effe88

Hello everyone,

My husband and I are traveling to France/Spain in September/October. We've done much research for this big trip of ours. We've pretty much decided on our itinerary and booked most of the accommodation, with much help from lurking on these boards.

So now I'm looking for the details, the small jeweled moments to savour and enjoy in each place. Would you care to share your magic moments in the cities and places within our itinerary? A special sight or site? Special food experiences? A special encounter? Do you find yourself mentally shouting, "You Must Not Miss This!" when you see the name of a place below?

Dates indicate I'll be spending most of a day in the city. When moving between cities, we generally will travel in the morning. So e.g. 12/9 I will wake up in Paris and take TGV to Lyon.

5/9 - 11/9 : Paris (staying in apartment, plan day trip to Versailles during week)
12/9 - 14/9: Lyon (from Paris by TGV, then in B&B for 3 nights, )
15/9 - 21/9: Provence staying in B&B near Avignon (from Lyon to Avignon by TGV, then pick up car for entire week in Provence)
22/9 - 28/9: Barcelona (There for La Merce festival! 22/9 is basically full day travel Avignon - Barcelona on train, planning for day trip to Montserrat)
29/9: Granada (taking flight from BCN, 2 nights in Granada)
01/10: Ubeda (pick up car from Granada in the morning, drive to Ubeda for fiesta, stay the night)
02/10: Drive from Ubeda to Seville - stop Cordoba on the way
3/10 - 4/10: Seville (3 nights in city centre hotel)
5/10: Driving around Pueblos Blancos? Maybe visit Jerez? Plan to stay night in Arcos
6/10: Ronda (more drive around, spend most afternoon/evening in Ronda, spend night here)
7/10: Drive back to Seville, drop car, take train to Madrid
7/10 - 13/10: Madrid (staying with friend, with plans for day trip to Toledo and Segovia)
14/10: Back to Paris
15/10 Fly home.

Thank you for sharing!

Viajero2

Your stay in Seville is confusing; three days? looks more like a couple of days. The destinations are wonderful, but there is way too much jumping in Spain towards the end, which you need to bring to a slower pace. I suggest you make of Seville the home base from where to explore Ronda and some of the Pueblos Blancos. Seville has wonderful restaurants and a very romantic atmosphere at night, wonderful place to unwind in the evenings after a long sightseeing day. Have fun and enjoy these two wonderful destinations!

effe88

Dear Viajero,
Thank you for the advise
On 2nd Oct, I will be staying the night in Seville. Cordoba is just a stop to break the car journey from Ubeda to Seville.
I realise there is much jumping around in Andalusia. Agonised a lot over the itinerary here, but in the end choice was made for me by lack of accommodation in Seville on 5/10 and 6/10 (made many calls!). My journey has begun already

hax

Wow, effe88, sounds like a great trip!
We've only been to Barcelona, Provence and Paris among your stops. There are so many fabulous sights and obvious must-do's so I'll just pick one for each spot:

Barcelona-lunch or dinner at the counter at Cal Pep

Paris--night time boat ride on the Seine and seeing the Eiffel tower sparkle

Provence-buying your lunch, one perfect item at a time, in one of the many beautiful towns on market day, and having a picnic.

So many more not-to-be-missed moments, but these had us grinning from ear to ear.

Have fun!

ComfyShoes

effe88, You have a good plan (I am envious) and I was trying to think hard on the magic moments in the places I have been too. Then I gave up Best I can do is to suggest to you to consider reading Days 3, 5, 9, 10, and 13 in this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35001438

My problem is that I had so many jeweled moments (using your words) that I really can't list them all. Even more importantly, eating great food, enjoying a good ambiance (and this could be a plaza with dirty pigeons on it so long I have the right tobacco to smoke or a beautiful mountain vista like you will see in Ronda), and meeting new people from a different culture are all equally interesting to me. Hard to pick one over the other.

I do hope you have a fantastic time!

azresptech

effe88

We were in Paris in 2002. Our jewel of a moment was unexpected. On our last night in Paris as we walked back to the hotel after dinner, we passed a street corner, and there to our left was the Eiffel Tower in all it's splendor. We said goodbye to it, and promised to come back. We'll fulfill that promise next spring.

As far as planned events, our lunch at the Jules Verne on the Eiffel Tower has to be the top, followed by a show at the Moulin Rouge, and staying out all night because we couldn't find a cab after the show let out.

Just try to take time to relax and enjoy the moments and not stress about any plans that don't happen. Have a wonderful trip.

effe88

Hi Comfyshoes - I had already found and printed out your trip 74 page trip report. My copy is much highlighted and pored over, and used it as a basis for planning the Spain part of my trip So thank you belatedly for all the great advice and tips!
Hi azresptech, I completely forgot to book my tickets for the Moulin Rouge!!! Thank you so much for the reminder. And I didn't know you could have lunch on the Eiffel Towel.

effe88

And hax, nightime Seine boatride what a great idea!

Bloom

Our first trip to Paris from Canada was back in the early 90s.

After a long flight we checked into the very charming Hotel des Grandes Ecoles. I opted to try and catch a few winks while my husband took our then 6 and 9 year old girls for a walk.

Within 20 minutes, they just had to come back and take me to see Place de la Contrescarpe, in that gorgeous twilight setting as the lights came on. What a breathtaking introduction to Paris.

Bloom

spaintraveller

If you're going to Ubeda, stay in the Parador, it's beautiful (no elevator, though!).

FauxSteMarie

I had a wonderful experience at Pre Catalan, a restaurant in the Bois de Boulougne outside Paris.

The story is on this thread:

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34529593

ComfyShoes

74 pages long report!! Sorry, I didn't realize it is so long but I hope you enjoy it. When you are done reading, you will deserve a graduate degree for it all

Have a great time during your trip.

weber6560

Cordoba: The Mezqita is truly amazing.

Ronda: The gorge is awe-inspiring. Read a bit of its history during the Civil War. On the road between Grazalema and Ronda you will pass thru a cork forest which is worth stopping to see. I enjoy Zahara for lunch because it is not overrun with tourists.

Granada: Sundown at St Nicholas Square overlooking the Alhambra. Market behind the cathedral. Just amble about the Realejo neighborhood. Have tea on "Tea shop street". If you like baroque, La Cartuja raises it to a new level. The ham store on the walkway behind Corte Ingles. Note the designs in the the entire walkway. Churros and chocolate. The Moorish market. I think restaurants in Granada do a terrific job with bacalao. Do try it. You will never believe it was once dried and hard as a board. There used to be a restaurant called "House of Bacalao" that served nothing else. It's probably still there.

Seville: Cafe Modesto in Santa Cruz. Step up to the bar inside and enjoy the kitchen action. Their sauteed coquinas are terrific. Check out the 5 foot diameter paella pans at Restaurante Santa Cruz. A novelty but worth a look. Should you have time, drive down to Sanlucar de Barrameda and catch the daily unloading of the fishing fleet at 3-5 pm at Bonanza 5 miles north of Sanlucar. It is almost a brawl with 25-35 boats fighting for about 150 feet of dockspace. The catch is then auctioned off right on the dock. Truly one of the most amazing things I have seen anywhere. There is a great book titled "Seville Communion" by Arturo Perez-Revetz set in current day Seville with actual restaurants, stores, streets, etc used in it. A fun mystery but also a good tune-up for Sevilla.

Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia [go up into the spires] and La Boqeria market.

Ubeda: Take road northeast out of town to the little mountain town whose name I can't remember. From there you are in the backwoods very quickly. the Parador is very good.

Segovia: Try Jose Maria restaurant just off the plaza or for a very nice upscale lunch at which you will be the only non-local", drive 10 minutes north of Segovia to Torre de Caballeros and eat at La Posada de Javier. One you will remember.

nanabee

Our magic moment was at St. Emillion in the south west part of France.

The air is clear, little traffic, no road side mini malls, no billboards, nothing but beautiful vineyards, beautiful old chateaus. It is like you have been transported back in time.

tiyul

Just came back from a honeymoon in Spain... here are some tips:

Ronda - stay at the Parador and ask for one of the superior rooms with a view of the gorge. We had a great room with two balconies - ask for this. Eat dinner at one of the hotel restaurants on the gorge.

Sevilla - We enjoyed tapas at the second oldest bar in Sevilla. I can't remember the name, but you can ask around. It is listed in the Time Out Andalucia book. If you can, buy this book - it was the best one we had! We stayed at Las casas del ray de baeza which was just lovely. It's not in Santa Cruz, but very close by and lovely. We saw some flamenco on a charming patio at a cultural center. can't remember the name, but you can ask around - it's on ximenez street in barrio santa cruz.

Grenada - definitely watch the sunset from St. Nicholas. We stayed at an AMAZING hotel - Casa de los Migueletes right in El Bairro. If you have the money, get the Alhambra Suite - you won't regret it! If not, ask for a room with an Alhambra view.

Mostly, dont' waste your money eating much in "restaurants." They are more expensive and give way too much food. You can get better food in smaller amounts and smaller prices when you eat tapas at tabernas or bodegas.

kleeblatt

Being chased down the street by a huge prostitute in a tight red dress. Even our boyfriends were afraid.

After soothing our nerves with too many drinks, my boyfriend got sick in the metro and my friend's boyfriend held onto him by the belt as my boyfriend "fed" the rats while blaming the bad french fries for his stomach issues.

Oh, those were the days.

wvmom

I disagree with Viajero regarding the suggestion to stay in Seville and visit the Pueblos Blancos from there. I think it's too far away, and you really should spend some time in Ronda or around there. I think you'd be better off visiting the Pueblos Blancos before getting to Seville. That way you can drop off the car in Seville and not have to worry about it while you are there. So maybe go from Granada to Ubeda, then south to Ronda, spending a few nights there. Then head to Seville for a few days, and when you take the train to Madrid, stop off in Cordoba to see the Mezquita (you don't want to miss that).

Wm

We were in central & northern Spain last May.

The cathedral at Toledo is amazing!

Also for us in Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia [go up into the spires] and La Boqeria market.

Just experiencing the warm and friendly people of Spain was special--these folks really know how to have fun. When in San Sebastian we stayed at the Loundres. We were awakened at about 3 am with a group of young men singing "We will rock you" on the boardwalk below our window.

I second (or third) the night-time Seine river cruise--very romantic.

atp2007

After meeting up with one of our former German exchange students in Paris and spending 2 days seeing the sights in the cty and along the river, we left her (along with her mother and sister) on a Metro platform as we took a train back in the other direction to our hotel. Waving goodbye to her at midnight in a flood of tears from both Paris subway platforms was like a scene in a movie, especially as our last sight of her was standing at the end of the platform waving bye to us in tears as our train disappeared into a tunnel.