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Going to Spain - Tell me where to go

Yep, El Prado and El Museo Reina Sofia.

I think Reina Sofia was my favorite of the two.
 
Spent two months in the Andalusia Province and a weekend in Madrid, back in 2007.

Madrid was a great touristy city with a whole lot to do, but I think Seville was my favorite. Loved the old Coliseum, and old leftover buildings from the Caliphate. Granada is another great city with beautiful historic buildings, such as the Alhambra, to visit.

Madrid

madrid_cnt_9nov09_istock_b.jpg


Seville

Paisaje_de_España.JPG


The Alhambra, Granada

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If you want to visit some beautiful beaches, Caidiz offers a great spot on the southern end of Spain on the Mediterranean shores. The inner city itself, is still walled off in the same fortress style structure that was used to loose the Spanish Armada.

Cadiz_P1010221.JPG


Other great spots to hit in Andalusia, like Cordoba and Malaga. But the countryside itself is breathtakingly beautiful, especially at the time you are going.

I envy your trip. Spain is a beautiful country, that I would love to return to someday.
 
lbE08 said:
If you've never been to Madrid, I think it'd be worth flying in/out of there (or at least in to OR out of). Lots of good museums.
I'll have more recommendations on places/possible travel itineraries from home...

How much driving are you comfortable doing, or would you prefer to stay close-ish to SS? Is the south even realistically an option for what you're hoping to do, travel-wise?
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Both Madrid and Barca seem to be about 5 hours from SS, give or take, and I don't really want to get much further afield than that. Assuming that we are driving, which we would like to do, I think that the south of Spain is out on this trip. I'd prefer to not drive more than 3 or 4 hours in any single day, which is why stopping between Madrid and SS (or Barca and SS) seemed appealing.
 
wfudkn said:
Both Madrid and Barca seem to be about 5 hours from SS, give or take, and I don't really want to get much further afield than that. Assuming that we are driving, which we would like to do, I think that the south of Spain is out on this trip. I'd prefer to not drive more than 3 or 4 hours in any single day, which is why stopping between Madrid and SS (or Barca and SS) seemed appealing.
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OK, I'll throw out some recommendations based on that and avoid anything southern (which, for the record, is worth the visit... but no sense in talking about it if you can't go).
 
Madrid is fantastic, if you've never been you should spend some time there. Of the list of stops you put there, I'd echo Barcadeac on Burgos, but Valladolid is pretty skippable. If you have access to a vehicle in San Sebastian, I'd recommend finding a cidreria outside the main city -- best food I've ever put in my mouth, hands down, nothing else has ever come close. Sounds like you're heading up north, in which case I'd can say Bilbao, Leon, Oviedo, and Santander are all fairly interesting. Not sure if you have time to get down south but Cordoba and Granada are phenomenal.
 
I spent about 36 hours in Madrid and felt like I saw most of the stuff worth seeing. If you're really into art museums, don't leave Madrid out and only do Barcelona. You'll want to go to the main two and Retiro Park. All three are within walking distance of each other.

If you haven't been to Barcelona since 2010 or whenever they finished the inside of the Sagrada Familia and you're into cathedrals, go back to Barcelona. Most unbelievable and beautiful cathedral I've ever been inside. Tarragona is a pretty neat city about an hour south of Barcelona on the coast. Old Roman city, but a great Spanish/Catalan vibe. Montserrat right outside Barcelona is an easy day trip if you're into hiking. If you go to Barcelona, make a reservation like a month or two in advance and eat at Tickets or Pakta. I didn't eat at Tickets, but Pakta was some of the best food I've ever had.
 
Given the relatively little flexibility you have as far as being able to spend a lot of time traveling, I'd still recommend going in and out of Madrid and then using some days to just tool around the northern coast of spain. If you and wifey are pretty easy-going and are fine just wandering and seeing what happens, some of those smaller towns can be pretty awesome. I've been to Bermeo/Mundaka/Bakio (tiny towns on northern coast), and it's just gorgeous. Santander is pretty cool, too. I couldn't tell you any restaurant or spot in particular to hit, because when we went we basically just wandered and ate a shit-ton of jamon. There's not a ton of English in bermeo or mundaka, so if language is a huge deal for you it might not be your bag, but the drive to get from SS to Santander would still be gorgeous and worth doing (I think).
If there's any way for you to get down to Toledo, I'd really, really recommend it. Outside of Salamanca (which is probably beyond your reach for this trip... so sad), Toledo was probably my favorite small town. It's so old and so rich with history, and it's touristy enough that english wouldn't be an issue in a lot of places. Plus it's a big spot for silver, so if you wanted to get something pretty that's a good place to do it.

If you were open to drive/tour days, I'd do this to hit Salamanca and Santiago... both AMAZING places:
SS -> Santander
Santander -> Santiago
Santiago -> Salamanca
Salamanca -> Madrid


Damn, the more I think about it the more you should try to hit Salamanca. love that city so much.
 
lbE08 said:
Given the relatively little flexibility you have as far as being able to spend a lot of time traveling, I'd still recommend going in and out of Madrid and then using some days to just tool around the northern coast of spain. If you and wifey are pretty easy-going and are fine just wandering and seeing what happens, some of those smaller towns can be pretty awesome. I've been to Bermeo/Mundaka/Bakio (tiny towns on northern coast), and it's just gorgeous. Santander is pretty cool, too. I couldn't tell you any restaurant or spot in particular to hit, because when we went we basically just wandered and ate a shit-ton of jamon. There's not a ton of English in bermeo or mundaka, so if language is a huge deal for you it might not be your bag, but the drive to get from SS to Santander would still be gorgeous and worth doing (I think).
If there's any way for you to get down to Toledo, I'd really, really recommend it. Outside of Salamanca (which is probably beyond your reach for this trip... so sad), Toledo was probably my favorite small town. It's so old and so rich with history, and it's touristy enough that english wouldn't be an issue in a lot of places. Plus it's a big spot for silver, so if you wanted to get something pretty that's a good place to do it.

If you were open to drive/tour days, I'd do this to hit Salamanca and Santiago... both AMAZING places:
SS -> Santander
Santander -> Santiago
Santiago -> Salamanca
Salamanca -> Madrid


Damn, the more I think about it the more you should try to hit Salamanca. love that city so much.
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Actually when I first started thinking about this trip, Salamanca was my initial thought. I kind of took it off the list once I started thinking that it would be easier to just go to some place directly between Madrid and SS, but it seems that you think it would be worth reconsidering. I know a few people that have been but I don't know much about the city itself other than it is an old university town (looks like it may be a larger version of Coimbra, Portugal, which is a cool little city). It'll add a few hours in the car, but that's not a big deal.

As for the other cities, given the timing, I think Santiago would be out. But Santander could easily be done, as could Bermeo/Mundaka/Bakio, though I think they might be doable day trips from SS (though I don't know what my responsibilities in SS are going to be for the week I am there).

As for language, I'm not concerned in the least. My Spanish, while not fluent, is more than adequate to get me by.
 
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wfudkn said:
Actually when I first started thinking about this trip, Salamanca was my initial thought. I kind of took it off the list once I started thinking that it would be easier to just go to some place directly between Madrid and SS, but it seems that you think it would be worth reconsidering. I know a few people that have been but I don't know much about the city itself other than it is an old university town (looks like it may be a larger version of Coimbra, Portugal, which is a cool little city). I'll add a few hours in the car, but that's not a big deal.

As for the other cities, given the timing, I think Santiago would be out. But Santander could easily be done, as could Bermeo/Mundaka/Bakio, though I think they might be doable day trips from SS (though I don't know what my responsibilities in SS are going to be for the week I am there).

As for language, I'm not concerned in the least. My Spanish, while not fluent, is more than adequate to get me by.
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Salamanca is incredible, coming from this guy who studied abroad there (pretty sure lbe did a semester or 2 after me). but the thing with it is, it's off the beaten path unless you're specifically going there. it's west of Madrid and close to Portugal. so most people don't go since it's not on the way between Madrid and places like the Basque Country, Andalucia, Barcelona, Valencia, etc.
 
BarcaDeac said:
Salamanca is incredible, coming from this guy who studied abroad there (pretty sure lbe did a semester or 2 after me). but the thing with it is, it's off the beaten path unless you're specifically going there. it's west of Madrid and close to Portugal. so most people don't go since it's not on the way between Madrid and places like the Basque Country, Andalucia, Barcelona, Valencia, etc.
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true, but this is a big part of why i think it's great (and yes, I studied there fall 06). it's a true spanish city and doesn't have as many touristy influences/concessions.

I mentioned the language thing because you'll also be up around in the basque region and that language is crazy.

One thing I will say for all of these places - regardless of whether or not you're religious, go and visit all the cathedrals. it is so crazy/impressive to see the workmanship and sheer size of those buildings.
 
Nothing to add other than that Valladolid is the hometown of former Deac baller Raphael Vidauretta. You might stop there and make sure his dad has recovered from the night I collided with him full speed coming out of the men's room at the Joel.
 
lbE08 said:
true, but this is a big part of why i think it's great (and yes, I studied there fall 06). it's a true spanish city and doesn't have as many touristy influences/concessions.

I mentioned the language thing because you'll also be up around in the basque region and that language is crazy.

One thing I will say for all of these places - regardless of whether or not you're religious, go and visit all the cathedrals. it is so crazy/impressive to see the workmanship and sheer size of those buildings.
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Yeah I just think for his trip it won't work out. And yeah in the Basque Country they have signs with both Basque and Spanish and it's crazy how different they are. You can't tell at all the Basque translation.
 
"I can't do southern Spain this trip."

"You should go to Granada and Sevilla!"
 
Flights are made. Into Barca and out of Madrid. Will have 4 nights in Barca, 6-7 nights in SS, 3-4 nights in Madrid. Will likely do a couple of day trips from SS and not stop in any other towns between Barca/Madrid and SS as originally contemplated.
 
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