coming to Spain May 14th!!!!!

[kim millen]

Hey all, It's been a pleasure lurking here, now it's time to post. I
am a visual artist in Oregon and my 21 yr. old daughter (also an
artist and dancer) will be arriving in Madrid for a month of
adventure. I had a friend (?) say she would arrange for the
transportation within the countries we were going to see, but I found
she is not... so I'm on my own. I hope someone has suggestions for
us... We would like to visit Madrid (arriving and departing from
there) , Barcelona , down to Jerez De La Frontera, over to Algarve
(Portugal) and Porto then back to Madrid and home. Should we be
flying or taking trains? I know it's a late date as we leave May 13th!
I am stressed.... can't wait to get this planned get there!!! Thanks
for any help! Kim

[Jude Nazareth]

Actually travel by bus within Spain is cheaper and probably just as fast or faster than the train--at least that is my experience.  This might be  true for Portugal too.  If u need to fly Ryan air is pretty good. I'm sure others will post their opinions.

[Sharon Miller]

also check out  Iberia air, Spanair, and Vueling...they say they have promotions, and are cheap...good luck!                                           Sharon --- On Fri, 4/25/08, kim millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Sharon Miller]

Not to sure how I got on this Email list, other then I went to Spain last nov. to meet my daughter, who was studying abroad in Salamanca.  I had only 12 days there, went to Madrid, sevilla, salamanca, and Barcelona...... Took a train from Madrid, to sevilla, wonderful! and just long enough...but from from Madrid to Barcelona, I would take a plane, it's far!  though you have a month...also we found tickets , much cheaper, through a web sight, called Tap Air.. cheaper!....check it out.  not to mention, the trains are quite expensive!!!! any other questions, let me know,  watch out for cab fairs from the airports, they truely take advantage.  let me know if I can help.....loved it there!......Sharon

Sharon --- On Fri, 4/25/08, kim millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: kim millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com> Subject: [travelspain] coming to Spain May 14th!!!!! To: "Travel Spain" <trave...@googlegroups.com> Date: Friday, April 25, 2008, 12:34 PM

[JOHN CHAPMAN]

HI Kim, my wife and I are returning to Spain again this year and certainly the flights are expensive. However, the cheapest ones we have found so far are with ClickAir. We are flying from Barcelona to Sevilla of 25 euros each.Unbelievabe but true - and this is the standard fare on the web. It is at least half of anywhere else, Iberia was cheaper last year and had more options but not this year.

The one problem you will find is that there are no flight from Madrid to Sevilla; so only options are the train (about 50+ euros for one way per person) and takes about 2.5 hours). Don't know about the bus but will assume cheaper.

It seems like everywhere  travel costs are increasing dramatically with oil prices being the base issue. We were in London in February and the price for gas was  close to $2.75 per litre - that's almost $9 US per gallon.

HOwever, in our searches, we  found that although hotel/parador prices are increasing, they are in no way growing at a level similar to fuel. We still find them acceptable. Then the car rental prices seem to be more expensive as well.

Our rational, even if we stay in Canada, the holidays are more expensive. And flights are crazy! Internal flights from Toronto are almost the same price as flying to Madrid, so we can rationalize that if we are going on holidays (and can still afford to travel) we're off to Spain at least once per year.

Hope that helps, One other tip - get a good travel guide. We are devotees of the Cadogan guides, which are a great entertaining read as well as spot-ono wihth recommendations on hotels, restaurants and sights. We don't leave home without them.

Enjoy your trip.

 

Cheers

John

----- Original Message ----
From: kim millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com>
To: Travel Spain <trave...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 3:34:31 PM
Subject: [travelspain] coming to Spain May 14th!!!!!

[Kim Millen]

Dear Friends, Thank you for your suggestions, keep them coming.... so sweet. The next few days I'll need to decide what to do.... just got an invitation from our international students family in France to come to their home also.... oh, what to do, lol!  Maybe we'll skip Barcelona , as it's the only place we don't have somewhere to stay and fly to France, the Belfort area, in stead. ANyone been there? Thanks again... Kim   Ps   Am I crazy to skip Barcelona? Kim

[Sharon Miller]

I only spent 3 days in Barcelona, loved the Gaudi Park, a must see, but I seemed to be on edge there, as there was so much talk on thieves.  I spent one day in the American conselet...where I ran into a family who had a huge scam pulled on them with their rent a car....everything was stolen...I think you would need many days there, to get the whole feel. beach, shopping, Park Gual, loved the under ground train system to get around, very cool, but again this is where I was ripped off by the cab drivers, and our room was terrible there, not even room for 1 person, let alone 2.......finally had a good meal there, at the hard rock cafe....You don't really get the Spain feel there, as there is many cultures there, which was kinda cool....very different from Madrid, which I truly enjoyed....and Sevilla, was wonderful too!...there was a very cheap air fair there to Amsterdam, from Barcelona , , I think that would be good, if the weather is right...all was pretty good, but very,very, very expensive time to go!!!!  Especially Barcelona......  I think I would have liked going further south, to some of the Beach communities, too...so much to see, and do!.........Sharon                                           Sharon --- On Sat, 4/26/08, Kim Millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Gail Suber]

Wow, it's interesting how people can have completely different experiences in the same city.  I went to Spain six years ago (I can't believe it was that long ago), in May 2002, spent six days in Barcelona and could have easily stayed at least another week, because there was so much to see and do.  I, too, knew about the scam artists/thieves, so took extra precautions, like keeping my money and credit cards underneath my clothes, paid more attention to my surroundings, like I do in any major metropolitan area (I live in Los Angeles County), and had no problems.  I also walked around, day and night, and again, never had any problems (I went as a single, 47-year-old woman; I'm now 53).
 
At any rate, it's a fabulous city, eclectic, and one of my favorite places in the world, and if I were to ever move to Europe, I'd seriously consider living there.  Because I had very little time to plan my trip, a travel agent found a hotel for me, the Park Hotel.  I can't remember the name of the neighborhood but it was near Passeig del Born, close to the metro and train station, and at the time, fairly reasonably priced (I think around $75 U.S.), and I think also fairly close to the Gothic Quarter, and there were lots of interesting shops, restaurants, things to see in the area.  I had a very good meal at a restaurant called La coccotte, located at Passeig del Born, 16.
 
Mostly, I explored the city and various neighborhoods, and saw lots of art, which I loved.  2002 was the 150th anniversary of Gaudi's birth, so lots of places that are normally closed to the public, were open.  If you like art, this is the place to go, because it's everywhere: whether you want to see Gaudi, Joan Miro, modern art, churches, etc.; it's all over the place.  The main reason for my trip was to explore Jewish heritage sites in Spain, so I had a guide in Barcelona who took me into the old Jewish Quarter and showed me other Jewish sites; they're not always very obvious.  Also, check out La Rambla.
 
Other places I ate at, that I mostly found from walking around, were:  El pebre blau, Banys Vells, 21, phone: 93-3101308; Buenas Migas, an inexpensive cafe type place that was fairly close to the museum of modern art, I think down an alleyway, Plaza Bonsucces 6, Bajada Santa Clara 2; Les quinze nitz, Placa Reial 6, 93-317-30-75; Cafe de la Princesa (an upscale place), Carrer Sabateret, 1, 932-681-518; and L'oucocmbalia, Banys Vells, 20, La Ribera, 93-310-53-78. 

At any rate, I hope this helps and whatever you decide to do, have a great trip!
 
Gail in Santa Monica

 

---

Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:50:20 -0700
From: shar...@yahoo.com

Subject: [travelspain] Re: coming to Spain May 14th!!!!!
To: trave...@googlegroups.com

CC: kim_m...@hotmail.com

I only spent 3 days in Barcelona, loved the Gaudi Park, a must see, but I seemed to be on edge there, as there was so much talk on thieves.  I spent one day in the American conselet...where I ran into a family who had a huge scam pulled on them with their rent a car....everything was stolen...I think you would need many days there, to get the whole feel. beach, shopping, Park Gual, loved the under ground train system to get around, very cool, but again this is where I was ripped off by the cab drivers, and our room was terrible there, not even room for 1 person, let alone 2.......finally had a good meal there, at the hard rock cafe....You don't really get the Spain feel there, as there is many cultures there, which was kinda cool....very different from Madrid, which I truly enjoyed....and Sevilla, was wonderful too!...there was a very cheap air fair there to Amsterdam, from Barcelona , , I think that would be good, if the weather is right...all was pretty good, but very,very, very expensive time to go!!!!  Especially Barcelona......  I think I would have liked going further south, to some of the Beach communities, too...so much to see, and do!.........Sharon                                           Sharon --- On Sat, 4/26/08, Kim Millen <kim_m...@hotmail.com> wrote:

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[edw martinez]

Pre-planning trips and arm chair travel is a great part of the journey experience and enjoyment.  Suggest you do a lot of searching on the web.  Spain has a lot of good websites.  The official Spain tourist site is a good place to start, and then follow various links as they develop.  The railroad site Renfre has routes, time schedules and prices.  Bus are a little diverse, there is no one national bus line, but you can get some info if you dig.  Various communities and regions will have sites with listing their attractions and hotel accomodations.  Barcelona and Sevilla, for example, have good sites and a lot of information.  Others on this forum have given you some suggestions.  Here are some of mine.   Most of my trips to wherever are focused on or planned around ART or ferias.   Usually I fly from the US west coast into Madrid via Iberia through/from Chicago (4pm overnighter).  But with exceptions.   For example, on several of our trips, our ticket was setup so we flew Air France from SFO into Barcelona via Paris and our outgoing flight was out of Madrid.   We  then flew from Barcelona or Valenica to Madrid rather than take the train.  I understand now that the high speed train goes to/from Barcelona-Madrid???  But the airflight is only one hour.  Sweet.  From Madrid to Sevilla, we have gone by plane and/or by the high speed AVA train. If you were coming from your potential visit in France, you might enter North Spain into the Basque area, possibly by international train, moving from the French border connection to San Sebastian?  You could then go across country via train or bus to Barcelona.  I've taken the train on that specific "Picasso" route, breaking the trip up by overnight stays in  Tudela and Zaragosa.   Barcelona is a great place to visit.  And  we never had any scam or pickpocket problems.  You said you were a visual artist. (I-R-1-2)  Barcelona is a hot art spot.  Besides the architecture, you will find the  Miro and (early) Picasso museums, Contemporary Art Museo, and Tapies's gallery great.  Of course, Madrid is the gran ma-ma of art museums, Prado, Sophia, Baron Thyssen are the big three and all world class, and must see visits- especially the Prado.  And opps, I forgot, if you are ever in San Sebastian, which has a nice contemporary museum, you MUST take a day-trip by bus (about an hour plus) to Bilbao for Frank Ghery's Guggenheim.  That alone, for a visual artist, is a reason to go to Spain.  Five years ago, I spent part of my sabbatical in Spain, traveling from city to city, several days or nights at each stop,  for a month and half.  I mostly went by train.  Using my Renfre schedule to plan ahead.  I personally do not think the various Euro Passes are worthwhile.  I found I did just as well, time and cost and flexibiltiy, by booking my tickets spot to spot.  On shorter segments (less than three or four hours) I sometimes took an intercity bus.  Buses are faster and cheaper too.   All of my train trips were day runs and not overnight sleepers.  Although I have taken several over or late night bus journey.  Of my favorite cities in Spain to spend time in, I list Sevilla, Barcelona, and Madrid (which is hard to avoid because it is central to travel in and out).  My routine is to always spend my last one or two nights in Madrid before departure.  Less stressful.  Alas, I have never been to Portugal.  One of these days?  OK;... last tip.  Travel Guides.  I review  them all by going to Borders and sitting there with  a cup of coffee and my notebook.  I prefer the Lonely Planet or Time Out versons, but checking them all will give you good /overviewoversight.   Don't wait to long to make your plans, time is running out!!!!!! if not already.  Good Travels.    edwwwwwwwwwwww