DISCOVER THE BASQUE COUNTRY TOURS

With Paddy Woodworth and San Sebastian Food (SSF)

Testimonials from 1818 Society guests on two tours --
May and September 2016

Christopher Goss

A winning combination of an outstanding gastronomic experience and very rich

and varied political and cultural immersion.

Peter and Irene Cordukes

The tour was fantastic. You have a product that is unique - an experience never
likely to be available to regular tourists. Irene and I enjoyed every day as each day
was different and exciting - walking - bird watching - the churches, the villages,
the beaches, and the food, the culture, authors and the heroes - some of the best
food in the world - tapas and the bars and Bilbao were better than wow!

Tom Blinkhorn

A spectacular performance...Your command of the history, language, architecture,

landscapes, historic sites and heritage was absolutely stunning. I learned a lot
about this extraordinary place as did everyone on the tour.

Christine Purdy
Paddys connections in a range of subjects were remarkable and truly brought the
Basque experience to us, [meeting] many wonderful peopleThe staff of San
Sebastian Food, whether in the kitchen, front of house, driving or guiding, were
superb.

Lucy Goss

We really enjoyed the whole thing. You have a wonderful staff and set up. Well
done! Cooking class was brilliant, fabulous, loved it, bravo!

Deborah Rudolf

It was a unique and wonderful time

Hugo Diaz-Etcheveherre

Paddy and SSF worked so hard to make this most memorable tour possible.
Bravo!

Claire McGuire

All the guides were friendly and enthusiastic. Loved the local culture experiences.

Alfonso and Aura Sanchez

A truly life-enriching event. Paddys guidance was simply superb and the overall
logistics and content were excellent. The SSF staff were terrific and attentive to
our needs. In addition to the beautiful scenery and views, we believe that we
gained much in understanding the culture, the history, the social and political
tensions, the food and the wines that shape the Basque country
We liked everything and every day. The cooking class was a particularly useful
and fun event that helped in bringing out the best of the group in terms of coming
together and camaraderie. The visit to the gastronomic society and to the
"sidreria" were specially telling about the social life of the Basques. The visit to the
Guggenheim was spectacular and the lecture by the Director was inspiring. The
awesome view of the Pyrenees and the sea views all around are overwhelmingly
beautiful. The slow paced visit with Rafael to Lesaka was reminiscent to us of our
own Colombia small village life and character, that after 40 years in the USA we
still cherish. In short, it is hard to choose the best day or experience. These
experiences are hard to compare because of the uniqueness of each one. All
were different and good.

Mario and Herminia Aguilar

A marvelous experience

Mark and Miriam Ruminksi

An extremely enjoyable tripextremely well organized with a good mix of places,

things and experiences built in (e.g. the cooking class at SSF and the carving of
the Jamon Iberico).
Paddyis truly a walking encyclopedia and we appreciate his doing his utmost to
accommodate the varying requests of such a large group. The tour far exceeded
our expectations, and there is no way we would have been able to accomplish as
much or gone to some of the places you took us to if we tried to do it on our own.
I will definitely recommend it to my friends, especially those in the 1818 Society.

Irani Escolar
I loved the way the tour was organized! Very good guides! I will recommend it
very highly!

Lesley Schneier

This was a wonderful trip. The combination of history (geo-political) and food was
fascinating and the food was superb. Will definitely be back for more!

Jeremy Berkoff

The SSF staff were all delightful, helpful and above all deeply interested in the
content of the tour. As for Paddy, I doubt if I have ever had a more knowledgeable
or interesting guide.

Maria Cecilia Zea

Cant say enough good things about the tripvery gratifying for all sites visited,
knowledge acquired and food tasted.

Conceicao Andrade

I enjoyed the food immensely, and the flysch, the Guggenheim, the people,
architecture, culture, Bernardo Atxaga, everything really!