Trip report: 4 weeks in Spain, Portugal, Berlin, Prague
 

Hi.

We returned 2 weeks ago from almost 4 weeks in:

- Spain: Madrid, Nerja, Sevilla (just 2 weeks)
- Portugal: Évora, Sintra outside of Lisboa (just 4 days)
- Berlin (visited family for 5 days)
- Prague (just 4 days)

We had a wonderful time and, in a pinch, found an internet cafe to grab a dinner or hotel recommendation while we were on the road.

We sure appreciated all your postings here, so we put together an HTML "trip report" with our own data and suggestions. There are a few pix mixed in there to make it visually more pleasant (or tempting).

Thanks again to those whose postings helped us--we hope someone might find our feedback equally useful.

Access it at: http://www.skyhighway.com/~g/euro2004.html

Any questions or feedback, email through this website or directly at g at skyhighway.com (broken up that way to avoid spambots).

Happy trails!

-Gary & Alicia
Santa Cruz, Calif.

Wow! What a wonderful trip report! The best I have ever seen. Wonderful pics and information about yhe cities. Congratulations.
I am Portuguese, live in the Estoril area, near Lisbon and was glad you liked Evora and Sintra, my favorite places in Portugal.
I think you have to return here and see Lisbon, the Algarve and the North , which is beautiful. And the food there, well, it's superb!
Thanks for sharing it with us.
Regards.

Teresa

Great report, gwhiz! Thanks for sharing.

Karen

Hi Teresa.

It was fun gathering tidbits to share--glad you liked 'em. We intended to spend a day dipping our toe in Lisboa as prelude to a future trip, but that day was gobbled up by good ol' Germania Express rescheduling our evening flight.

We would LOVE to go to Northern Portugal Next time, we'll probably make our way to Galicia and wend our way southward.

By the way, I forgot to mention that my former Spanish teacher recommended a book on Spanish history which I found unbelievably valuable. It's called "The New Spaniards" by John Hooper. Very readable and illuminating. If anyone is interested in knowing more about Spain, it's a great start.

-Gary

That is a great site. Thanks so much for making it available to us.

I'm just starting to plan a trip to Berlin and Prague (on my way to Vienna for Christmas with relatives) in December, so your comments were helpful. How many days would you recommend spending in each city? Bearing in mind it will be cold, and so won't want to spend endless hours outside freezing!

Hi Linda.

Thanks for the message, sorry I just saw it (been busy shipping my oldest off to Japan for a year and getting his room ready for the Japanese girl who arrived 2 days ago).

I'm not the best person to advise you about how to spend your time, but that won't stop me from opining. :)

Some considerations:
1. Are you a "stay in one place a long time" kind of a gal? Or "it's Tuesday it must be Belgium"? (I'm the former, so I don't know exactly how to "do" a city in 2 or 3 days and then zip off to the next locale.)

2. We spent 2.5 days in Prague and it wasn't nearly enough. I'd say 4-5 minimum during warm weather if you really want to "see" the principal sites (others should chime in here, our way of visiting places is "traveling by wandering around" or even "traveling by sipping coffee and flirting with little kids and grandmas").

3. Berlin? I hardly got to know the place, but I could have spent 3 days on the "museum island" alone (2 at minimum).

I think if you post your own message with a headline about each place, you'll get useful feedback from the folks here who know those places.

Good luck and try that beer I mentioned in my "trip report." Yum.

-Gary

Thank you for the wonderful trip report and the great links and photos. We loved Nerja and Frigiliana too, and of course, Seville.