The Jesuit’s Intellectual Heart of South America

Land at Córdoba airport and transfer to Estancia La Paz, General Roca's former residence. The area is yours to discover on horseback, in an old-fashioned carriage or in a rowboat on the lake. Take your pick. Lunch is next, then a visit to Candonga Chapel. The rest of the day is free to explore on your own, and dinner is back at the estancia. The Jesuit sites start tomorrow.

Three estancias in a day. First is Santa Catalina, a working ranch for cattle, sheep and mules, with a church in the Baroque-colonial style. Next comes Estancia Jesús María, an estate that specializes in winemaking, and the National Jesuit Museum, where you can follow the Jesuits' influence across the centuries. Then on to Estancia Caroya, in the town of Colonia Caroya. The Jesuits bought it in 1616. Later it was a holiday house for the Colegio Nacional de Monserrat, and later still an arms factory. Lunch is here. Afterward, travel to Córdoba and spend the evening at leisure.

Start at the Jesuit Block, the Manzana Jesuítica, in the city. The university here was founded in 1613, and you visit the main facilities: the educational buildings and the churches, which date from the 17th and 18th centuries. Break for lunch. In the afternoon, go to Estancia Alta Gracia, grounds the Jesuits once ran for looms and bell-making. See the church and the tajamar, the oldest dam in the province. Then return to the hotel for dinner.

The morning goes to Estancia La Candelaria, the fifth and last of the Jesuit estancias on the UNESCO list. It was a cattle estate, a grand one once, and the legacy of that farming is what you come to see. Lunch follows, and then you return to Córdoba. The rest of the day is free. Nothing is scheduled, and after three days of chapels, churches and ranches, you may want exactly that.

That is the Jesuit Block and all five estancias behind you. Transfer to the airport for your flight home, or on to the next stop in South America. If this extension is attached to one of our full package tours, that flight is where the next piece of the trip begins.