Trip Report - Andalucia Family Trip, May 2008 - #1
Aug 24th, 2008, 06:28 PM
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Pittpurple -- I think Maribel posted the bus schedule (including starting and ending times) and a few links about Italica on your thread. I know I copied it into a Word doc from somewhere and I have the recollection that Maribel was the source. I think we'll be there just before you, but not enough time to post a trip report (which I, embarrassingly, have actually never done . . . maybe this time . . .)
Aug 25th, 2008, 06:44 AM
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Hello CCROSNER! I am enjoying your report. I will be traveling to Europe for the first time. I have chosen Marbella, Spain as my intro to Spain. I will stay at the Hotel Puente Romano so I am anxious to hear about the hotel and the city. It sounds like you and your family are having a blast!
Aug 29th, 2008, 03:51 AM
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Sorry for the delay in finishing this trip report. My daughter started school this week so I was a bit distracted. I have finished the trip report. Happy reading!
Day 5 – Ronda to Marbella
Today was the day we would drive from Seville to Marbella on the Costa del Sol via Ronda. We had no trouble renting a car from Hertz in the Santa Justa train station (reserved in advance) and we were given a nice BMW. Fortunately, all of our luggage fit and we were off to Ronda with viamichelin online directions in hand (had printed out at home and brought the directions to Spain with us). My husband found driving in Spain quite easy and we made it to Ronda in under 3 hours. The drive past some of the white villages was beautiful and the roads were not too winding.
I think we so loved being in Seville that Ronda was a bit of a let down for us. I feel bad saying that as I know many love the town, but we just found it o.k. The gorge and the bridge are breathtaking and something to see, but the main part of town isn’t charming. Maybe we just didn’t go to the right places. We parked in a building garage (parking was difficult to find at midday) and walked quite a way to get to the bridge. We did enjoy shopping for leather in several stores but bought nothing. I wish we had had more time so that we could have wandered around the older section for longer, but we needed to get to my husband’s meeting in Marbella. We ate lunch at a small but pleasant tavern in the old section.
Then it was on to my great fear of the trip: the drive from Ronda down into Marbella. I had read it was windy with dropoffs and I’m not great with heights. But it really wasn’t that bad as my husband took all of the curves slowly and the views of the Mediterranean were beautiful. We were quite excited to see Africa in the distance—definitely a ‘kick’ for all of us.
As we neared the bottom of the long descent, you begin to see large, expensive homes dotting the hills. There is clearly a lot of money in the Costa del Sol and much of the development appears to be recent. We did get on the highway toward Marbella going in the wrong direction but managed to find our way. Finding the Hotel Puente Romano was a bit trickier as it is somewhat non-descript from the main roadway. But I caught a glimpse of it and we were able to turn around pretty quickly and get back there. Eventually, after checking in, we returned the car in the town of Marbella (made the closing time with 5 minutes to spare) and took a cab back to the hotel.
The Hotel Puente Romano is quite beautiful and luxurious. We had booked two rooms (one was paid for by my husband’s company) and they were sumptuous. The hotel does not have an initial “wow’ factor as it is laid out in two or three parallel sets of buildings that run to the sea and are surrounded by gardens. So you never get a sense of its size all at once. But it is quiet and lovely and the rooms are great.
We had two one bedroom suites that were connected by a common foyer. Our kids room had a separate living room and ours had a large living area (we picked the smaller room as it was brighter—the kids bedroom was quite dark). The bathrooms were very large with beautiful Spanish tiling, double sinks, separate bath and shower, bidet, and nice toiletries. Bathrobes and slippers were included. After about five minutes in the room, our daughter told her father that she was “glad that you work for XXX because I LOVE five star hotels!” Our units were on the ground floor and had nice patios outside of the living area.
Day 6 – Side Trip to Gibraltar
My husband had a half day of meetings so the kids and I slept in and then had the buffet breakfast that was included in the room rate. The three of us wandered around the hotel grounds, checked out the pools, and then walked along the pathway that lines the Mediterranean. We also all stuck our feet in the Sea so that we can say we’ve done that.
At 1 o’clock, we were joined by my husband and a bus load of his colleagues for a trip to Gibraltar. I had heard mixed things on Fodors site and elsewhere that Gibraltar could be skipped. But we figured we were almost there and the company was paying to send us by coach bus to spend the afternoon touring it. So off we went. And we are all so glad we did because it was a unique experience that most people never get to do.
Yes, you need passports to get into Gibraltar and, except for traffic, we had no trouble getting in. Once there, we transferred to the smaller touring busses that take you around the Rock and were driven by a Gibraltarian who was quite entertaining. We were quite taken with the development along the shoreline of Gibraltar and our driver said that the very expensive condos were almost all sold and would never be lived in (or not much). Wealthy people buy them for tax purposes. The waterfront is jammed with this construction. Our stops included the most eastern point of the island (which gave us a great view of Africa 12 miles away), the caves and the area where the apes of Gibraltar live. Driving up the Rock was treacherous and not great for my fear of heights. But I just kept telling myself that these drivers do this several times a day every day and hoped for the best! The kids loved the cave and, especially, the apes. They are EVERYWHERE and will gladly jump on you and hang out for a while. My son and husband got great pictures of themselves with the apes and my daughter and I passed. The tour took about 1 ½ hours and that was perfect. The Rock is so imposing and its history is so interesting that we were glad we went. They did give us an hour to wander the main shopping street but, frankly, that wasn’t so terrific and prices weren’t great for those of us spending $$$.
We were back at the Puente Romano in time for a quick swim for the kids and then on to a beach barbecue.
Day 7 – Puerto Banus and a Bad Ending to the Trip
My husband had all day meetings on Friday so the kids and I took a cab over to Puerto Banus (10 minute easy cab ride) to see the yachts and expensive boutiques. It did not disappoint. We saw a 157 foot yacht leave the marina—quite incredible—and all of the boats were beautiful. My son really loved seeing the expensive European cars and took several pictures of them. So a good outing. Then it was back to the hotel for an afternoon at the pool.
That night, we had a very nice closing formal dinner for the company at the hotel. The kids stayed in the room and had very expensive room service meals. We were all packed and ready to go as our cab to the airport the next morning was picking us up at 5:15 a.m.
After the dinner, everyone went to the bar in the hotel and hung out. At about midnight (when I had expected to go back to the room to crash), we learned that the room of one of my husband’s colleagues had been burglarized while we had dinner. The burglars stole his computer, phone, airline tickets, passport, Treo and wallet. He had stupidly not locked them in the safe (although his girlfriend had locked her things there) and the burglar had shimmied up a wall and in through an open window. Since my husband is very close to this colleague, he stayed and helped him cancel credit cards, etc. until 2 a.m. I chose to hurry back to make sure that our children were safe as we were on the ground floor. I have never been so happy to see them sleeping soundly in their beds!
Our friend had quite the challenge from that point on getting back to the states. The Marbella police would not come out during the evening so they filed the report the next day. Then our friend had to take a train two days later (the crime happened on a Friday when the embassy was closed for the weekend) to Madrid and file the paperwork with the embassy. He eventually got home two days late and somewhat poorer but, ironically, was aided a great deal by the same Blackberry (really a Treo) that my husband had dropped on the floor of the Madrid airport on Day One of our trip!
There were two other incidents of crime at the hotel while we were there. One of our friends had her diamond stud earrings stolen and another colleague of my husband’s awoke at 1 a.m. one night to find a man standing in his room! In another dumb move, the colleague had decided to sleep with the patio doors open and he was on the ground floor. But I would say that all of this says to me that you are a sitting duck when you stay at a five star hotel that has no fencing around it and is totally accessible by the public from the beach side.
Day 7 – Flight back to Boston
Other than being totally exhausted by the late night and early wakeup, our trip home to Boston via Madrid went smoothly. We had a three hour layover in Madrid but simply went to the Airline Club in the main terminal and most of us slept for a couple of hours. I did some shopping in the airport shops but found nothing I had to have.
I knew I was getting sick before we left Marbella but thought it was just a sore throat or allergies. Fortunately, the illness didn’t get going in a big way until we got home. When I awoke the next morning, I was REALLY sick with a 103.6 fever. They never did figure out what it was, but I was a basket case for days. All I wanted to do was sleep. But it eventually passed and did not ruin my memories.
We had a wonderful time in Spain. I would go back in a heartbeat and spend more time there. The kids did use their Spanish and gained a great deal from the experience. Sauntering son even admitted to enjoying most of the trip but says now that he wouldn’t study in Spain when in college. We’ll see. And our daughter, as usual, loved it all and remembers it all. I know, this too shall pass but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. And I’m grateful that we are able to take such wonderful trips as a family.
Day 5 – Ronda to Marbella
Today was the day we would drive from Seville to Marbella on the Costa del Sol via Ronda. We had no trouble renting a car from Hertz in the Santa Justa train station (reserved in advance) and we were given a nice BMW. Fortunately, all of our luggage fit and we were off to Ronda with viamichelin online directions in hand (had printed out at home and brought the directions to Spain with us). My husband found driving in Spain quite easy and we made it to Ronda in under 3 hours. The drive past some of the white villages was beautiful and the roads were not too winding.
I think we so loved being in Seville that Ronda was a bit of a let down for us. I feel bad saying that as I know many love the town, but we just found it o.k. The gorge and the bridge are breathtaking and something to see, but the main part of town isn’t charming. Maybe we just didn’t go to the right places. We parked in a building garage (parking was difficult to find at midday) and walked quite a way to get to the bridge. We did enjoy shopping for leather in several stores but bought nothing. I wish we had had more time so that we could have wandered around the older section for longer, but we needed to get to my husband’s meeting in Marbella. We ate lunch at a small but pleasant tavern in the old section.
Then it was on to my great fear of the trip: the drive from Ronda down into Marbella. I had read it was windy with dropoffs and I’m not great with heights. But it really wasn’t that bad as my husband took all of the curves slowly and the views of the Mediterranean were beautiful. We were quite excited to see Africa in the distance—definitely a ‘kick’ for all of us.
As we neared the bottom of the long descent, you begin to see large, expensive homes dotting the hills. There is clearly a lot of money in the Costa del Sol and much of the development appears to be recent. We did get on the highway toward Marbella going in the wrong direction but managed to find our way. Finding the Hotel Puente Romano was a bit trickier as it is somewhat non-descript from the main roadway. But I caught a glimpse of it and we were able to turn around pretty quickly and get back there. Eventually, after checking in, we returned the car in the town of Marbella (made the closing time with 5 minutes to spare) and took a cab back to the hotel.
The Hotel Puente Romano is quite beautiful and luxurious. We had booked two rooms (one was paid for by my husband’s company) and they were sumptuous. The hotel does not have an initial “wow’ factor as it is laid out in two or three parallel sets of buildings that run to the sea and are surrounded by gardens. So you never get a sense of its size all at once. But it is quiet and lovely and the rooms are great.
We had two one bedroom suites that were connected by a common foyer. Our kids room had a separate living room and ours had a large living area (we picked the smaller room as it was brighter—the kids bedroom was quite dark). The bathrooms were very large with beautiful Spanish tiling, double sinks, separate bath and shower, bidet, and nice toiletries. Bathrobes and slippers were included. After about five minutes in the room, our daughter told her father that she was “glad that you work for XXX because I LOVE five star hotels!” Our units were on the ground floor and had nice patios outside of the living area.
Day 6 – Side Trip to Gibraltar
My husband had a half day of meetings so the kids and I slept in and then had the buffet breakfast that was included in the room rate. The three of us wandered around the hotel grounds, checked out the pools, and then walked along the pathway that lines the Mediterranean. We also all stuck our feet in the Sea so that we can say we’ve done that.
At 1 o’clock, we were joined by my husband and a bus load of his colleagues for a trip to Gibraltar. I had heard mixed things on Fodors site and elsewhere that Gibraltar could be skipped. But we figured we were almost there and the company was paying to send us by coach bus to spend the afternoon touring it. So off we went. And we are all so glad we did because it was a unique experience that most people never get to do.
Yes, you need passports to get into Gibraltar and, except for traffic, we had no trouble getting in. Once there, we transferred to the smaller touring busses that take you around the Rock and were driven by a Gibraltarian who was quite entertaining. We were quite taken with the development along the shoreline of Gibraltar and our driver said that the very expensive condos were almost all sold and would never be lived in (or not much). Wealthy people buy them for tax purposes. The waterfront is jammed with this construction. Our stops included the most eastern point of the island (which gave us a great view of Africa 12 miles away), the caves and the area where the apes of Gibraltar live. Driving up the Rock was treacherous and not great for my fear of heights. But I just kept telling myself that these drivers do this several times a day every day and hoped for the best! The kids loved the cave and, especially, the apes. They are EVERYWHERE and will gladly jump on you and hang out for a while. My son and husband got great pictures of themselves with the apes and my daughter and I passed. The tour took about 1 ½ hours and that was perfect. The Rock is so imposing and its history is so interesting that we were glad we went. They did give us an hour to wander the main shopping street but, frankly, that wasn’t so terrific and prices weren’t great for those of us spending $$$.
We were back at the Puente Romano in time for a quick swim for the kids and then on to a beach barbecue.
Day 7 – Puerto Banus and a Bad Ending to the Trip
My husband had all day meetings on Friday so the kids and I took a cab over to Puerto Banus (10 minute easy cab ride) to see the yachts and expensive boutiques. It did not disappoint. We saw a 157 foot yacht leave the marina—quite incredible—and all of the boats were beautiful. My son really loved seeing the expensive European cars and took several pictures of them. So a good outing. Then it was back to the hotel for an afternoon at the pool.
That night, we had a very nice closing formal dinner for the company at the hotel. The kids stayed in the room and had very expensive room service meals. We were all packed and ready to go as our cab to the airport the next morning was picking us up at 5:15 a.m.
After the dinner, everyone went to the bar in the hotel and hung out. At about midnight (when I had expected to go back to the room to crash), we learned that the room of one of my husband’s colleagues had been burglarized while we had dinner. The burglars stole his computer, phone, airline tickets, passport, Treo and wallet. He had stupidly not locked them in the safe (although his girlfriend had locked her things there) and the burglar had shimmied up a wall and in through an open window. Since my husband is very close to this colleague, he stayed and helped him cancel credit cards, etc. until 2 a.m. I chose to hurry back to make sure that our children were safe as we were on the ground floor. I have never been so happy to see them sleeping soundly in their beds!
Our friend had quite the challenge from that point on getting back to the states. The Marbella police would not come out during the evening so they filed the report the next day. Then our friend had to take a train two days later (the crime happened on a Friday when the embassy was closed for the weekend) to Madrid and file the paperwork with the embassy. He eventually got home two days late and somewhat poorer but, ironically, was aided a great deal by the same Blackberry (really a Treo) that my husband had dropped on the floor of the Madrid airport on Day One of our trip!
There were two other incidents of crime at the hotel while we were there. One of our friends had her diamond stud earrings stolen and another colleague of my husband’s awoke at 1 a.m. one night to find a man standing in his room! In another dumb move, the colleague had decided to sleep with the patio doors open and he was on the ground floor. But I would say that all of this says to me that you are a sitting duck when you stay at a five star hotel that has no fencing around it and is totally accessible by the public from the beach side.
Day 7 – Flight back to Boston
Other than being totally exhausted by the late night and early wakeup, our trip home to Boston via Madrid went smoothly. We had a three hour layover in Madrid but simply went to the Airline Club in the main terminal and most of us slept for a couple of hours. I did some shopping in the airport shops but found nothing I had to have.
I knew I was getting sick before we left Marbella but thought it was just a sore throat or allergies. Fortunately, the illness didn’t get going in a big way until we got home. When I awoke the next morning, I was REALLY sick with a 103.6 fever. They never did figure out what it was, but I was a basket case for days. All I wanted to do was sleep. But it eventually passed and did not ruin my memories.
We had a wonderful time in Spain. I would go back in a heartbeat and spend more time there. The kids did use their Spanish and gained a great deal from the experience. Sauntering son even admitted to enjoying most of the trip but says now that he wouldn’t study in Spain when in college. We’ll see. And our daughter, as usual, loved it all and remembers it all. I know, this too shall pass but I’m enjoying it while it lasts. And I’m grateful that we are able to take such wonderful trips as a family.
Aug 29th, 2008, 05:39 AM
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Ccrosner what a great family trip. I really enjoued the report and know it is not easy to get to. Thank you so much for sharing it with us.
You experience is a good reminder about vandals and to always use the safe. Bad guys will be scouting especially the high end places in particular. And remember they can be people posing as tourists from any country that appear to be part of the rich and famous not just shady looking types. Sorry about the sickness too hope you feel better!
ana maria
You experience is a good reminder about vandals and to always use the safe. Bad guys will be scouting especially the high end places in particular. And remember they can be people posing as tourists from any country that appear to be part of the rich and famous not just shady looking types. Sorry about the sickness too hope you feel better!
ana maria
Aug 31st, 2008, 04:03 AM
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Thanks, amsdon, for your kind words. I know that I used advice from you in planning this trip.
To answer Comfyshoes' question about what my husband's colleague did when he awoke to find a man in his room (he initially thought it was a bird!)....suffice to say he used quite a few expletives in English and the man went running. He was definitely lucky that the guys didn't have weapon. And one should NEVER leave a ground floor patio door open while one sleeps!
To answer Comfyshoes' question about what my husband's colleague did when he awoke to find a man in his room (he initially thought it was a bird!)....suffice to say he used quite a few expletives in English and the man went running. He was definitely lucky that the guys didn't have weapon. And one should NEVER leave a ground floor patio door open while one sleeps!
Sep 1st, 2008, 04:21 AM
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I thought the hotel staff responded well. They sent the manager on duty and security personnel to get information and to be helpful. They tried to get the police to come but, after three tries, simply said the police would show up in the morning.
I never did hear whether the hotel paid all of the extra expenses our friends incurred (travelling to Madrid, hotel there, etc.) but I assume that they did given that our company probably gave them $30K in business that week.
I never did hear whether the hotel paid all of the extra expenses our friends incurred (travelling to Madrid, hotel there, etc.) but I assume that they did given that our company probably gave them $30K in business that week.
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