So much to see………..

An AAP report says that the bus rounds a bend, and the gasps of delight say it all, with the view of yachts and sailboats dotting the azure Mediterranean Sea surrounded by valleys covered in multi-million dollar homes………a dazzling sight and the quintessential image of the French Riviera that hordes of tourists come to see every year.

But, there is more to the Med than the sights of luxury homes in Monte Carlo or Nice.

In the south of Spain, rugged mountains reach down to the sea and are sprinkled with the homes of locals. Tourism is slowly encroaching in places, where the English are taking advantage of low property prices to find heat and soft, sandy beaches.

Summer is the perfect time to visit the Mediterranean and travel company Kumuka has developed a bus tour that lets you sample the highlights of the region.

The Mediterranean Express begins in the Spanish capital, Madrid and an incongruous place to start such a trip: in the middle of the country, surrounded by barren mountains and in drought. But it’s well worth including on the tour.

Here you’ll find the Prado Museum, which holds one of the world’s finest collections of European art. It is dominated with work by the prolific old master Francisco de Goya, whose hundreds of paintings take up several floors. There is also the world’s finest collection of Diego Velazquez works, whose painting Las Meninas is widely regarded to be the most perfect painting of the 17th Century.

Madrid is also home to the impressive Royal Palace and the Reina Sofia Museum, where Pablo Picasso’s painting Guernica is on show.

After you’ve had your fill of museums, the tour heads south through groves of olive trees toward the Mediterranean, to the hidden jewel of Spain, Granada and if you only visit Spain once, a trip to this magical city is a must.

Granada is an exotic mix of Islamic, Jewish and Christian heritage. It was settled thousands of years ago and eventually established as an independent Islamic kingdom in the 13th Century.

It was conquered in 1491 by Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabel, completing the Christian reconquest of Spain. This cultural heritage gives it a distinctly Middle Eastern flavour. Tiny alleyways sprawl through the city, the lanes and footpaths ornately laid with stones often in Islamic symbols. Weaving through the bazaars offer tourists tastes of Moorish wares – and for a bargain price, if you’re willing to barter.

The feature of the city is the vast La Alhambra palace, sitting atop a hillside at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. A visit to Granada is not complete without a tour of this massive compound.

The tour then heads north towards Barcelona, finally reaching the Mediterranean coast, where at Alicante the group gets its first opportunity to take a dip in the warm Med waters, with Alicante a poor man’s version of Nice in France, but the beach is far superior to what the French can offer. The beach is of sand, not pebbles, and you can sit where you like – for free, a refreshing way to spend an afternoon before driving to the Bohemian port city of Barcelona.

The most famous citizen of Barcelona is the eccentric 20th Century architect Antoni Gaudi, whose unusual work still dominates the city, his Sagrada Familia, a massive church that remains only 60 per cent complete decades after it was begun.

Gaudi estimated it would take 200 years to finish his innovative design, but with modern technology the Spanish expect it to be complete within a few decades, with the unusual Gothic design setting it apart from any European church and a walk around the exterior is a visual feast.

Other interesting Gaudi buildings include the La Pedrera apartment block, now a UNESCO World Heritage site where people still live.

With limited time in Barcelona, a local guide took us on a tour of the city, giving us interesting insight into the main attractions, which meant we didn’t waste a moment of the three days.

It’s easy to spend hours wandering and people-watching along the main pedestrian route, La Ramblas. This is the vibrant centre of the city, with the wide-tree-lined street packed with with art and craft stalls, cafes, restaurants, pet shops and the ubiquitous buskers.

You can also spend a day at the beach and indulge in a refreshing massage for the bargain price of €5 ($NZ9.49)

From Barcelona the tour heads north to France, hugging the coastline and as you cross the border, the contrast in scenery is stark. Spain’s relative poverty becomes obvious against the affluence of the French.

The remainder of the tour is a rush to Rome, as we spend one night each in the French cities, Avignon and Nice, and then Prato in Italy and while this pace is a shock compared to the ease of the previous eight days, you still get to sample the main sights.

In Nice, choose between an afternoon sunbaking on the pebbled beach, shopping or visiting the Matisse Museum, then it’s time to dress-up and take the awe-inspiring journey around the winding hillside road to Monaco for a group dinner. It is here we witness the spectacular views of the Mediterranean – they are well worth the wait.

In Monaco we paid the €10 entry fee to visit one of the world’s most famous casinos – The Grand Casino – and had to empty our pockets to buy an over-priced drink.

After crossing the French-Italian border, we stopped at Pisa to view the famous leaning tower, on the way to Prato and the final day included four hours in Florence – not nearly enough time to really feel the vibe of this Renaissance city, but it involved a walking tour that again took in the major sights and meant you didn’t have to spend your few precious hours here seeking out the attractions.

Florence is renowned for its leather work and clothes and this is where you can pick up an Italian outfit to make your friends jealous.

The 12-day tour ends at the hotel in Rome and if you want to tour this historic city, you need to make your own plans.

A key feature of the Kumuka tour is the amount of free time you’re given, this enabling you to experience the culture of a city at your own, relaxed pace.

But a tour also relies heavily on its guide and unfortunately ours was not as experienced as I would have liked and could not offer the insights into the cities that he should have been able to. Our bus driver was a greater source of information.

The writer was a guest of Kumuka Tours for the 12-day Mediterranean Express trip, flying Thai Airways. The group stayed in twin share hotel accommodation and visited Madrid, Granada, Castellon, Barcelona, Avignon, Nice and Prato.

For more details – visit http://www.kumuka.com/.

A Report by The Mole from AAP