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Spain--April 2018


Ghost of LL

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So I think I have a tentative plan, and that means no Madrid and Toledo this trip.  Just sticking to Andalusia.  My friend from London was originally supposed to do Seville with me, so she is game for that part as well.  So I would probably do something like this:

March 31 - Fly to London

April 1 - 4 - Seville

April 5-8 - Cadiz (can go to Jerez from Cadiz rather than splitting 2 and 2)

April 9-11 - Ronda

April 12-14 Malaga

April 15-18 Granada

April 19-20 Ubeda

April 21-23 - Cordoba

April 24 - Seville

April 25 Fly Home (Seville - London - NY)

Now, of course all of this is dependent on shit getting fixed related to COVID.  But it at least gives me something to look forward to and plan a bit.  

 

 

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On 6/14/2020 at 5:41 PM, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Ok, so fuck Coronavirus.  Tired of it.  Trying to replan the trip we had to cancel in April due to this shitshow.  What was original a 2 week trip is now turning into a 3.5-4 week trip since I have a shit load of vacation that I am going to carryover to next year because COVID.

We are hopeful that Easter 2021 will be a go, so this is all still up in the air.  But the current thinking is as follows:

5 nights Madrid

4-5 nights Seville during Easter (Wednesday or Thursday before Good Friday through Easter Monday/Tuesday)

Then looking to do some combo of:

Granada, Cordoba, Cadiz, Malaga and maybe some other small places.  Any recommendations on some really cool smaller places to visit for a night or two in Andalusia?

 

There is some really beautiful, unspoiled coastline south of Cadiz. If y'all would enjoy a day or two taking it easy on the coast I highly recommend Bolonia. Small beach town but it's got the essentials - a few restaurants, a market, etc. Incredible beach. There are also ruins of an ancient Roman town with an accompanying museum. Water's probably cold that time of year though.

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7 hours ago, gmr548 said:

 

There is some really beautiful, unspoiled coastline south of Cadiz. If y'all would enjoy a day or two taking it easy on the coast I highly recommend Bolonia. Small beach town but it's got the essentials - a few restaurants, a market, etc. Incredible beach. There are also ruins of an ancient Roman town with an accompanying museum. Water's probably cold that time of year though.

That is the nice thing about this.  I have enough vacation, that it would be no trouble to add a few extra days or stops.  

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  • 1 year later...

So Spain it is! 
 

I mentioned on another thread of a plan to go to Morocco, mainly Marrakech, in September. The government instituted a 9pm curfew, which originally turned me off to the idea, but I got back on board due to the quality of the hotels/resorts as we were mainly looking for some sun and pool time. It has been a crap summer in the UK so that is desperately needed. Now it looks like Morocco could be headed to the UK red list next week so that plan is dead. Will save Marrakech for 4 to 5 days at another time.

The plan is now 12 nights in Andalucia and am thinking the following:

4 Sevilla

1 Cordoba

2 Granada

5 Costa del Sol (Malaga/Marbella and likely a trip to Ronda)

I will likely pick up a car on the last day in Sevilla and drive the trip so there is plenty of flexibility to get around or stop off.

Anything I’m missing here?

 

 

 


 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I’m in Malaga right now (well, Torremolinos). So far food is fantastic, beach is just warm enough to enjoy and it’s definitely with the short flight. Traveling with kids so not going to do long nights out but the sangria and fish at the chiringuitos can’t be beat. 
 

Spent most of our time at the beach or pool but we will drift into town today or tomorrow. 

One thing that has surprised me— service has been not so awesome outside of restaurants. After a long time in Central Europe, I guess I’ve gotten used to outward brusqueness but everything getting done regardless. Here it’s more friendly but less competent.

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Edited by 956 Worldwide
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4 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

I’m in Malaga right now (well, Torremolinos). So far food is fantastic, beach is just warm enough to enjoy and it’s definitely with the short flight. Traveling with kids so not going to do long nights out but the sangria and fish at the chiringuitos can’t be beat. 
 

Spent most of our time at the beach or pool but we will drift into town today or tomorrow. 

One thing that has surprised me— service has been not so awesome outside of restaurants. After a long time in Central Europe, I guess I’ve gotten used to outward brusqueness but everything getting done regardless. Here it’s more friendly but less competent.

image.thumb.jpeg.45e8e3641749a670d4cc5928333d1410.jpegimage.thumb.jpeg.e6bddd1653d85318ded1c6e5b0c7129f.jpeg

I stayed in Benalmedina, the next town south, a few years ago.  It was AWESOME.

Take a day trip to the Rock of Gibraltar.  They kids will love the Macaques.

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7 minutes ago, Ag with kids said:

I stayed in Benalmedina, the next town south, a few years ago.  It was AWESOME.

Take a day trip to the Rock of Gibraltar.  They kids will love the Macaques.

We had planned that but from our scouting the combo of BREXIT and COVID has made crossing into a cluster, with a couple hours at customs. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

 

Its OK, I’ll suffer here. Side note, grilled sardines and shrimp al pil-pil (pepper and garlic) are now top ten food of all time.

image.thumb.jpeg.7eda27a35472cbda83a5d06346bf6f98.jpeg

 

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55 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

We had planned that but from our scouting the combo of BREXIT and COVID has made crossing into a cluster, with a couple hours at customs. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

 

Its OK, I’ll suffer here. Side note, grilled sardines and shrimp al pil-pil (pepper and garlic) are now top ten food of all time.

image.thumb.jpeg.7eda27a35472cbda83a5d06346bf6f98.jpeg

 

I gave you positive rep, but I really wanted to give you the finger because I'm so jealous. 

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May of 2022.
Madrid>Seville>Malaga>Valencia>Mallorca>Barcelona>Madrid>home
The Spanish Grand Prix is in Barcelona on May 22nd so I have booked the trip around that weekend and the race.
Mallorca is awesome. If you have time, go check out Platja de Formentor. The drive out there is scary as fuck because it's along a cliff with a very narrow roadway, but totally worth it if you don't want to be at a crowded beach.
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More updates: Malaga is awesome as expected. My favorite part is the old Moro fortress that overlooks the Roman amphitheater. At a tapas place I had a super crispy, thin sandwich with one piece of jamon iberico, some cheese, and then a bit of truffle butter. That and the shrimp al pil pil changed my life.

Something kinda funny: there were some actual breakers and there were grown up Spanish men boogie boarding like boogie boarding is Serious Business. Funny shit for someone who used to head to SPI when the surf report was good growing up. 
 

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  • 4 months later...

The trip for May is booked.  

May 6th - Madrid

May 7-10th - Seville

May 10-12th Malaga

May 12-17th Mallorca (both coasts)

May 17-20th - Valencia

May 20-24th - Barcelona

May 24-26th - Toledo

May 26-27th Madrid

We have tickets to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona the 21st-23rd so those days will be F1 based.  I've booked a private driver for a day trip to Ronda from Seville.  I've also booked a private driver for Seville to Malaga and Toledo to Madrid.  We have one train ride from Madrid to Seville and the rest of the travel will be by air.

I'm looking for dining recommendations.  Tapas will be part of our dining as will the local mercado in each city.  What I'm looking for are any restaurants that are must eats.  TIA.

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Madrid: L'Albufera; Pulperia Mila for octopus (since you're not heading to galicia); I already wrote Pelotari for steaks, but really any nice restauraunt, get the steak - my vote for the most underrated steaks in the world

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  • 3 months later...

S/O to search function.

Going to be based in Madrid for the next few months with our flight leaving this afternoon, with my wife and 4 and 3yo kids. Kids will be in daycare/camp during the weekdays while we explore the city in between a little bit of research and writing, Spanish lessons, and the gym. Fourth time in Madrid and we've done the highlights (Prado, Botin, Retiro, etc.) multiple times over, so we're looking for recommendations like the chocolateria above. Wife is between A2/B1 and I'm a solid B1, so we can get around and have basic conversations, but can't speak philosophy or anything like that. We'll be HQ'd in Malasana so we'll have pretty good Metro access to most of the city. Current plans include side trips to Paris, Pamplona, Toledo, Costa del Sol and, perhaps, 4-5 days down in Andalucia. No strong plans for Madrid other than exploring via foot, dicking around at Retiro and some playgrounds, and eating/drinking.

Any recs appreciated.

[As for the obvious "why Madrid when it's hot as shit?" question. We needed a city large enough to have a full-time private daycare/camp close to a cool neighborhood/city core and that took expat/ferner kids, which basically left Madrid and Barcelona. We love Barcelona, but have spent a lot of time there and, given that one of our core goals is to improve our Spanish. had some concerns about how quickly the barceloní switch to English when they hear your accent.]

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  • 4 months later...
On 6/15/2020 at 11:14 PM, gmr548 said:

There is some really beautiful, unspoiled coastline south of Cadiz.

spent a night in tarifa (at the convento, nice place). roll in, sleepy little town without anyone around, kinda sick from eating british food in gibraltar.  thought it was going to suck.  went for a nap, then went out a bit after sunset, walked toward the town square and found myself in marymas (i think) going on at the church, with young women in spanish dresses and wreathed with flowers.  then found the bars were packed and had a great time bullshitting and drinking all night.  guess everyone had been out windsurfing on that miles-long beach west of tarifa during the day. 

 

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Alicante is fantastic! Or was 15 years ago. I could walk up and down the esplanade all day and not get tired of it. It’s just a charming beachfront town.  There is/was a bar called Austin just a couple of blocks off of the beach.  It owned by a guy that had lived in Houston and Austin for many years before returning to Spain. 

Santa Barbara Castle 2.JPG

Austin.JPG

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27 minutes ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Or, and maybe I am overthinking this, we do Valencia and Alicante.  Flights are much easier and cheaper (business) to Valencia.  Can get some good beach time too.

Valencia is where we plan to live. Big enough to have everything we want, but much cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona. I've been there once, and read a lot about it since. 

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1 hour ago, Hate said:

Alicante is fantastic! Or was 15 years ago. I could walk up and down the esplanade all day and not get tired of it. It’s just a charming beachfront town.  There is/was a bar called Austin just a couple of blocks off of the beach.  It owned by a guy that had lived in Houston and Austin for many years before returning to Spain. 

Santa Barbara Castle 2.JPG

Austin.JPG

Hook Em'.JPG

 

54 minutes ago, Mo Horn said:

Valencia is where we plan to live. Big enough to have everything we want, but much cheaper than Madrid or Barcelona. I've been there once, and read a lot about it since. 

I was studying the map, and I could add a few days in Mallorca too.  Hmmmm.

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1 hour ago, PenelopeWitherspoon said:

Or, and maybe I am overthinking this, we do Valencia and Alicante.  Flights are much easier and cheaper (business) to Valencia.  Can get some good beach time too.

The beaches in Valencia aren't great.  Instead I'd head to the east cost of Mallorca and stay around Alcudia.  Palma on the west side is great as well.  Nixe Palace seems right up your alley.

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I am set, and provided flights remain good, this is the rough plan.  Fly in and out of Valencia.  Then 4 nights in Alicante, 6/7 nights in Fornalutx on Mallorca (As our base), and then, 4/5 nights in Valencia.  Might do 4,7,4, but yeah, something like that.  The nice thing is, Alicante and Valencia are on the cheaper end compared to France, so we can go big in Mallorca.  Which is nice.  

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Penelope - if you’re going big in Mallorca, please consider going to Deia and staying a couple of nights at La Residencia.

https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/mallorca/deia/belmond-la-residencia/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9u6w0s6Q-wIV03NvBB0gbQnDEAAYASAAEgKblvD_BwE

About 30-45 minutes from Palma, and an all around fantastic place to stay.

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31 minutes ago, Player said:

Penelope - if you’re going big in Mallorca, please consider going to Deia and staying a couple of nights at La Residencia.

https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/mallorca/deia/belmond-la-residencia/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9u6w0s6Q-wIV03NvBB0gbQnDEAAYASAAEgKblvD_BwE

About 30-45 minutes from Palma, and an all around fantastic place to stay.

So, I looked.  Almost 2k a night.  We are looking renting a house for the whole time and having some friends from the UK join.  Thinking about Fornalutx.

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  • 3 months later...

First post-Covid trip back to Madrid for work.  Several of my favorite hole in the wall places didn't survive but this one did...  Getting 2 plates per beer so may skip actual dinner... (fried eggs, fries, melted cheese and jamon)

 

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Edited by Grimas
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Headed to Spain in a few weeks. I've booked 3 nights in Sevilla, 3 nights in Granada and 3 nights in Madrid:

Day 1: Land in Sevilla (~9am)

Day 2: Sevilla (visit the Royal Alcazar)

Day 3: Sevilla (Ronda day trip?)

Day 4: Sevilla --> Cordoba for the day --> Granada for the night

Day 5: Granada (visit the Alhambra)

Day 6: Granada

Day 7: Granada --> Madrid

Day 8: Madrid

Day 9: Madrid

Day 10: Fly out of Madrid in the AM

For those who have been -- is it worth doing a day trip on Day 3 to see Ronda and some of the other white villages? We'll have access to a car in Sevilla (just for this portion of the trip, using high speed rail for the rest), but I've heard such great things about the city itself that I'm worried about sacrificing a day there (when our time is already limited). Also, wondering whether we should use one of the days in Madrid to see Toledo and El Escorial. Curious to hear y'alls thoughts!

Edited by ATXhorn17
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2 hours ago, ATXhorn17 said:

Headed to Spain in a few weeks. I've booked 3 nights in Sevilla, 3 nights in Granada and 3 nights in Madrid:

Day 1: Land in Sevilla (~9am)

Day 2: Sevilla (visit the Royal Alcazar)

Day 3: Sevilla (Ronda day trip?)

Day 4: Sevilla --> Cordoba for the day --> Granada for the night

Day 5: Granada (visit the Alhambra)

Day 6: Granada

Day 7: Granada --> Madrid

Day 8: Madrid

Day 9: Madrid

Day 10: Fly out of Madrid in the AM

For those who have been -- is it worth doing a day trip on Day 3 to see Ronda and some of the other white villages? We'll have access to a car in Sevilla (just for this portion of the trip, using high speed rail for the rest), but I've heard such great things about the city itself that I'm worried about sacrificing a day there (when our time is already limited). Also, wondering whether we should use one of the days in Madrid to see Toledo and El Escorial. Curious to hear y'alls thoughts!

We loved Ronda. It is stunning. But that’s a tough call with that little time in Sevilla. Personally I would take a day away from Granada than Sevilla.

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10 hours ago, po elvis said:

We loved Ronda. It is stunning. But that’s a tough call with that little time in Sevilla. Personally I would take a day away from Granada than Sevilla.

Completely agree with po elvis. I would add that if you can stay the night in Ronda, you won't regret it. The tourist buses all leave, and there are some bad ass hotels on the cliffside. We stayed here.

I haven't been to Cordoba, so can't comment on that.

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Ronda it is -- thanks y'all! Sadly, Day 3 is our main opportunity to visit (we're tagging along with friends who are road tripping). Otherwise, we definitely would sacrifice a day in Granada instead... Oh well. Guess we're just gonna have to visit Sevilla again in the future haha!

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42 minutes ago, Grimas said:

I've done Toledo and it's a neat little town but my Madrid crew said Segovia is a better day-trip.  Aquaducts and one of the castles that inspired the Disney Castle.

The queen's castle in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was inspired by the Alcazar castle.

The Disneyland/Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella castle was based on Neuschwanstein.

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That's an open argument depending on what website you visit...  Both Alcazar and Neuschwanstein are claimed to have inspired the Disneyland/Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella castle:

 https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/architecture-design/walt-disney-castle-alcazar-de-segovia 

https://mappingspain.com/the-alcazar-of-segovia-one-of-spains-most-beautiful-castles/

I've seen both and I could see where either/both would have been the inspiration... (I sat between a German and Spaniard last week who were arguing this...)

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51 minutes ago, Grimas said:

That's an open argument depending on what website you visit...  Both Alcazar and Neuschwanstein are claimed to have inspired the Disneyland/Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella castle:

 https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/architecture-design/walt-disney-castle-alcazar-de-segovia 

https://mappingspain.com/the-alcazar-of-segovia-one-of-spains-most-beautiful-castles/

I've seen both and I could see where either/both would have been the inspiration... (I sat between a German and Spaniard last week who were arguing this...)

Wiki and Disney seem to agree, so that's what I went with.

Quote

"Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland was inspired by the Neuschwanstein Castle in Southern Germany........" —Tony Baxter, executive designer Walt Disney Imagineering[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty_Castle

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Not my dog in the fight but another wiki says this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_Castle

Cinderella Castle was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces. These included Château d'Ussé, Fontainebleau, Versailles and the châteaux of Chenonceau, Pierrefonds, Chambord, Chaumont, Alcázar of Segovia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and Craigievar Castle in Scotland.[2] Other sources of inspiration include the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Moszna Castle in Poland, built in the 18th century, and the Tyn Church in Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 14th century. The chief designer of the castle, Herbert Ryman, also referenced the original design for the castle in the film franchise Cinderella and his own well-known creation — the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California[

2 different castles in Disney: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella castle

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30 minutes ago, Grimas said:

Not my dog in the fight but another wiki says this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_Castle

Cinderella Castle was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces. These included Château d'Ussé, Fontainebleau, Versailles and the châteaux of Chenonceau, Pierrefonds, Chambord, Chaumont, Alcázar of Segovia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and Craigievar Castle in Scotland.[2] Other sources of inspiration include the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Moszna Castle in Poland, built in the 18th century, and the Tyn Church in Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 14th century. The chief designer of the castle, Herbert Ryman, also referenced the original design for the castle in the film franchise Cinderella and his own well-known creation — the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California[

2 different castles in Disney: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella castle

You'll notice the section right above your quote....none of that is reliably sourced.

I can go in and add The Alamo and Trump Tower as "inspirations".

image.png.a73cc110834f008b7616625305af8daa.png

Walt Disney did a grand tour of Europe with his brother in 1935....they toured several countries extensively, including Germany. On their return, he discussed the Disney castle design with Herb Rymar and used Neuschwanstein as the inspiration. There is no evidence either of those 2 ever visited Spain or saw pics of Segovia prior to the Disney castle design.

All that is sourced from a book...https://www.amazon.com/Disneys-Grand-Tour-European-Vacation/dp/1941500102/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1588468667&sr=1-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=thegermawayandmo&linkId=e6fd7e48500480f307eec27bd43d2fb9&language=en_US

 

I'm currently booking tickets to Neuschwanstein and an airbnb in Madrid (possibly Segovia also)...that plus my rabid Disney fanatic girlfriend caused me to go down the castle rabbit hole. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Headed to Barcelona end of April. Family member studying abroad we are meeting and flying back with.

Have ~14 days. Thinking Barcelona for five or so….then what’s the must see city in Spain? Would be great to be near water and potentially do a dive. But view is fine also.

Maybe Portugal for a few days?

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