I need maribels files too...

[email protected]

Karen!

I got Madrid and Barcelona files from some wonderful members of this forum.
If you have a Seville or Granada file, I'd appreciate it!

The reason the email was rejected is probably due to the fact that my hotmail box was full- Sorry!

Staying tuned!

Richard - I sent them to you yesterday.

Ana - I sent you the Sevilla file.

Stay tuned for the next installment!

Karen

Karen, your descriptions and advice are terrific! Would you mind sending me the fabled Maribel's Seville and Barcelona files? My email address is [email protected]. Thanks so much.

If you don't mind, I'd love
Maribel's Seville and Barcelona files
too.
Thanks!
Connie

[email protected]

Hi again, sorry for the delay. Jeanbean and Connie - I have sent you the files.

Day ? Sunday, Ronda (I lost track of days. Day 10, maybe?)

I hit the tourist office at 10am, after eating breakfast in a little cafe. It's quite chilly, but the sun is shining so I have high hopes for the day. Sure enough, by early afternoon, no jacket required.

I walk down the Puente Nueva - they are restoring it and you can walk about 1/3 of the way down to see a display of the work they are doing, and you get different views of the gorge. Very pretty.

Then I go to Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish King). You can't tour inside, but you visit the gardens and "El Mino" - the mine. The "mine" is basically a tower-like fortress built into the cliff of the gorge that was a secret military structure built in the 14th century. You can walk all the way down to the bottom of the gorge. I didn't count steps, but it was 60 meters - the equivalent of 20 stories. You go down, you must go back up. Burned off breakfast!

I then wander around the town, viewing the Puente Viejo (the Old Bridge), and walk along the old city wall for awhile. I visit the Palacie de Mondragon, which has beautiful views of the valley and the mountains in the distance. It also has an interesting exhibit about early man in the area - cave dwellings, the first use of metal tools. And an exhibit about Islamic burial rights which was also interesting.

Then I visit the Bandit Museum, and learned all about the bandit lifestyle and how bandits came to be romanticized in books and movies.

I relax after all this walking by having lunch outdoors in a little cafe in the old part of town. By the time I am ready to leave the cafe at 2:30, people are waiting for tables. Since I have a little wine left, I ask a couple speaking English if they would like to join me, and they do. I talk to them for about 1/2 hour, and that was nice.

I walk past some cute shops, and I see a hand-woven, woolen rug that I absolutely love. I was looking for a small, doormat sized one that would be easy to carry (I have a small suitcase!). But instead, I fall in love with the colors of a rug that is about 4'x6'. The thing is big, and heavy - I'd guess it weighs about 15 pounds. It is thick and soft and gorgeous, and it is only 40 euros.

The store owned speaks no English, but I know enough to tell him I have to think about it, because I am concerned about carrying it around for the next 6 days. But, 2 hours later I go back and buy it! I know I would have regretted not buying it the minute I left Ronda. So, for the next six days, I look like a bag lady, carrying this heavy rug, rolled up in a big plastic bag. But I LOVE IT! The white towns are known for their woolen rugs.

Anyway, I decide to skip the bullring. I saw the one in Sevilla, and that was enough for me. I walk back down to Puente Vieja and over to the Jardine Cuenca, beautiful gardens overlooking the gorge on the new side of the city.

Then I do my hiking. From the old part of town, you can follow a nice path partway down the gorge, from where you get great views of the Puente Nueva. Where this path ends, there is a clearing where you can sit on rocks and enjoy the view. I talk to some students on a daytrip from Sevilla, and then a woman who is there by herself also. She lives about 5 mintes from where I grew up on Long Island! It was so weird. The two of us decided to follow a narrow trail further down the gorge. It doesn't appear that too many people do this, and the trail is not well maintained. After about 10 minutes, we run into old cliff dwelling ruins. They were used as watch-out points - looking for enemies etc. You don't end up all the way at the bottom of the gorge, but you get down pretty far.

I ended up spending about 1 1/2 hours on this whole part - talking to people for a good part of that, and just relaxing and enjoying the view and the great day. I head back up to the town as the sun is setting around 7pm.

I am starving by this time. I head toward Plaza de Sorocco, searching for tapas; and here I have to backtrack a little. In Sevilla, when I was tapa-hopping with Sara, we talked briefly to a family of 3 who were touring Spain while the daughter was on break from school as an exchange student in the Canary Islands. So, I am walking through the plaza in Ronda, and I walk right past this same family! The coincidence was amazing.

We talk for a little while, and they invite me to dinner. We ate at a place called, I think, Restaurante Dona Pena, or something very close to that. This is the fanciest place I ate in Spain. So much for my budget tonight! They gave you sherry before dinner, which was a little odd since I think of it as a dessert wine, and then anisette afterward. We had a great dinner for several hours. It would have been probably a 35 euro dinner for me, except Don, the father, insisted on picking up the tab. Of course I protested, but he wouldn't take any money.

We go for a walk around town after dinner for a while, and then part ways. I head to bed, totally in love with little Ronda!

Karen

Day 11: Ronda to Granada

I leave Ronda around 9:30. The hotel gives me great directions to get out of town, so I am on my way with no problems. I had planned to stop in Antequerra on my way to Granada, but since I would only have today and part of tomorrow for Granada, I decide to skip it.

It takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to Granada. I drop off the rental car at the airport, and take a 20 euro taxi ride to my hotel in the city. I check in, get a map from the reception desk, and the woman there tells me all about the good things to see in the Albaicin district and other things. She was as good as a tour guide!

It is early afternoon, and a beautiful day, and I wander along a road in Albaicin by a stream that separates the town from the hill leading up to Alhambra. There are a lot of cats and ducks down by the stream, which was kind of funny to see. I walk around the neighborhood, mostly uphill, and find the Mirador de San Nicholas, which is Granada's high-point place to go to watch the sunset, the Alhambra, and the Sierras in the background. I relax for a little while then find a taverna for lunch - as usual, outdoors in a little plaza.

Sarah from Montreal is coming to Granada today, so we are meeting up at 5pm. I have time to visit the cathedral, but accidentally enter the crypt where Isabel and Ferninand are buried. I don't realize this at first and can't understand why the area is so small. After I leave there, of course I see a big size that says "Cathedral entrance", and I realize my mistake. The crypt all of a sudden is much more impressive, now that I know its only purpose. This cathedral is very white inside and has beautiful stained-glass windows.

Sarah and I meet up and walk around Albaicin some more, ending up at the Mirador again around 6pm. We basically people watch and talk, but we get a prime viewing spot on the wall. The sun sets to the right of the Alcazar, but the views are beautiful and it was cool to see the Alcazar lit up as it got dark. We run into another guy Sarah had met in Salamanca a few weeks ago, so he joins our little group. We hit a few places for tapas and drinks, and generally have a relaxing night talking and eating.

Day 12: Granada, then Barcelona

Sarah decides to go the Alhambra with me in the morning. I have reservations for 8:30, which are totally NOT necessary in February! We meet up at 7:30 and walk up to the Alhambra. Just a note. I read it was a long, arduous walk. As you can tell, I like to walk and hike and exercise, but still, it was a 15 minute uphill walk to the entrance, and it wasn't bad at all.

There were only about 10 people up there. The office didn't open until 8, so we were early and just wandered around for a while. It was freezing up there for the first few hours. When it opened, we wandered to the Nasrid palace, which is beautiful as expected. We tour the Alcazaba and wander around the gardens. By the time we do all of that, it's about 11am, and the tour groups are starting to form and the whole complex is getting more crowded. At that point, we were glad we got an early start - it was so peaceful up there in the morning. We end up being there for about 4 1/2 hours.

We head back toward town for lunch, and the slight headache I had all day gets progressively worse. By the time we are done with lunch, I have a migraine. Sarah is nice enough to let me use her room to rest. I can't buy pain relief medicine because it is the middle of the day - siesta, all the pharmacies are closed. She leaves me to do some errands (she is planning her trip as she goes, and had to figure out where she wanted to go next). She comes back around 4, and although the rest helped, I still feel lousy. I decide to head toward the airport for my flight to Barcelona. I had anti-inflammatory medicine in my bag, so I take that before leaving the city. When I get to the airport, the doctor's office there gives me aspirin, and I feel almost human by the time my flight boards for Barcelona.

The flight on Iberia was fine. Packed on a Tuesday night. I feel like a bag lady carrying my plastic bag with the rug in it, and I have to check my bag.

It takes 1/2 hour for the luggage to come out in Barcelona, which was annoying, since I still had a slight headache and I was tired. But, I get my bag, catch the airport bus to Plaza Catalunya, and without much trouble, I find my hotel.

In Barcelona I call Sharon, a fellow Fodorite who, with her husband Ray, was in Barcelona for a week, getting there several days before me. WELCOME BACK SHARON AND RAY! Hope the rest of your trip was wonderful. Sharon by this time is a wealth of information on Barcelona, and she willingly shares their experiences, so I feel well prepared for my few days there. We meet the next day in the morning, but we are on different schedules and part ways. I talk to them several more times, but we never managed to catch up for a meal. SORRY!

I go to bed around 11pm, hoping to lick the headache for good.

Next day - Gaudi day!

Karen

Day 13: Barcelona

I hit the ATM and find the Bus Turistic. I buy the 2-day pass for 20 euros. It seems expensive to me, and I could have done most things with metro, but it's kind of fun to sit on the upper deck and see the city (except when it is cold later in the day, when I sit inside).

I first visit the Cathedral. I don't spend much time there, maybe 20 minutes. I think I am a little tired of cathedrals... I then take the Turistic Bus to Sagrada Familia. It is surreal! Beautiful, weird, huge, it's a big construction site with towers to play in. I think I took 30 pictures here. I got the audioguide, which was worth it here. You can pay an extra 2 euros to take a lift to the top of one of the towers - but that's not for me - I go up the tower you can walk up. It was about 450 steps, the most I've done on this trip (and no, I didn't count, every 10th step was numbered). Wonderful views from the top. The building seems alive with all of the workers there, and the model shop in the museum is fun to see.

I pick up the Bus Turistic and head to Parc Guell. This is Gaudi's park. It is lovely, and it has the famous Gaudi lizard. He's cute. I buy a sandwich as I walk to the park, and I have lunch in the park and wander around for a while. Next, I stop at Palau Reial, which has pretty gardens and a ceramics and a decorative arts museum. It has a wonderful ceiling over the entry way staircase.

Next, Bus Turistic takes me back to Placa Catalunya. I walk up Passeig de Gracia to Casa Batllo, a Gaudi-designed house. It is expensive (8 euros with the discount from the Bus Turistic coupon book) and the audioguide gets you through the house in about 1/2 an hour, but it is like a fantasy-house and very interesting. I was disappointed they wouldn't let you take pictures.

I call my boyfriend and we chat for a while and then I head to Casa Milo (La Pedrera). Very cool also, and you get to tour the roof with the very odd and colorful chimneys. They are really funky - I like them.

After all of this, I go back to regroup at my hotel, check the internet etc, and at 9:30 I head out to dinner. I eat at Trobador, right off of Placa Catalunya. I didn't know it then, but it is in Maribel's list of suggestions (so much for being organized!). The food is very good and the waiter was very friendly - good service.

Next - day 2 of Barcelona.

Karen

OK, to finish up my report...

Day 2 of Barcelona

I start at La Boqueria, the outdoor market, and buy breakfast there. I go to the Theatre Liceu at 10am, as they only have 1 tour a day. It is beautifully restored (after a fire in 1994), and the tour was interesting.

I head to Palau Guell around 11am, and am told that the next available tour is 1:15pm. Oops! That put a dent in my plans. I take the 1:15 ticket, and use the extra time to walk down Las Ramblas to the port, walk around the port for awhile, and then walk up to Palau de Musica Catalunya (not the most efficient use of my time, if you look at a map, but good exercise). The outside of the Palau is awesome (another Gaudi building), but they are not running tours today (or tomorrow, either) so I never see the inside.

I go back for the Palau Guell tour. More cool chimneys on the roof.

Then, I make the mistake of catching the Bus Turistic down by the port, and ended up doing basically the whole route to go to Montjuic. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes! I should have walked up to Placa Catalunya and caught it there. Live and learn. At least it helped me get my money's worth on the bus, since I took it all over the city!

I visited the Olympic stadium, and then found a special Dali exhibit in the CaixaForum that was interesting (and crowded - it was free). It was mostly about Dali's work besides his paintings - magazines, movies, ads, fashion etc.

I walked down to Placa Espanya and took the metro back to Placa Catalunya, where I stopped by the tourist office to figure out my trip to Monserrat the next day. Then I searched out a Cava bar Maribel recommended called Xampi's Xampany. I thought it would be close to where I was, but it ended up being quite a walk away, which I normally wouldn't mind but it was quite cold in Barcelona today. Still, I enjoyed the cava and some light tapas.

I go to Cuidad Condal for dinner, another Maribel suggestion close to my hotel, and have some wonderful tapas for dinner. It is big and lively and I enjoyed it.

Day 3 of Barcelona

I get up early to catch the 9:36 train to Monserrat. It was easy to buy train/cable car combo tickets at a kiosk in the train station. Once up there, It is cold and cloudy up on the mountain. I wish I had gloves! I take the hike down to the Santa Cava (and then hike back up, of course). The round trip takes me about an hour. You can do lots of hiking up there, but it is just too cold at this time of year for me. I visit the basilica and finish touring in time for the 1pm choir. I listen for a little while but don't stay until the end. I take an early afternoon train back to Barcelona (they are only once an hour, so it's good to know the schedule).

I call Sarah and she is in Barcelona. We meet up for a late lunch (it's about 3pm), and now it is cold and raining. It's really the only bad weather day I had the whole trip. Sarah decides to go to Sagrada Familia, so we split up for a few hours. I have on my list of things to see that I haven't seen yet 2 things: the Picasso Museum and the Chocolate Museum. Being the cultured person that I am, I opt for the Chocolate Museum. I loved it. They had the whole history of chocolate and lots of chocolate "sculptures" of all different kinds of things. And, of course, you can buy chocolate. Yum!

By the time I walk back to my hotel, in the pouring rain with a hood but no umbrella, I am freezing to the bone and wet. I take a hot shower to warm up before I mean Sarah for dinner.

We eat at a place on Las Ramblas and share tapas and paella. It was very good. After that, although we had originally planned to walk around Las Ramblas, but it was so cold and still pouring, Sarah was tired from traveling all day, and I had to pack, so we called it a night and said our goodbyes.

Going home

I take the Aeropuerto bus back to the airport, still lugging my plastic bag with the rug. Because I have the rug, I now have to check my suitcase. I get randomly selected to get my luggage searched, and I had to unpack everything. Oh well, no big deal.

We fly from BCN to MAD and we pick up more people at MAD - groups of students traveling with their teachers. Some of them were quite annoying, they never stopped talking, loudly, and it made the trip from MAD to JFK less pleasant than I would have liked.

I have to collect my luggage, go through customs, and recheck it for my connection to DC. This didn't take long and wasn't as much of a pain as I thought it was going to be.

I get home uneventfully, my boyfriend picks me up, and I go home to see my cats. I can't believe 2 weeks went by so fast.

I hope this helps some of you as you plan your trips, and I'll continue to look for this thread if you have any questions for me!

Happy travels,
Karen

Kaudrey: Super report. Thank you. We did a similar trip a year and a half ago. I, too, was deeply disappointed in not being able to see the inside of the Palau de Musica Catalunya. I tried to convince them that I traveled 8,000 plus miles to see it but my powers of persuasion did not work. Next time...

Karen,

Thanks again for posting such a great trip report! I have thoroughly enjoyed it! And thanks for helping me with my planning!

Sally

Thank you, and you're welcome!

In the next week or two, I hope to put some pics on a website. I'll put the link here when I get it done.

Karen

Karen,
Thank you so much for this terrific report, and your earlier answers to my questions. I've copied them, and know they will come in handy during my trip.
So from one Longisland girl to another,
Happy Trails,
Critter

where is the chocolate musuem?

Richard, the chocolate museum is a few blocks away from the Picasso Museum, not far from the Placa Catalunya (about a 5 minute walk). I don't remember the street, but if you get a map at the tourist office in Placa Catalunya, it is on the map.

You can also ask the nice people at the tourist office to point it out to you. They were very helpful and friendly.

Karen

Great trip report. We visited Barcelona two years ago & I felt like I was right back there again. Loved it! We're going to Spain again at the end of April & if you have any suggestions for tapas places (or restaurants) in Granada, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Granada: Cunini for seafood and Chikito for tapas.

weber,

Where are those restaurants located? I want to try to check them out! Thanks!

Sally

This is a great trip report and it has really helped us in planning our upcoming trip to Seville and Andalucia. Thanks so much for posting, Kaudry. Also very, very helpful was Maribel's Seville file, which she generously shared with us. We will be in Seville from 3/20 to 3/23 and then on to Grenada, Ronda, Marbella and two days in Morocco before returning on 3/31. We would enjoy meeting up with any fellow fodorites along the way.

Hi Kaudrey. If you wouldn't mind sending the infamous Maribel files to yet another person, I'd love to have them. I'm another DC (well, Silver Spring) gal and I'm going to Barcelona, Seville, and hopefully Cordoba in early May. I'm staying at the Alcantara in Seville, by the way. I didn't catch where you stayed in Barcelona - could you repeat that? I'm having an awful time finding a place - looking for Placa Catalunya mostly, 2-star hostal. I think I have a room lined up at the Hostal Goya - anyone know anything about it? It sounded good, but then they have rooms, which is (apparently) unusual for May 7, so I'm wondering...Palacios and Central and San Remo are booked.

Anyway, thanks for the info and if you could send me more, my address is [email protected]

Ruth