<BR>I feel I owe our inpressions to all of you who helped me to decide on accomodations in Spain. So here are some comments on our experience:<BR>Barcelona - We stayed in Hotel Continental. Great location. On the Ramblas 1 min walk from Plaza Catalunya. The hotel was OK but a little rundown. The staff is very friendly. Breakfast very basic. The rooms facing the Ramblas are very noisy when the windows are open. Very reasonably priced for its location (76-90 euros).<BR>Granada - We stayed in Hotel America right on the Alhambra grounds. It is a tiny place, 14 rooms, clean and nice, very picturesque, around 100 euros, good restaurant but only for lunch. The only drawback - it is abour 1 km walk from the parking place. Good bus service to Granada.<BR>Seville - Hotel Amadeus. A sweet hotel in thr old city. But don't even think of going there if you are with a car. It took us almost 1.5 hours to figure how to reach it, and even then we had to drag the suitcases for 2 blocks while the other was waiting in the car parked on a sidewalk. the nearest park place is 4 blocks away. The hotel has no breakfast.<BR>Toledo - Hotel Pintor el Greco. We found it to be a very pleasant hotel. Clean, nice rooms, good breakfast, easy parking on the street, good location. Extemely nice and helpful staff. I highly recommend it.<BR>Paradors. We stayed in 5 paradors:<BR>Ronda - although it is not an old historic building, it is absolutely beautiful. The location on top of a cliff, the rooms, the great restaurant, the friendly staff. In short, a perfect place.<BR>Arcos de la Frontera - a lovely old place in a lovely small old town. Great views. BUT the food was HORRIBLE. I would use even a stronger word to describe it if I could think of one. Just awful.<BR>Carmona - a beautiful parador. Nice old town. Nice staff, nice room, good food.<BR>Jaen - A beautiful parador, mediocre room. Good food.<BR>Chinchon - this place angered us so much that we even didn't enter the dining room. The room was ugly. It smelled of cigarettes (no non-smoking rooms). The walls were full of cracks. We felt as if we were staying in the servants' rooms. they had somekind of convention in the parador, and couldn't be bothered with &quot;simple&quot; paying guests like us. There was no place to sit, all the parador was taken over by the convention. The staff was snotty and unhelpful. At the end they even charged us for a garage we never used. Needless to say, I would NEVER go there again.<BR>And... thank you to all who helped us to make this trip so enjoyable, especially you, Maribel.<BR>AA

AA..I am interested in the Continental-heard so many mixed reviews<BR>on it. Would it have been a better stay if you asked for a room at the back of the hotel? Is that even possible? Also<BR>we will be in Seville.-without a car.<BR>How much was the Amadeus?

<BR>Yes, you can ask for a back room in Hotel Continental. As a matter of fact the back rooms are less expensive. I think that they are about 76 euros and I am sure that they are not noisy at all. The front rooms have tiny balcony right over the Ramblas. As noise doesn't bother me at all, I rather enjoyed watching all the commotion from up in the balcony. I must emphasize again that the location of this hotel is just great!<BR>The hotel Amadeus' rate per double room is 76 euros + 7% tax. It's location is also very convenient.<BR>AA

I can't find Hotel Amadeus on web-only for Venice?? do you have a website or anyplace I can get more information?

www.hotelamadeussevilla.com/

<BR>...That's right This is the Amadeus site. But again - don't even think about going there if you are with a car!<BR>It was real torture for us.<BR>AA

Thanks for your post. Could you please elaborate on the Parador in Jaen, particularly the room? I'm trying to decide between it and the Parador in Ubeda.<BR><BR>Also, how was your room at the Hotel America? Is there a particular room number we should ask for?<BR><BR>Finally, I assume you just returned from Spain and it must have been fairly cool there -- did all of your hotel rooms have heating?

<BR>Well, Laura, about Jaen: The room was nice. Very similar to all other parador rooms we stayed in. The location of the parador is quite stunning above the city on a cliff. Don't skip the easy walk to the big cross on the top (about 10-15 minutes). I forgot to mention that ALL paradors don't recognize the term &quot;double bed&quot;. They all provided us with 2 twin beds put one next to the other. The main problem is that all the beds have wheels and they tend to shift at night... quite amusing. It bothered me a little. When I asked them if they had rooms with double beds, they said that they have but that I didn't ordre one (which I did). They told me that I should have specified that I am interested in a &quot;matremonial&quot; bed... <BR><BR>About Hotel America. It reminded me of some inns I visited before. I only saw our room and it was simple, no frills but nice. No TV (not that there is anything to watch if you don't understand Spanish. The owner, Manuel, is very pleasant. As I mentioned before, lunch was very nice. Breakfast VERY basic. For dinner you have to go to Granada, but the bus service was very good. We preferred to buy some bread and cheese and have a sandwich in the room. The parking is quite a distance (mostly uphill) near the ticket boxes of Alhambra. They claim that it is about 500 yards. We felt it was about double that.<BR>The weather strangely enough was about 65 (16-17 C) in Barcelona and about 55 (10-12 C) and very windy in the south.<BR>Hope this helps.<BR>AA

Hi AA,<BR>I was thinking about your Nov. trip while we were traveling during those same dates, and hoping that the weather was pleasant for you. We had one gorgeous sunny 60+ day in Segovia and in the Rioja, days in the 50s, with sun in the morning and rain every afternoon at 5:30 and cold nights.<BR><BR>Thanks for your detailed feedback regardomg your lodging choices. I understand how you felt trying to find the Amadeus in the warren of tiny, narrow streets of the Barrio de Santa Cruz.<BR>We once got a Mercedes Bremen minibus (with a load of 7 teenagers) quite stuck in a teeny plaza there after circling for hrs. trying to reach our hotel, which, of course, was only a few blocks away. Quite the adventure. I plan to stay at the Amadeus during the April feria but won't have a car!<BR><BR>I thought you would like the nice folks at the Pintor El Greco. We found the owner of the America to be quite a character, and he speaks very good English. We stayed there with 2 other couples once and had a great time. Also glad you were able to enjoy all but one of the paradors. Everyone should drive up to the castle Parador in Jaen if only for the views of those miles and miles of olive groves, plus those stunning precipice overlooks at Arcos and Ronda are also &quot;must sees&quot;. Glad you liked them.<BR>About Chinch&oacute;n:<BR>The last time I visited (last yr.), I went by myself and had a long, leisurely lunch. There were no conventioneers that day, and since I was a lady dining alone, the dining staff really pampered me. But I didn't see the bedrooms that day (although I know they're &quot;monastic&quot; in size), just the pretty public spaces. Sounds like their rms are now (over?) due for a thorough refurbishment. Because of your very honest warning, I'll most likely change our reservations for the Sat. before Holy Week from Chinch&ograve;n to Toledo instead on our way down to Ubeda. <BR><BR>Thanks again, AA, for your impressions.<BR>Regards,<BR>Maribel<BR>

<BR>Maribel,<BR>Strange as it might sound, the weather in the south of Spain was worse than the north. I am not entirely convinced that &quot;the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain&quot;...<BR>About Chinchon - one of the main problems of the place is that once the grounds and the gardens cannot be used (it was raining), there is no decent place to sit out of the room, just a gloomy bar with low wooden uncomfortable chairs, and the corridors around the patio which were cold and uninviting. I especially didn't care for the staff's attitude. I am glad I helped you th change your plans concerning the stay. By the way, I really enjoyed Toledo as a town and a place to visit.<BR>Thanks again,<BR>AA