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Spotlight on Madrid: Our spiritual roots
To me, Madrid means home. The spiritual roots of Hart Travel Partners trace back to Madrid, where my mother is from, where I still have many friends and family and where I first started to work as a guide almost 30 years ago.
One of the reasons I founded HTP was to provide unique opportunities for educators and students to experience cities such as Madrid that I have known and loved for decades. Beginning this month, we will be highlighting several popular destinations to which HTP operates faculty-led study abroad programs.
For me, there’s no better place to start than Madrid, a city that remains very close to my heart and always has been one of my favorite places in the world.
While Madrid may not instantly gratify with its beauty the same way that Paris or Barcelona might, Spain’s capital city has a special charm and personality that often reveals its beauty over time. You could say that it is an acquired taste, but it certainly does not take too long to acquire that taste.
The heart of the city emanates from the old city center with its stunning Puerta del Soland all the lively streets that lead from it. These bustling streets are full of restaurants, bars and shops. The whole city — in fact all of Spain — seemingly revolves around food and drink. You always will see people eating something. See, it’s simple to get a taste of the city.
When you visit Madrid with Hart Travel Partners, you too will enjoy the local flavors and eat the local fare, including tapas on Cuchilleros Street, cochinillo asado (right), delicious ham in the aptly named Museo del Jamón, or even something from an inexpensive menú del día in one of the hundreds of restaurants in the city. For a farewell dinner, we often take groups to Restaurante Botín, which specializes in delicious lamb pork and other delicacies. Founded in 1725, it also claims to be the oldest restaurant in the world.
Food, too, is just one of the many rewarding academic disciplines offered by the cultural strength of the city. HTP often incorporates an array of academic disciplines into various study abroad programs, such as:
Art — The famed Golden Triangle of Art, comprised of the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, is a trio of important museums located close together on the Paseo del Prado in the center of the city. Study the likes of Velázquez’s complex Las Meninas, Picasso’s powerful Guernica and works by Cézanne and van Gogh.
History — Madrid and the surrounding area has more than 2,000 years of visible history, from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age to present day. Our local experts bring that history alive whether it’s at the Palacio Real de Madrid or the Parque del Buen Retiro. A little farther out, towns such as Toledo with its Roman bridge, Moorish architecture and gothic cathedral, offer even more history lessons.
Business — As the third-largest city in the European Union, Madrid remains a thriving business hub on the global stage. For business students, we can plan visits to key companies such as Telefónica, one of the largest private telecommunications companies in the world, and Iveco, an industrial vehicle manufacturing company.
Food — Yes, food. Programs can include a typical tapas crawl, allowing students to sample a wide variety of flavors and food. Or for those a little more daring, try your hand at creating a Spanish dish with a cooking lesson.
While incorporating your academic disciplines into a program, we also always add cultural context to the course being taught, providing groups with a real feel for the city. To help facilitate that, our groups always stay at hotels in the city center. In Madrid, that means amazing locales such as Gran Via, Plaza de España and Puerta de Toledo.
Because of its central location, there also are wonderful excursions that can be taken from Madrid, including to Segovia (right), Toledo or El Escorial to name just a few. These very easily can be done on public transportation, helping to keep the costs down for a faculty-led program. Also, Madrid can be incorporated nicely in a longer itinerary around Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Córdoba) and also the rest of Europe. There are many flights between Madrid and Paris, for example.
Every one of our groups that returns from an HTP program in Madrid raves about the city — its culture, its sights, its academics and, of course, its food. It always warms my heart to share the magic of Madrid with others, and to hear so many great things about my homeland.
I’d love to help you plan your next study abroad program to Madrid. Please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.or call me anytime to discuss incorporating my beloved Madrid into one of your faculty-led programs.
My good friend Father Tom Schaefer passed away a few days ago. He was Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at La Roche University in Pittsburgh. He also was parish priest at both St. John the Baptist and St. John Chrysostom in Pittsburgh.
A true champion of study abroad, Tom loved everything international, but he held a special place in his heart for France and Africa. I had the privilege of spending time with him in Paris, and his cultural knowledge of France and his fluency in French astounded me. On one occasion, we were leading a group of educators around Sorbonne University with the local custodian who spoke no English. Tom simultaneously translated what he said perfectly with no prior preparation. It was beautiful.
I hope that you are doing well and looking forward to travel prospects in the near future. That light at the end of the tunnel is shining a bit brighter!
I wanted to share with you some exciting things that have been keeping us busy over the past few months.
It seems that we have turned a corner and are heading in the right direction. There is light ahead of the long tunnel. Sometimes, it seems like it is just a flicker, but I feel positive that with the rollout of the vaccines worldwide, we will be traveling soon. We just need to wait a bit longer.
As we celebrate Thanksgiving and reflect on the incredible challenges that we have faced in this unprecedented year, we feel blessed and grateful. We are so thankful to work with amazing educators and travel professionals like you, who have proven to be wonderful and supportive partners.
Our thoughts are with you and all of our travelers and friends during this challenging and unprecedented time, as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads.
The safety and security of our travelers always has been our top priority, and we worked diligently to ensure the safe return of our traveling groups earlier this month. We are in close contact with our partners, friends and colleagues around the world, who also are confronting this outbreak.
'So grateful': Read what our travelers have to say
By far, the most rewarding part of my job at Hart Travel Partners is reading comments from faculty and students about our trips after the groups return from their faculty-led programs around the world.
Our faculty leaders consistently rave about their experiences, including the ease of our planning, our customized itineraries, the connections to their curriculum and especially our world-class travel directors. Students and faculty alike also appreciate the way our unique programs inspire their desire to learn and travel more.
Here is a sampling of what some of our recent travelers said about our programs the past few months:
Cultural immersion: Colorful sights and sounds of English football
Sitting in the second row of the stadium, my father and I were surrounded by 2,000 passionate football fans, engrossed in a nil-nil match and exposed to a colorful array of East London language.
It was Torquay United F.C. vs. Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. in the Dagenham district of East London. On my recent trip to London over New Year’s, I accompanied my dad to the match to watch Torquay, a lower-level club he’s supported since he was a young boy.
Now, this is not Liverpool, Manchester United or my beloved Arsenal; this is not the Premier League. This is not even the second or third level of English football. This is the fifth tier of the pyramid—known as the National League. I spent my formative years in London, my parents still live there and I visit London a few times a year, but I had never experienced a fifth-tier football match before.
It’s the sort of cultural immersion experience you don’t get by visiting only the usual tourist spots or by driving by in a sightseeing bus. It’s the sort of experience you have to see—and hear—to appreciate.
Subject spotlight: Understanding business on a global scale
As the world becomes more interconnected and the global economy grows, understanding business and cultures around the world becomes more and more important.
That’s why we have seen more of our faculty-led groups interested in business-themed programs in destinations around the world.
We have helped groups arrange tours, meetings and presentations at companies (both small and large) in destinations throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas. Some of our groups have visited Volkswagen offices in Shanghai, explored a family-run pasta factory in Italy (below), met a private restaurant owner in Havana, and even met with executives from the Serie B soccer league in Italy as part of a sports management program.
Subject spotlight: Infusing art into any travel program
Art abounds all around us, especially when we travel.
The most popular destination cities, of course, include the world’s most important and famous museums. Hart Travel Partners groups regularly explore the Louvre and Orsay in Paris, the Uffizi and Accademia in Florence, the Tate Modern and National Gallery in London, the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh in Amsterdam, a trio of splendid galleries in Madrid and a host of others.
But our groups do more than just visit these museums. Our faculty and students conduct lessons, attend seminars, participate in workshops and more. While we also regularly create specific art-focused travel programs, many of our groups will incorporate art museums on their trips, regardless of their curriculum or destinations.
Subject spotlight: Bringing history to life — even on the open seas
A fleet of Carthaginian ships, sailing to relieve a Roman blockade of the western coast of Sicily, halts near the Holy Island — the westernmost of the Aegadian Islands, now known as Marettimo.
Meanwhile, a fleet of Roman ships, spying Carthage’s movements, abandon their posts in the harbors of Drepana and Lilybaeum and anchor off the island of Aegusa — modern-day Favignana.
At daybreak, the Carthaginian navy sets sail for Sicily, only to be surprised and intercepted by a fleet of mast-less Roman ships. The leaner, more mobile Roman fleet rams the enemy ships, delivering a decisive defeat to the once superior Carthaginian navy.
The Battle of the Aegates in 241 B.C. was a major victory for the Roman Republic and effectively ended the First Punic War — more than 2,200 years ago.
It’s the sort of battle relegated to the history books, studied by naval historians and examined by professors and students for two millennia.
For a group of Hart Travel Partners students, though, it was a battle to be experienced — on the open seas.
Our faculty leaders rave not only about their experiences on a Hart Travel Partners program but also about our personalized service and how easy it is to lead a trip with us.
“In 15 years of doing student trips, this is one of the best trips I’ve ever had with students,” one faculty leader said after a recent HTP program. “Hart handled everything from A-Z. You can’t ask for better service.”
Even faculty leaders who’ve never before traveled abroad with students are amazed how easy it really is to travel with us.
Spotlight on Northern Italy: From villas to violins
I recently returned to the States from a rewarding research trip to Northern Italy with a local friend. What a lovely place!
Lake Como was the starting point for our trip, and it was simply spectacular. The lake reflects the surrounding Alps and stunning villas. Some villas are small and some are so huge that they’re more like palaces. Some of them look like they are unoccupied (with shutters drawn and no visible signs of life), but they all are impeccably maintained. And they all ooze hundreds of years of history, stories and aristocracy. It is a wonder to see them and imagine the centuries of history they have seen.
It’s been an amazing and busy year so far for Hart Travel Partners and our groups.
We've created wonderful travel programs around the world — from China to Europe, from Costa Rica to northern Africa. Along the way, our groups have enjoyed many unique educational — and exciting — experiences:
Our guarantee: Most direct flights within your budget
When you’re traveling, you want to get where you’re going as quickly and as easily as possible.
Especially on a faculty-led travel program, often with tight schedule constraints, you want to maximize your time exploring your destinations and actively engaging with your academic purpose. You don’t want to spend unnecessary time with extra flights just to get there — and back.
That’s why we always find the most direct flights within your budget.
When I was growing up in England and Spain, Belfast was not a city people traveled to unless they had to. The “Troubles” — with innocent lives lost amid the passionate tensions between the different factions of the Nationalists (Irish and Catholic) and the Loyalists (British and Protestant) — made the Northern Ireland capital a dangerous place to visit.
On my recent visit to Belfast, though, I was happy to see that — although the memories of recent events still are very much alive — the city is doing a fabulous job of “moving on.” And Belfast is booming! New hotels are popping up all over the place to meet a huge increase in demand for travelers. I can see why more and more travelers are flocking there with so much to see and do.
I believe where and what you eat when you’re traveling is important.
Especially on a faculty-led travel program, you want to immerse yourself completely in the local culture, and that definitely includes the local food. It’s important to be able to eat like a local and enjoy food that is typical to your destination. After an active day of learning, it’s important not only to enjoy a nourishing and satisfying meal but also to sample delicious dishes from your destination — whether it’s tapas in Spain, a curry in England or Peking duck in China.
That’s why we always serve meals with local fare that meet your budget.
Our guarantee: Central hotels that meet your budget
I believe where you stay when you’re traveling is important.
Especially on a faculty-led travel program, it matters that your hotel is in a good location so you can maximize your time, immerse yourself in the culture and get the most out of your travels. It matters that your hotel is comfortable and provides a good night’s rest after an active day of learning. And it matters that you are able to stay connected online.
That’s why as founder of Hart Travel Partners, I guarantee that we always find centrally located hotels that meet your budget. Plus, I guarantee that all of our hotels offer free WiFi.
"If you want to see a country, go with any tour. If you want to know a country... its culture, its history, and most importantly it's people... go with Steve Hart. It is an educational experience of a lifetime." - Michela G
While Madrid may not instantly gratify with its beauty the same way that Paris or Barcelona might, Spain’s capital city has a special charm and personality that often reveals its beauty over time. You could say that it is an acquired taste, but it certainly does not take too long to acquire that taste.
Art — The famed Golden Triangle of Art, comprised of the Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza, is a trio of important museums located close together on the Paseo del Prado in the center of the city. Study the likes of Velázquez’s complex Las Meninas, Picasso’s powerful Guernica and works by Cézanne and van Gogh.
Because of its central location, there also are wonderful excursions that can be taken from Madrid, including to Segovia (right), Toledo or El Escorial to name just a few. These very easily can be done on public transportation, helping to keep the costs down for a faculty-led program. Also, Madrid can be incorporated nicely in a longer itinerary around Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Córdoba) and also the rest of Europe. There are many flights between Madrid and Paris, for example.