Hello-<BR>I am planning a trip by myself for the third week in May and would love to visit Madrid. I have a couple hesitations and need some feedback to make my decision.<BR>1.) I know very little Spanish and because I want to go to bars, etc I am not sure if I will have a hard time getting by.<BR>2.) What is the overall attitude towards Americans? Again, I am travelling alone and want to avoid hostility.<BR>3.) Any recommendations on nice hotels would be appreciated. I am researching, but personal recommendations are preferable.<BR><BR>My destination in narrowed to Madrid, Amsterdam, and London. I wanted to go to Madrid because I have never been there and I have been to London and Amsterdam, but I also want to be relatively safe. Obviously, London and Amsterdam I will not have a language barrier. PLEASE HELP!!!!!

Go. Madrid has the finest art collections in the entire world.

Derek -<BR><BR>Obviously it's your call here. It sounds like you'd like to give Madrid a try, and I don't see why not. Get yourself a phrase book, borrow or buy a language tape or CD-Rom and try to learn a bit of Spanish before you go.<BR><BR>I'm headed for Spain on my own next month (friend cancelled on me a couple of weeks ago and I am *not* giving up my long-planned trip.) I speak passable French and Italian, but my Spanish is weak at best and I'm trying to use this solo thing as motivation to improve it! It's my understanding that many, if not most people under about 35 or so in the larger cities will speak at least some English, so once you've gotten past the pleasantries, you'll probably be able to talk to people in your native tongue in the bars.<BR><BR>In Madrid, I'm booked to stay at the Hostal Dulcinea, which has good feedback on Rants &amp; Raves here: http://www.hostaldulcinea.com/<BR><BR>For more good info re Madrid, check out madridman.com and multimadrid.com - both have message boards similar to this one, and the former has links to websites for tons of hostals (as opposed to hostels; these are family-run budget hotels.)

I went last year and my Partner has no Spanish and I have only &quot;Sesame Street&quot; Spanish....numbers and hello etc! WE were fine and it was no problem. You can get a point acrossby pointing at the tapas or asking for a Cafe or Cola etc. Get a phrase book like leslie suggests. I would not worry about hostility towards Americans. I had a relaxing trip there last year. Try it, its a new adventure.

Derek - go! Have fun. You will get by with no problem, lots of people will speak English - and half the fun of touring foreign countries is trying to figure out everything! Consider it an adventure.<BR><BR>Leslie - do you need a replacement for your friend? (I only dream I could get away from work right now...)<BR><BR>Karen

Go, go, go!!!!!!!<BR><BR>I agree with the people who suggested getting a phrasebook and learning just a few things. I've found that if you learn polite words such as please, thank you, do you speak English, etc. you will have no problem.<BR><BR>As far as anti-american sentiment goes, I was just in Madrid and found very little. There was plenty of anti-war and anti-Bush sentiment, but that's a very different thing. I never felt at all uncomfortable.<BR><BR>My favorite hotel is the Hostal Aguilar (www.hostalaguilar.com). But there are many many good hotels/hostals in Madrid.<BR><BR>For more information on Madrid, go to www.multimadrid.com or www.madridman.com which both are full of helpful information.<BR><BR>Anne

Definitely, come to Madrid. It is one of the most lively and unpredictable cities you can find. Madridians attitude to the non-Madridians is really open and friendly since most of the people living here are not from here. <BR>You won´t find any problem trying to find out the right bar ( there are so many different spaces and ways of enjoying the night!). I will send you info about cheap and chic accomodations. Give Madrid a try. <BR>

Hi Derek,<BR> My advice is just go and do not worry about it. It is amazing how you learn to understand and communicate with people. My greatest Spanish phrase consisted of &quot;Donde esta la biblioteca&quot; (LOL) and I ended up using that and filling in the blanks alot. We went for 18 days last November and had no problem whatsoever. Drove a rental car across country and ended up putting on close to 5,000 miles. I have no Spanish language skills at all, but had no problems. Heck we were even asking and getting directions from a sheep farmer way up in the mountains on our way to El Chorro. Spain has some of the nicest warmest people I have ever met! You will love it. <BR> In Sevilla my recommendation for a hotel would be Hotel Amadeus. Very nice. In Madrid we stayed at Hotel Carlos V. Good selection there too. Hope this helps.

Go. The Spanish people are very nice and friendly. I speak Spanish, but my husband doesn't and he ventured off several times by himself with no problem whatsoever. Beautiful museums in Madrid. We were in Spain when the war started and encountered no negativism toward Americans at all.

Go!<BR>Not speaking Spanish won't be a problem at all. When I went I had two phrases &quot;Where is the bank&quot; and &quot;Give me a kiss&quot;<BR>My travelling companion could say &quot;Please tell me where all the handsome men are.&quot; and &quot;where is the exit.&quot;<BR><BR>We had a great time!!

I would like to add one other thing about speaking spanish in Spain. I just returned and I had such a positive experience with my limited Spanish. I would always start speaking in Spanish, and the majority of Spaniards would speak back to me in clear, easy to follow Spanish. I was surprised at the level of conversation and patience that I experienced. It turned out that in many cases, the person I would speak to could speak English, and yet, they seemed to be very accomodating to keep it in Spanish, enabling me to be a tiny bit closer to their culture and enhance my language skills, only switching to English when it was necessary<BR><BR>I contrast this to my esperience in France, where I am much more fluent in French, and yet, most people there will immediately start speaking back to me in English<BR><BR>And finally, i am always appalled at the majority of Americans, who just assume that everyone in Europe speaks English and cannot at least learn the simple ... &quot;puede hablar ingles ?&quot;

I was in Madrid last weekend and it was beautiful - the bright blue skies and 24 degrees helped a lot!<BR><BR>I don't speak Spanish, but my husband knows a little and taught me the basics - hello, please, thank you, beer, etc, and I don't think you'll have a problem.<BR><BR>There were a lot of anti-war rallies in the Puerto del Sol and Plaza Mayor, but we walked right past and nobody bothered us. <BR><BR>We stayed in the Hotel Arosa (a Best Western) which was far better than we were expecting and is very handy for Gran Via, Puerto del Carmen, Puerto del Sol, etc.