At the end of every trip I try to make a note of things I would do differently. Also what were the highs and the lows. Recommendations. Advice. So here goes.
This trip was supposed to be from 7/10-8/16/2018.
A definite low was my husband becoming very ill starting during our time in Sevilla on 8/5 and ending up in the emergency room of a hospital in Toledo, Spain on 8/8. Not only did we end up going home early on 8/11 missing time in Toledo and all of Madrid but just the worry, panic I felt that this could be a serious situation made me a nervous wreck. Thankfully it turned out to be most likely a severe case of food poisoning or E coli-our doctor says we'll never really know-which got better once we were home and under the care of our own doctor. From this comes some advice. If we hadn't had travel insurance I would have been out thousands of dollars. My travel insurance reimbursed us for practically every expense-medical costs minus $50 deductible and those pricey last minute flight tickets home. I made sure to get medical reports from the Toledo hospital, receipts, etc. because you need those to get your money! So don't dismiss getting travel insurance as you never know.............Fortunately when we got home we got in touch with our doctor who was able to get my husband back on the road to a full recovery. He never had any kidney issues. Those alarming blood levels from the Toledo Hospital were probably due to the severe dehydration that my husband was experiencing at the time per our doctor. Another blood test showed everything to be normal. Of course then my husband tells me we should have not cut our trip short. That he would get better. But when that doctor in Toledo recommended we return home as soon as possible I wasn't going to take any chances. Just a reason to return to Spain-for Madrid and Toledo!
The help we received during my husband's illness from the staff at Toledo Parador was most certainly a positive. Can't recommend this hotel enough. They were amazing.
Another low was the experience we had with HERTZ in Cordoba. Despite my telling the girl we didn't want the insurance twice when she asked she kept hammering at us painting all these dire scenarios. I immediately regretted this and on the same day contacted HERTZ to tell them we didn't want the insurance but they never cooperated except to send me two $50 certificates to use on future car rental-good until 12/31/2019! As if I'm ever going to rent a car from HERTZ again. Very poor customer service in dealing with a problem/complaint. We've rented cars before in Europe, SE Asia, French Polynesia, and central America and never had this kind of aggressive behavior from a local rental agent.
A positive was the experience we had with the renfre Spain train system. If we had a do over we'd never have rented a car and would have used public transportation for the entire trip. We'd have used the train system whenever we could. The trains were clean, comfortable. There was always a coach/car where you could buy drinks and food. Bathrooms were clean and had all the necessaries like toilet paper, hand soap, etc. Plus someone else is getting you from point A to point B. I haven't calculated this yet but I'm betting it would have been cheaper too. We used a rental car to go from Cordoba to Granada to Torremolinos with a day trip to Gibraltar to Ronda to Jerez to Sevilla to Toledo. The parking charges were pricey. Then there's gas, tolls. And of course just the strain of driving from place to place trying to find your hotel.........
A definite negative was the weather-the heat we encountered in southern Spain. We did this trip at a time when we normally don't go to Europe. Before it's always been end August, September. However we were meeting our daughter and this was the only time we could do this as she's a teacher. Who knew that Spain would be having a major heat wave while we were there! People selling water did a good business!! Thank goodness most of the hotels I booked had pools. We did make use of this amenity.
I wish I had used the metro more in Barcelona. We spent way too much money on taxis. I guess that's my fault as taking a taxi is easier but way more expensive. And it amazed me that the taxis charge by time not the distance. So you could be going a short distance but if there's a lot of traffic it can cost more than a longer ride with no traffic. Not the way taxis work back home in Buffalo.
Wished I had pre booked the cable car in Gibraltar, the Alcazar and the Cathedral in Sevilla. Lines were long and not fun waiting in line in that hot sun.
Packing. Would have left out the dressy outfits for dinners that we never wore. You don't need dressy gear at most restaurants. In my travel first aid kit I should have packed Immodium AD which may have helped my husband when he got sick. Just because we've never had problems in over 30 years of travel doesn't mean there can't be a first time. I guess I figured if we could sail through Mexico, SE Asia, Africa.....places where I'd expect to get sick and didn't that Spain would be fine. Lesson learned the hard way!
Towns I loved ranked high to low:
Toledo, Ronda, Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Jerez, Torremolinos, Pamplona, Valencia. My husband liked Granada best. This is just how it was for us. Pamplona only got a low ranking because prices were sky high for hotels during San Fermin and what we paid to watch the running of the bulls from a balcony was ridiculous. What we spent that 1 night, 1 day in Pamplona was more than we spent for our 3 nights and time in Granada! Valencia hotel was chosen because it was on the beach but it also was expensive at over $400 a night. Not worth it in our opinion. What we liked best about our time in Valencia was our paella dinner-fantastic!
Food and drink:
Loved, loved sangria and tinto de verano. Not a big fan of tapas or jamon-sorry! Best breakfasts were our hotels in Cordoba and Granada. Standout food-paella in Valencia at Casa Roberto, brunch in Barcelona at milk, tapas in Barcelona at Cruix, dinner in Barcelona at La Clara, dinner Mexican in Cordoba at Cielito Lindo, dinner in Granada at Negro Carbon, dinner in Granada at El Mercader, dinner twice in Torremolinos at The Carvery, dinner Mexican in Sevilla at Mamalupe. To be honest we didn't have any really bad experiences with the food or drink in Spain. We tried to do a variety. We did paella, tapas, seafood, chicken, beef, Mexican, pizza. The Carvery was a cool experience because during our short trip years ago to London somehow we never had fish & chips English style. We got that at The Carvery and then when we returned we had the Carvery special which included an amazingly yummy, tasty amount of food.
Sightseeing:
Loved the flamenco show we saw in Sevilla, amazed at the Gaudi sights in Barcelona-could have spent hours and hours at Sagrada Familia, Loved our day trips to Monteserrat and Gibraltar. Loved Ronda-that gorge! Toledo was my favorite and a place that I would return to see things I missed. Even though it cost us an obscene amount of money, watching the running of the bulls in Pamplona was an experience I won't soon forget!
I regret that we didn't get to see/explore Madrid. I am hoping to be able to return to Spain to spend more time in Toledo and a week in Madrid with day trips to Avila and Segovia.
It has been several years since we were last in Europe and Spain reminded us of all the rich history and culture Europe has that America doesn't. The churches/cathedrals, museums, Muslim palaces were what made me take thousands of pictures. So much beauty even in the landscape as evidenced by our time in Ronda. Spain has a great public transport system. And the people we met along the way were for the most part great. We got lost so many times trying to find our hotel in Granada, Torremolinos, Ronda, Jerez, Sevilla and when we stopped to ask for help even the language barrier wasn't that bad. It's amazing that my bit of Spanish from our trips around Mexico, central and South America came back to me. I have several scraps of paper with drawings showing how to get to our hotel given to us by locals we asked for help. Even one at a car wash! You can bet that on our next trip we'll be bringing a phone with GPS on it!
España estará por siempre en mi corazón! 🇪🇸😍
This trip was supposed to be from 7/10-8/16/2018.
A definite low was my husband becoming very ill starting during our time in Sevilla on 8/5 and ending up in the emergency room of a hospital in Toledo, Spain on 8/8. Not only did we end up going home early on 8/11 missing time in Toledo and all of Madrid but just the worry, panic I felt that this could be a serious situation made me a nervous wreck. Thankfully it turned out to be most likely a severe case of food poisoning or E coli-our doctor says we'll never really know-which got better once we were home and under the care of our own doctor. From this comes some advice. If we hadn't had travel insurance I would have been out thousands of dollars. My travel insurance reimbursed us for practically every expense-medical costs minus $50 deductible and those pricey last minute flight tickets home. I made sure to get medical reports from the Toledo hospital, receipts, etc. because you need those to get your money! So don't dismiss getting travel insurance as you never know.............Fortunately when we got home we got in touch with our doctor who was able to get my husband back on the road to a full recovery. He never had any kidney issues. Those alarming blood levels from the Toledo Hospital were probably due to the severe dehydration that my husband was experiencing at the time per our doctor. Another blood test showed everything to be normal. Of course then my husband tells me we should have not cut our trip short. That he would get better. But when that doctor in Toledo recommended we return home as soon as possible I wasn't going to take any chances. Just a reason to return to Spain-for Madrid and Toledo!
The help we received during my husband's illness from the staff at Toledo Parador was most certainly a positive. Can't recommend this hotel enough. They were amazing.
Another low was the experience we had with HERTZ in Cordoba. Despite my telling the girl we didn't want the insurance twice when she asked she kept hammering at us painting all these dire scenarios. I immediately regretted this and on the same day contacted HERTZ to tell them we didn't want the insurance but they never cooperated except to send me two $50 certificates to use on future car rental-good until 12/31/2019! As if I'm ever going to rent a car from HERTZ again. Very poor customer service in dealing with a problem/complaint. We've rented cars before in Europe, SE Asia, French Polynesia, and central America and never had this kind of aggressive behavior from a local rental agent.
A positive was the experience we had with the renfre Spain train system. If we had a do over we'd never have rented a car and would have used public transportation for the entire trip. We'd have used the train system whenever we could. The trains were clean, comfortable. There was always a coach/car where you could buy drinks and food. Bathrooms were clean and had all the necessaries like toilet paper, hand soap, etc. Plus someone else is getting you from point A to point B. I haven't calculated this yet but I'm betting it would have been cheaper too. We used a rental car to go from Cordoba to Granada to Torremolinos with a day trip to Gibraltar to Ronda to Jerez to Sevilla to Toledo. The parking charges were pricey. Then there's gas, tolls. And of course just the strain of driving from place to place trying to find your hotel.........
A definite negative was the weather-the heat we encountered in southern Spain. We did this trip at a time when we normally don't go to Europe. Before it's always been end August, September. However we were meeting our daughter and this was the only time we could do this as she's a teacher. Who knew that Spain would be having a major heat wave while we were there! People selling water did a good business!! Thank goodness most of the hotels I booked had pools. We did make use of this amenity.
I wish I had used the metro more in Barcelona. We spent way too much money on taxis. I guess that's my fault as taking a taxi is easier but way more expensive. And it amazed me that the taxis charge by time not the distance. So you could be going a short distance but if there's a lot of traffic it can cost more than a longer ride with no traffic. Not the way taxis work back home in Buffalo.
Wished I had pre booked the cable car in Gibraltar, the Alcazar and the Cathedral in Sevilla. Lines were long and not fun waiting in line in that hot sun.
Packing. Would have left out the dressy outfits for dinners that we never wore. You don't need dressy gear at most restaurants. In my travel first aid kit I should have packed Immodium AD which may have helped my husband when he got sick. Just because we've never had problems in over 30 years of travel doesn't mean there can't be a first time. I guess I figured if we could sail through Mexico, SE Asia, Africa.....places where I'd expect to get sick and didn't that Spain would be fine. Lesson learned the hard way!
Towns I loved ranked high to low:
Toledo, Ronda, Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla, Jerez, Torremolinos, Pamplona, Valencia. My husband liked Granada best. This is just how it was for us. Pamplona only got a low ranking because prices were sky high for hotels during San Fermin and what we paid to watch the running of the bulls from a balcony was ridiculous. What we spent that 1 night, 1 day in Pamplona was more than we spent for our 3 nights and time in Granada! Valencia hotel was chosen because it was on the beach but it also was expensive at over $400 a night. Not worth it in our opinion. What we liked best about our time in Valencia was our paella dinner-fantastic!
Food and drink:
Loved, loved sangria and tinto de verano. Not a big fan of tapas or jamon-sorry! Best breakfasts were our hotels in Cordoba and Granada. Standout food-paella in Valencia at Casa Roberto, brunch in Barcelona at milk, tapas in Barcelona at Cruix, dinner in Barcelona at La Clara, dinner Mexican in Cordoba at Cielito Lindo, dinner in Granada at Negro Carbon, dinner in Granada at El Mercader, dinner twice in Torremolinos at The Carvery, dinner Mexican in Sevilla at Mamalupe. To be honest we didn't have any really bad experiences with the food or drink in Spain. We tried to do a variety. We did paella, tapas, seafood, chicken, beef, Mexican, pizza. The Carvery was a cool experience because during our short trip years ago to London somehow we never had fish & chips English style. We got that at The Carvery and then when we returned we had the Carvery special which included an amazingly yummy, tasty amount of food.
Sightseeing:
Loved the flamenco show we saw in Sevilla, amazed at the Gaudi sights in Barcelona-could have spent hours and hours at Sagrada Familia, Loved our day trips to Monteserrat and Gibraltar. Loved Ronda-that gorge! Toledo was my favorite and a place that I would return to see things I missed. Even though it cost us an obscene amount of money, watching the running of the bulls in Pamplona was an experience I won't soon forget!
I regret that we didn't get to see/explore Madrid. I am hoping to be able to return to Spain to spend more time in Toledo and a week in Madrid with day trips to Avila and Segovia.
It has been several years since we were last in Europe and Spain reminded us of all the rich history and culture Europe has that America doesn't. The churches/cathedrals, museums, Muslim palaces were what made me take thousands of pictures. So much beauty even in the landscape as evidenced by our time in Ronda. Spain has a great public transport system. And the people we met along the way were for the most part great. We got lost so many times trying to find our hotel in Granada, Torremolinos, Ronda, Jerez, Sevilla and when we stopped to ask for help even the language barrier wasn't that bad. It's amazing that my bit of Spanish from our trips around Mexico, central and South America came back to me. I have several scraps of paper with drawings showing how to get to our hotel given to us by locals we asked for help. Even one at a car wash! You can bet that on our next trip we'll be bringing a phone with GPS on it!
España estará por siempre en mi corazón! 🇪🇸😍
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