"The Most Beautiful Villages of Spain"

Maribel,
I am off to the book store! I just recently heard about this board, thanks to neighbor CathyM who just left for Spain and would like to thank you and all for such wonderful advice and suggestions. Leaving for my first trip to Spain Oct. 1st only to hope I discover the same passion you have for this country.

I hope Zahara is included. It was wonderful and absolutely charming!

Gracias, Maribel. It's going to be difficult to pass this one up, although my coffee table is already groaning under the weight of the Provence, Tuscany, and Dordogne books.

Wonderful photography in these books. I'm indebted to the Provence book for turning me on to two of my favorite picturesque villages, Peillon and Saorge.

Hi CarlaM,
Your neighbor, CathyM, has developed such an incredible passion for Spain! I hope she made it to Extremadura through the havoc of Isabel on Fri. We really enjoyed our 2 days with her in Ubeda during Holy Week and were sorry to have missed her later on in Seville. We all got caught up in the whirlwind of running after processions all night long! Hope you have a fantastic Oct. trip, and welcome to the Spain nuts club!

Hi Carma,
Of the white towns, Grazalema was chosen instead of Zahara. Some of the choices aren't your "usual suspects", but all the villages included that I've seen (still have a few on my "to do" and "wish" lists) are beautiful.

Hi Capo,
I know the feeling. I'm addicted. It's hard for me to pass up any volume in that series!

(and p.s. I really enjoy your puns!)

I have the Tuscany version--I must pick it up at least once per month.

The Spain's Nuts Club.... well that's a membership I am proud of!!

Great book rec, Maribel! I am placing this book right by my other retirement planning books!!

"The "
Spain Nuts Club"? How do I join!!

Hi lweber,
You're already a member! Those who have dined with "Tinín" in Sepúlveda have automatic membership!

Really...if they have a Switzerland club on this board, we deserve a Spain club. Count me in!

Another Spain Addict,
Paula

Yeah, Paula! Yes, we need our own support group, official t-shirts and annual convention!

Can I join?

Seriously, I hope Galicia is well represented...

Good heavens, cooter, I put you on the executive board of directors already!

Galicia is represented by Ribadavia and Betanzos. I was expecting Cambados to make the list too and maybe Muros, but it seems that the villages chosen are for the most part smaller, less discovered, more off the beaten path (with the exception of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria, of course).

Paula, I am a member of the SGFTWLS group but I have enough love to go around! My most favorite place in Europe is Nerja, Spain and it is the only place we return to every year.
I don't know about the "Spain's Nuts Club"; perhaps everyone should go back to the drawing board. But if it ends up "Nuts", I will still be happy to join.

I don't know local prices are on this book, but on half.com a brand new one is about $28. Some of the other destinations in this series can be had used, but sounds like a great price for this book

Maribel,
I'm sure game to join, but I'm totally disorganized, so will have to leave it to others to organize it, but we'll be in Spain in Nov. and I'd love to take you out for dinner as a thank you for all the great advise you've given...e-mail whereabouts you live so I can see if it's logitically possible...

And if anyone wanted to organize a Fodors gettogether in Spain...that would be great, but I'm really disorganized. (To give you an example, we're leaving for a weekend in S.F. tomorrow--live in Seattle--and it's almost 10 and I haven't begun packing yet...look what I'm doing instead...shows where I left my heart, huh?)

Viva la Espana!

Paula
(creativeinseattle@hotmail.com)

Maribel,

Thank you so much for drawing our attention to this book. We just got our copy and it is wonderful and so informative.

Best of all, it has been so fun enjoying, again, several of the places we have already visited (Grazalema, Ribadavia, Almagro, and Pedraza). In addition it has identified several places we will be seeing in just 2 weeks time during our trip to Extremadura and Western Andalucia.

Have you been to La Huetre in Caceres province? That was not on our route but now we will be sure to stop.

I am so excited to go...our 4th trip to Spain in 5 years and we still have so much to see and experience! I have been listening to language tapes in the car for a month to tune up my ears and speaking voice for Spanish again.

One more little question...we will plan on reserving AVE tickets for our return from Sevilla to Madrid at the end of our trip. I checked out the Cercanias schedule at the RENFE site and there are lots of choices between Madrid and Majadahonda. Should we also reserve those seats? It will be a Friday at about 17:00 when we are travelling from Atocha I know the AVE is super reliable in terms of arrivals but I don't know how much time it will take us to arrive and then switch platforms and get onto the next train. Can you buy tickets on the Cercanias train (for an additional fee, por supuesto!)? But that may be worth it to not have to get from the AVE platform to the the ticket window and then find the Cercanias platform. Any advice you have?

Maria

Hi Maria,
I'm so glad you're enjoying the book. I was just rereading the Pedraza pages last night, reminiscing about our November trip, when we once again followed in your footsteps.
Where are we all going next year?


We have to get back to the rose village of Albarracín in Teruel. The picture on p.6 is just stunning.

No, I've never been to tiny La Huetre at the end of the road in the very isolated Las Hurdes. I was surprised to see it chosen. My goal now is to visit every single village in that book and also in my El País/Aguilar "Pueblos con encanto" (progressing steadily on the second goal).

So just this morning I received by 3 Extremadura travel guides in Spanish from the Casa del Libro and have been doing research to see how we could fit it in to our March trip. I really don't know whether you want to take the time to travel that far west, as the roads are tiny, and it's quite remote. The area is heavily forested, so I'm sure the scenery is beautiful, and it's also the land of cabrito asado, but it's closer to Ciudad Rodrigo.

Since we'll have 3 nights in Jarandilla (and you'll be at the Parador there too), we'd need to do it from Jarandilla after driving west to visit the alhama in Hervás. But it's at least 70 km. northwest of Hervás. That would be one very long and laborious off the beaten path excursion, but then we're famous for those.
It's right on the bottom edge of the Sierra de Francia at the very top of Extremadura where it meets the Salamanca province. We've only been down there as far as La Alberca , which is a truly picture postcard, highly atmpsheric medieval village which I'm surprised wasn't chosen instead of Candelario as the Salamanca entry in the book.

Since La Huetre is so tiny and since
the 3 guides I purchased, Guía Total, Guía Viva and the Everest Extremadura don't single it out at all as being the most picturesque of the Las Hurdes hamlets, you may want to give it a pass and for the same amount of time spent, drive to Candelario instead, which has pretty scenery as well, and is at the foothills of Gredos.

But Casares de las Hurdes, 2 miles from La Huetre, celebrates some sort of fiesta on Nov. 19, but I don't think that coincides with your dates.

About the cercanías tickets:
Since they're commuter trains, you can't purchase tickets on Tiknet (which hasn't been working lately). I just buy mine at the ticket counter, and you may be able to buy them from machines at Atocha. I just don't remember if you can purchase them from the conductor. Maybe a Madrid resident here on the forum knows. Or when you arrive in Barajas, you could just ask at the RENFE counter to the right of door 1 of the international arrivals section downstairs, next to the Replay news store.

After I finish reading my new Extremadura guides, if I find any more "must see" gems, I'll post them on your other thread. And I hope that CathyM sees this and will tell us all about her recent trip to Cáceres, Trujillo and Mérida. We all seem to gravitate to the same areas of off the beaten path Spain.

I hope you have a wonderful trip with beautiful blue skies.

I've been reading all the comments about Spain. We are planning a September 2011 trip to Spain. We toured Italy with Globus Bus Tours and we were very please. We planned to do another Globus tour of Spain, HOWEVER, the trip does not have a stop in Ronda, which is a must for us.

Correct me if I am wrong, the 2011 Feria Goyesca is August 31 - September 5, 2011. I need help....such what hotel, where to buy tickets, what is the best way to get from Madrid to Ronda. What NOT to miss in Ronda and how many days would be sufficient. Thanks so much, all suggestions are appreciated.

1VanLake, this thread is seven years old and does not have a heading that will draw people to it to answer your question. You would be better served by starting a new topic addressing your particular concerns.