Mondial will take winner on Barcelona, Lourdes tour

Mondial Holidays will take the winner of the new The Times word game series starting today on a seven-day tour of Barcelona and Lourdes, also visiting the Pyrenees, Andorra, Tossa de Mar, Girona, Lloret de Mar, Montserrat, Port Aventura, Pont d`Espagne, Gavarnie and Bartres.

The tour leaves Malta for Girona on July 13. The first optional excursion is for Port Aventura, Europe`s second largest and newest adventure theme park.

Here the group can stroll along the "great wall of China" and ride on the "dragon Khan". On the following day, there will be an optional half-day city tour of Barcelona, including Plaza de Catalunya, the Ramblas, the Cathedral, the Gothic quarter and the Olympic complex on Mont Juic.

Another optional full-day excursion is to the spectacular monastery of Montserrat, within the national park of the mountains surrounding the town, known as one of the most spectacular of all of Spain`s natural sights. This will be followed by a tour of the Costa Brava region visiting Tossa de Mar and Girona, the capital city of the province.

The tour will then move on to the small independent state of Andorra, in the heart of the Pyrenees, driving through beautiful mountain scenery.

From there, the group will continue to Lourdes in France, where they will visit the churches above the grotto and walk behind the altar where one can touch the rocks where the Blessed Virgin made her apparitions.

There will be optional excursions to Bartres and the Lake of Lourdes, visiting Bernadette`s house on the way.

Other places around Lourdes will be visited, starting from the holy windmill where Bernadette was born and stayed with her family until she was 10. There will be an optional excursion to Pont d`Espagne where visitors enjoy fantastic views of two grand waterfalls.

On the last day, the winner will be able to shop for souvenirs or walk up the Via Crucis followed by a drive across the picturesque valley of Lavendan to enjoy the castles, fortress, churches and waterfalls.

After a photo stop at Pont du Napoleon, the group moves on to Gavarnie to admire the highest sited waterfall in Europe. On the way back, the tour will pass through St Savin, a typical mountain village with an old church famed for its wooden crucifix.

The winner will also get a Lm50 MIA voucher to spend at the tax free centre and a year`s membership in the Scrabble Club.

The winning nine letter words of the last series which ended last Saturday were: sensitise, volunteer, upholster, renouncer, foxhunter and retrieval.

The winner will be going on Mondial`s Mediterranean Cruise and Costa Brava tour leaving Malta on September 28. He will also be getting the MIA Lm50 voucher and Scrabble Club membership.