As Requested: The 2 .5 Month Trip To Spain and More.
 

For ease of reading you should probably press your "print" button and grab your favorite beverage!

Happy Readings, Happy Planning and Happy Travels!!!!

Two days after a HUGE combined Bon Voyage, Double Birthday and Happy Anniversary Party my husband and I were ready to board our flight to Spain.

As mentioned briefly, the long road to this point was wrought with major discussions, research and decisions before the celebrations began.

Our 10 Hour flight left San Francisco late afternoon. We arrived in Madrid, Spain at 8:00pm and it was aproximately 85 degreees.
We spent time on Puerta de Alcala', eating, drinking and people watching until 4:00am!

HOTEL: Hotel Convencion. This was a nice hotel; a bit small,dark and away from the "action". We were around the corner from very good restaurants, transportation and shopping. COST: $ 60.00 USA per night.

Day 2 MADRID:

We went on a great panoramico tour of Madrid
aboard a double-decker. COST: $40.00. We saw EVERYTHING in Madrid. This was a great way to see it all.

Afterwards we had a great lunch in the Calle Mayor area and hung out at The Embarcadero.
That evening we went dancing and clubbing!

Day 3 MADRID:

We slept in and had a huge lunch at a delightful cafe.
After that we walked to The Museo Nacional del Prado. We stayed at this world class museum for four hours.

Day 4 MADRID:

We shopped, relaxed, hung out at the Parque de Retiro (LARGE park) and journaled.

Day 5 MADRID:

We decided to spend time at the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza...awesome.

Other MADRID highlights:
Cafe Gijon: excellent

Restavrante Botin: This is the oldest restaurant in the WORLD, founded in 1725. This place was charming, romantic and excellent! $82.00 USA

Spending lots of time at Cafe' & Te'

EVALUATION: If we would have condensed the time in Madrid we would have been rushed and we would have had no down time which we need to travel together successfully.
Hence, we would keep this same pace.

Day 6: MADRID to AVILA, SPAIN

Today we got up early. We had to go pick up our previously reserved rental car. We do not pack light so we had to fit our 6 large and stuffed suitcases into our very spacious sedan. The car was perfect. It had four dours and a ton of COVERED luggage space.

We were smart and brought 40 of our favorite cassette tapes that sounded lovely on the car system(YES!).
I swear, you have no idea how "at-home" you feel going down the Spanish highway playing Marvin Gaye, Sting and Teena Marie and so on so forth!

Avila is 66 miles NW. We took our time, stopped along the way and eventually reached the breath taking sight of the Lienzo Norte Wall (began in 1090!!!)...

We toured the entire Avila site spending time staring at the impressive 12th century Cathedral and oogling the 15th Century Monasterio de Santo Tomas.

We had cocktails at The BEAUTIFUL Parador in Avila and were encouraged to tour the massive gardens.

For lunch we crossed the River Adaja and dined at El Molino de la Losa...cheap, fun and delicious. The staff was great!

We went back to the 33 foot walls of Avila and took the climb all the way to the top! See what cocktails can make you do???

We concluded our time here after scoping the immense granite statue of St. Teresa of Avila and after taking lots of photos from a spot that makes the walls look small.
It was HOT-HOT-HOT!

We did not want to do any night driving because we wanted to see everything so we headed into the CASTILLA - LA MANCHA REGION towards...

SALAMANCA, SPAIN:

We had plenty of day light when we reached the River Tormes in Salamanca, Spain.

We had a late night dinner(10:00pm) at Rio de la Plata which is a Castillian favorite established in 1958. This cozy restaurant was very good. COST: $70.00 USA

HOTEL: Hotel Residencia Monterrey

It is EASY to drive around,around and around in a futil attempt to find your hotel despite your maps and Michelin Guide and best intentions. After one hour we paid a taxi driver to lead us to our diggs for the night.
We had passed it at least 20 times(!!!).

Ok, now, with the car we hit a significant unexpected expense: parking!. With our hotel parking, telephone calls to our son in the USA and our in room safe we spent an additional $30.00.

The hotel was absolutely perfect. A HUGE room with a nice sitting area and we had a wonderful balcony with views of The Cathedrals of Salamanca that we could clearly see day and night...

SALAMANCA HIGHLIGHTS:

The Plaza Mayor is one of Spain's most beautiful!
The University was bustling!
Walking everywhere...we certainly were not going to move our car!

The Bar Colon Restaurant had that delicious black sasague that my husband detested.

The Birdland Jazz Club: very romantic and hip. We have fond memories of listening to them play the entire George Benson, White Rabbit Album...while sipping cocktails and thanking God for such an incredible 6 days!

EVALUATION: Just enough time in Salamanca, Spain...PERFECT, minus the hour lost trying to find the hotel.

Day 7: TOLEDO, SPAIN
We eagerly took the five hour scenic drive to Toledo. It was HOT, fun and the music in our car was just what we needed!

HOTEL: Hotel Pintor El Greco.
In a word: EXCELLENT! The location, setting and our room was awesome. This 17th century Toledan house is filled with treasures...

We dinned at the "best" restaurant in town:
The 14th century: Adolfo Reataurante. $94.00 USA.

Toledo is the spiritual and intellectual capital of Spain.

TOLEDO HIGHLIGHTS:

The Alcazar, Museums, El Greco Cathedral, the craftsmen in their door ways eager to talk,the shops and the shopping, the beverage breaks, the people watching, The Museo De Santa Cruz, The Museo Sefardi, The Synagogue del Transito, walking the Tague River ( the longest river in Spain) the train, the 10:00pm sunsets...

I will break here and start a new thread with day 8...that way if you have questions about this part of Spain I can respond in sections.

My Best,
Oaktown Traveler

Hi Oaktown,
Well I have finished reading and its been great, as I said, I read your report backwards i.e. part 5 first through to part 1 and I really enjoyed it and thank you so much for taking the time to type it all out.
What time of year did you go?
I am still putting together our itinerary.
Thanks again.
Sue

Olchard:

Major thanks...I have more to go though...laugh, laugh, laugh.

We were there August-October.

Look for Part 6. Coming soon...

My Best,
Oaktown Traveler

Hi, Maribel,

Maybe you could give me some guidance re my early June 2004 to Spain. I've never planned a trip to Europe and it is for myself, my husband and son.

Of course I am doing the lions share of the planning. Tentatively we are going to fly into Madrid, spent 2-3 days, take train to Seville: is 2 days there enough? and train it to Granada. My husband is leary about doing too much driving so are our plans stand now, we will rent a car in Granada,explore CdS 2-3 days and fly to Barcelona from Malaga. I am planing to consult with a packager to line up some possible pkgs for me. I am more adventurerous than my husband and doing all the research. Of course by training to Seville, then Granada we'd miss the white villages. Where should we concentrate on in CdS?
Should we spent more days in Madrid or Barcelona? I need advice. Pls email me your thoughts. Much appreciated. We are flying out of LA.

Dear Lisr329:

It's me, Oaktown not Mirabel. SMILE

Your Madrid through Granda sounds good.

I am not sure what you mean by CdS. Can you tell me what that is?

Your decision to spend more days in Madrid or in Barcelona depends on what you want to focus on.
For instance our total time in Madrid (6 days, I think) was driven by our interest in and the time we take to see the Museums.

Our time in Barcelona was driven by Antoni Gaudi. I wanted to see and spend significant time in and around his work. I think we spent a total of 4 full days in Barcelona.

On both Madrid and Barcelona and in our travels period, we do not like to rush around and all that.
We also like/need long dinners and time to do "nothing" so those plans worked very well for us.

I do not know if you read as far as our time in Barcelona but go ahead and take a peek. Might help.

I am happy to answer any other questions that you may have.

My Best,
Oaktown Traveler

Sure, somebody will say that I am meddlesome, but it seems like at the very least - - since this mega-report was not posted as multiple replies to the first part - - that it would surely help to give the URL to take you directly to the next part (two)...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34466696

Best wishes,

Rex

Dear Oakmont Traveler
I am enjoying your reports of your trip but I'm having trouble locating them on the web site. I have Day 1 - 7 (Toledo) then 8 (Guadalupe) to Expo

A recent posting mentioned the Bora wine tasting in Portugal but I can't find the report on this. Please help...thanks!

Hi Brad

As I posted about one month ago, there is no such a thing as a Bora wine region in Portugal.

If you are interested in this subject, please visit:

http://www.aboutwines.com/show/xmlsi...pmgnefcpnjlobl

This is an excellent site with plenty of information. Have fun both in the net and in the real places

Dear Brad:

Thank you for waiting. After I posted my Heartfelt Message To SPain I did not post as part of my mourning. SO, thank you.

Thank You for your compliments. I enjoy sharing my travels and glad that many have gotten joy out of them.

Rex was kind enough to apply links to every report.

Right above your post on this thread he has something for you to click on. This will get you to the next part of the trip report.

Another way to to click on my name and all of the reports will come up.

The Bora wine tasting in Portugal is a very fun experience. I am sure that you will find that report in part 7 of my trip report.

Remember, look for Rex's reply and he has a link for you to click on to.

Please, ignore Lobo. He is a cyber-stalker and seeks to discredit me.

Happy Reading & Planning,
Oaktown Traveler

Hi again Bradenagp

If you are interested in the area of wine regions of Portugal, I recommend you to visit another site I think it's worthwhile to see:

http://www.wineanorak.com/portugals_wineregions2.htm

Don't forget that while the whites are just ok, the reds are excellent.