On arrival in Madrid, the flight being delayed at Heathrow for half an hour, we went straight to Museo Arqueológico, where we met our expert guide, Professor Claudia Hopkins, Professor of Art History at the University of Edinburgh and former Director of the Zurbarán Centre for Spanish and Latin American Art at Durham University (2020–2023).
Claudia is a specialist in Spanish art, Orientalism, and Anglo-Spanish cultural relations, her publications include Art and Identity in Spain 1833-1956: The Orient Within (2024), Hot Art, Cold War-European Writing on American Art 1945-1990 (editedwith I.B. Whyte, 2020), and the award-winning Romantic Spain: Genaro Pérez Villaamil and David Roberts (2021), whichaccompanied the eponymous exhibition at Madrid’s Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 2021
Our tour manager
Linda Hanks lived in north-east Spain for nearly 15 years running her own wine business before returning to the UK and joined Martin Randall Travel, where she worked for 10 years in operations and ultimately people management. Now based in Edinburgh, Linda works as a freelance tour manager.The tour manager’s role is to look after the pastoral needs of the group, as well as to attend to practical matters.
Father M 