It's TIME, need ADVICE!1 Spain!1

[UTUSN]

O.K., look. These OPTIONS:

* Go with an elderly sister, on a "tour" (you know what Imean?!1)..

* Go by myself without a tour, just fly over there then trust taxi drivers and whomever and ride buses. (Do they have buses?!)



I don't want to go alone.

[UTUSN]

1. What's it like - financially - Can travel be with a Debit?!1 n/t

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. I went through Ireland without a tour and had a great time

The funny thing is, in Dublin, other Americans kept asking me for directions. I mean, I know I totally look black Irish, but it was nice to know I didn't look like a stupid tourist.

[UTUSN]

3. Well, I figure I won't wear my usual stainless steel bracelets and NOTHING

Not my (one) dogtag, nothing. But can I go ALONE?!1 What about the CASH?!1

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. Europe's expensive

I found Ireland much cheaper than Italy or England. Never been to Spain, but I'd find it to be in line with Italy, which is fucking expensive.

[UTUSN]

4. HEY!1 Wanna GO?!1 n/t

[many a good man]

5. Buses are cheap; tours can be drag.

Especially if the group has a bunch of jerk tourists in it. Is it your first time? Personally, I like to take my good old time, loll in cafes and bars, people watch, eat and drink and eat again. You can always sign up for full or partial day tours so you know what you're seeing. Group tours tend to waste a lot of time waiting around for bozos who are late and rude.

Spain is awesome!

[yellowdogintexas]

7. we honeymooned in Espana. We took the locally operated guided tours

in the various places we visted to get the main stuff and did intense explorations of the things we wanted to see.

Madrid has excellent buses and subways. So does Barcelona.
Cordoba is a walkabout kind of place.
So is Seville
Trains are great for getting between cities.

You can save money by using hostels and pension hotels. A one or two star hotel in Spain is actually not going to be bad. Breakfast of rolls and coffee is part of the room rate.

We started in Madrid, took a tour to Toledo and a tour to Segovia & Avila, and did a guided historical tour of Madrid

We liked Toledo so much we took the train back down there and spent a day and a night there.

Then we took the train down to Cordoba, Seville and on to Granada. All were great fun. We stayed in the Hotel Washington Irving in Granada, an old place that was great fun with a good cafe and spent an entire day in the Alhambra.

I couldn't tell you about prices now but it is easy to get around.

Oh yeah nobody eats dinner until 9:00 at the earliest in the cities. You can always find a place to eat when you arrive in a town in the middle of the night.

It is more fun with a buddy. Too bad you don't have a friend who could travel with you.

[TK421]

8. Is it your first time going there?

Personally, I can't give you advice on the matter ( having never been outside of the States ) but my brother who lives in Germany has been there many times. If you want, I can try and get some info from him. They really seemed to like it there

[TreasonousBastard]

9. It's been lotsa years and the prices are higher now, but...

I went alone and had a great time.

Flew into Madrid with a hotel reservation for the first two nights, then rented a car and stayed wherever-- sometimes in the car. All over Europe it's easy to find a room, and there are those tourist places with the big blue "i" if you get stuck. Off season is the best time, though-- spring and fall have OK weather and few tourists. Jawsed out of Marbella, or some such place down on the coast, for the trip home.

Train and bus service was excellent and should be even better now-- I ditched the car after the first week and had no problem getting around. English is spoken just about everywhere you want to be, since British tourists and expats outnumber Spaniards in some areas.

See about staying in a parador-- an old Moorish castle renovated into a hotel. They ain't cheap any more but they are more interesting than the typical hotels or fleabag motels. One I stayed at had the bathroom set up like a barracks latrine and might have been used during their civil war by one side or the other.

Food is fantastic if you're an omnivore, and only slightly less so if you have restrictions. You could live on tapas or cart food for the entire trip, but you'll probably want to grab some bread, cheese, and wine to take back to the room or nosh on the train.

Toledo and Ronda have to be seen to be believed, and the old Moorish cities like Cordoba can't be missed. You might even have time to grab the ferry to Morocco.

[elleng]

10. TOUR,

then return to do it differently.

Yes, there are buses in cities in Spain.

AND there are prolly tour buses in cities.