We just returned from 11 day trip to Spain. Thanks to everyone on this site who helped with planning, advice, etc. It was all helpful and trip was without any problems. If you are having any hesitation about travel at this time, don't! We saw signs about &quot;No a al guerra&quot; but encountered no anti-American sentiment whatsoever. In fact, the Spanish people were completely welcoming, helpful, and friendly.<BR>We flew to Madrid from the US on American Airlines-upgraded myself and hubby to business class with frequent flyer miles, boys in coach. No delays at all, and actually very good food in business class. We arrived at about 9:35am and stowed the carryon luggage in lockers at the airport. Checked bags were already checked through to Granada. We took a taxi (18 Euros)downtown to the Prado and were there by 10:20 despite horror storied I have heard about Madrid traffic.There is a special Vermeer exhibit at the Prado now but the line was huge so we didn't do that.

Part 2: We went to the permanent exhibits instead. The thing that impressed me the most was the Bosco collection--very surreal and ahead of his time. We ate lunch at the Museo de Jamon-my son's chicken was good but everything else was just so-so. My husband had a very greasy paella (which would haunt him later). The afternoon taxi back to the airport to catch our flight to Granada took only 15 minutes so we were there way early. We flew to Granada on Iberia (only choice) but it was not nearly as bad as I had heard from some previous posters. We took a wild taxi ride into town (no way would I ever drive in Granada) to Hotel Reina Cristina where I had booked a 4 person room (201) for 120E. It was a huge room by European standards and very quiet. The Front desk people didn't speak much English but were very friendly and helpful. Dinner at a nearby cafe was nothing outstanding except for wonderful huge salads (which became what I ate at almost every meal as I try to limit meat intake and Spain is big on meat).

Saturday 3/15, we were at the Alhambra at 8:00 (walked up the very steep hill) to pick up our 8:30 tickets which I had reserved on the Internet. No line at all, but by noon, when we left, there was a huge line-- even the line for people to pick up reserved tickets was very long and apparently some people missed there reserved time because they were standing in line so long. I can't emphasize enough the importance of getting the earliest possible entry tickets-the whole place was packed after about 10:30 AM. During our tour of the Alhambra, my husband was acting like he didn't feel well at all. By noon, he had a full fledged gallbladder attack, apparently brought on the previous day's paella. He was miserable, and we had already checked out of the Reina Cristina. Not knowing what else to do, we went back there, and the manager very generously gave him a room to lie down in till our driver to take us to Yegen was scheduled to come at 3:00. The boys and I went and walked around the cathedral and shops.

We had booked a week hiking trip of the Alpujarras through &quot;Above the Clouds&quot;. Our guide, Bruno was fabulous. He and a mini-bus driver met us in Granada, and we drove to Yegen, 3 hrs away, over winding narrow roads. The roads weren't particularly scary, but very curvy, and by the time we got to Yegen, I was thinking I was going to be sick also. We stayed at Hotel El Rincon de Yegen for 2 nights. It is run by Augustine,a very sweet and good-humored man who serves as manager, waiter and bartender. The hotel is relatively new with nice small rooms and an interesting heating system where the floor gets warm. Augustine had special, no oil, food made for my husband, and everything we had was absolutely delicious. I had some good Spanish red wine. Augustine also made sure we tried the local wine which is a rose and tastes a bit like weak sherry. More later--I actually do have to work a bit today.

Sunday,3/16, we hiked to top of a ridge and back. My husband was still not up to par, though better. Breakfast in Yegen was cereal, fresh fruit (good), and toasted thick bread with olive oil and the pulp of a really ripe tomato-very good. <BR>Monday-cold and rainy, snow on the mountains and thick fog, but we must press on. Hiked to Cadiar (nice medium size town) then to the Alqueria de Morayma, altogether about 10 miles over rough country trails. Fortunately, my husband was well now, just avoiding fatty foods.Alqueria de Morayma is an old settlement which was the place where the last Moorish queen escaped from Granada and took refuge. It has been turned into a very nice hotel with the individual buildings being rooms, some quite large, decorated with antiques. Halfway there, we realized my husband had lost his digital camera-panic!!. When we arrived at Alqueria, Augustine had brought his camera there along with a nice bottle of vino tinto. We had a huge supper-enormous platters of ensalada, tortilla, habas (beans with ham), asparagus soup, roast lamb, fish. Good thing we are walking a lot. Bruno introduced us to pacharan, a deceptively mild tasting liquor made with something like juniper berries-yum!<BR>Note on hiking here-we are experience hikers in US and Canada, but I would not try long distance hiking here without a guide-trail marking is inconsistent and some are very rough and hard to follow. Getting lost here in bad weather would not be fun!

Tuesday, weather was still cold but no rain. We hiked to Cadiar to visit weekly market then to Barranco Oscuro which is a winery making very good wine-bought 5 cases which we brought back in our luggage (I had brought an extra suitcase for this and we wrapped the bottles in dirty clothes, no breakage). On the way back to Alqueria, we cut across a farmer's vineyard. My husband of course had to start admiring it, and before we knew it, he was giving us some of his wine which was a drinkable rose, again reminded me of sherry.<BR>Wednesday was cold and very rainy. We hiked to Portugos, about 10-12 miles of very steep, wet terrain. Couldn't see much because of dense fog. We were attacked by a herd of goats however. Hotel Nuevo Malagueno which a large hotel for tour groups (mostly British and German). Rooms were very plain however, the public areas are beautiful with lots of paintings by a local artist that are very good. Couple running are very friendly and welcoming-free tapas even with a diet Coke. Hams are hanging from the ceiling in the bar, and in the basement, they cure more hams--we were given a tour and saw more than 2 thousand of them!<BR>Thursday was sunny! We could actually see the mountains. Hiked to Bubion and the villages above and below it. More tourists here so lots of little shops with local crafts, foods, etc. We stayed at Villa Turistica de Bubion in a huge apartment with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, living and dining room and kitchen-bigger than the first house we lived in. Dinner at Tiede restarant was good-nice salad and stuffed eggplant.

Friday was also nice weather and we hiked to O Sel Ling, the Buddist meditation center. Bruno made an excellent picnic lunch. Dinner was at Artesia restaurant--unbelievable almond soup.<BR>Saturday we went back to Granada, shopped and ate tapas for lunch. Bruno arranged for us to store our luggage for the day at Hotel Anacapri--very nice seeming hotel with American desk clerk. Flew to Madrid in afternoon and stayed overnight at the Intercontinental Castellena, elegant, quiet, comfortable hotel. Originally, I had reserved rooms at Carlos V based on recommendations on this site, but I found an internet special for the Intercontinental that was actually less than the cost of Carlos V so changed reservations. Intercontinental was heavenly. Dinner was at Tataglia Restuarant and was wonderful reasonably priced Italian food.<BR>Sunday-flew home-no problems despite war breaking out. All in all a great trip. Spanish people are very nice. I did see some apparent pickpockets in Granada -gypsy women who would try to hand you something and then come up close--we gave them wide berth. Otherwise never felt uncomfortable or threatened.

RachelG,<BR>I really enjoyed your interesting and valuable trip report and glad to know that the welcome in Spain was warm, that your husband recovered from his initial illness and that the hiking portion in the Alpujarras was so enjoyable for all of you.<BR><BR>I've investigated a 5-7 day hiking trip there and looked at several companies such as Bravo! Adventures, Country Walkers, Ramblers Holidays, REI, Andalucian Adventures, etc., but hadn't heard of Above the Clouds until you mentioned it in an earlier post, which sent me to their web site. It sounds like you found a very good company with a fine guide, great food and compared to other tours, the price quite reasonable. I'd love to know how many members there were in your group, what grade level of difficulty you'd classify the hiking, if you spent time in village of Mecina (one co. starts its trips there) and which was your favorite of the Alpujarran villages you visited? <BR><BR>Glad to know too that you enjoyed your stay at the Intercontinental in Madrid after their 4+ yr., multi-million $ complete refurbishment. <BR>It's been a favorite of mine since the 70's, but I haven't stayed for 4 yrs., when our not-yet-renovated room was quite tired looking, so it's great to know that it can be highly recommended again. I've always found the service top notch, and I love the location on the Castellana, near my old haunts. <BR>Since the refurbishment I've noticed the rack rates have soared, so that internet special you found is terrific. Was is on www.intercontinental.com or through another discount hotel booking site? <BR><BR>Incidentally, our experiences with travel time and taxi fares from Barajas to downtown are identical to ours, as is the experience with those mid-morning crowds at the Alhambra. That 8:30-9 a.m. slot is our preference too.<BR><BR>Again, thanks for your informative report and welcome home!<BR>

Thanks Maribel--a lot of your advice was invaluable in planning this trip.<BR>In answer to your questions, I found the rates for the Intercontinental on their web site, www.interconti.com--I had just decided to check it because I thought I might find a good rate due to the war situation and did.<BR>Bruno, our guide, and his partner Nick Law have their own company in Spain called Spain Step by Step but they don't have a website yet. They also do the Spain tours for Country Walkers and a British company that I can't remember the name of right now. There were only 4 people in our group-just my family, max is 12 I think-but he said average is about 8. The fewest they take is 4. They will arrange tours at other times for groups of 4 or more. The hikes were listed as moderate and I think that is pretty accurate. The first day's hike is shorter than the others and I think this is so the guide can assess the level of ability of the guests. There are options to do more if you want as my husband and son did on the day we went to O Sel Ling-they hiked way higher with Bruno while I basked in the sun. Bruno said he has had a blind man on his trip before and once had a lady who had a severe muscular disease that they had to hire a mule for her to ride (actually that's how they got started as no other company would go to the trouble). We did not go to Mecina. Favorite village is hard to say as they are all interesting but probably Bubion and the villages above and below it as they are all in close proximity and have wonderful shopping.

Hi RachelG,<BR>Did you use the audioguide at the Alhambra? I was wondering what the best way was to understand everything you were seeing (short of paying for a private guide). What do you recommend? Also, is there really a big temperature difference between Granada and points at lower altitudes?

Didn't use the audioguide--we hired a private guide (arranged by Bruno) who was very good--for four people, probably doesn't cost that much more than getting 4 audioguides.<BR>The areas in the Alpujarras where we were are fairly high elevations, so it was pretty cold at times--snowed a little on us at Yegen but didn't stick. Granada's temperatures seemed very comfortable in the 50-high 60's range.

I was just in Granada a couple of weeks ago and got the audioguide at the Alhambra. It's three euros and worth every cent! I would definitely suggest it.

Thanks RachelG for the info. <BR>What a luxury to have had a trip and guide all to yourselves! I think I can handle that level of hiking. The hiking trip I did with Camino Tours (now called Bravo! Adventures) in Picos de Europa was a D level with one mountain climb beyond Fuente D� that was terrifying, way beyond my league. The first day, of course, was deceptively easy, the 3rd day, sheer terror! Your trip sounds much more like my style. I'll certainly consider Above the Clouds.