Thinking on going to Spain on early Summer 2004? Better read this message.
 

I just read on the Spanish News that the Crown Prince Felipe, Heir to the Throne of Spain has (finally!) announced wedding plans to a Spanish newscaster. The wedding will take place early June in the Catedral de La Almudena in Madrid. Take notice if traveling to Madrid, lodging, restaurants, etc may be tight for those dates, the country (specially Madrid) will be going nuts.

Maribel, Olga, Mariarosa--- Chicas, se nos casa el Principe , al parecer no nos pudo esperar, que pena....((U)) :->

I know ! Poor Gwyneth... First Ben, now Felipe.
Amazingly enough, he marries a spanish woman. She will be the first spanish queen of Spain in more than a century!

I bet is going to be a madhouse and prices for lodging and air to Spain is going to skyrocket for those dates. I read something about early summer, which I take it to be in June. It should be fun, though.

Hola Maira! Pero mas horripilante de que Felipe se case, es que él y su prometida piensan llamar a su primer hijo "Pelayo".

Hombre, Maria Rosa, que Pelayo es el nombre del primer rey español ?Has leído la placa en la basílica de Covadonga? Es un poco excesiva pero...

Y encima era asturiano.

Recuerda, además, que su ex-novia, Isabel Sartorius, llamó a su hija Mencía.

No sé qué es peor.

Y ?recordáis el jaleo cuando Felipe tenía Gigi Howard de novia? Todo el mundo se preguntaba cómo pronunciar ese nombre sin parecer estar riéndose.

Cool--sounds like it will be a great, mad party.

Querido José, mi comentario fue sin ánimo de ofender, y menos de ofender a un asturiano, con lo que a mí me gusta la fabada! Pero si llaman Pelayo al primogénito, qué nombre le van a poner al segundo, Ordoño? Por qué no Carlos, Alfonso o Enrique?

And, what ? He's marrying a divorced woman ? Oh dear.

OK, the wedding has been set for the 22nd of May next year.
A lot of people had already booked for the end of June ...

Bye, Cova

Oh dear! Our Spain itinerary has us in Madrid May 17-23! What are we to do!? Flights are already in place. Hotels are not. So how much of a mad house will this be, and will the crowds really be limited to May 22nd? Or will this event be marked by days of celebration either leading up to the big day or following it? We're not really up to partaking in a "mad party," especially since we'll be traveling with 2 young children. We'd really like to avoid it. What will Seville or Granada be like during this time? One idea I had was to take off to Lisbon the 21-24, a trip we were planning to take at the end of our Spain visit, but we could insert it there. Is this a good solution, or will it be crazy trying to fly out of Madrid at a time like that? Help!

Hi Sam,
all the bookings for the big 5 and 4 star places have been cancelled to make place for the wedding guests (and TV crews). The idea is that given that the previous weekend there will also be a big wedding in Copenhague, everything will be easier to coordinate.

I would check some 3-star places, but NOW !!! There will probably be big celebrations before the wedding, but not afterwards, so I would try to stay in Madrid from the 23rd on.

Lisbon looks like a good idea, and it is a great place ...

Good luck, Cova

Thanks Cova. And thanks to Maira for breaking this story. I'm not sure I necessarily would have known about this otherwise and it's such important information! The whole thing was making me really nervous, and was really frustrating our itinerary, so I went ahead and called my airline and lucky for us they were able to change our tickets pushing our trip back one week (award tickets). So instead of arriving in Madrid on the 17th, we get there on the 24th. Much better! We're still going to Lisbon, but we'll keep it at the end of our trip as planned. Thanks again!

Hi Sam,
I'm glad it has worked out with the flights. Now the problem will be with the hotels. I have checked the SolMelia website, and they have availability in some of their hotels, but Bancotel (one of the favs in this site) doesn't show any availability ...

Good luck, again,
Cova

So hotels are booked from the 24th on too? Is this flight change not going to help after all? Oh boy!

Hi Sam,
it's only Bancotel the one that it's not showing any availability.
I have checked some other websites, such as http://www.hthotels.com (High Tech hotels, a new spanish chain with some interesting family rooms, give it a try) or http://www.solmelia.com , and there is availability and some good offers.
Of course, I don't think that the small pensions around the Plaza del Sol should have any problem. But seeing that you are travelling with young children, have a look at the High Tech hotels. It's not so easy to find family rooms in Spain ...

Rgds, Cova

Thank you! I will give High Tech hotels a look. Booking our Madrid hotel is my first priority today. I'm on it! Thanks again!

We have tentative plans to head into Barcelona at that time - do you think flights/hotels there will be affected?

Hi Suec1,
I doubt Barcelona would be affected by the wedding. The only thing that could do that is the fact that many madrileños are thinking that May could be a lovely month to have a week of holidays ... Many of my friends are beginning to plan to get away from the city during that week :)

Rgds, Cova