | The Frankish City We travel from Eminönü to Golden Horn. Alighting at Ayvansaray, following the surviving walls we stop at Chora Church, to see its rich collection of Byzantine art. We visit Topkapi Gate, where the Ottomans breached the defences in 1453; and the Golden Gate, used by emperors returning from campaign. Our day ends with visit to the church of the Pantocrator and the church of Saviour Pantepoptes.

Day 6 – Ancient and Ottoman Thrace We visit Istanbul Military Museum off Taksim Meydani; this houses perhaps one of the greatest collections of late Medieval and early modern armour in the world. From there, taking a road that runs parallel to the via Egnatia across ancient Thrace, we continue to Edirne, ancient city of Adrianople, where a Roman army was destroyed by the Goths in August 378.

7 Days Thu 5th - Wed 11th May, 2016 £2145 incl. flights

Exterior of The National Archaeological Museum in Istanbul

Traditional Turkish lamps hang in the Grand Bazar in Turkey

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NEW

DEEDS DONE BEYOND THE SEA The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem Atrocities and assimilation...

I

n 1095, a v a st Chr i sti an ar my was summoned to holy war by Pope Urban II. They rampaged through the Muslim world of the eastern Mediterranean, seizing possession of Jerusalem, sacred city of both faiths.

The First Crusade took Jerusalem and established a number of Crusader States, most importantly the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Occupation of the Holy Land opened up trade routes between East and West; social interaction between Arabs, Jews and Byzantines encouraged fresh ideas that fed back to Medieval Europe. The Crusaders brought their own traditions; and their architectural efforts left an indelible footprint on the land.

Travel with military historian Nick Slope, as he reveals how the holy wars reshaped the Medieval world. Explore the castles, fortresses, simple villages and manor houses built on western lines, and adapted following the Crusaders’ expulsion in 1291.

Discover the Crusader ports of Acre and Caesarea. Admire the views from the ‘Star of Jordan’, Belvoir Castle, high above the Sea of Galilee. In the Christian quarter of Jerusalem, we visit the Holy Sepulchre venerated as the crucifixion site of Jesus of Nazareth.

GUIDED BY Dr Nick Slope is a military historian and archaeologist who has excavated widely in the UK, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Egypt.

His most recent excavation involves rescuing the remains of some of Nelson’s sailors from Nelson’s Island, Aboukir Bay, Egypt.

The once ‘Crusader city’ of Jerusalem is now quartered by the faiths that each believe the Holy Land belongs to them; echoes of the Crusades resonate to this day….

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Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Tel Aviv.

Day 2 | Castles of Northern Galilee We travel to the site of the 1179 Battle of Jacob’s Ford and the nearby Crusader castle of Chastellet. We continue to the fortresses of Yehiam and Castellum Regis. In the afternoon, we visit Château Neuf, a Crusader castle that helped Hugh of St Omer control the Upper Galilee.

Day 3 | Medieval Acre We explore the dramatic mountaintop fortress of Castle Montfort, before moving onto the magnificent city of St Jean d’Acre (Akko). Here we tour the Knights Hospitaller Headquarters, Templar Tunnels and fortifications.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

HIGHLIGHTS • Visit the towns and cities at the heart of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem, including the ports of Acre and Caesarea.

• See the great Crusader castles and churches, and

Day 4 | The Battle of Hattin Today centres around the 1187 Battle of Hattin. We begin at the Crusader fortification at La Sephorie, where the Crusader army settled. We explore the Horns of Hattin battlefield, and finish the day at Tiberius Crusader castle.

the battlefields of Arsuf and Hattin.

• Explore Jerusalem, catalyst for the Crusades and capital of the Crusader kingdom.

Acre

£2995 incl. flights

£570 single supp

Tour Code: QDD16A

Caesarea Netanya

Tour Manager

9 nights in 4* hotels

Day 6 | Knights Hospitaller We visit the breathtaking Knights Hospitaller castle of Belvoir, perched above the Jordan valley. We explore the incredible Crusader city of Caesarea Maritima.

Day 7 | Caco & Mirabel We drive to the Crusader castles of Caco (Qaqun) and Mirabel (Migdal Afek). In the afternoon, we head for Mount-Joy and then visit the Frankish village site of alKurum. On to the Crusader castle and village of Belmont.

Day 9 | Ashkelon Archaeological Park We drive to Ashkelon Archaeological Park to view the Crusader remains. On to Aqua Bella.

Tel-Aviv

Return Flights London to Tel Aviv

Day 5 | Monasteries of Haifa In Haifa, we walk to the Crusader Monastery of the Carmelites in Wadi Siach. We continue to the important crusader castle of Château Pèlerin. We then head to the nearby castle of Le Destroit.

Day 8 | The Holy City of Jerusalem We begin our day’s tour of Crusader Jerusalem at the Tower of David and then walk to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the destruction of which was the casus belli for the Crusades. On to Herod’s Gate and the Old City.

Haifa

10 Days Mon 2nd - Wed 11th May, 2016

Turkish mosque in Safed

Day 10 | Free morning before return flights from Jerusalem.

Jerusalem

ISRAEL

All meals included with wine at dinner

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THE RENAISSANCE Cultural rebirth on a global scale

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2&3

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he Re nai ss ance stand s a s one of the defining periods of world history. A time when the perceptions of society, culture and politics - which we still cling onto - emerged for the first time. Could any other era ever compare with the rich Renaissance of art, architecture, literature, science, trade, and travel?

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No period has been more discussed, dissected and argued over than the Renaissance and with good reason. Join us to discover the land of La Convivencia, where followers of the world’s three main religions lived harmoniously side by side. Uncover the initial Darts of Love that Henry VIII felt for each of his six wives. Go back to where it all began with an introduction to Art, Love & War in the Renaissance. Get an insider’s guide to the city of Venice, A Most Serene Republic, whose meteoric rise was followed by a long decline. Follow In the Footsteps of Cortes across the ancient Aztec empire.

Travelling alongside our expert guides you’ll be afforded unprecedented access to an unmatched world of cultural experimentation and intellectual excitement. There is still so much for us to learn from this unprecedented era...

UK

NEW

1. THE DARTS OF LOVE | The Six Wives of Henry VIII 20th - 27th Sep | with Elizabeth Norton........................................ page 26

Italy

NEW

2. I GIGANTI | Art, Love & War in the Renaissance 18th - 25th Apr | with Anton Gill................................................... page 28 3. A MOST SERENE REPUBLIC | The History of Venice 16th - 23rd May | with Jonathan Keates.................................... page 30

“

Not much was really invented during the Renaissance, if you don’t count modern civilisation.”

Spain

NEW

4. LA CONVIVENCIA | Moors, Jews and Christians in Southern Spain 6th - 13th May | with Jason Webster............................................. page 32

- P. J. O’ROURKE

Mexico

5. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CORTÉS | The Conquistadors 30th Oct - 8th Nov | with Dr Keith Brewster............................ page 34

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THE DARTS OF LOVE The Six Wives of Henry VIII Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived...

H

e w a s one of the mo st pow e r f u l monarchs in British history, but Henry VIII is best known as England’s most married monarch. Of course, he wasn’t what you would call a model husband. This tour tells the story of Henry’s six unfortunate queens: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

Join historian and author Elizabeth Norton to tour the Tower of London, where Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were both executed. Visit the chapel royal where Prince Edward, the much longed for son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, was christened. Discover Hampton Court’s haunted gallery, where the ghost of the discarded Catherine Howard is said to walk.

Stop at Penshurst Place, granted to Anne of Cleves following the annulment of her marriage to Henry VIII. Explore Sudeley Castle, the final home of Henry VIII’s sixth wife and widow, Catherine Parr, who would only outlive him by 18 months.

The lives of the six women who had the misfortune to marry Henry are less well known than their ultimate fates, but no less fascinating. During their (often short) lives, they displayed impeccable strength and intelligence - astonishing during a time when their sex supposedly possessed little of either. Many of the sites most associated with the wives survive; having endured much longer than they ever could...

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GUIDED BY Elizabeth Norton is a British historian and author. She has written numerous books on the Tudors, including ‘Anne Boleyn: Henry VIII’s Obsession’ and ‘She Wolves: The Notorious Queens of England’.

Elizabeth also writes for a number of magazines and has appeared as an expert on Sky Arts and National Geographic channel documentaries.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Tower of London, on the north bank of the River Thames in central London.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Rochester Castle and Allington Castle We begin at Rochester Castle in Kent, where Henry met Anne of Cleves. We enjoy a private tour of the home of Sir Thomas Wyatt, rumoured lover of Anne Boleyn.

Day 2 | Hever Castle and Penshurst Place We receive a private tour of Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn. We travel on to Penshurst Place, which Henry gave to Anne of Cleves at the end of their marriage.

Gainsborough Hall, one of the best preserved medieval manor houses in England.

HIGHLIGHTS • Explore Hever Castle outside normal opening

hours. We also enjoy dinner and spend our first night on tour here.

Day 3 | Hampton Court We spend the day at Hampton Court, one of Henry VIII’s favourite palaces. We explore the spectacular Tudor state apartments, and the haunted gallery, where Catherine Howard is reputed to walk. We also visit the chapel royal, where Henry’s son, Prince Edward, was christened.

Day 4 | Windsor Castle We visit Windsor Castle, where Henry VIII is buried with

• Discover more about the last days of Henry’s executed wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, at the Tower of London.

Lincoln

• Led by author and historian Elizabeth Norton, who has written extensively on the Tudors.

Bosworth

8 Days Tue 20th - Tue 27th September, 2016 £2495 incl.

Peterborough Kimbolton

Sudeley

£325 single supp

Tour Code: QDL16A

Windsor

London Rochester

St Mary’s Church at Sudeley Castle.

Jane Seymour. We travel to Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, a few miles from the Seymour family home of Wolf Hall.

Day 5 | Sudeley Castle We explore Sudeley Castle, the final home of Catherine Parr, she died here after the birth of her only child. We continue to Lincoln and stop at the Bosworth Battlefield Centre, birthplace of the Tudor dynasty.

Day 6 | Lincoln Bishop’s Palace and Lincoln Cathedral We travel to Gainsborough Old Hall, Catherine Parr’s home during her first marriage We also visit the ruins of the Bishop’s Palace at Lincoln, one of the places where Catherine Howard met with her lover, Thomas Culpeper in secret.

Day 7 | Peterborough Cathedral and Kimbolton Castle We stop at Peterborough Cathedral. We enjoy a private tour of Kimbolton Castle in Cambridgeshire, which was Catherine of Aragon’s final residence.

Day 8 | Tower of London We end our tour at the Tower of London, where both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were executed. We visit the scaffold site, as well as the graves of the two queens in the Chapel of St Peter ad Vincula in the Tower.

Tour Manager 7 nights in 4* hotels across the UK

Hever

Allington

All meals included with wine at dinner

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I GIGANTI Art, Love & War in the Renaissance A tangled history of cultural riches...

T

he Itali an Re nai ss ance was a remarkable period in world history; a time of unprecedented cultural change and achievement. Examine how art, philosophy and government developed across Italy - influenced by the rediscovery of the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. This electrifying period still has the relentless power to delight us.

Join guide Anton Gill as he examines the Renaissance mind - a superstitious, vain, volatile and brutal beast with an unrivalled delicate sensibility for the arts. Find yourself among the greatest concentration of artists that Europe has ever known. Explore the Palazzo del Te, Federico II Gonzaga’s summer palace - the most wonderfully over-the-top piece of self-advertisement you will find anywhere in the world. Meet the principal Renaissance contributors to Florence - Pisano, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello and Michelangelo. Discover the striking Salimbeni frescoes in the oratory of San Giovanni Battista, alongside Brandani’s incredible life-sized stucco Nativity.

Renaissance artists benefited from their ruler’s need to show wealth and power through their taste. Leonardo did so in Milan and Michelangelo in Florence. Travel with us through both cites and learn more about the diplomatic and military games played to preserve the independence of the Montefeltros of Urbino and the Gonzagas of Mantua...

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GUIDED BY Anton Gill is a writer and historian specialising in European history and historical fiction.

He is the author of ‘Il Gigante: Michelangelo, Florence and the David, 1492-1504’, and is an expert on the Italian Renaissance, Anton’s books have been translated and published worldwide.

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Mantua - Italy’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’ city.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Milan and enjoy an introductory lecture.

Day 2 | Most Important Works We visit Pinacoteca di Brera, one of Italy’s most important galleries. At the Museo d’Arte Antica, in Sforza Castle, we view Michelangelo’s last work, the Rondandini Pieta. In the Santa Maria delle Grazie we view Leonardo’s Last Supper.

The Duomo - the most important gothic architectural work in all of Italy.

HIGHLIGHTS • Explore the nature and development of the

Italian Renaissance and the City State through its buildings, galleries and history of its key families.

• Visit four of the most interesting Renaissance

cities: Milan, Mantua, Urbino and Florence - and get under the skin of how they were run.

Day 3 | Tremendous Beauty We travel from Milan to Mantua. In the afternoon, we visit the Palazzo del Te, and view its tremendous frescoes, ranging from the banqueting scenes in the Sala di Psiche to the apocalyptic splendour of the Sala dei Giganti.

Day 4 | Famous Frescoes We visit the Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, once occupied by the Gonzaga family. The palace houses Mantegna’s famous Wedding Room frescoes.

Day 5 | The City Surrounded by Clay Earth We coninue exploring the Palazzo Ducale, built for

• Led by Anton Gill, author of Il Gigante -

Michelangelo, Florence and the ‘David’, 1492-1504.

Milan

8 Days 18th - 25th April 2016 £2495 incl. flights

£320 single supp

Federico III Montefeltro by Bartolomeo Masi. Within the palace are works by Raphael, Titian, and Piero dell Francesca. There will be time to relax here this afternoon.

Day 6 | Contributors to the Renaissance We make our way to Florence. In the afternoon, we visit the Cathedral, Baptistery and Museo dell’ Opera del Duomo. This will offer a good introduction to some of the principal Renaissance contributors to the city - Pisano, Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Donatello and Michelangelo.

Day 7 | Truly Heroic Work We begin at the Accademia, viewing Michelangelo’s David and Imprisoned Slaves. During the course of the day, we’ll visit the Church of San Lorenzo, Michelangelo’s Library and the Loggia dei Lanzi for Cellini’s Perseus - a truly heroic work of bronze-casting.

Day 8 | Reflection Enjoy a free morning in Florence, before our return home.

Mantua

ITALY

Tour Code: QRE16A

Tour Manager Flights London to Milan, Florence to London

The 15th century Sforza Castle in Milan.

Florence

Urbino

7 nights in 4* hotels

“

It is not from presumption that I did not notify the reason of my departure, but because it seemed to me that the agitated and disturbed condition of our city demands acts, not words.”

LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT To the Signoria of Florence

All meals included with wine at dinner

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A MOST SERENE REPUBLIC The History of Venice “Everything about Venice”, wrote Lord Byron, “is like a dream”...

T

he Ve ne ti an a s ce nt from lagoon dwellers to the greatest power in the Mediterranean is a fascinating tale, best told on tour. Venice rose from a malarial swamp to become a mainland empire, which challenged the might of Byzantium. It developed into a city state and grew in both power and prestige becoming by the end of the 13th century the most prosperous city in Europe - but its position of power would not last. Its decline started in the 15th century when it was defeated in a series of battles with the Ottomans.

Napoleon Bonaparte would finally crush its independence, when he conquered the city in 1797.

Travel alongside historian Jonathan Keates, and explore the great landmarks of Venice. Visit St Mark’s Basilica, the so-called Church of Gold, with a façade as magnificent as its dazzling interior. Discover the Arsenal, whose shipyards and armouries were the base of Venetian power – from the crusades to the time of Napoleon. Marvel at some of the great Renaissance churches of the city, including Santa Maria Formosa.

Even during its long decay, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries painters, sculptors, poets and composers continued to draw inspiration from the city’s spectacular beauty. Perhaps it can inspire you too…

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GUIDED BY Jonathan Keates is a biographer, historian and novelist. He is the author of a number of acclaimed biographies, works of fiction and travel guides.

He has a lifelong love of Venice and is Chairman of the Venice in Peril fund. Appropriate indeed, that such a Renaissance man should lead our tour of Venice.

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San Zaccaria Bridge And Bell Tower.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We fly to Venice and transfer to our hotel.

Day 2 | The Rise of the Venetian Republic We begin exploring the great landmarks of Venice, St Mark’s Basilica, the so-called Church of Gold, and the adjacent Doge’s Palace. We continue to the Piazza San Marco and the Museo Correr. We have a private reception, tour and lecture at the Madonna dell’Orto this evening.

Grand Canal and Basilica Santa Maria della Salute.

HIGHLIGHTS • Led by Chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund, Jonathan Keates.

• An insider’s guide to the city, taking in art,

architecture and culture from every era of the city’s history from meteoric rise to long decline.

Day 3 | The Medieval City State We walk to the Arsenal - the military and mercantile power of Venice was based in the shipyards and armouries here. En route to the shipyards we visit the churches of San Zaccaria, San Giovanni in Bragora. We spend the afternoon at Scuola di San Giorgio, a fraternity house for a brotherhood of Dalmatian migrants to the city.

Day 4 | Venice in Splendour Today, we marvel at some of the great Renaissance churches of the city, and indeed the world. Beginning at

• Privileged private drinks reception and tour of the

Day 5 | Image and Illusion We visit the church of San Salvador before crossing the Rialto Bridge to walk to the fraternity houses of the Scuola di S. Giovanni Evangelista and the Scuola di San Rocco.

We continue to the Frari, whose interior includes Titian’s ‘The Assumption’. Titian is buried within the church.

Day 6 | Dominance and Decline We chart the last days of the Venetian guilds at the Church and Scuola of the Carmini. We continue to the churches of San Sebastiano, Angelo Raffaele, San Nicolo. We spend the afternoon among the galleries of the Accademia.

Day 7 | Islands of the Lagoon We explore the Torcello and Burano islands, home to some of Venice’s oldest populations. Torcello has a particularly turbulent history – once a rival to Venice, malaria and the salination of the lagoon decimated the island.

Day 8 | The Last Masquerade Our final day in the city: we explore the collections at the Querini Stampalia Museum. Continue to the Ca’ Rezzonico, splendidly situated on the Grand Canal. We then transfer to the airport for our evening flight home.

14th century Church of the Madonna dell’Orto.

8 Days Mon 16th - Mon 23rd May, 2016 £2695 incl. flights

the Santa Maria Formosa, we continue to the Santa Maria dei Miracoli, clad in coloured marble. This afternoon we visit the Palazzo Grimani di San Luca, a quintessential Venetian residence with classical atrium and columns.

£425 single supp

“

Tour Code: QVG16A

This was Venice, the flattering and suspect beauty - this city, half fairy tale... in whose insalubrious air the arts once voluptuously blossomed.”

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Venice 7 nights in a 4* hotel in Venice All meals included with wine at dinner

THOMAS MANN Death in Venice, 1912

Canal and houses of Torcello.

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LA CONVIVENCIA Moors, Jews & Christians in Southern Spain Moorish Spain - the most culturally advanced corner of Europe...

F

or ov e r f iv e hundred y ears, Moorish Spain was an engine-room of science, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, technology, poetry, textiles, ceramics, architecture and agriculture. Its output outstripped anything within Christendom. It was ‘La Convivencia’ - where Moors peacefully co-existed alongside followers of Judaism and Christianity.

Let expert guide Jason Webster lift the lid on Spain’s Moorish legacy. Visit Toledo Cathedral and hear about the School of Translators, where Muslims, Jews and Christians came together to translate works of science from Arabic into Latin.

Discover the Great Mosque at the heart of Cordoba, that has a beauty that “was so dazzling that it defied any description”.

Learn more about the culinary influence of Moorish Spain and the political importance of food during the period. Visit the Carmen de los Mártires, behind the Alhambra, where Christian captives were held during the battle for Granada.

During our final day we view Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex that is spectacular to behold during the day, but even more beautiful illuminated at night.

German writers of the 10th century described Cordoba, the melting-pot capital of Al-Andalus, as “the ornament of the world”, so in awe were they of its sophistication. Join us and discover its charm for yourself...

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GUIDED BY Jason Webster is the author of a number of books on Spain, ranging from travel to history and crime fiction. He has written on numerous periods of Spanish history, from the Reconquista to the Spanish Civil War. He is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and The Sunday Times.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Alhambra Palace and fortress complex - built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We fly to Madrid and drive to Toledo. In the evening, we have an introductory lecture followed by dinner.

Day 2 | Cultural Capital of Toledo In the morning, we visit Toledo Cathedral and hear about the School of Translators, where Moors, Jews and Christians came together to translate works of science from Arabic into Latin. After lunch, we visit Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz - an old mosque.

Seville Cathedral - the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. The statue on the top of the cathedral’s Girald Tower represents the triumph of the Christian faith.

HIGHLIGHTS • Explore 500 years of Spanish history through palaces, fortresses, art, literature and cuisine.

• Visit four of the most beautiful cities at the heart of Moorish Spain: Toledo, Cordoba, Seville and Granada.

Day 3 | Clash of Reconquest We drive from Toledo to the battle site of Las Navas de Tolosa, the single most important clash between Moors and Christians during the ‘Reconquest’. We visit the battle site museum at the town of Santa Elena. In the afternoon, we drive to Cordoba and enjoy a stroll through the old city.

Day 4 | The Heart of Cordoba In the morning, we have a tour of the Great Mosque. At the heart of Cordoba, ‘we discover a mosque that is so

• Led by Jason Webster, writer and historian, fluent

Arabic and Spanish speaker, and author of Andalus – Unlocking the secrets of Moorish Spain.

SPAIN Madrid

8 Days Fri 6th - Fri 13th May, 2016 £2250 incl. flights

Toledo

£225 single supp

Navas de Tolosa Cordoba

Tour Code: QLC16A

Tour Manager

Seville

Granada Malaga

Flights London to Madrid, Malaga to London

The view of Granada from the balconies of Nasrid Palace.

beautiful it defies any description. In the afternoon, we visit Madinat al-Zahra, ‘the shining city’, and have a tour of the ruins of this vast Muslim palace-city.

Day 5 | Mosques and Churches of Seville In the morning, we travel to Seville. We tour the Cathedral, built on the site of the old Almohad Mosque, and climb the Giralda Tower, previously the Almohad minaret. In the afternoon, we visit the Alcázar, a spectacular Moorish style royal palace.

Day 6 | Alhambra and Granada In the morning we drive to Granada and enjoy a stroll around the old Moorish quarter of Albaicín, visiting Mirador de San Nicolás, with its views over the Alhambra.

We have lunch at a Moroccan-style restaurant and hear about the culinary influence of Moorish Spain. In the afternoon, we visit the spectacular Alhambra.

Day 7 | Christians of Granada In the morning, we visit the Carmen de los Mártires.

During the battle for Granada, Christian captives were held here. We also have a tour of the Cathedral and visit the Corral del Carbon, the oldest Moorish monument.

Day 8 | Reflection We have a free morning in Granada and, after lunch, we drive to Malaga airport for our return flight.

7 nights in 4* hotels in Toledo, Cordoba, Seville and Granada All meals included with wine at dinner

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IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CORTÉS The Conquistadors Trace the footsteps of the 500 men and 13 horses that defeated the Aztec Empire...

G

e ne rati on s of hi stor i an s have spent countless hours trying to answer one simple question... How was it possible for a small group of Spaniards to conquer the mighty Aztec empire? So far, no single reason has sufficiently explained what went wrong for the Aztecs.

Superstition, bad luck, bewilderment? The structure of the empire and poor leadership also played their part. Yet they cannot fully account for the defeat of this mighty warrior nation by a motley crew of adventurers led by Hernán Cortés.

Using the accounts of the Spaniards who took part in the conquest, we follow in the footsteps of Cortés. Join us as we trace his route from the Gulf of Mexico to Mexico City.

Alongside expert guide Dr Keith Brewster, we explore the formation of New Spain, built on the ashes of Tenochtitlán, the spiritual, political and cultural heart of the Aztec civilisation.

As we do so, we will appreciate the physical, logistical and psychological barriers that lay between the Spaniards and their destiny.

Highlights of the tour include four nights in Mexico City with plenty of time to explore the city’s treasures. We take a journey to the coastal city of Veracruz, founded by Cortes in 1519, and spend a full day at the stunning Teotihuacán, which covers an area of over thirty square miles. We also enjoy a canal boat trip as we make our way to the remains of Tenochtitlán.

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GUIDED BY Dr Keith Brewster is a senior lecturer in Latin American History at Newcastle University. Prior to taking up his current role, he worked for five years as a Research Associate at the Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge. He is the author of many books and publications on the politics and history of Mexico.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios , the 16th century Mexican Catholic parish church built atop the Tlachihualtepetl pyramid in Cholula.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Mexico City and transfer to our hotel in the centro historico, the heart of the Aztec empire.

Day 2 | The Pyramids of Teotihuacán We reach Teotihuacán, whose giant pyramids are a lasting testimony to the richness of the pre-Columbian cultures that came before the Aztecs and the Spaniards.

Mexico City’s gondolas - “trajineras”.

HIGHLIGHTS • Gold, greed, intrigue and empires - the story of the Conquistadors.

Day 3 | The City of Cortés In the morning, we head for Veracruz, the second Spanish settlement on the American mainland. On arrival, we explore the city, which was founded by Cortés in 1519.

Day 4 | Beginning of the Journey We travel to Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, where Cortés laid claim to the Americas on behalf of the Spanish crown.

We then move to nearby La Antigua, where remnants of Cortés’ house are still visible. In the afternoon, we follow

• Full day among the pyramids and vast ritual structures of the World Heritage Site of Teotihuacán.

• Follow in the footsteps of Cortés and his

followers exploring ancient Aztec sites and early colonial Spanish towns.

£250 single supp

Tour Code: QCO16A

Tour Manager

Cortés as we drive to the colonial town of Coatepec.

Day 5 | The Baptism of Defeated Leaders From Coatepec we continue our journey inland. A short tour around the outskirts of present day Tlaxcala allows us to view the archaeological sites of the Ocotelulco & Tizatlán. On to the St Franciscan church in Tlaxcala, which contains the font at which Tlaxcala’s defeated leaders were baptised.

Day 6 | The Great Pyramid and Colonial Treasure Today we make the short trip to Cholula and the Great Pyramid. We also visit a nearby fortified Franciscan convent. On to the nearby city of Puebla de los Angeles.

Day 7 | A Franciscan Monastery We visit Huejotzingo, a Franciscan monastery built in the early colonial period. In the afternoon, we travel by boat on the lake upon which Tenochtitlán was built.

MEXICO

10 Days Sun 30th October - Tue 8th November, 2016 £3495 incl. flights

Plaza de las Tres Culturas, the main square within the Tlatelolco.

Teotihuacan Mexico City Huejotzingo Cholula

Day 8 | Remnants of the Aztecs We hunt for remnants of the Aztec past in Mexico City.

Visits include the Templo Mayor and Palacio Nacional.

Quiahuiztlan La Antigua

Coatepec Puebla

Veracruz

Flights London to Mexico City 8 nights in 4* hotels in Mexico City, Veracruz, Coatepec, and Puebla

Day 9 | Wealth and Health Our last day; we visit the exceptional National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology. We transfer to the airport for our overnight flight home, arriving in the UK on the morning of Day 10.

All meals included with wine at dinner

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EARLY MODERN LIFE Expansion & Empires

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he E arly Mod e r n e ra i s one of expanding empires and emerging identities. This new progressive age took cues from the Renaissance that preceded it - embracing individualism, secularism, and democracy. Change came at an unprecedented speed, reshaping Europe and all of the Empires it had acquired abroad.

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From Renaissance to Revolution our tours examine all aspects of the Early Modern world. Enjoy a private tour of the sumptuous Palace of Versailles, away from the revolutionary cries of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. Meet a cast of kings, princes, officers and ordinary soldiers on both sides of the Zulu! conflict. Discover more about the rich political history of Vienna, the City of Dreams, from the Habsburgs through to the Cold War. Uncover the best preserved colonial heritage of the former West Indian Empire, built by The Sugar Barons in Barbados. Explore A House Divided by the American Revolution, walking the historic battlefields of Antietam, Gettysburg and Manassas.

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France

1. LIBERTÉ, ÉGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ | Paris and the French Revolution 29th Mar - 1st Apr | with Prof Munro Price................................ page 38

Join us as we explore the changes and transitions that helped the world move towards the modern life that we live today...

Austria

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2. CITY OF DREAMS | A History of Vienna 3rd - 7th Jun | with Nigel Jones...................................................... page 40

South Africa

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3. ZULU! | The Zulu Wars 14th - 24th Nov | with Ken Gillings............................................... page 42

USA

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.”

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- NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE

4. A HOUSE DIVIDED | The American Civil War 14th - 24th Sep | with Dr Nick Slope........................................ page 44

Barbados

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5. THE SUGAR BARONS | Profit & Plunder in the Caribbean 10th - 19th Nov | with Matthew Parker.................................... page 46

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LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ Paris & the French Revolution It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

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eg inning in 1789, France’s citizens razed and reshaped the country’s political landscape. Over the next decade, the feudal system was left in tatters, and the death knell rang out for an absolute monarchy with more than 1000 years of history. Revolution filled the air. In 1793, egalitarian idealism gave way to the 10 month ‘Reign of Terror’ which saw the blood of more than 17,000 people stain the tricolore. Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette would become the most prominent figures to lose their life under the ‘National Razor’.

French Revolution expert Munro Price guides us through the sites which still survive in modern Paris and much-restored Versailles. We begin with a rather regal after-hours visit to the Palace of Versailles; and discover a line-up of portraits of Revolutionary leaders including Robespierre, Danton and Marat at the Musée Carnavalet. The devastating reach of the ‘Reign of Terror’ comes into focus during our last day. We join the pilgrimage of French Royalists at the Chapelle Expiatoire where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were buried following their execution.

By 1799, after just four years in power, France’s parliament appointed ‘Directoire’ found its new regime silenced by an army led by a successful young general. His name? Napoleon Bonaparte, but that’s another story…

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GUIDED BY Munro Price is an awardwinning historian and Professor of Modern European History at the University of Bradford.

His book, ‘The Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the Baron de Breteuil’, was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman Prize, and won the Franco-British Society Literary Prize.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Louvre, one of the world’s finest art galleries.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We take the Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord, enjoying a fine lunch aboard the train. We then travel directly to Versailles, where Munro Price will give a talk on the opening phases of the Revolution in 1789.

This evening, we have a private after-hours tour of the main royal apartments in the Palace itself, including the staterooms occupied by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.

Queens Hamlet in Versailles Palace - the rustic retreat park built for Marie Antoinette.

HIGHLIGHTS • Led by Professor Munro Price, world-renowned expert on the French Revolution.

Day 2 | ‘Let them Eat Cake’ - The Palace of Versailles We drive to Versailles, and visit more of the key sites of 1789. These include the indoor tennis court, the Jeu de Paume, where the deputies to the Estates General gathered and swore not to disperse until France had a constitution, and the Palace Opera House, where Marie Antoinette tried to rally the royal guard in the monarchy’s defence, provoking the October Days. Our final visit is to the Queen’s model village in the park of Versailles, where she played at being a country shepherdess.

• Private ‘out of hours’ access to the sumptuous Palace of Versailles.

• Two days in Paris visiting museum collections and

haunting sites from the revolutionary era, many of which are unknown to most visitors to Paris.

Day 3 | The Outbreak of Revolution We visit the site of the Tuileries Palace, where the royal family took up residence after the October Days. The Tuileries itself was burnt down during the 1871 Commune, but from the place where it stood, along what is now the open side of the Louvre, we trace the main events of the storming of the palace and the overthrow of the monarchy in August 1792. We go into the Louvre and view its collections on the Revolutionary era. In the afternoon we head east to the Musée Carnavalet, in the historic Marais quarter. This has the world’s largest collection of artefacts relating to the Revolution in Paris.

Day 4 | The Reign of Terror Our final day is devoted to sites connected to the ‘Reign of Terror’. We begin at the Chapelle Expiatoire on the site of the cemetery of the Madeleine, where many prominent victims were buried after their execution on the Place de la Révolution. The Chapelle is still a place of pilgrimage for French royalists, and contains striking memorials to the king and queen. Further east, we find the Convent of Picpus, where the victims of the guillotine on the nearby Place du Trône-Renversé were buried at the height of the Terror. This is an extraordinary and evocative, but seldom visited, place. We return to London from the Gare du Nord.

4 Days Tue 29th March - Fri 1st April, 2016 £1495 incl. train

£195 single supp

“

Tour Code: QFR16A

This year has begun hopefully for right thinkers. After all these centuries of feudal barbarism and political slavery, it is surprising to see how the word of ‘liberty’ sets minds on fire.”

Tour Manager Eurostar Return tickets (Premier Class) London to Paris 3 nights in a 4* hotel in Paris All meals included with wine at dinner

Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Jean-Baptiste Gautier Dagoty, 1775.

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NAPOLÉON BONAPARTE

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NEW

CITY OF DREAMS A History of Vienna Vienna - the beautiful and historic cultural centre of Europe...

V

i e nna - where a thousand years of history are waiting to be discovered. Vienna metamorphosed from a humble Roman settlement into an important trading site by the 11th century. Its golden age arrived in the 18th century, with baroque architecture, civil ­reform and musical revolution filling the air - but it wouldn’t last. All architectural and cultural development had stalled by the time the First World War broke out. Fascism found its way in by the 1920s. In 1938, Hitler would arrive to the cries of 200,000 ecstatic Viennese unaware of what lay ahead.

On our tour, we stop at churches, museums, galleries and palaces which all offer glimpses of its glorious past. Dine with us at Café Central, a Viennese eatery that satisfied the hungers of Lenin, Trotsky and Hitler. Tour the Stephansdom, where Mozart’s unfinished masterpiece Requiem Mass in D minor was first performed. Immerse yourself in the ‘birthplace of psychoanalysis’ during a visit to Sigmund Freud’s home and consulting room, which have been transformed into a museum dedicated to his life and work.

The essence of the city has been immortalised in music by Mozart and Mahler; committed to canvas by Klimt and Kokoschka; and preserved in print by Kafka and Musil. It is impossible to resist this complex city’s neurotic charm.

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GUIDED BY Nigel Jones is an author, historian and biographer specialising in 20th century history.

He considers himself to be an honorary Viennese, having lived and worked in the city for four years as a journalist. Nigel, who has a Viennese son, is an expert on Vienna and Austria’s cultural, political and military history.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Artesian Well in Schonbrunn Palace gardens.

ITINERARY Day 1 | War and Peace in Central Vienna We fly to Vienna and enjoy a late lunch at the Café Central, a famous Viennese café where in pre-1914 times such figures as Freud, Adler, Wittgenstein, Hitler, Lenin and Trotsky unwittingly rubbed shoulders. In the afternoon, we have a walking tour of central Vienna. Among sites we see are the Stephansdom (Vienna’s magnificent cathedral where Mozart’s Requiem received its premiere); the Opera House where Gustav Mahler presided as principal conductor; and the Ballhausplatz, where the Great War was planned.

A wonderful view over the ‘City of Dreams’.

HIGHLIGHTS • Explore Vienna with former resident, Nigel Jones,

an expert on Vienna and Austria’s cultural, political and military history.

Day 2 | The Palace of the Habsburgs We visit the massive Hofburg Palace, the principal residence of the Habsburg dynasty. The sprawling edifice was built over centuries, with architecture ranging from the 13th to the early 20th. Highlights of the tour include the famous white Lipizzaner horses of the Spanish Riding School and the Imperial Treasury containing the Crown Jewels. We also visit the Capuchin Crypt, last resting place

• Hear about the city’s rich political history, from the Habsburgs through to the Cold War.

Day 3 | Schonbrunn and Franz Ferdinand In the morning we leave central Vienna to visit the magnificent Schonbrunn Palace and its vast park, the summer residence of the Habsburgs. In the afternoon, we visit the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum, Austria’s military museum, offering a sweeping panorama of Austria’s military past. We return to our hotel via the grounds of Belvedere Palace, home of Franz Ferdinand.

Day 4 | 20th Century Vienna In a day devoted to Vienna’s vibrant cultural past, we first visit the home and famous consulting room of Sigmund Freud. Continue to Vienna University where he taught, and the Burgtheater. After lunch at Freud’s favourite café, the Landtmann on the Ring, we visit the new Museum Quarter and the extraordinary Secession building, where Gustav Klimt’s friezes are displayed.

Day 5 | Prater Park Our final morning in Vienna is spent in the Prater Park, laid out by Empress Maria-Theresa in the 18th century as a playground for the Viennese, and today most famous for its huge funfair. We transfer to the airport this afternoon for return flights home.

• Immerse yourself in Viennese culture in some of

the finest churches, museums and art galleries in Western Europe.

5 Days Fri 3rd - Tue 7th June, 2016 £1995 incl. flights

of the Habsburgs. In the afternoon, we carry on to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria’s National Gallery with masterpieces including Breugel’s Tower of Babel.

£290 single supp

Tour Code: QVI16A

“

Tour Manager

Vienna wasn’t just a city, it was a tone that either one carries forever in one’s soul or one does not. It was the most beautiful thing in my life.”

Return Flights London to Vienna 4 nights in a 4* hotel in Vienna All meals included with wine at dinner

SÁNDOR MÁRAI

The beautiful gardens of Schonbrunn Palace.

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ZULU! The Zulu Wars A small imperial war that has become the stuff of legend...

O

n 22 Janu ar y 1879,a British garrison of just 140 men - many sick and wounded - fought for 12 hours against the repeated attacks of nearly 4,000 Zulu warriors. The heroic defence shown at Rorke’s Drift, on the Natal border with Zululand, was rewarded with 11 Victoria Crosses, and immortalised in the 1964 film Zulu. It was a dazzling display of bravery, but few remember that it took place on the ‘Empire’s longest day’ - following the most humiliating defeat that the British Army had ever endured...

The Anglo-Zulu conflict had a number of causes, but the Zulu King was the major stumbling block to British Governor Bartle Frere’s goal of a confederation of white states in Southern Africa. The ‘unnecessary war’, would not fulfil Frere’s ambition to confederate the country… it would take twenty years and the bloodier Boer War to set those wheels in motion.

Travel with historian Ken Gillings across the conflict’s key sites and discover more about its leading personalities. Explore the iconic battlefields of Isandlwana, where 1,800 British soldiers lost their lives, and Rorke’s Drift, successfully defended by 140 British soldiers against 4,000 Zulu warriors. Step away from the war to enjoy spectacular game drives in the iThala game reserve. Hear incredible stories of heroism and sacrifice on both sides, whilst enjoying South Africa’s stunning visual backdrop, which remains largely unchanged to this day.

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GUIDED BY Ken Gillings has a lifelong interest in South African military history and has written extensively on the subject.

He is a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Heritage Foundation and the National Monuments Commission’s War Graves and Graves of Conflict Committee.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The classic neo-Baroque-style Durban City Hall.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Gessner

ITINERARY Day 1 & 2 | Introduction Fly overnight to South Africa, landing in Durban (via Johannesburg) on Day 2. For those who wish we visit to the Warriors’ Gate MOTH Shrine and military museum.

Day 3 | Shakaland and the making of the Zulu Nation King Shaka welded the scattered Zulu tribes to a single nation. Today we visit his grave, Gingindlovu Battlefield, Nyezan Battlefield and Fort Pearson.

Isandlwana Memorial - where tributes to British soldiers have been ercted.

HIGHLIGHTS • Visit the iconic Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana – where African pride met British ambition.

• Venture across the wide-open savannah of the

Day 4 | The Road to Ulundi Begin at Fort kwaMondi, Pearson’s base when he was besieged, before heading to King Cetshwayo’s grave. After lunch, we drive to Ulundi, site of the final battle of the war.

Day 5 | Isandlwana We dedicate the day to tracing the course of the Isandlwana campaign. It was here that Zulu warriors overwhelmed the British invasion of Zululand in a decisive but Pyrrhic victory. We visit Ngwebeni Valley, Black’s Koppie, Younghusband’s Plateau and Durnford’s Donga.

‘garden province’ of South Africa and enjoy game drives in the stunning iThala National Park.

• Experience triumph and tragedy through a cast of kings, princes and officers, as well as the ordinary soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

11 Days Mon 14th - Thu 24th November, 2016 £3995 incl. flights

£250 single supp

Rorke’s Drift Isandlwana

Ulundi

SOUTH AFRICA Shakaland

Tour Code: QZU16A

Day 6 | Fugitives’ and Rorke’s Drift We visit Fugitives’ Drift and the graves of Lieutenants Teignmouth Melvill VC and Nevill Coghill VC. We then deal with the epic defence of Rorke’s Drift, and visit the Helpmekaar Fort and graves, and Fort Northampton.

Day 7 | Death or Glory at eNtombe We visit the eNtombe Drift Battlefield, where Captain David Moriarty’s force was overrun by Prince Mbilini kaMswati’s warriors in March 1879.

Day 8 | Game Drives in the iThala Game Reserve We have a day off from history to enjoy game drives in iThala Game Reserve.

Day 9 | Zulu Defeat at Khambula We visit the Hlobane and Khambula Battlefields. Hlobane was the second major defeat for the British, but Khambula was the first major victory and turning point.

iThala Hlobane

Khambula

Rorkes Drift Memorial.

Photo courtesy of Chris Eason CC BY 2.0

Day 10 | The death of a Dynasty We return to Durban via the site of the death of the Prince Imperial of France, Louis Napoleon. We continue to Durban and board our flight home, arriving in the early morning of Day Eleven.

Gingindlovu

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Durban 9 nights in 4* hotels and iThala Game Reserve

Durban

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

A HOUSE DIVIDED The American Civil War Establishing America as the world’s leading superpower...

T

he Civ il War i s the ce ntral e v e nt in America’s historical consciousness. The Revolution of 1776-1783 may have created the United States, but it was the Civil War that determined what kind of nation it would be.

Travel with historian Dr Nick Slope into the Deep South and visit the lesser-known sites and museums associated with the war. Learn more about prominent personalities Robert E Lee and Ulysses S Grant, who transformed the history of the United States. Reflect on the institution of slavery and plantation life at Drayton Hall Plantation. Travel to the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia. Move on to Appomattox Court House, where the surrender of the Confederate forces took place. Visit Fort Sumter where the first shots of the war were fired; see the notorious Andersonville prison camp where thousands of Union POWs were kept in appalling conditions. The tour ends in Washington, at the Lincoln Memorial; a striking tribute to the president whose assassination helped to unite a divided nation.

The war resolved the questions that remained unanswered after the revolution… Would there be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states? Or would a nationally governed indivisible nation go forward? And, how could a land that declared “all men were created with an equal right to liberty”, continue as the world’s largest slaveholding country?

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GUIDED BY Dr Nick Slope is a military historian and archaeologist who has excavated widely in the UK, Israel, Palestine, Greece and Egypt.

Nick is a passionate scholar of 19th century America, with a particular focus on the military history of the Civil War era, and the social and political history of the colonization of the American West.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Drayton Hall, an 18th-century plantation on the Ashley River, South Carolina.

ITINERARY

Virginia State Capitol building in Richmond.

HIGHLIGHTS • Unique take on this deeply uncivil war - the

Day 1 | Flights to Atlanta, Georgia, our first base, to explore the history of the Confederate south.

Day 5 | Fayetteville Drive North to Fayetteville to visit the Confederate arsenal and the forgotten battleground of Monroe Corner.

Day 2 | Antebellum Atlanta We begin with the Atlanta Civil War Museum then head to the Smith Family Farm, a restored antebellum homestead.

We travel on to Stone Mountain Park.

Day 6 | The Southern White House We continue to Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital. We visit the Confederate White House, seat of the rival presidency, and the Confederacy Museum.

Day 3 | Prisoners of War We drive south to Andersonville, one of the largest prisoner of war camps of the Civil War. Today, the site is also home to the National Prisoner of War Museum.

Day 7 | Surrender at Appomattox We visit the beautiful national park of Appomattox, site of the battle that led to the surrender of Robert E Lee’s Confederate Army to Ulysses S Grant.

Day 4 | Confederate Charleston We see how the Confederate landowners lived in a visit to the Drayton Hall Plantation. Excavations have revealed the graves of the slaves who worked there. On to Fort Sumter.

Day 8 | First Days of the War Our day begins in Fredericksburg, where the Union Army of the Potomac was heavily defeated by the Confederate Army. We continue to the site of the Battle of Bull Run.

colonial grandeur of plantation houses contrasting sharply with the reality of slave life.

Day 9 | Slavers and Abolitionists We have a walking tour of Harpers Ferry, following the trail of the abolitionist John Brown. On to Antietam.

• Go behind enemy lines to Andersonville

Prison and gain a deeper understanding of the contrasting lives of guards and convicts.

• Walk the historic battlefields of Antietam,

Day 10 | Gettysburg We visit Gettysburg battlefield and the Soldiers National Monument in the Gettysburg National Cemetery.

11 Days Wed 14th - Sat 24th September, 2016

Day 11 | Washington We spend the day in Washington DC: Arlington National Cemetery, General Lee’s family home, the Lincoln Memorial. Head to the airport for our return flights.

Gettysburg and Manassas.

£3995 incl. flights

£575 single supp

Tour Code: QAC16A

“

Tour Manager

This war was a fearful lesson, and should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future.”

Flights London to Atlanta; Washington to London 10 nights in 4* hotels across the USA All meals included with wine at dinner

Confederate General Stonewall Jackson’s statue in Charleston capitol grounds.

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ULYSSES S. GRANT

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NEW

THE SUGAR BARONS Profit & Plunder in the Caribbean The dark secret of sweet success...

B

arbad o s i s an e nti c ing d e stinati on for anyone seeking beautiful beaches, palm trees and warm azure waters. And rightly so. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll discover a hugely important, dramatic and fascinating history at its heart. This was the first ‘jewel in the crown’ of the British Empire. One of England’s most popular colonies, Barbados’ rich economy was built by the sugar trade - but the secret to its success was anything but sweet. This was an industrious empire built on the backs of slaves.

Travelling with historian Matthew Parker, you’ll receive exclusive access to private plantation houses including the grounds of the privately owned Drax Hall. The estate is one of only two Jacobean mansions in Barbados, and the site where the first sugar cane was cultivated in 1642. Go further back and venture into the limestone caves of the island, which offer clues to the island’s population before Columbus arrived.

Discover one of the busiest English ports in the Americas, Bridgetown; and investigate Barbados’ profitable rum trade during an exclusive tasting tour of Mount Gay distillery.

Enjoy a beautiful tropical island that occupies a very important space in British history. The impact of the Sugar Revolution on Britain is impossible to overstate - shipbuilders, bankers and insurers thrived - sugar money capitalised the Industrial Revolution.

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GUIDED BY Matthew Parker is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster and the author of acclaimed books on Caribbean history. He spent part of his childhood in the West Indies, including four years in Barbados as a teenager.

Matthew has written for the UK national press as well as The Literary Review, History Today and BBC History Magazine.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Barbados Parliament Buildings. The former site of Colonial administration has been the meeting place for both chambers of Parliament since 1874.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We fly to Barbados and transfer to our hotel.

Day 2 | Beginnings We begin at the limestone caves where traces of the island’s earliest population have been found. After lunch, we visit the island’s superb botanical garden.

Day 3 | First English Settlers We explore the West Coast at Holetown, where the English settlers landed.We investigate Arlington House Museum’s depiction of the incredibly tough life of the pioneers.

St Nicholas Abbey - a plantation house in Saint Peter.

HIGHLIGHTS • Led by historian Matthew Parker, who has been

studying and writing about the region for fifteen years.

• Barbados has the best-preserved colonial heritage

Day 4 | The First Baron We travel to the place it all began – Drax Hall plantation – where James Drax produced Barbados’ first sugar.

Day 5 | Trade and Rum We discover Bridgetown, once the busiest English port in the Americas. In the afternoon we investigate the valuable rum trade, during a visit to the Mount Gay distillery. In the evening we have a special dinner at a plantation house.

of anywhere in the former British West Indian Empire, including two of the three oldest surviving Jacobean mansions in the Western Hemisphere.

Day 6 | Great Houses and Opulence We tour St Nicholas Abbey, the island’s other oldest mansion. We continue to a restored working sugar mill.

We learn about the Codringtons, the most notorious family in the West Indies, at Codrington College.

Day 7 | Warfare and Privateers We explore Barbados’ history of privateers, soldiers and the navy at St Ann’s Fort, amid the world’s largest collection of 17th century English cannons.

Day 8 | Resistance, Rebellion and Freedom We discover the stories of the slave resistance and rebellions that led to emancipation today. We meet Barbados’ National Heroes and learn how the country won independence at the Museum of Parliament.

Day 9 & 10 | Barbados: Religion and Sport Cricket lovers can enjoy behind-the-scenes accesss to Kensington Oval. Alternatively, discover the island’s most interesting churches on our last day, before our return flight overnight.

• As well as history, discover the island’s unique culture, food, music, gardens and wildlife.

9 Days Thu 10th - Sat 19th November, 2016 £3995 incl. flights

“

£750 single supp

The conditions were that the convicts should be carried beyond the sea as slaves, that they should not be emancipated for ten years, and that the place of their banishment should be some West Indies island. This last article was studiously framed for the purpose of aggravating their misery.”

Tour Code: QSB16A

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Barbados 8 nights in a 4* hotel in Barbados All meals included with wine at dinner

LORD MACAULAY History of England

Coast of Barbados

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20TH CENTURY Revolution in the air, war afoot...

“

You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”

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- WINSTON CHURCHILL

T

he 20th ce ntur y saw the world dominated by war. It was a time of unknowing atrocity and dubious morality; an age of resistance, risk and revolution.

Uncover the Nazis’ Face of Evil, following their beginnings in Munich’s beer halls to the Nuremberg trials. Take an alternative look at 1940, examining what could have been, had Operation Sea Lion gone ahead.

Travel from the Bay of Pigs to Old Havana, tracing the history of the Red Heat of the guerrilla revolution.

In this modern era, victims of war are more distant and responsibility more dubious. Travel with us as we examine whose hands are stained with innocent blood; and question who is to blame for the horrors inflicted upon mankind...

Jordan

1. ALL MEN DREAM BUT NOT EQUALLY | Lawrence of Arabia 17th - 26th Oct | with Dr Neil Faulkner........................................ page 50

Belgium/France

2. THE GREAT WAR | An Introduction to the Western Front 11th - 15th Jul | with Nigel Jones................................................... page 52

France

3. 300 DAYS AND NIGHTS | The Battle of Verdun 12th - 16th May | with Nigel Jones................................................. page 54 4. RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH | The Battle of the Somme 5th - 9th Sep | with Prof Gary Sheffield........................................ page 56 5. SECRET WAR | The Resistance in Southern France 8th - 15th Jun | with Martyn Cox & Paddy Ashdown................ page 60 6. CHURCHILL’S WARRIORS | The Women of SOE 29th Sept - 3rd Oct | with Clare Mulley....................................... page 62

France 7. WAR AND WINE | Bordeaux in the Second World War 5th - 11th Jun | with Giles MacDonogh........................................ page 64

Spain

8. BROTHERS IN ARMS | The Spanish Civil War - 80th Anniversary Tour 15th - 22nd Oct | with Jason Webster....................................... page 58

Germany

9. THE FACE OF EVIL | Rise and Fall of the Third Reich 11th - 19th Jun | with Nigel Jones............................................. page 66 10. CITY OF SPIES | Cold War Berlin 16th - 19th Sep | with Roger Moorhouse.................................. page 72

UK

11. OPERATION SEA LION | The Nazi Invasion of Britain, 1940 5th - 7th May | with Prof Gary Sheffield................................... page 68

Russia

12. NO GREATER COURAGE | Russia & The Great Patriotic War 17th - 26th Sep | with Dr Michael Jones........................................ page 70

Czech Republic/Hungary

13. BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN | Post-War Eastern Europe 11th - 18th Jun | with Roger Moorhouse.................................. page 74

Vietnam

14. LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE| The Vietnam War 15th - 25th Apr | with John Giannini........................................ page 76

Cuba

15. RED HEAT | The Cuban Revolution 21st - 29th Nov | with Alex Von Tunzelmann........................... page 78

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ALL MEN DREAM BUT NOT EQUALLY Lawrence of Arabia - Centenary Tour T E Lawrence - the man, the myth, the legend - 100 years on...

T

E L aw re nce’s re putati on preced e s him. The daring exploits of this mysterious Englishman made him an object of intense fascination which persists to this day. He was sent to Cairo as an intelligence officer in 1916, but vanished into the desert a year later. Once there, he united and led the Arab tribes in adventures recounted in his ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’. A man of many titles - diplomat, strategist, soldier and author - Lawrence held each one incredibly well.

Now, for the first time, we can retrace Lawrence’s campaigns on the ground - sifting fact from fiction. The Great Arab Revolt Project has been exploring the archaeology of the First World War in the stunning desert landscapes of southern Jordan over the last 10 years. Led by an academic director of the project, our tour utilises off-road vehicles to visit railway stations, hilltop redoubts, blockhouses, military camps and loop-holed breastworks discovered by the archaeological team.

This is an unprecedented opportunity to relive the war in the landscape where it was fought, alongside Dr Neil Faulkner, one of the world’s leading authorities on Lawrence of Arabia’s war.

100 years on from its beginning, we follow in the footsteps of Lawrence and his army and discover the role he played in the painful birth of an emerging Middle East. If his vision for a modern Middle East had come to fruition, the bloodshed that continues to plague the region might have been prevented…

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GUIDED BY Dr Neil Faulkner is an archaeologist, historian, and editor of Military History Monthly.

A leading First World War archaeologist, Neil co-directs the Great Arab Revolt Project, which is based in Jordan, and is author of the forthcoming ‘Lawrence of Arabia’s War’.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Wadi Rum mushroom stone in Jordan.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We fly to Amman and transfer to our hotel.

Day 2 | From Ottoman Empire to Arab Revolt We begin with an overview and scene-setting of Jordanian history at the brand-new Jordan Museum before continuing to the Amman Railway Museum. On to Azrak Desert Castle, used as a base by Lawrence and the rebels.

Emir Faisal’s party at Versailles, during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

• Unique tour following T E Lawrence from academic to leader of the Arab revolt.

Day 3 | Lawrence Before Arabia Before the outbreak of war, Lawrence was an archaeologist.

Following in his footsteps we drive into the desert to Wadi Musa, stopping at Al Qatrana and Shobak Castle.

Day 5 | “Vast Echoing and God-like” We spend the day at the ancient city of Petra. Lawrence led an attack from here in October 1917. His force consisted of Bedouin women who devastated the Ottoman army.

Day 4 | Desert Raiders Campaign in Wadi Rum Today we meet Lawrence as desert raider and tactician.

We begin at the port city of Aqaba; we visit the castle here which was a Turkish stronghold taken by the Arabs in 1916. We then continue our journey into the desert, to the red-rock of Wadi Rum, where we have a camel trek.

Day 6 | Arab Princes and Ottoman Bases We continue our desert survey, travelling in 4x4s to Wuheida, site of Lawrence’s ally Prince Feisal of Syria’s forward base in 1918. Dr Neil Faulkner and his team have excavated extensively at the site, revealing tents, and firepits of the Arab Northern Army.

• Dr Neil Faulkner, Director of the Great Arab

Day 7 | Guerrilla Warfare and Life in Wadi Rum Today we journey across the desert from Wadi Rum to visit Lawrence’s Tooth Hill Camp, hilltop forts and Ottoman camps at Wadi Rum, and Batn Al-Ghul.

Revolt Project, introduces recently excavated sites in the deserts of Wadi Rum.

• Visit Petra, Wadi Rum, the route of the Hejaz

Amman

Railway, Aqaba Fort and many other iconic sites.

Day 8 | The British are Coming We move south to the hilltop forts of Mudawwara, where operations involved Lawrence, Arabs, armoured cars, mountain guns, Imperial Camel Corps and the RAF.

Dead Sea

10 Days Mon 17th - Wed 26th October, 2016 £2895 incl. flights

Al Qatrana

£330 single supp

Tour Code: QLA16A

Petra Monastery is the city’s largest monument, dating from the 1st century BC.

Day 9 | The Dead Sea We travel to the Dead Sea for some well-deserved rest and relaxation beside the salt-saturated waters. Transfer to Aman for our return flights. We arrive on Day 10.

JORDAN Wadi Musa

Tour Manager

Maan

Return Flights London to Amman 8 nights in 4* hotels in Amman, Wadi Musa, Bedouin and the Dead Sea

Aqaba

Batn al Ghul Wadi Rum

All meals included with wine at dinner

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THE GREAT WAR An Introduction to the Western Front Chart the course of the war along the trench lines of Europe...

T

o comme morate the 100th anniv e rs ar y of the First World War, we revisit the places, buildings and battlefields that defined it - following in the footsteps of so many brave men who found themselves submerged in the mud and misery of war.

Our five-day journey covers the whole course of the conflict.

From Ploegsteert Wood, where humanity shone through the bloodshed during the Christmas truce of 1914, to the Ypres Salient Battlefields, arena of many major battles throughout the war. Discover the story of Newfoundland Memorial Park, given to Canada in gratitude for the sacrifice of more than 600 men in July 1916. Pause in Vimy Ridge, to remember the men that fell during the bitter fighting of the Battle of Arras in 1917. The tour ends, just as the war did, in 1918, in the Village of Ors, scene of the last battle of the war.

Nigel Jones, co-founder of Historical Trips, will join you on tour. Nigel brings his own unique perspective, as he guides you through the war. His father served on the staff of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and his uncle was sadly killed near Ypres, in 1915. Revisit the front-line trenches; discuss the origins of the war and learn more about the key personalities involved. This highly personal account highlights the human cost of a war which changed the course of the 20th century, and the lives of the millions who fought ‘in Flanders Fields’.

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GUIDED BY Nigel Jones is a historian and author specialising in 20th century history. He is a former editor of History Today and BBC History magazine, and author of ‘The War Walk: A Journey Along the Western Front’. Nigel’s perspective on this period is unique as his father, Frank, served on Field Marshal Haig’s staff during the First World War.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Menin Gate - memorial to the 50,000 men with no known graves who fell in the Salient

ITINERARY Day 1 | Ypres and the Last Post Nigel Jones will give a short on-board talk on the coming of the Great War, during our crossing to Calais. Following our arrival in Ypres, we will walk to the Menin Gate, built to commemorate the 50,000 men who fell in the Salient.

Ypres Salient Battlefields, Belgium.

• Visit the great battlefields - the Somme, Arras,

Ypres and Passchendaele - where men fought, and too often died, on the Western Front.

• Stop at the site of 1914’s famous ‘Christmas Day

Day 2 | In Flanders Fields: Passchendaele and Plug Street This morning is spent at the ‘In Flanders Fields’ Museum in the Medieval Cloth Hall, before travelling to Essex Farm Cemetery where author of In Flanders Fields, Dr John McCrae, treated the wounded at his Casualty Clearing station. We pay our respects at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, the Western Front’s largest cemetery.

The day ends at Ploegsteert Wood, the site of the brief ‘Christmas Truce’ of 1914.

Day 3 | The Battle of the Somme We visit the haunting Somme Battlefield and explore the Newfoundland Memorial Park. France gave the land to Canada in thanks for the great sacrifice of their soldiers on

Truce’ - Ploegsteert Wood.

• Let historian and broadcaster Nigel Jones, whose father served in the Great War, guide you across Belgium and France.

Calais

BELGIUM

5 Days Sat 11th - Wed 15th July, 2016

Ypres

£1250 incl. ferry

FRANCE

£125 single supp

Tour Code: QGW16A

Tour Manager

Passchendaele Ploegsteert

Arras Cambrai

Ovilliers

Essex farm cemetery

1st July 1916. We later view Sir Edwin Lutyens’ unflinching Memorial Arch, with the names of all those who fell on the Somme. and end our day in the sinister Mametz Wood.

Day 4 | Miners and Mechanised Warfare We visit Vimy Ridge, scene of bitter fighting during the Battle of Arras. In Arras’ Wellington Quarry Underground Tunnel Museum, we hear the story of the New Zealand miners who constructed a network of tunnels under the German front lines. We travel to Flesquières to hear an account of the Battle of Cambrai, and visit the restored British tank ‘Deborah’ to hear her story from the man who found her on the Cambrai Battlefield.

Day 5 | The Last Days of War After breakfast we drive to the village of Ors, the scene of the last battle of the war on 4th November, 1918. No fewer than seven VCs were won in one morning by those storming the Sambre-Oise Canal. The great poet, Wilfred Owen was among those killed.

“

I think a curse should rest on me - because I love this war. I know it’s smashing and shattering the lives of thousands every moment - and yet - I can’t help it - I enjoy every second of it.”

Ors

Return Ferry (Club Class) Dover to Calais 4 nights in a 4* hotel in Ypres & a 3* hotel in Cambrai

WINSTON CHURCHILL in a letter to a friend (1916)

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

300 DAYS & NIGHTS The Battle of Verdun The longest, cruellest battle the world had ever seen...

O

n 21st Febr u ar y 1916, the earth of northern France began to shake. 100,000 German shells showered down on French lines every hour for 10 hours - trenches were destroyed and communication wires severed. As soon as the barrage lifted, Germany’s troops moved forward. The Battle of Verdun had begun.

In this centenary tour, Historical Trips takes you to Verdun, perhaps the most perfectly preserved of all the Great War battlefields. We visit Verdun Citadel, the vast subterranean fortress used as a hospital and troop depot throughout the battle. At the macabre Douaumont Ossuary we pause to think of the tragic unidentified soldiers whose bones were collected from the battlefield. The body count at Verdun was so high, that to this day, the skeletons of the battle still surface.

Abandoned villages can be found throughout the city; we will explore Louvemont, Ornes and Douaumont, where Charles De Gaulle was taken prisoner in 1916. We also pay our respects at Mort Homme memorial, scene of bitter fighting on the Left Bank of the Meuse.

Historical Trips’ co-founder, Nigel Jones, has walked the battlefield since his youth. He will be your guide across the preserved forts and killing ground, masked by dense forest.

This ‘war of attrition’ would be one of the costliest battles of The Great War, with so many lives paying the price.

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GUIDED BY Nigel Jones is an author, historian and biographer specialising in 20th century history.

His first book, ‘The War Walk’, was an account of a 400-mile journey he made on foot along the course of the trenches. Everyone who books on tour will receive a signed copy of the book.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Monument for the Victory of Verdun, built on the ancient city walls of the Roman castrum.

ITINERARY Day 1 | The Vast Subterranean Fortress We fly to Luxembourg and drive to Verdun, enjoying an onboard lecture ‘The battle and fortresses of Verdun’. This afternoon we visit Verdun Citadel, the vast subterranean fortress used as a hospital and troop depot throughout the battle. Our evening is spent touring the town by foot, including the Verdun Memorial, the Cathedral and the quayside of the River Meuse.

First world war battlefield at Verdun

• Visit the eerily preserved battlefields of Verdun in this centenary tour.

Day 2 | Unidentified Bones In the morning we visit the macabre Douaumont Ossuary where the bones of the unidentified dead from the battlefield are collected. We then visit Fort Douaumont, lynchpin of the battle. The famous fort fell to the Germans without resistance in the opening phase of the struggle.

It took the French an estimated 100,000 casualties to win it back in October. After lunch, we visit the site of the abandoned village of Douaumont (where De Gaulle was taken prisoner in 1916) and its surroundings.

• Explore the spectacular forts of Douaumont and

Day 3 | Heroic Resistance We begin the day visiting the battlefield museum at Thiaumont and the site of Fort de Vaux, which heroically resisted a German siege in June 1916. In the afternoon, we see the memorial museum at Fleury and the abandoned village that bears the same name.

Day 4 | In Memoriam We visit Faubourg Pavé military cemetery; Mort Homme memorial, scene of the bitter fighting on the Left Bank of the Meuse; and Voie Sacrée, the single road used by the French to supply the embattled fortress of Verdun with new blood throughout the battle. We also see the ruins of Fort de Souville, high point of the German advance.

Day 5 | Abandoned Villages Today we travel north to visit the abandoned villages of Louvemont and Ornes. After lunch, we drive to Luxembourg and catch our return flight.

Fort de Vaux as well as the city of Verdun itself.

• Guided by Nigel Jones, author of ‘The War Walk’ and expert on the Verdun battle.

5 Days Thu 12th - Mon 16th May, 2016 £1495 incl. flights

£145 single supp

“

Tour Code: QBV16A

Within our reach there are objectives for the retention of which the French General Staff would be compelled to throw in every man they have. If they do, the forces of France will bleed to death.”

Tour Manager Return Flights London to Luxemburg 4 nights in a 4* hotel in Verdun

ERICH VON FALKENHAYN Chief of German General Staff

Porte Chaussee Lorraine.

All meals included with wine at dinner

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RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH The Battle of the Somme “Somme. The whole history of the world cannot contain a more gruesome word.”

D

a s Blutbad i s the name Germany has given to the Battle of the Somme. It’s an apt title, as this truly was a bloodbath; it claimed 57,000 British casualties alone on 1st July 1916 - the first day of fighting.

Over a period of just 138 days, more than 1.5 million British, Canadian, French and German soldiers were slaughtered on the battlefields. British commander Sir Douglas Haig had hoped that it would break the trench deadlock. 100 years on, controversy still surrounds its necessity and efficacy.

During our centenary tour, we visit the areas where attacks ended in disaster and the sites where operations were more successful, and examine the way that modern warfare emerged from the crucible of the Somme. We begin with a visit to the preserved trench line at Battlefield Park at Beaumont-Hamel; the Newfoundland regiment attack ended in disaster here on 1st July 1916. Trace the route of the first tank attack at Flers, on 15 September 1916; and end the tour at the Newfoundland Memorial in Gueudecourt, the furthest limit of the British advance.

Join leading historian Professor Gary Sheffield, and let him guide you across the sites of one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles in British history. Was this nothing more than futile slaughter? Or was it a sadly unavoidable stepping stone to victory in the First World War…

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GUIDED BY Professor Gary Sheffield is one of the leading authorities on the First World War. He has been at the forefront of the debate about the conflict in the run up to the 100th Anniversary and has made frequent appearances on television and radio.

Sir Max Hastings describes him as ‘one of Britain’s foremost historians of the First World War.

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The Ulster Tower memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction Depart London and visit Gommecourt to examine the diversionary attacks by 46th and 56th Divisions on 1st July 1916. Finally, we enjoy an evening lecture at our hotel, which will set the scene for the rest of the tour.

The Arras Belfry stands proud and tall in the Place des Héros.

• In-depth study of the Battle of the Somme,

looking at the planning, execution and aftermath in its centenary year.

Day 2 | Crossing No Man’s Land We start with a visit to the Battlefield Park at BeaumontHamel, where the trenches are preserved. We then cross No Man’s Land to examine the successful attack of 51st Highland Division in November 1916. On to Thiepval, scene of the attack of 36th (Ulster) Division on 1st July, and the capture of this key objective by 18th Division on 26th September. Moving on to Ovillers Military Cemetery, we discuss the fighting in the centre of the battlefield on 1st July. We then explore Fricourt British Cemetery, before visiting Devonshire Cemetery. We finish the day at Triangle Point, which marked the pinnacle of the successful British attack on the southern part of the Somme battlefield on 1st July 1916.

• Led by leading Great War historian and Haig biographer, Professor Gary Sheffield.

• Discover the iconic sites associated with the

battle - Newfoundland Memorial Park, Thiepval, Mametz Wood, Delville Wood and Pozières.

Calais

5 Days Mon 5th - Fri 9th September, 2016 £1250 incl. ferry

£130 single supp Arras

Tour Code: QBS16A Gommecourt The Somme

Tour Manager

Courcelette Morval Fricourt Riqueval

Return Ferry (Club Class) Dover to Calais 4 nights in a 4* hotel in Arras

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme battlefields.

Day 3 | Grim Struggles The day begins with an examination of the successful Dawn Assault of 14th July, from Bazentin Ridge, including the surprisingly effective use of cavalry on that day.

We then examine the grim struggle for Delville Wood.

Moving to the New Zealand memorial, we review the NZ contribution to the 1916 Somme battle. At Guillemont Road cemetery we look at the heavy fighting that occurred here in August and September 1916.

Day 4 | Route of the First Tank We begin by concentrating on the operations of the Australians around on the Somme. We start at Pozières, visiting the site of ‘Gibraltar’, a German strongpoint taken on 23rd July 1916. On to Mouquet Farm, the location of fighting in August and September. The Canadians fought in these areas; we look at their contribution to the battle of Flers-Courcelette in September. Finally we trace the route of the first tank attack at Flers, on 15th September 1916.

Day 5 | Limit of the British Advance Our final day begins with a visit to Morval, before moving to the Newfoundland memorial near Gueudecourt, which marks the limit of the British advance in 1916. Moving just a few miles, but two years, to Riqueval, where the Hindenburg Line was broken in September 1918 by 46th Division. We then head back to the channel ports and onto London.

FRANCE

All meals included with wine at dinner

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BROTHERS IN ARMS The Spanish Civil War 80th Anniversary Tour The Battle for Spain - reaction, revolution and revenge...

T

he Spani sh Civ il War was a bitter conflict, which foreshadowed events to come in World War II. What started as a military coup against the democratically elected Spanish Republic in 1936 escalated as Franco’s Nationalist coalition drew support from Hitler and Mussolini.

The Republicans, a bewildering mix of socialists, communists, anarchists and the idealistic International Brigades, received support from Stalin. In order to ensure a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy, Spain has spent the last three decades trying to sweep its civil war under the carpet.

Our eight day tour begins in Toledo, where we retrace the Siege of the Alcazar - its relief exemplified both the clash of ideologies and the endurance of the opposing sides. Visit the Casa de Campo, in Madrid, where the Republicans halted a Nationalist offensive in November 1936. Discover Teruel, where one of the decisive battles of the war was fought over the course of the coldest winter of the century. Pay homage to Catalonia, the once staunch Republican stronghold, which found its identity repressed under Franco’s dictatorship.

Guide Jason Webster will be on hand to guide you through the complexities of the struggle, during this 80th Anniversary tour. Go further than the sites themselves, and explore the artists and poets - including Hemingway and Orwell - who followed their consciences to Spain to fight fascism…

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GUIDED BY Jason Webster is the author of a number of books on Spain, ranging from travel to history and crime fiction. He has written on numerous periods of Spanish history, from the Reconquista to the Spanish Civil War. He is a frequent contributor to The Guardian, The Observer, The Independent and The Sunday Times.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Siege of the Alcázar - a highly symbolic Nationalist victory - was fought here in Toledo, during the opening stages of the Civil War.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Madrid in the early afternoon and drive to Toledo for Jason’s introductory talk and dinner.

Day 2 | Toledo and the Siege of the Alcazar After breakfast, we explore Toledo, examining its legendary status in the Spanish Civil War. The Siege of the Alcazar and its relief exemplify both the clash of ideologies and the endurance of the opposing sides.

The remains of Sant Pere parish church, in Poble Vell, Corbera d’Ebre. The old town was almost completely destroyed during the Battle of the Ebro in 1938.

• Visit the major cities of Madrid, Barcelona and

Toledo as well as to lesser-known but important towns such as Teruel and Belchite.

Day 3 | Madrid: Hemingway, Gellhorn and Picasso This morning we travel to the city of Madrid. We have a walking tour of the city, visiting the Casa de Campo where the Republicans halted a Nationalist offensive in 1936.

After lunch we visit the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and see Picasso’s painting, ‘Guernica’.

Day 4 | Jarama and the International Brigades We head out of Madrid and learn about the Battle of Jarama, where Franco was unable to force a decisive

• View Picasso’s ‘Guernica’, perhaps the 20th century’s most famous painting.

• Led by Jason Webster, who has lived most of his

life in Spain and is the author of ‘Guerra! Living in the shadows of the Spanish Civil War’.

8 Days Sat 15th - Sat 22nd October, 2016 £2445 incl. flights

Valle de los Caidos

£195 single supp

Tour Code: QSC16A

Barcelona Alcaniz

Belchite

Toledo

Teruel

Madrid

The Battle of Teruel was fought in and around the city during the Civil War.

victory against the resistance of the International Brigades.

On to visit the Valle de los Caídos. This memorial to both Republican and Nationalist dead was built with the labour of political prisoners and is the burial place of Franco.

Day 5 | Teruel: the Darkest Hour We drive to the city of Teruel where one of the decisive battles of the war was fought between December 1937 and February 1938. Over the course of the coldest winter of the century some 140,000 people became casualties.

Day 6 | The Ruins of Belchite We head for the haunting ruins of Belchite, where we have a guided tour. The town was completely destroyed in the course of a failed Republican offensive against Zaragoza in the autumn of 1937 and the remnants of the town remain untouched, preserved as a memorial to those who died.

Day 7 | The Battle of the Ebro After breakfast, we drive to Corbera d’Ebre, visiting the excellent local museum and learning about the largest battle of the war - the Ebro - in which the Republic was decisively defeated. We drive to Barcelona this evening.

Day 8 | Homage to Catalonia In the morning, we have a walking tour of central Barcelona, exploring the city’s Civil War history. It was a Republican stronghold and Franco wreaked revenge on the area, repressing Catalan institutions and suppressing the language. Transfer to the airport for flights home.

SPAIN

Tour Manager Flights London to Madrid; Barcelona to London 7 nights in a 4* hotels in Toledo, Madrid, Teruel, Alcañiz and Barcelona All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

SECRET WAR The Resistance in Southern France The Maquis - a force to reckon with the German occupation...

D

ur ing the S econd Worl d War, some of the most beautiful areas of France became the focus of clandestine warfare. The French Resistance, along with British Special Operations Executive Agents, fought a secret war against the German army and the SS. Occasionally, this undercover struggle erupted into open conflict as the resistors took on the full might of the German army.

Take a tour through the stunning scenery of South West and South East France, visiting places associated with this struggle.

Stop at museums, safe houses and dropping zones. Visit the haunting Oradour-sur-Glane, a town whose entire population was murdered by the SS. Travel to the battlefield in Vercors where, in the wake of a Maquis uprising, large numbers of German troops were deployed in the biggest battle involving the French resistance in the war. We also spend time in the area of Chambon-sur-Lignon and hear the story of this remarkable commune, whose inhabitants hid hundreds of Jews from the Germans. Hear about more key personalities caught in the conflict and meet the indomitable Maquis veterans who fought against the Germans.

French Resistance expert, Martyn Cox, lives in France and has met and interviewed more than a hundred Second World War veterans. He will guide our full tour, alongside Liberal Democrat Peer Paddy Ashdown, who will join us in Vercors.

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GUIDED BY Martyn Cox is a historian who has filmed interviews with more than 120 British and French Second World War veterans.

Most of these had taken part in clandestine operations in support of wartime resistance in France, or had been in the resistance themselves.

GUIDED BY Paddy Ashdown is one of the country’s bestknown and respected political figures.

His book, ‘The Cruel Victory’ marking the 70th anniversary of the Vercors Tragedy in 1944, was published by HarperCollins in 2014.

Paddy is now working on a new book about the resistance in Bordeaux between 1942 and 1944.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Cahors Bridge in the South of France

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Toulouse and travel to Cahors. We visit the local Resistance museum and meet with Maquis veterans.

Day 2 | Brutality at the Hands of the SS In Brive-la-Gaillarde, we visit the Resistance museum. We continue to Tulle, scene of the brutal murder of 99 civilians at the hands of the SS. In Salon-la-Tour, we hear the remarkable story of SOE agent, Violette Szabo.

A view of the train station in Limoges

• Meet Maquis veterans who fought in this secret war.

• Travel through the stunning scenery of South

Day 3 | The Martyr Village We spend the morning at Oradour-sur-Glane, preserved in a ruined state as a memorial to those murdered by the SS in 1944. In the afternoon, we tour Limoges, including a trip to its Resistance museum.

Day 4 | The Allies’ Most Decorated Servicewoman We travel to Verneix, to view the headquarters of SOE agent Nancy Wake. In Melay, we visit the landing site where Jean Moulin flew into France.

West and South East France.

• Paddy Ashdown joins us as our guide around the Vercors region.

Melay

FRANCE Limoges

8 Days Wed 8th - Wed 15th June, 2016 £2495 incl. flights

Tulle

£250 single supp

Tour Code: QMA16A

Cahors

Day 6 | The Cruel Victory We spend the day in the Vercors in the company of Paddy Ashdown. We discuss the battle for Vassieux and visit the Musée de la Resistance in Vassieux-Vercors.

Day 7 | Resistance & Deportation We travel to Lyon, to visit the city’s Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, and the ‘Traboule’ area around Rue Imbert Colomes.

Chambon sur Lignon Vassieux-en-Vercors

“

Young, naive, unpractised in the use of arms, inexperienced in the terrors of war, they had come to the plateau out of a genuine sense of patriotism mixed with romance and adventure.”

Tour Manager Flights London to Toulouse; Lyon to London

Day 5 | The Safest Place in Europe for the Jews We explore in and around Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon, hearing the remarkable story of how this commune hid hundreds of Jews from the Vichy government and the Nazis. We meet Paddy Ashdown in Vercors this afternoon.

Day 8 | Reflections We continue our tour of Lyon, stopping at the Mémorial de Caluire, where Jean Moulin was arrested in 1943. In the afternoon, we head to Lyon airport for our return flight.

Lyon

Brive la Gaillarde

Interior of the church in Oradour - sur- Glane, site of a massacre by the Nazi SS

Toulouse

7 nights in 4* hotels in Cahors, Limoges, Chambon-sur-Lignon,Vercors & Lyon

Paddy Ashdown The Cruel Victory

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

CHURCHILL’S WARRIORS The Women of SOE Female agents in France - a less than civil service...

C

hurchill l aunched the SOE, the secretive Special Operations Executive, in June 1940. The mission? To “set Europe ablaze”. The first agent was dropped into France the next year, and over 400 would follow - 39 were women. From 1943 there was increasing demand for female agents to act as couriers and wireless transmitters in France, where their movement was less conspicuous than men’s.

Join us as we uncover some of the most effective female agents in occupied France - whose work was critically important to the war effort. Sufi Princess Noor Inayat Khan, provided Britain’s only wireless communications with Paris in 1944.

Discover where she was arrested, and visit Avenue Foch, Gestapo HQ, where she was interrogated before being sent to her death. Eileen Nearn also operated from Paris; her solitary death in 2010 made national headlines but her story is still not well known - we hope to right that on tour. Pearl Witherington initially served as a courier in Valençay, our last destination.

When her circuit leader was captured, she stepped up to command over 2,000 men.

The operations of resistance circuits in Europe are credited with shortening the War by at least six months. When, as a woman, Pearl Witherington was offered civil rather than military honours, she commented there had been nothing remotely ‘civil’ about her work...

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GUIDED BY Clare Mulley is the award-winning author of titles including ‘The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville’ She was presented with Poland’s national ‘Bene Merito’ honorary distinction in 2014.

A busy public speaker, she also blogs monthly and writes articles and reviews for publications such as History Today and The Spectator.

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Pont Neuf , Paris, where Eileen Nearne met her contact at the King Henri IV statue

ITINERARY Day 1 | London We meet in central London. Our tour begins at Kensal Green Cemetery, where we view Krystyna Skarbek’s grave and memorial plaque. We visit Noor Inayat Khan’s former home and memorial statue in Gordon Square Gardens. We continue to South Bank and the SOE memorial, and then Violette Szabo’s old house in Stockwell. In the evening we have an introductory lecture on the Women of SOE.

The SOE memorial on London’s South Bank, topped with a bust of Violette Szabo

• A tour focussing on the extraordinary exploits of the women of SOE, based in London and Paris.

Day 2 | Paris: Noor Inayat Khan We continue to Paris, arriving in the afternoon. We visit the Rue Erlanger, base of the Cinema network, and Grignon, where Noor Inayat Khan narrowly escaped capture. At the Rue de la Faisanderie, we see the apartment where Noor was finally arrested. Our final stop today is the infamous Gestapo Headquarters on Avenue Foch.

Day 3 | Paris: Eileen Nearn We travel to Pont Neuf and go to the former Gestapo

• Led by Clare Mulley, award-winning historian and biographer of Krystyna Skarbek.

• Visit safe houses, museums, drop zones and

Gestapo prisons and hear the incredible stories of Krystyna Skarbek,Violette Szabo, Noor Inayat Khan, Eileen Nearn and Pearl Witherington.

London

Kensal Green Roman Catholic cemetery where Krystyna Skarbek was laid to rest

headquarters at 11 rue des Saussaies. We travel to Valençay in the late afternoon, where we enjoy an evening lecture.

Day 4 | Valençay: Pearl Witherington We visit Valençay SOE Memorial, dedicated to the SOE agents who died in France. We travel to Tendu, to examine the parachute site where Pearl Witherington was dropped to serve as a courier in September 1943. We also visit Chateau de Souches, the network Headquarters.

Day 5 | Valencay - Paris - London We explore the sites associated with the Maquis, who were commanded by Pearl Witherington. We return to Paris and then catch our Eurostar train back to London.

ENGLAND

5 Days Thu 29th September - Mon 3rd October, 2016 £1495 incl. train

£205 single supp

Tour Code: QCH16A

Paris

“

FRANCE

In the high ranges of Secret Service work the actual facts in many cases were in every respect equal to the most fantastic inventions of romance and melodrama.”

Tour Manager Return Eurostar London to Paris 4 nights in 4* hotels in London, Paris and Valençay

Valencay

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Tendu

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NEW

WAR & WINE Bordeaux in the Second World War A mouth-watering combination of history and fine wine...

S

ome of France’s f ine st v ine y ard s are in Bordeaux and Cognac. They have always produced delicious wines, but the four years of Nazi occupation in France placed the legendary vines under threat. There was no manpower to tend the vines and French cellar stocks were ransacked by the Germans. Each year of the occupation saw 320 million bottles of French wine find their way to Germany.

Join us as we uncover the story of how French winegrowers fought a game of cat and mouse against the Nazis - determined to preserve their great vineyards right up until the day of liberation. Enjoy a wonderful tasting experience at the Quai des Chartrons, the 18th century heart of the Bordeaux wine trade and visit its museum. Discover the story of Baron Philippe de Rothschild - the vineyard owner whose wife, Elisabeth Pelletier de Chambure, was killed in a concentration camp. Explore Château Smith-Haut Lafitte in the Graves appellation - dating back to the 14th century, it served as the base for Bordeaux Weinführer Heinz Bömers. Enjoy a final stop at the former home of French philosopher, Montesquieu requisitioned by the Germans during the Occupation.

Travel alongside historian and oenophile Giles MacDonogh and explore both sites of conflict. Discover some great French vineyards, on our tour designed to quench more than just your thirst for knowledge...

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GUIDED BY Giles MacDonogh is a British historian and journalist. He is acknowledged as being one of the foremost authorities on German history of the Nazi period. He wrote for the Financial Times for 25 years where he covered food and drink and is a regular contributor to The Guardian, The Times and The Spectator.

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Château Margaux

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Bordeaux and enjoy an introductory lecture.

Day 2 | Bordeaux We visit Quai des Chartrons, the home of Eschenauer and Schröder et Schÿler, firms that traded with the Germans during the Occupation. In Médoc, we visit Château Chasse Spleen, and enjoy a tasting of their excellent wines.

Château Pichon Baron where many refugees fled to escape Allied bombing during the Second World War

• A tour that combines the twin pleasures of history and fine wine.

• Tastings at Mouton Rothschild, Leoville Barton

Day 3 | Cockleshell Heroes We spend the day visiting sites associated with the Cockleshell heroes, a group of Allied canoeists who tried to destroy German shipping in Bordeaux during the Occupation. We also stop at the Bordeaux U-boat pens.

Day 5 | Rothschild and the Free French We drive to Château Mouton-Rothschild and visit its museum. During the war Mouton was seized and its Jewish owner, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, joined de Gaulle in London. We also visit Château Leoville Barton, whose owner Ronald Barton fought for the Free French.

Day 4 | Kirwan & Pichon Baron We visit Château Kirwan near Margaux this morning. We explore the wonderful gardens and enjoy a tasting. In the afternoon, we visit the stunning Pichon Baron and hear about the refugees who fled here to escape Allied bombing.

Day 6 | Cognac and the Loire We visit Hennessy Cognac. Maurice Hennessy is credited with saving the precious stocks to blend cognac. Gustav Klaebisch was the Weinführer for Cognac and exported over 26 million bottles to Germany during the war.

and many others.

Day 7 | A Medieval Fortress In the morning, we visit Château de La Brède, medieval fortress and former home to the French philosopher, Montesquieu. In the afternoon, we visit Château SmithHaut Lafitte, a vineyard originating from the 14th century.

We explore the property and enjoy a tasting here before our return flights home.

• Led by historian and oenophile Giles MacDonogh

who tells stories of heroic French resistance while introducing fine French wines.

7 Days Sun 5th - Sat 11th June, 2016 £2495 incl. flights

Château Chasse Spleen

Cognac

Royan

FRANCE

£360 single supp

Tour Code: QWW16A

Tour Manager

Bordeaux

“

Return Flights London to Bordeaux

Wine is bottled poetry.”

6 nights in 4* hotels in Bordeaux & Cognac

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

All meals included with wine at dinner

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THE FACE OF EVIL Rise and Fall of the Third Reich From its birth in the beer halls to the Third Reich’s demise...

T

he T hird Re i ch w a s pre s e nted as the salvation of a Germany exhausted by war, depression and everincreasing inflation. Instead, the country found itself plunged into a Second World War. The Reich would show itself to be Germany’s ‘Pandora’s box’ unleashing the Holocaust.

This most shocking act of evil would change not just modern Europe, but history as a whole.

Our nine day tour follows the story of Nazi Germany, beginning with the Party’s birth in the beer halls of Munich in 1919 and ending with the Third Reich’s demise, in the ruins of 1945 Berlin. Sobering visits include the first Nazi concentration camp at Dachau, the Munich Hofbrauhaus where Hitler unveiled the 25-point Nazi party programme, Albert Speer’s vast arenas built to hold the annual party rallies in Nuremberg and the courtroom where the surviving Nazi leaders were tried and condemned by the international Nuremberg tribunal for the atrocities they committed during the war. Our final destination is Berlin, where we visit the lakeside villa at Wannsee. Surrounded by luscious greenery, it is hard to fathom that this was the setting where the Holocaust was planned in chilling detail.

Adolf Hitler boasted that the Third Reich would last a thousand years. It lasted only twelve, but the catastrophic impact it had on Western civilisation would echo on forever…

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GUIDED BY Nigel Jones is an author and historian specialising in 20th century history. A print and broadcast journalist, he is a former editor of History Today and BBC History magazine.

He is the author of many books on modern history, including ‘A Brief History of the Birth of the Nazis’.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Hofbrauhaus brewery

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Munich, cradle of the Nazi movement. We have an introductory talk before dinner tonight.

Day 2 | From Beer Halls to Dachau - Nazi Bavaria We explore Dachau and its horrifying crematorium. In Munich, we stop at the Hofbräuhaus, its biggest beer hall.

Kehlsteinhaus

• Unique tour delving into the darkest episodes of

Day 3 | Hitler’s Retreat in the Bavarian Mountains We journey through the Bavarian Alps to Berchtesgaden.

We receive a guided tour of the Eagle’s Nest.

museum explaining the Rallies. We also visit Courtroom 600, in the Palace of Justice, scene of the Nazi regime’s final interrogation.

Day 4 | The Berghof and the SS We visit the remains of the Berghof. The Documentation Centre here chronicles the history of the Nazi movement.

Day 6 | To Berlin We visit Dora Concentration Camp on the way to Berlin, where prisoners excavated tunnels and produced heavy artillery.

Day 5 | Justice and Propaganda at Nuremberg We walk the Nuremberg Rally grounds, and visit the

German history.

• From Munich beer halls to the Nuremberg trials - a complete account of the rise and fall of Nazi Germany.

• Opulent sites of the Nazi leadership at Wannsee

£2450 incl. flights

£160 single supp

Tour Code: QFE16A

Dora

GERMANY

Day 9 | Reflection We take a final walking tour through Berlin, ending at the site of Hitler’s Bunker. We then catch our flights home.

Nuremburg

Tour Manager Flights London to Munich; Berlin to London 8 nights in 4* hotels in Munich, Berchtesgaden, Nuremburg and Berlin

Day 7 | War Crimes at Wannsee We tour the museum at the lakeside villa of Wannsee.

Returning to Berlin, we visit the Topography of Terror exhibition, which details Nazi crimes throughout Europe.

Day 8 | German Resistance in Berlin We discover Gesundbrunnen air raid shelter and explore the Humboldthain Flak Tower. We end the day at the Museum of German Resistance.

Berlin

and the Eagle’s Nest, contrasted with the horrors of Dachau and Dora.

9 Days Sat 11th - Sat 19th June, 2016

Entrance to Dachau

Dachau

AUSTRIA

Munich

Berghof

Berchtesgaden

All meals included with wine at dinner

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“

The totalitarian attempt at global conquest and total domination has been the destructive way out of all impasses. Its victory may coincide with the destruction of humanity.”

HANNAH ARENDT The Banality of Evil

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NEW

OPERATION SEA LION The Nazi Invasion of Britain, 1940 Jackboots across Kent - a counterfactual history tour...

O

pe rati on S ea Li on was the projected German invasion of England in 1940. Fresh from the destruction of France, in the summer of 1940 Nazi forces seemed poised to cross the Channel and seal their victory in the West. In September 1940, the RAF’s victory in the Battle of Britain, and the Royal Navy’s powerful and undefeated status, saw Hitler indefinitely postpone the invasion. He turned his eyes instead to the Soviet Union.

Would Sea Lion have worked? The evidence suggests that Hitler was deadly serious about making the attempt to invade Britain. While we can never have a definitive answer, in 1974 a high level kriegspiel (map wargame) was produced. Using data from 1940 and involving senior British and German officers, it demonstrated that in all probability the invasion would have failed. Our tour is based on the findings of the 1974 exercise.

At a series of locations in Kent - the centre of the proposed battle - we examine the actions that were fought in an alternate 1940. We view the invasion through the eyes of those at the very top – Hitler and Churchill, Goering and General Brooke.

We also consider the impact on infantrymen on the front line and Home Guards defending the coast; British and German pilots and sailors; and German paratroopers and panzer crews who survived the perilous journey across the Channel only to face those who would never surrender...

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GUIDED BY Professor Gary Sheffield is is one of the UK’s leading authorities on military history.

He is Vice-President of the Western Front Association and Professor of War Studies at Wolverhampton University.

Professor Sheffield has made a particular study of Operation Sea Lion.

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The Royal Military Canal - which the Army would have needed to cross with no means of doing so.

ITINERARY Day 1 | The Initial Response We arrive in Hythe, which in 1940 would have been the aiming point for the German transport aircraft carrying paratroopers. After lunch, we examine the initial German amphibious landing on the beach at Hythe on 22nd September 1940. From the Royal Military Canal, we discuss the initial British response to the invasion. Moving a short distance inland, we look at the operations of German Parachutists.

Winston Churchill’s home in Chartwell, Kent.

• Unique ‘what if’ history tour, looking at an alternative 1940 version of events.

• Based in Kent, the ‘Garden of England’, at the epicentre of the proposed Nazi Invasion.

Day 2 | The Clandestine War Our second day begins at the site of RAF Lympne, where a German Division was flown in on 23 September; this triggered heavy fighting. At Saltwood Castle, we look at the counterattack mounted by the British, and then, from a secret location, we will look at the clandestine war: the role of the ‘Auxiliary Units’, stay-behind sabotage parties that would have formed the nucleus of the British Resistance.

From Folkestone, captured by the Germans but wrecked in heavy fighting, we consider the desperate attempt of the invaders to bring in reinforcements, and the critical

• Led by Professor Gary Sheffield, renowned

military historian and an expert on Operation Sea Lion.

London

The White Cliffs of Dover.

problem of logistics. In our last visit of the day, in the Dover area, looking out across the Channel, we examine the war at sea, focussing on the decisive role of the Royal Navy in ensuring the failure of Operation Sea Lion.

Day 3 | The ‘Real’ Battle of Britain We begin with a visit to RAF Hawkinge, which played a critical role both in our fictitious 1940 campaign and the ‘real’ Battle of Britain, to consider the role of airpower during Sea Lion. There will then be an opportunity to explore the Battle of Britain Museum. This is followed by an examination of what life would have been like for civilians caught up in the war zone in 1940, and under long-term Nazi occupation. We enjoy a session at a country pub, to review Operation Sea Lion, followed by lunch. In the afternoon, we visit Churchill’s home, Chartwell, and hear about his role in 1940, before returning to London.

3 Days Thu 5th - Sat 7th May, 2016 Dover

£795

incl. flights

£150 single supp

Tour Code: QSE16A

ENGLAND

Hythe

Folkestone

Tour Manager 2 nights in a 4* hotel in Hythe

“

The aim of this operation is to eliminate the English mother country as a base from which the war against Germany can be continued, and, if it should be necessary, to occupy it completely.”

ADOLF HITLER 2nd July, 1940

All meals included with wine at dinner

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NO GREATER COURAGE Russia & the Great Patriotic War The three battles that marked the turning point of the Second World War...

I

n the autumn and w inte r of 1942, Hitler’s forces were held, besieged and defeated in the city that bore Stalin’s name. Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles the world had ever seen. The 199 day battle was responsible for the loss of nearly two million lives. Signalling the beginning of the end of the Third Reich, this became perhaps the single most important engagement of World War II. During our tour, historian Michael Jones provides fascinating insight into the nature of the fighting on the Eastern Front.

Explore the magnificent Moscow Kremlin, where Stalin announced his plans for a general spring counter-offensive in January 1942. Examine the battlefield around Prokhorovka, site of one of the largest tank battles ever fought. Travel to Mamayev Hill, home to an immense memorial; the Volga River Crossing, Lyudnikov’s Island, defended for 40 days and nights without relief; and the final headquarters of German Commander, von Paulus - during a full day examining the Stalingrad battle. Our final day is spent tracing the history of Russian aviation at the Monino Military Aircraft museum.

Stalingrad, Moscow and Kursk were the definitive turning points of the Second World War in the East. Before those three battles, the Red Army had scarcely had a victory. After them, it would scarcely have a defeat…

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GUIDED BY Dr Michael Jones is an experienced military historian. He has held acdemic roles at Bristol University and Glasgow University.

He has written several books about the Second World War. His particular interest is in battle psychology, and the role of morale and inspirational leadership in situations of military crisis.

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The White Church on the Volga River.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We enjoy an introductory lecture upon arrival in Moscow.

Day 2 | Great Patriotic War We visit the superb War Museum on Poklonnaya Hill, and explore the magnificent Moscow Kremlin in the afternoon.

Day 3 | Communist Moscow We spend the morning touring central Moscow. We stop at GUM department store, Lubyanka Square and Red Square.

Soviet War Memorial at Mamayev Kurgan.

• Stalingrad, Moscow and Kursk: epic battles which halted the inexorable German advance and changed the course of history.

• Cross the Russian front by train and plane; from

Day 4 | Total War - The Battle for Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad is often considered a turning point of World War Two in Europe. We visit the famous sites of the city, including the immense Mamayev Hill Memorial.

Day 5 | The Volga - Not One Step Back We discover where Red Army recruits crossed the Volga, and pass by the Mother Russia monument and Factory District along the way. Enjoy some free time here this afternoon.

Red Square to the Volga.

Moscow

Kublinka

10 Days Sat 17th - Mon 26th September, 2016 £2995 incl. flights

Day 6 | The Defence of Moscow We focus on Moscow - visiting Kubinka Tank Museum and the Defence of Moscow Museum.

Day 7 | Kursk - The Last Line of Defence We explore Kursk today. The Soviets regained almost 2000km of territory here when Stalin received intelligence of Hitler’s plans from British ‘Enigma’ code-breakers.

Day 8 | Thus Far and No Further at Prokhorovka We follow the ‘death ride’ of the beleaguered Fourth Panzer Army to Jakovlevo. We view the Battlefield Museum and monument at Prokhorovka.

Day 9 | Military Aircraft Museum We enjoy a tour of the Monino Military Aircraft museum.

• Military Historian Michael Jones introduces the

tactics, strategy, and the terrible human sacrifice which assured Russian victory in the East.

Moscow Kremlin, overlooking the Moskva River.

Day 10 | Reflection We arrive in Moscow early, and enjoy some free time before transferring to the airport for our flights home.

RUSSIA

£395 single supp

Tour Code: QEF16A

Tour Manager

“

Kursk Prokhorovka Jakovlevo

The snow filled the air with a soft grey-blue mist, softening the wind and gunfire... it was as though flakes of silence were falling on the still Volga, on the dead city.”

Return Flights London to Moscow 9 nights in 4* hotels in Moscow, Volvograd & Kursk

UKRAINE

VASILY GROSMAN Life and Fate

Volgograd

All meals included with wine at dinner

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CITY OF SPIES Cold War Berlin The defining city of the Cold War...

T

he re are fe w c iti e s that have as rich a history as Berlin. There are surely none as important in the period that followed the Second World War. For forty years, Berlin was the epicentre of world politics - from the Airlift of 1948 to the Berlin Wall’s historic demise a generation ago. Divided between East and West, communist dictatorship and capitalist democracy - it was the knife-edge upon which the world stood, where the confrontation of the Cold War was most visibly played out.

Away from the grand politics, life in Berlin, on both sides of the divide, was defined by the hated Berlin Wall. Erected in 1961, the Wall split the city, sealing off West Berlin as an island in a hostile sea, and proving a formidable and deadly obstacle for the hundreds of East Berliners who attempted to cross it. Our four-day tour tells the story of Berlin and its people during this fascinating period. Travelling alongside expert guide Roger Moorhouse, you will discover the city’s iconic sites and examine illuminating artefacts in Berlin’s excellent new museums. Travel to Checkpoint Charlie; take a trip in a Trabant; and enjoy a guided tour of Tempelhof Aiport. We also enjoy dinner 200m up in the Alexanderplatz TV tower.

Berlin was always the centrepiece of the Cold War and very nearly the front line of real combat. A city truly divided...

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GUIDED BY Roger Moorhouse is an historian specialising in the history of the Second World War. The author of many works on the 19391945 war in Europe, his book ‘Berlin at War’ was shortlisted for the prestigious Hessell-Tiltman Prize in 2011.

Roger is a regular contributor to History Today and BBC History magazine.

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Fountains in front of St Mary’s church, Alexanderplatz, Berlin

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Berlin and head to the Allied Museum in the western suburbs. This fascinating museum charts the EastWest confrontation and Berlin’s crucial role. We visit the ‘Bridge of Spies’, which took its name from shadowy spyswaps during the Cold War. We return to the city to check into our hotel before an introductory talk and dinner.

View over the Glienicke Bridge or the ‘Bridge of Spies’, Potsdam. The bridge once spanned the border between the American Zone and the GDR

Day 2 | The Secret Police We spend the day examining what life was like for ordinary East Berliners. In the morning we visit the Stasi museum, which tells the story of the GDR’s infamous secret police. After lunch, we move on to the GDR museum, where the exhibits let visitors experience everyday life under the ‘real existing socialism’ of East Germany. We also enjoy a tour of central Berlin in the iconic East German Trabants.

• Guided tour of Berlin city centre in iconic East German Trabants.

• Dinner at the top of Alexanderplatz TV tower, focal point of the former GDR.

• Private tour of Tempelhof Airport, the hub of the

Day 3 | Ghost Stations This morning we travel to the Berlin Wall Memorial and Museum at Bernauer Strasse in the north of the city.

We see a preserved section of the original Berlin Wall, along with its many associated memorials. We also visit Nordbahnhof S-Bahn station, one of the so-called ‘Ghost Stations’ that straddled East and West Berlin. The stations were once heavily guarded to prevent escapes. After lunch we return for a guided walk along the line of the wall, taking in some of its most famous and infamous locations.

The evening is spent visiting Alexanderplatz, where we will have dinner 200 metres above the streets of Berlin!

Day 4 | Reflections We spend the morning of our final day in Berlin visiting two locations that are synonymous with the West’s efforts to maintain West Berlin during the Cold War: the Town Hall in Schöneberg and the iconic, now disused, Tempelhof Airport. Our guided tour will allow us a rare glimpse inside this vast, historic building. After lunch, we have some free time in the afternoon before catching an evening flight back to London.

Berlin Airlift.

4 Days Fri 16th - Mon 19th September, 2016 £1495 incl. flights

£210 single supp

Tour Code: QCS16A

“

Tour Manager

All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner.”

Return Flights London to Berlin 3 nights in a 4* hotel in Berlin Berlin skyline.

All meals included with wine at dinner

01722 713820

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JOHN F KENNEDY 26th June, 1963

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BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN Post-War Eastern Europe Rebellion and espionage on both sides of Europe’s invisible dividing line...

T

he Iron Cur tain - separated the capitalist west from the communist east - scarring Europe for two generations. Communism faced its most profound challenges as native reformist movements sought to loosen and undermine Soviet control during the Hungarian Rising of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968. The people of Budapest and Prague learned the hard way that Soviet power was to be maintained by brute force. Vienna, meanwhile, found a middle way of neutrality and became a hotbed of espionage…

Our tour takes place in three of Central Europe’s most beautiful and historic capitals – Budapest, Vienna and Prague. Between them, they straddled the Iron Curtain and provided the backdrop for some of the most iconic moments in the Cold War. Explore Heroes Square, the House of Terror museum, and the Imre Nagy Memorial - the Budapest sites connected with the 1956 Rising. On the outskirts of Vienna, visit Belvedere Palace, where the Austrian State Treaty was signed in 1955. During our time in Prague we discover Wenceslas Square, one of the focal points of the struggle against communist rule. It is also the location of a memorial to Jan Palach, one of the Prague Spring martyrs.

Travel alongside historian Roger Moorhouse and take a tour through the entirety of the Cold War - right up to the moment it was finally consigned to history…

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GUIDED BY Roger Moorhouse is an historian specialising in the history of the Second World War. The author of many works on the 19391945 war in Europe, his book ‘Berlin at War’ was shortlisted for the prestigious Hessell-Tiltman Prize in 2011.

Roger is a regular contributor to History Today and BBC History magazine.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Hungarian Parliament.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Introduction We arrive in Budapest and enjoy a walking tour of the city.

Day 2 | Heroes Square We explore Budapest sites connected with the 1956 Rising, including Heroes Square. We also visit Bem Memorial, where the rising began, and Csepel Island, where Hungarian fighters made their last stand.

Day 3 | A Pan-European Picnic We visit Memento Park, where many statues of the communist era are displayed. We travel to Sopron via the Andau Bridge on the Austro-Hungary border and see the site of the famous 1989 ‘Pan-European Picnic’ protest.

The stunning city of Budapest .

• Explore some of the key cities behind the Iron Curtain: Prague,Vienna and Budapest.

• Visit iconic sites of the Cold War: Wenceslas

Day 4 | The Centre of the Black Market We make our way to Vienna to enjoy a walking tour of the city. We stop at the office of the Allied Council on former Stalin Square, the centres of the black market, the military hotels of the Allies, and the Russian Monument.

• Hear about a world of spies, secret police, dissidents and revolutionaries.

Tour Code: QIC16A

Tour Manager

GERMANY Prague

CZECH

REPUBLIC

Flights London to Budapest; Prague to London 7 nights in 4* hotels in Budapest,Vienna & Prague

Day 6 | Struggles in Old Town Prague We make our way to Prague and enjoy a walking tour of the city - stopping in the Old Town, at Charles Bridge and Hracany Castle. We also visit Wenceslas Square, one of the focal points of the struggle against communist rule.

Day 8 | Reflections We have free time in Prague in the morning, before our afternoon flights home.

8 Days Sat 11th - Sat 18th June, 2016 £270 single supp

Day 5 | Tracing the Third Man We travel to Prater Park, made famous by ‘The Third Man’.

In the afternoon, we visit the Belvedere Palace on Vienna’s outskirts, where the Austrian State Treaty was signed in 1955, ending foreign occupation of Austria.

Day 7 | Communist Prague We discover the site of a former Cold War nuclear bunker, Viktov Hill and the Gottwald Mausoleum, iconic sites of Communist Prague, with spectacular views of the city.

Square in Prague, Prater Park in Vienna, and Heroes Square in Budapest.

£2375 incl. flights

The Belvedere historic building complex in Vienna.

Vienna Sopron

AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

Budapest

All meals included with wine at dinner

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“

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an “Iron Curtain” has descended across the continent.”

WINSTON CHURCHILL 5th March, 1946

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LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE The Vietnam War No country here but the war...

E

x amine the Vi e t nam War - travelling South to North across the country. The American War - as it’s known in Vietnam - pitted what appeared to be ludicrously mismatched opponents against each other in the jungles of South-East Asia. The protracted and bloody conflict stole the lives of more than 3 million people.

Forty years after the fall of Saigon we re-examine the conflict, travelling from Ho Chi Minh city to Hanoi. We consider the plight and struggles of the fighters on both sides of this conflict, the outcome of which shocked the world and still casts a shadow over American foreign and military policy to this day. We visit Ho Chi Minh’s home, to see where he used just two old telephones to direct the war in the South. Stay at the 5-star Rex Hotel, the nerve centre for the American PR effort during the war. Travel with Expert Guide John Giannini, an American photo journalist and filmmaker who served two tours in Vietnam, and who brings his own truly personal insight of the war to our tour. Away from the tragedies and atrocities of the past, Vietnam is still an exotic and utterly compelling land. The breathtaking natural beauty we find will stay with you forever.

Films have made the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Agent Orange, napalm and the Viet Cong, household names. But how far does the tinted lens of Hollywood reflect the truth of the war?

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GUIDED BY John Giannini is an photo journalist and filmmaker with more than forty years of experience.

He began his career as a US Army combat photographer and served two tours in Vietnam. He has covered major stories all over the world for newspapers including The New York Times.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Ha Long Bay

ITINERARY Day 1 & 2 | Saigon - Propaganda at the Rex We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on Day 2.

Day 3 | Old Saigon We tour the sites of Old Saigon, including the Presidential Palace and Museum.

Day 4 | US Base Camp and the Viet Cong We travel to Tay Ninh and the Viet Cong Tunnel Complex.

Day 5 | Da Nang We fly to Da Nang and visit the Cham Museum to discover more about Vietnam’s long history and culture.

Marble Mountain cave, Da Nang.

Day 6 | Hoi An We visit China Beach and the Marble Mountain Caves. of the Vietnam War, over forty years after the fall of Saigon.

• Key sites of both sides of the conflict: tunnels of

Hanoi

Day 11 | Reflections We depart from Hanoi for home.

mixed with ancient temples.

£2995 incl. flights

Dong Ha Khe Sanh

Hue

Da Nang

£290 single supp

Hoi An

“

Tour Code: QVW16A

If only I had wings to fly back to our beautiful house on Lo Duc Street, to eat with Dad, Mum, and my siblings, one simple meal with watercress and one night’s sleep under the old cotton blanket. Last night, I dreamed of Peace.”

Tour Manager Flights London to Ho Chi Minh; Hanoi to London 10 nights in 4* hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hue & Hanoi

Day 8 | The Tet Offensive and the War at Home We tour the Citadel, in the imperial city of Hue, the scene of a brutal battle during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Day 10 | A Day of Rest in Hanoi Our penultimate day will be spent on Ha Long Bay.

• View Vietnam past and present: modern cities

11 Days Fri 15th - Mon 25th April, 2016

Day 7 | The Ho Chi Minh Trail We travel to Dong Ha and the Project Renew Information Centre. We then continue along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Day 9 | Hanoi We tour Hanoi, visiting Ho Chi Minh’s home and tomb.

Finally, we tour the infamous Hoa Lo Prison.

• Travel from South to North, charting the course

the Viet Cong, the route of the Ho Chi Minh Trail and American bases at Saigon and in rural Vietnam.

Hoi An, Vietnam.

Tay Ninh

VIETNAM

DANG THUY TRAM The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram

Ho Chi Minh

All meals included with wine at dinner

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info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

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NEW

RED HEAT The Cuban Revolution Exploring the island of rum, rousing rhythms and revolution...

O

n 26th July 1953, C ommuni st rebel s attacked the Moncada army barracks. Despite failing, the mission launched the revolution that brought Castro to power. Expert Guide and author Alex von Tunzelmann will join you on tour, discussing everything from the Missile Crisis to the brand of cigars favoured by Castro and JFK. Visit key sites of the Cuban Revolution and Caribbean history.

See the bullet holes left behind by Che Guevara in the main square of Santa Clara. Bask on the white sands and swim in the turquoise waters of the Bay of Pigs, where CIA frogmen and Cuban political exiles mounted the disastrous invasion in 1961. Outside of politics, Cuba’s rousing rhythms, luscious landscapes and loquacious locals have made it a desirable destination for lovers of music, food, history and culture alike!

Tour the vivid, sensational World Heritage sites of Trinidad and Havana. Dance the night away in the Buena Vista Social Club, and raise a toast to Cuba resident Ernest Hemingway in his favourite cocktail bar.

Join us and follow in the footsteps of Fidel Castro, who is one of the most divisive figures in history. Are his detractors right to dismiss him as a tyrannical dictator responsible for suppressing freedom of expression, association, movement and the press? Is there any truth to his supporters, claims that he is a socialist pioneer?

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GUIDED BY Alex von Tunzelmann is a historian and writer who has worked as a researcher on books for authors including Jeremy Paxman, and John Kay. Her book ‘Red Heat: Conspiracy, Murder and the Cold War in the Caribbean’ was published in 2011 to wide acclaim. She writes the weekly Guardian column ‘Reel history’ and has written for The New York Times.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

The Escambray Mountains in central Cuba.

ITINERARY Day 1 | Havana We arrive in Havana.

Day 2 | Santa Clara More than 2,900 resistors were taken prisoner during the five-day battle of Santa Clara, where we stop today.

We visit the Che Guevara Mausoleum which houses the remains of the executed Marxist revolutionary. An eternal flame, lit by Fidel Castro, marks the grave at the site.

Day 3 | Trinidad Today we travel through the picturesque Sierra del Escambray Mountains to Trinidad, discussing pre-1950 US and Cuban history during our journey.

Old town Trinidad.

• From the Bay of Pigs to Old Havana - trace the

history of the guerrilla revolution through iconic sites and breathtaking landscapes.

Day 4 | Cienfuegos We explore the Sierra del Escambray before making our way to Cienfuegos, another beautiful colonial town.

Before we sit down to dinner, we discuss the Kennedys’ involvement in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion.

• Travel with expert guide and author of “Red

Heat: Conspiracy, Murder & the Cold War in the Caribbean.”

• Stop for a drink in Ernest Hemingway’s favourite

£3295 incl. flights

Havana

Tour Manager

Day 6 | Old Havana We enjoy a morning at the Museum of the Revolution, then spend the afternoon strolling around Old Havana.

The day ends in Floridita, where Ernest Hemingway would always stop by when he was in town.

Day 7 | Partagas Tobacco Factory We tour the Partagas Tobacco Factory in the morning. The afternoon is free to explore Old Havana. We enjoy a final talk before dinner.

Santa Clara

£310 single supp

Tour Code: QRH16A

Day 5 | Bay of Pigs We make our way to the Bay of Pigs - Playa Giron. We visit Zapata swamp in the afternoon, where crocodiles and other fantastic wildlife can be found. On to Havana.

Day 8 | Farewell to Cuba On our last morning, we look around the Museo de Bellas Artes. We enjoy a farewell lunch before our departure in the afternoon, arriving in the UK on Day 9.

bar in Havana - the Floridita.

9 Days Mon 21st - Mon 29th November, 2016

Che Guevara’s Mausoleum.

Playa Giron

Cienfuegos

CUBA Trinidad

“

A revolution is not a bed of roses: it is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.”

Return Flights London to Havana 7 nights in hotels in Havana, Santa Clara, Trinidad and Cienfuegos

FIDEL CASTRO Havana, 1961

All meals included with wine at dinner

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info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

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2016 PRICED TOURS

BOOKING INFORMATION The following general information refers to bookings made with Andante Travels Ltd, trading as Andante Travels and Historical Trips. Andante Travels Ltd, of The Clock Tower, Unit 4 Oakridge Office Park, Southampton Road, Whaddon, Salisbury, SP5 3HT, is registered as a limited company no.

1969761. Please note that bookings with Historical Trips are accepted only in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in our full booking conditions, which can be found on our website or are available on request.

INSURANCE

It is a condition of booking that all travellers are covered by comprehensive travel insurance and do not travel against medical advice. You should organise it immediately when you book, to ensure you have cover against possible cancellation charges, medical treatment and repatriation. We will need to know the details of your policy 4 weeks before departure at the very latest.

DEPOSITS AND FINAL PAYMENT

A £300 deposit is required to reserve your place on any tour.

Balance payments will be requested 2 months before you depart and we will then send you practical information regarding the tour, flights, hotel and joining instructions.

CANCELLATION BY YOU

Cancellation charges payable to Historical Trips are calculated on time prior to departure as follows: Up to 56 days: Deposit* |55 - 41 days: 35% of tour cost 40 - 29 days: 55% of tour cost | 28 - 8 days: 75% of tour cost 7 days to date of departure: 100% of tour cost *plus any invoiced flight costs.

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CANCELLATION BY US

If we have to cancel your holiday before the date of departure, you will have the choice of taking an alternative holiday (and paying or receiving a refund/credit in respect of any price difference) or accepting a full refund of monies paid.

FINANCIAL PROTECTION

- Flight inclusive tours: we hold an Air Travel Organiser’s Licence issued by the CAA (ATOL No. 3552) which provides for our protection in the event of Andante Travel’s insolvency. The price of your air holiday packages includes the ATOL Protection Contribution (APC) we pay to the CAA. This charge is included in our advertised prices.

When you buy an ATOL protected flight or flight inclusive holiday from us you will receive an ATOL Certificate. This lists what is financially protected, where you can get information on what this means for you and who to contact if things go wrong.

Not all holiday or travel services offered and sold by us will be protected by the ATOL scheme as explained below.

- Tours without flights arranged by us: as a member of the Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT), Andante Travels has provided a bond to meet the requirements of the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992. In the event of insolvency, protection is provided for non-flight packages commencing in and returning to the UK and other non-flight packages excluding pre-arranged travel to and from your destination.

Please note that packages booked outside the UK are only protected when purchased directly with Andante Travels. In the above circumstances, if you have not yet travelled you may claim a refund, or if you have already travelled, you may claim repatriation to the starting point of your non-flight package.

info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

AITO QUALITY CHARTER

We are a member of the Association of Independent Tour Operators. The Association represents Britain’s leading independent tour operators and encourages high standards of quality and service. We abide by the Association’s Code of Conduct and adhere to the AITO Quality Charter which can be viewed on www.aito.com. Visit the website to find out more about the Association or call 020 8744 9280.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

We include as much as possible in the tour price: • Expert Guide Lecturer • Tour Manager (may not be included on tours with 10 participants or less) • Scheduled flights unless otherwise stated • Accommodation • Meals with water, and wine where stated; • Tips, entrance to all sites in the programme

COMMITTED TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

We work hard to ensure our visits have a positive impact on the places we visit and are committed to sustainable tourism.

HOW TO BOOK Booking with Historical Trips is a secure and simple process. You can book by phone, email or book your place online at www.historicaltrips.com.

Once you have notified us of which tour (or tours) you would like to book, we will require a £300 deposit, payable by debit or credit card to secure your place (there is a 2.5% surcharge for credit cards). We also take some personal details in order to confirm your place on the tour.

We request balance payments 2 months before you depart and we then send you practical information regarding your tour, flights, hotel and joining instructions.

To book, or if you have any questions about any of our tours please Phone - 01722 713820 Email - info@historicaltrips.com Website - www.historicaltrips.com

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS? Q What level of knowledge will I need?

Does it matter if I’m not an expert?

It doesn’t matter if you’re an amateur historian, well on your way to your PhD, or just a little bit curious: there’s a place for everyone on a Historical Trips tour.

Q What’s included in the price of the trip?

Our trips are All-Inclusive. So you don’t need to pay extra for any meals, drinks (including wine with dinner), 4* hotel stays, entry fees or tips. Depending on the trip you choose, the flights can be included too.

Q Do you welcome single travellers?

Of course! There’s usually an even mix of single travellers and couples on our tours. Historical Trips are convivial experiences, so you don’t have to be alone (unless you want to be).

Q Do I have to do everything listed in the tour’s itinerary?

Not unless you want to. Nothing is compulsory.

If you would rather spend a day relaxing or doing other things, that’s fine with us.

Q Can visits to places of personal

significance be included in your tours?

As our groups are small, more often than not we can create the time to do this. All we ask is that you let us know in advance if there’s somewhere you’d like included.

Q Are any cultural elements included in your tours?

Yes! We think the right cultural elements can turn great tours into amazing ones. Our 2016 tours include visits to vineyards, art galleries and game reserves.

You could even enjoy a camel trek through the desert.

“

Everything about this tour was enjoyable. The sites, the atmosphere, the welcoming nature of the hotel owners, the company and group, the tour managers, and the expert historian.”

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- GUEST | UK

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info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com

Q Are meals included in the tour price?

They are fully included, and often with wine at dinner.

Whenever we can, we also arrange special dinners or stop for drinks in sites connected to our tour...

Q What sort of hotels will we be staying in?

We mostly stay in 4* hotels, with some superb 3* or 5* hotels mixed in too. If possible, we also spend the night in historic sites. How does an evening in Hever Castle, childhood home of Anne Boleyn sound?

Q Where did the idea for Historical Trips come from?

Like a lot of great business ideas, it started in the pub.

Historical Trips Director Michael Ivey and historian Nigel Jones thought it would be a great opportunity to combine their love of both history and travel.

GET IN TOUCH If you’re interested in coming on tour, but still have some questions about the whole process, we’re here to help. Our staff are available to help you with any queries you may have, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

The Historical Trips Team is comprised of well-travelled historians, linguists and travel professionals. Allow us to introduce you to two of the team...

Michael Ivey, Director

Joe Shingles, Customer Care Manager

Michael read history at Oxford University. After a career in design and advertising, he co-founded Historical Trips, where he combines his loves of history and travel.

Email: mike@historicaltrips.com

Joe studied Law at Durham University. Over the past five years, he has planned and accompanied tours across Europe.

Email: joe@historicaltrips.com

“It is amazing how often the stories of the past - ruling classes driven by envy, greed and lust - have their exact parallels today.”

“The “roaring twenties” are my historical period. The end of the Great War sparked a real shift.

A world that had been black, brown and khaki suddenly became very colourful.”

01722 713820

Phone - 01722 713820 Email - info@historicaltrips.com Website - www.historicaltrips.com

We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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HISTORICAL

TRIPS

The Clock Tower, Unit 4 Oakridge Office Park, Southampton Road, Whaddon, Salisbury, SP5 3HT

Call: 01722 713820 • Email: info@historicaltrips.com • www.historicaltrips.com