Well, to all who have been helpful with my 3 questions:
"January and February in Spain"
"Paradores you love"
"Books you recommend"

I want to say thanks so much, and to Rex who provided me the enlightenment I sorely needed, thanks extra much. I can only say by way of excuse that my spam filter captured the original "how to" messae after I registered. I now know the way.

Anyway,

we're going to be in Madrid, Andalucia, Barcelona and North Coast, at a minimum for the five weeks coming up. Very unstructured, unplanned. Right now, we're thinking:

3 weeks
Madrid, Andalucia, maybe the Coast, either near Cadiz or near Costa del Sol

2 weeks
Train or plane to Barcelona and then along North Coast and back to Madrid to fly out.

How's that sound?

Re: books. Any good political histories that folks recommend?

Thanks again,

Ken

ttt

I have visited Spain's north coast all the way west to Galicia (Santiago de Compostela) in February: the weather can be very rough. The food, however can make it all worthwhile: the Basque cuisine in San Sebastian & Bilbao, the seafood in Santandar's barrio Pesquero and the bean stew (Favada Asturiana or Cocido de Liebana) in the mountains of western Cantabria & Asturias. In Galizia a winter staple seems to be Lacon con Grelos (Sowbelly with Greens??) although Lugo's cuisine seems to be more varied.

Buen Provecho!

You're welcome. Be sure and check out www.maribelsguides.com

Maybe you covered this on other posts, but what is your prior experience traveling in Europe? Ever been for five weeks before?

Best wishes,

Rex

Have you read Anthony beevor's book on the Spanish civil war?

Another interesting book covering the region of Cadiz and dealing with the peasant anarchist uprisings of the late 19th century is Vicente Blasco Ibanez, "La Bodega".

A trip to the Cadiz region is certainly going to be more rewarding than anything along the Costa del Sol, and if you are around Jerez in late Feb, early March, there is the Flamenco Festival with several concerts nightly...

Thanks for all the info...we've done quite a bit of travelling, 1998 3 1/2 weeks in Ireland and Italy (strange combo I know), and then 2003 4 weeks in Sweden and Norway.
Rex, why do you ask?

Ken

Ken. I highly recommend the book entitled, the New Spaniards by J. Hooper. Your trip sounds wonderful! I totally agree with the earlier poster's comments about the food in the north of the country...in fact the food is wonderful throughout Spain.

I ask because I think that five weeks is a bad idea for a first traveler to Europe. But your situation is different.

ekscrunchy, I looked on Amazon and that book looks very good...I'll take a look at it.

nedsireland, I'm drooling already and it sounds like the food is worth a little bit of foul weather

Rex, maribel's guidebooks are unreal. By the way, I tried to download them onto my Palm and they are encrypted. Anyone had any luck getting them downloaded to take as guidebooks?

sebti, I hadn't seen that book on the Civil War, I'll check it out. I have read Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and when I was in college studied the Spanish Civil War quite a bit.

This will be a great trip...thanks for all the help

Ken

ksddfam:

You're in for a great trip guys! I strongly suggest you minimze your stay in Madrid and concentrate on all the other places mentioned. Give plenty of time for Barcelona and Sevilla and Granada. Minimize Coasta del Sol. San Sebastian and the Guggy in Bilbao are certainly worth your time...and the description above re: basque concoctions...tells it all! Buen apetito! You might want to consider the unusual town of Ronda and its bullring, also.Enjoy!
Stu T.

They're PDF files. Just view them on any computer, and print them.

For reading, not political, but FABULOUS, I suggest The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafron, set in Barcelona, incredible writing.

Just print them.

Hi Ken,

in case you don´t have time to find the books before travelling to Spain, you can always go to the foreign languages section in the FNAC building in Callao.

I saw both books ( Beevor´s "The spanish civil war" and "The new Spaniards&quot there before Christmas.
http://tinyurl.com/brg6n
http://tinyurl.com/c92l7

I am more fond of "The new Spaniards" than of the heavily acclaimed Kurlansky´s "The basque history of the world".
http://tinyurl.com/dzxpr

Rgds, Cova

Beevor's book and the New Spaniards will arrive tomorrow...the wonders of Amazon.

I found a free download on the Adobe website for Palm Handhelds. It allows you to dowload, store and read PDF files with a lot of adjustments made for small screens to make it more readable. So now all of Maribel's guidebooks are in my Palm without me having to carry 85 pages of paper.

Its 48 degrees in Madrid, absolutely balmy. We arrive on Thursday.

Thanks,

Ken

Hi Ken,

balmy might be, but in the mornings it´s kind of cold, and between the fog and the wind, the feeling is much colder. Pack an umbrella because we have rain in the forecast for next week ...

And if you need any help with Madrid, drop me a line.

Cova