Travel Review: Luxury Spain Family Vacation, Madrid, Barcelona, Granada, Seville Bicycle Tour, Costa Brava Cooking Class

The trip far exceeded my very high expectations.  Our Spain travel agent planned an incredibly memorable itinerary for us.  We traveled through most of Spain, and visited both the standard tourist attractions as well as many "off the beaten path" gems that we never would have known about were it not for our agent.  Chief among these were a cooking class at a fully restored 18th century farmhouse located in the countryside near the Costa Brava.  The house was surrounded by beautifully manicured grounds, and our hosts were lovely.  We got to pick many of the ingredients for our meal from their garden, assisted in preparing a delicious meal, then enjoyed it with wonderful wine sitting out on the patio in their garden.  Another highlight was the five nights we spent in a private villa that our agent arranged for us at the top of a mountain in the Axarquia region of Southern Spain.  The accommodation was incredible, and we had the opportunity to explore small seaside villages that we never would have know about otherwise.  In addition, the service our agent provided was simply impeccable -- both during all the preparations as well as during our actual time in Spain.  Emails to him were replied to within a matter of minutes, and all phone calls answered immediately -- regardless of hour.  We had a few problems that we encountered on the trip -- including one of our group leaving his iPad in the plane -- and our agent quickly and efficiently resolved each and every one of them.  He, and the experience he provided for our group, are both absolutely first rate.