Spain/Portugal trip report

Old Oct 14th, 2012, 06:52 AM
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Spain/Portugal trip report

Hello, all. I don't usually do trip reports, but the advice I received on this forum was so helpful, I wanted to post one this time.

We arrived on Thursday morning, Oct. 4, and started with two days in Madrid, a city we love very much. We mostly just strolled around, checking out our favorite areas, mainly in the center city -- Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, etc. Our hotel, Hotel Quatro Puerta del Sol, was excellent in every regard (at least on our budget). Great location, helpful staff, nice room, good wifi.

Then on Saturday, we went to the airport to get our rental car. We were feeling bleary from the night before and weren't looking forward to taking three subways to get there. The hotel guy got us a private car for 20 euros -- we'll worth it, in our opinion, since the subway would have been 10 euros.

We drove to Salamanca and stayed one night. We really loved this city. Our M.O. Is to just walk, walk, walk, seldom spending the money or time to go into places. This city was perfect for that. The plaza mayor was beautiful. We had dinner at a much cheaper place just off the square. (Again, we're cheap!) We had another excellent hotel, the Hotel Silken Rona Dalba.

Off the next day, Sunday, for three days in Lisbon. Driving, by the way, was no problem. We parked at the airport, thanks to Ulyses for his advice on that, and it was very easy, once we found the long-term lot and figured out how to get a ticket!

Our hotel was on the Avenida del Liberdad, Hotel Dom Sancho I. We were very disappointed. Granted, it was cheap, and the location was good. But there was no free wi-if, which is OK. But then we were dismayed to find that they charge for using the room safe!

This nickel-and-diming seemed to be prevalent in Lisbon. But again, we love Madrid, and we couldn't help but compare them. Maybe this isn't fair to Lisbon, but it's the impression we got. I regret that I hadn't gone back to look at the advice from Ulysses about dining in the Bairro Alto, because we ended up each night in the Restauradores area, and we didn't find much to like.

We took the small-group day trip to Sintra, Cabo da Roca and Cascais, again on Ulysses' excellent advice, and loved it very much. I know there is much more to see in Sintra, but this was just right for us. We also very much enjoyed going to the Alfama on our last night. We paid (!) to go to the palace, and it was incredible.

Then, it was back in the car for one night in Caceres. On the way, we happened by Elvas and got off the highway to check it out. Well worth the extra time.

Caceres was pretty cool. We spent an hour and a half -- really -- driving in circles and looking for our hotel. Nobody's fault (except maybe the GPS lady's), but it put us in a bad frame of mind.

The hotel, NH Palacio de Oquendo, again was excellent. The location couldn't have been better, and the hotel was quite nice. We had an air-conditioning problem that made it hard to sleep, but they made up for it by paying for our parking, not charging for the minibar drinks and discounting the rate, so we left satisfied.

Then, back to Madrid for our final two days. Friday was Columbus Day (there called Day of the Americas), and we were pleased to discover that it's a very big deal there. Huge parade (I'm pretty sure we saw the king, or at least his car), people everywhere. It was our last day, and we considered dropping our plans to go to the Escorial, but I'm very glad we didn't. Just spectacular.

By the way, we found a favorite restaurant near Puerta del Sol, called Fatigas de Querer, or something like that.

All said, an excellent trip. If we were to do it over again, we might have explored taking trains rather than renting a car because it was quite expensive, especially considering that we left it at the Lisbon airport for three days. And we probably won't go back to Lisbon, but I'm quite glad that we checked it out.

Thanks to all of you who helped with advice.
cgreer426 is offline  
Old Oct 14th, 2012, 02:57 PM
  #2  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,574
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
How long did it take you to drive to Lisbon? I would love to see Portugal and Southern Spain some day & want to combine it into one trip.
Kwoo is offline  
Old Oct 14th, 2012, 03:42 PM
  #3  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
It took about 2 1/2 hours from Madrid to Salamanca, and then maybe 4 or 5 hours to Lisbon. (But I drive fast!) The highways are in great shape and easy to navigate (with GPS). We did a Madrid/Toledo/Cordoba/Granada trip two years ago, and that was pretty easy too.
cgreer426 is offline  
Old Oct 14th, 2012, 06:45 PM
  #4  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,574
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
cgreer, thanks for your information. Is it possible to take a train from Salamanca or Granada to Lisbon so we wouldn't have to leave the rental car at the airport? Would it have been cheaper if you dropped off the car in Lisbon, then rented another car to drive back to Madrid? Just curious, why did you return to Madrid? Could you have flown home from Lisbon? Just thinking of logistics & options for us.
Kwoo is offline  
Old Oct 14th, 2012, 08:46 PM
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Fatigas del Querer (Love trouble) seems to be an excellent place, I will deinitely go here next time in Madrid, thanks for the tip!
http://www.fatigasdelquerer.es/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restauran...er-Madrid.html

The place is named after the refrain in a bulería performed by the two flamenco legends Camarón de la Isla (1950-1992) and very much alive guitar genious Paco de Lucía. Here the two together in another bulería some thirty-five years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKtAhJPZS6o
kimhe is offline  
Old Oct 18th, 2012, 03:40 AM
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 67
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Regarding Fatigas de Querer, I was told it means labors of love!

Regarding trains, we didn't look into it. We went back to Madrid through Caceres, not Granada, and I'm fairly certain there's not a train to Caceres. We went back to Madrid because we thought it would be much cheaper to fly in and out of the same place. (Maybe that's a faulty assumption.) We like trains because you can sit back and watch the landscape. But we like driving because we can pull over and check out interesting places. On this trip, we made a quick stop in Elvas because we saw the aqueduct from the road, and we loved it!
cgreer426 is offline  
Old Oct 18th, 2012, 05:09 AM
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,934
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You are of course right. Fatigas means hardship, troubles, and in this setting hardship and troubles that you gladly take on/go through. Both meanings fall well within the usual flamenco themes...
kimhe is offline  
Related Topics
Thread
Original Poster
Forum
Replies
Last Post
maxie12
Europe
17
Jul 18th, 2017 06:02 PM
AlReady2Go
Europe
9
Mar 19th, 2012 03:10 PM
treetown
Europe
8
Jan 10th, 2007 03:28 PM
mksmither
Europe
3
Apr 26th, 2006 01:01 PM
bobert
Europe
21
Sep 21st, 2003 06:57 PM

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are On


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information -