Hi kids,

I've mentioned it in passing in other threads but... I'm going to Spain & France very soon. 18 days in total.

We will fly into Madrid, possibly go hiking somewhere nearby (maybe near Valencia), and then start heading up to Paris via train hopefully stopping in the Pyrenees.

I'm pretty psyched. I've never been to Europe (never had the time/money before). And it will be wicked to travel with my honey.

I'm posting this because I figure some of you have probably been and might have some good suggestions for places to stay, visit, eat, etc.

Did you see Hostel per chance?

i am rocking 16 days in Spain starting May 15th. Hitting Madrid/Barcelona/Seville with a few stops in between at some smaller places. Never been there before. How long are you going to be spending in Spain? You have will have to give me a full report when you get back.

Ive also never been to France but would love to.

We'll be in each country about a week. Yeah I'm pretty excited to finally see Paris. It's kind of a cultural Mecca for me. I'm assuming you must be excited to see it too.

Is that a film?

Wait till you come back to see it Polly!

Pasted from the reading thread in case you would miss it:



+1

Thanks. I felt like doing that for my own organizational sake. I actually just pasted it into a word doc for my "trip" file.

I direct this more to Rodney than Polly, since his itinerary more closely mirrors my suggestions, but a few things:

• See La Alhambra by nite. There are tours at later hour, prolly ten pm, and the views of the city (Granada) below, are superb. The dimness in the rooms of the castle also add to the building's medieval trappings.
  
• Don't go to Gibraltar, unless you like your eggs to run.
  
• Ride the Ave.
  
• See Cordoba. I never did. I regret it to this day.... It's smaller than Sevilla, and retains much of the Mudejar charm of the South (of Spain) without embellishment.

Definetly hitting The Alhambra at night - heard this many times. Also heard same thing about Gibraltar. Do not know if we will have a chance to see Cordoba or not - how far is it from Seville?

Billyg - thanks for the suggestions - I will definitely try to hit some live music while in Barcelona.

For rparis:

In Seville, don't miss the Alcazar gardens. They're even better than the Alhambra gardens, imo. Don't miss the Alhambra though, seriously. We did a day trip from Seville to see it, but I wish we had been able to spend more time in Granada, and the area around Granada, too. Hiking through Las Alpujarras is something I'd like to do someday.

i spent two weeks in spain for my honeymoon last september, so i can write forever on this. i'll try to summarize.

i'll second everyone's suggestion for the alhambra. its really pretty. hopefully the crowds are less at night. also, pre-order tix for the alhambra online, theres usually a huge line and this way you can bypass it.

how will you be getting around? car? train? if you get a car, be prepared for some very different driving. the roads in most towns are super narrow and barely look like roads at all, more like alleys. and street signs are usually on the sides of buildings, so they're harder to see.

hopefully you know some spanish because it will help you immensely. i thought the big cities like madrid and sevilla would have enough english speakers, but this is not true.

lets see, what else....i can't think of any of the hostels we stayed at offhand, we mostly picked them from the Rick Steve's travel book and the Let's Go one. Rick Steve's actually had the best suggestions for most of them.

i'll try to think of more specifics for ya. most of all have fun! sounds like a great trip.

Thanks for the tips.

We'll actually be traveling by train mostly, maybe some buses.

no tips...just dropping in here to express my extreme jealousy of both miss six and mr. 74.

have a blast and take lots of photos to share when you get back....

our yearly trip is going on hiatus for a while due to some "recent developments".

recent developments sounds like baby to me

*nodding*

i'm not allowed to say anything for 4 more weeks.



DOH!

You didn't just '74 the thread, you're 74'ing his life.

you have to continue to up-level your skills, or you just fall behind.