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TRAVEL TO UNKNOW SPAIN

For those who want to discover the other Spain

15 years ago, May 23rd 2008 No: 1 Msg: #36179 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Spain is more than Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Granada, but unfortunately these are the most visited places in our beautiful country. We want to offer you the chance of both visit the other Spain and the knowledge of the differences between the diferent spanish regions.
Why not starting with the land of spanish conquerors with a colonial style cities?. At the same time, visit the famous DEHESAS, land of the bulls and full of wildlife. Of course, do not forget the found and the nice people.

If you want to know other Spain full of both culture and wildlife, feel free to contact me Reply to this

15 years ago, May 23rd 2008 No: 2 Msg: #36181 Delete Edit

deleted_49612
deleted_49612

D Posts: 24.6K

Hello Mikel 😊

I moved this to the forum for those who want to share travel related links or in your case offer information.
Please note that anything which is considered advertising may be deleted.

Mel
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15 years ago, May 23rd 2008 No: 3 Msg: #36185 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Thanks mel Reply to this

15 years ago, June 14th 2008 No: 4 Msg: #38549 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Hi Mikel.

My wife and I will be coming to Spain for a few weeks in September to do exactly that, travel through rural Spain.

I would appreciate your comments on our plans....

Very Briefly, this is our planned route...
Barcelona - Bilbao - Gijon - Leon - Seville - Gibralter - Granada - Almeria - then back to Barcelona all along the coast.

We plan on spending around 21 - 24 days doing this route taking it slowly with plenty of stop overs all along the way visiting whatever looks interesting.

Do you think this is too ambitious in the alloted timeframe ?

We are from New Zealand so will need to quickly adjust to driving to on the opposite side of the road - especially since we will be picking up the rental car from Barcelona airport.

Luckily it looks like it will be an easy and quick drive out towards Zaragoza.

Mark Reply to this

15 years ago, June 14th 2008 No: 5 Msg: #38551 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hello Mark,
The itinerary is not bad planned, but if you want to stop, will be a bit tight your program. I understand that comming from N.Z you will not probably come back, but I think is better to see 1 big area and leave the rest for other trip. Otherwise you can do the itinerary you have planeed but will missed great things like Jaen, Cazorla, Toledo (you must visit it) and Madrid. But also depend in your personal interest. Also Cordoba, and Zamora and Merida coming from north to South. So, if you want a mix tour: culture, nature, cuisine and meet people, then will not time enought.

Besides, in September-October there is a very interested event. The bulls (the bulls for "corridas de toros" for the "toreros") return from the east mountains to the south dehesas. It takes about 20 days and the cattlemen by horse lead the bulls in the way. You can spend 2-3 days or a week with the cattlemen passing by stunning rural areas, eating with them and sleeping also where the cattlemen sleep. No one, even Spanish has good information about this event. I am actually trying to work on this.

Also in Basque Country you can do a nice walks and discover the traditional ways to hunt wolves in Basque Country and of course, visiting a small winecellery in Rioja Alavesa. Big chances to see wolves (but you must spend at least 4 days for that) and also Lynx (also you will need 3 days). The good thing for example to see lynx is that the area is really beautiful. Jaen is amazing and all the surrounded areas. Of course for that kind of things, off the roads you would need a guide.

As you can see, there are a lot, but a lot of things to see and do besides the big cities.

For driving, most of the roads are one way, so you will have no problem. Only in the rural areas you must be careful as then you will get the double way roads.

Well, so many things to do and visit.......If you want to visit Spain in 24 days, you have the time, but if you pretend to do a circle as you pretend, you will miss a lot of interesting things. Once again, depend on your interests.

BE CAREFUL WITH HIRING CAR. THE FUEL ACTUALLY IS 1 liter1.31 euros and if you get DIESEL CAR, the liter is 1.35 euros. So, take in mind the cost of hiring a car + fuel per day.

I am not sure if I have helped you much, but pls do not hesitate contact me again.
Mikel

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15 years ago, June 14th 2008 No: 6 Msg: #38553 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Wow thanks Mikel,

That is lots of good info for sure and I did not know the exact price of fuel except that it is very expensive here as well and just keeps on going up. But we are budgeting for it.
(And hopefully the small car we get will be light enough as well on fuel)

Mikel, we are not too concerned about spending much (or any) time in the big cities. (Except a few days in Barcelona & Granada, we do not plan to visit Madrid)

All big cities are really the same anyway. We mainly want to spend more time in the country, experiencing the rural life, the food, the country people & their lifestyle etc.
We are sort of thinking about doing 300-400 km every 2nd day but I have a suspicion that it may be a lot of traveling and not enough time "experiencing" as you say.

Unfortunately I do not know a word of Spanish but I am depending on my wife to do all the talking - she has been slowly learning Spanish so hopefully will know enough to get us by 😊

Can I post our full intended travel route here ? I would like some comments on where we should look at spending more/less time etc....

Mark
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15 years ago, June 15th 2008 No: 7 Msg: #38602 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

We have done quite a bit of travelling, backpacking, and always very busy and lots of travelling and running for trains & busses etc. - this time round it is a holiday 😊

So we are hoping to just have a slow drive and stay over wherever it looks like a nice place with nice things to see, or just sit around in the local pub etc. doing nothing....

So - am I naive/stoopid to think that we can just stop at a town/village somewhere in the middle of nowhere and expect to be able to find accommodation?

I guess what bothers me is that there might be a local festival or something and we won't find anywhere to sleep over. So, should we look at booking ahead as we go or just not worry too much about it? (my option)

That bull drive sounds like something that could be interesting to run across, do you know the route that they take?
(where do they start from and where do they finish up?)

Mark Reply to this

15 years ago, June 15th 2008 No: 8 Msg: #38632 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hello Mark,
Well, if want to visit the rural areas, well, you can have some kind of problems:
1..accommodation
2..language
3..which one are the most interested places.

For accommodation: you can find in some small rural areas RURAL COTTAGES ("casas rurales") but not in all places you can find one. And if you get 1 rural cottage, second thing is what are you going to visit?. In the rural areas, the animals or some interested ruins sometimes is difficult to know if you do not know the area, so.....

Language: in rural areas no one speak english, and the kind of spanish the local villages talk sometimes is hard to understand (even for me!!!). In cities you wouln't find this problem of course.

Interested places: For example in Basque Country mountain, I have in my GPS the place where one of this wolf hunting contruction is. Otherwise is nearly impossible to find. For the bull drive, you must go by horse so if you do not have the contacts, you cannot go. In fact I am preparing something for taking people to spend a couple of days with the bulls. In September-October they start in the valley of ALBARRACIN MOUNTAINS and after 20-30 days ends in the dehesas of Jaen. But for this as said you need the contact.

The most rural areas in Spain you can find in Alava, Burgos, Palencia, Zamora, Caceres, Jaen. With this places you will discover the different lifestyle of this areas.

About festivals, most of them are in JULY-AUGUST, and not many in September, so do not worry about it.

If you want, post your full route and I will check.
Mikel

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15 years ago, June 16th 2008 No: 9 Msg: #38739 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Mikel, thanks for your help and all the information.

After some thought and looking at our intended route and dates I think that we will pretty much stay with the main roads and not make any major detours unless recommended to see specific places.

By "rural" our intention is to, where possible, stay over in the smaller towns/villages along our route rather than in the bigger towns. We would rather stop in a small village for lunch or a few beers and just wander around the village or spend the night than in a big town or city.

Although we will obviously also be staying over in some of the larger cities.

So - our intened route....
Barcelona - Zaragoza - Lagrono - Bilbao - San Sebastian - Gijon - Leon - Salamanca (via Tordesillas or Zamora?) - Caceres - Seville - Cadiz - Gibralter - Malaga - Granada (via Motril) - and all along the coast back up to Barcelona.

We will spend a few days along the North coast (San Sebastian - Gijon) just resting and partying as that time will also be my wifes birthday and she wants a BIG party 😊

Mikel, I followed the path of the bulls drive from Albarracin to Jaen - wow man, that is some distance they go.
Looks like close to 600km and through some really rough country too?

You mention GPS. The rental cars have the option of GPS and I have been seriously considering getting one - as long as it has English 😊
Else it probably would not be much use, but I suspect they all have different language options anyway.

Only 10 more weeks to go before we leave so the excitement is slowly starting to build up....

Mark
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15 years ago, June 17th 2008 No: 10 Msg: #38908 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hello again,
the bulls do about 600 kms in about 20-25 days trough rough country so for that we mus do it by horse. Very interesting. It is possible to do a few days with them by horse 2-3 days but as said, you need to book a tour.

Well, if you prefer landscapes and small villages I recomend you following program. The problem you can find is that without a guide you will not enjoy with some areas, for example Culebra Mountain range or Cazorla National Park. I would include them because of their landscape and the animals you can see here, but as said, without a guide can be a problem for you. Also this areas are very rural and for me it is worth.

D1 BARCELONA - TUDELA - BARDENAS REALES - TUDELA
D2 TUDELA - PAMPLONA - SAN SEBASTIAN
D3 SAN SEBASTIAN - GETARIA - ONDARROA
D4 ONDARROA - BERMEO -CASTRO URDIALES
D5 CASTRO URDIALES - GIJON
D6 GIJON - POLA DE SOMIEDO - SOMIEDO NATURE RESERVE - POLA DE SOMIEDO
D7 POLA DE SOMIEDO - LEON - PONFERRADA
D8 PONFERRADA - LAS MEDULAS - PUEBLA DE SANABIRA -CULEBRA MOUNTAIN RANGE
D9 CULEBRA MOUNTAIN RANGE (THIS IS THE AREA WITH THE BIGGEST POPULATION OF WOLVES IN EUROPE, BUT WITHOUT A GUIDE, IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO VISIT THE AREA)
D10 CULEBRA MOUNTAIN RANGE - SALAMANCA
D11 SALAMANCA - PLASENCIA - CACERES
D12 CACERES - MONFRAGÜE NATIONAL PARK - MERIDA. HERE IT WOULD BE VERY BEAUTIFUL IF YOU WOULD HAVE A GUIDE AS LIKE THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SEE SOME BEAUTIFUL PLACES THAT WITHOUT A GUIDE WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR YOU.
D13 MERIDA - SEVILLA
D14 SEVILLA
D15 SEVILLA - RONDA - MALAGA
D16 MALAGA - CORDOBA - JAEN
D17 CAZORLA NATIONAL PARK (WITHOUT A GUIDE MAY BE YOU HAVE DIFFICULTIES)
D18 CAZORLA - GRANADA
D19 GRANDA
D20 GRANDA - CARTAGENA
D21 CARTAGENA - VALENCIA
D22 VALENCIA
D23 VALENCIA - BARCELONA

You can check here to have an idea about what you can see:

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15 years ago, June 17th 2008 No: 11 Msg: #38938 Delete Edit

Neddy
Neddy

B Posts: 3

Mark - I'd recommend an in car GPS for driving in unfamiliar places - it can be a real help. (And you can usually switch the language to English) However - don't rely on it entirely - they can be wrong. Have maps and have an idea of where you should be headed, so you can dounbloe check your route (eg pick a larger twon in the same direction and know you want to be heading towards it etc etc). Reply to this

15 years ago, June 18th 2008 No: 12 Msg: #39046 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Thanks Neddy, After looking over Mikel's suggested route I will definately have to make sure I have a GPS lol.

Mikel, an interesting route. I like the Gijon to Salamanca route and although my wife would love to see the wolves it will probably just be drive through for us, no tours.
Lots of beautiful country and lots of photo's will be plenty good enough for us.

We also want to visit Cadiz & Gibralter so will go all the way South. I guess at that stage we will have a rethink about our finances and the petrol price which will then determine the route we take back to Barcelona i.e straight up the coast or do the Cordoba - Jaen detour.

Well, lots of further reading and researching and studying of maps for me considering your alternatives.
Mikel, in your view, would we be ok to find acommodation at the stop over places you mention or should we phone and book ahead?

Mark Reply to this

15 years ago, June 18th 2008 No: 13 Msg: #39066 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Well, for the wolves you must be lucky and know the area they usually move. But at any case, driving around you will find a nice landscape and some small villages.

If you want to visit Cadiz and Gibraltar you will have to take out CAZORLA or just spend 3 more days in Spain. Depend on your dates, but Cazorla National Park is really beautiful. Also Valencia it is worth to spend 1 night. "La Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias" in Valencia is very interested and beautiful.

For accomodation, August is a holiday month so there are always problems with accommodation but for September I do not think so. I only would book in advance hotels or rural cottages for the weekend (friday-saturday) as usually spanish like to spend Saturdays out of big cities . Rest of the days, I don't think you will need to book in advance. I do not find problems when I leave Madrid during the week and do some of this routes, but for fridays and Saturdays, ufff, sometimes is hard to find a room.

Just one question, why you do not finish the tour in Madrid instead of Barcelona?. It is closer from Malaga. You could leave the car in Malaga and take the AVE (high speed train) and in about 1hr and a half you will be in Madrid. You can visit firstly Granada and back to Malaga. You will save money. Of course depend on what you want to visit.

Mikel Reply to this

15 years ago, June 18th 2008 No: 14 Msg: #39104 Delete Edit

Dana Bev
Dana Bevilacqua

N Posts: 4

Hi! What a lovely conversation to come across while researching Spain. Maybe this is where I will find my answer, seeing that you all have a good idea of what you want from the country. I am finishing a very stressful school program and have at least the month of July reserved for Spain. Ideally, I am looking to settle in one place, to take it easy, to enjoy my first Spanish experience, eat good food, and hopefully enjoy the sea. Spain has so many coastlines, I am having difficulty knowing which is best for me.
What I really want is some place off the beaten track where it will be possible for me to find an apartment. Preferably, I do not want to hear English for the entire month. I am coming from the chaos of Rome, so I'm looking for the exact opposite of that. Initially, I thought Barcelone would be good for well rounded place, but now I want to get as far away from a city-like place as possible.
If you have any ideas, I would greatly appreciate any recommendations! Reply to this

15 years ago, June 19th 2008 No: 15 Msg: #39234 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hello Dana,
If you do not want to hear English, do not go coast nor Barcelona. Most of the tourist go to the coasts to enjoy with nice beaches, nightlive and sun.
In Seville, happen the same, it would be full of tourists and only walking on the street you will hear english. I would recommend you come to Madrid. Why Madrid?, because is in middle of the country, therefore it offers you the chances to move from one place to another one easily.
About Barcelona, most of the tourists come to Barcelona due to 1992 Olympic Games. It is beautiful city, but I preffer Madrid. You have also monuments, museums. People, and I think this will be good for you, in Madrid is more open than in Barcelona because there are people from all Spain that come to work to the capital. Then this people arrive Madrid on their own and start looking for friends. Detail that doesn't happen in Barcelona. So if you are looking for different experience and taking the chance of learn some spanish, I recommend you to a short tours from Madrid with local company in central and Norht Spain. Something like visiting mountains and valleys, out of beaches

For example a tour around Zamora - Leon - Basque Country in 7 days can be good idea.

Mikel Reply to this

15 years ago, June 22nd 2008 No: 16 Msg: #39518 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Hi Mikel,

Thanks for that tip about the weekends.
From your list in previous posting our trip will be somewhere here over the Friday/Saterdays...

day 2/3 = Friday/Saturday - San Sebastian / North coast region (Booking required here ?)
day 9/10 = Friday/Saturday - Culebra Mountain Range (Will book ahead and maybe stay all weekend)
day 16/17 = Friday/Saturday - Sevilla/Cadiz/Gibralter (somewhere)
day 23/24 = Friday/Saturday - Barcelona

Do you perhaps know if there are places to stay in or near the national parks in the Culebra Mountains?

Mikel, we did think about getting a car from one point to another but it looked like it was going to cost a lot more with the extra fees of a one way car rental, compared to dropping it off at the same depot where you collect it from.

I does not matter much though, there is the benefit of being able to drive where you want which offsets the extra costs.

Well, now that we more or less have the route planned out, we can start working out places of interest and places to stay over. Busy time ahead and also just as exciting as the trip itself sometimes.

My wife just said "each night to visit in a different 'Tapas' for a meal before going to sleep" Lol

Mark
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15 years ago, June 22nd 2008 No: 17 Msg: #39524 Delete Edit

MarkV
Mark Venter

N Posts: 14

Mikel, Do you have 'Google Earth' ?

That way you could 'bookmark' some of the national parks like the ones in the Culebra Mountains which I am having a bit of difficulty finding exactly where they are.

Google Earth is brilliant as the satelite imaging over Spain is incredibly Hi-res, even in the most isolated areas.

Mark Reply to this

15 years ago, June 23rd 2008 No: 18 Msg: #39606 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hi Mark,
You should book in advance in San Sebastian, Culebra Mountain Range and in Barcelona if you want to find a cheap and nice place. For Sevilla, you can find a lot of hotels, but for cheap price and good hotel, also you should do it. Gibraltar, I have never been in Gibraltar, so I do not know anything about hotels and if neccesary. For Barcelona, I would book also in advance, otherwise you will have to spent a lot of time looking for a good price hotel or hostel.

In Culebra Mountain Range, there are a couple of places to stay. I would recommend you spent night in Puebla de Sanabria, as in case you do not know from where to start, at least you can visit the Sanabria glacial lake and surroundings. In Puebla de Sanabria you can find a very beautiful hotel from PARADORES CHAIN. It can cost about 120-160 euros a room but it is worth.

I do not have Google Earth actually.

Regarding car, I didn't know that if you get a car in one point and leave in other it would be so expensive. If so, for sure better to keep on driving on your own.

Well hope you enjoy a lot. I have been this weekend doing by horse the driving bulls (well, most of them are cows and calves). They were in total about 700 cows, calves and bulls. Very exciting and funny, sleeping in middle of the dehesa. The return way the cowboys told me that will be in November, and of course, the weather will be really bad (rainings) so for doing it is better at this stage. Other time you have to come to do at least a week with the cowboys.

MIKEL Reply to this

15 years ago, July 10th 2008 No: 19 Msg: #41548 Delete Edit

Lcollins
Laura C.

B Posts: 4

Hi Mikel,

I have been interested in the discussion about the less-visited places in Spain. My husband and I will be there for a month from mid-September - mid-October. I want to share my itinerary and ask if you can contribute any insight or suggestions about our plans.

We fly into Barcelona and will rent a car at the airport. Our first 4 nights are in the town of Siurana, just north of Girona. We hope to do some easy hiking along the coast, spend a day in Girona and another near L’Escala.

Then we drive to the Basque country and will spend 4 nights near the coast, between Lekeitio and Elantxobe. We want to spend a day in San Sebastian, but the film festival will be going on and we are concerned that there will be large crowds.

Next we drive to Salamanca for 3 nights and hope to visit Avila, La Alberca and Bejar and Candelario, as well as Salamanca.

We will wander into Portugal for the next week and then return to Spain and will spend 4 nights in Alajar, in the Sierra de Aracena. Our days there will be spent hiking to villages and exploring caves.

Next we will spend 4 nights in Ferreirola, in Las Alpujarras. We may take a day to go into Granada, but beyond that we plan to spend time in the villages nearby.

Finally we will spend 2 nights in Sella with plans to spend the one day in Villajoyosa. We are hoping that this town will be a bit less tourist-filled than others on the Costa Blanca.

We return to Barcelona where we have reserved an apartment for the last 3 nights before flying back to the States. We want to visit Montserrat with only one day actually in the city of Barcelona.

Our hope is that we will find areas where we will not hear English spoken, and that we will end the month feeling like we have experienced the people and culture of the various regions, while not necessarily having seen every cathedral, museum, etc. Our Spanish is very limited, but we make an effort and have discovered in both Italy and France that much can be communicated without words.
We have reservations mostly in casas rurales.

If you find a moment and can contribute any information about these areas so that we don't miss out on something spectacular simply because we don't know, or because our Spanish is limited, that would be very kind of you.

Thanks Mikel,
Laura Reply to this

15 years ago, July 11th 2008 No: 20 Msg: #41588 Delete Edit

mikelm
mikel martin

N Posts: 15

Hello Laura,
Well, once again, most of your itinerary pass by the most touristic places. BARCELONA - SAN SEBASTIAN - AVILA - SALAMANCA - BEJAR - ALPUJARRAS - GRANADA - SIERRA DE ARACENA.

As I am seeing, most of tourist start their tour in Barcelona and not in Madrid. Likely the Olympique Games did a good marketing. For sure is a very beautiful city, but what I do not understand is why most of people don't want to come to Madrid, at is really nice city with more social live than Barcelona.

For San Sebastian, is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain, besides Vitoria. You can look for a hotel in Vitoria for example, capital of Basque Country (this is my hometown). It is small and very beautiful. You do not need car, taxi or even bus to move in the city, and a very few number of tourists. You can book a hote here if you do not find accommodation in San Sebastian or what you find is very expensive. It is a bout 1hr and 30 minutes drive Vitoria to San Sebastian. For sure if your dates are the same as the Festival, will be crowded. The basque coast is very nice and all villages are beautiful and few people. I would recommend you to visit "RIOJA ALAVESA" were the best spanish red wine is produced. You can visit any winecellery.

Doing from Basque Country to Salamanca in 1 day, could be a bit long but you can do it. About 5'30-6 hrs driving. Salamanca is a beautiful area. You can visit the city in one day. The area also very beautiful. Sierra de Bejar incredible, but with no local guide you will lose the most beautiful things. From Salamanca I would reccomend you visit EXTREMADURA. You can do a easy hiking in PARQUE NACIONAL MONFRAGÜE very beautiful and one of the most important areas in Europe for raptors. Landscape is really beautiful. From here you can visit MÉRIDA. It is small city and here you will find the most important romanesque circus ruins in Europe. The visit is worth. From here you also you can get into Portugal. Or you can cross the border to Portugal from Salamanca province and return to Spain trough Extremadura and then visit Monfragüe and Mérida.

Other of the things still I am unable to understand is why no one want to visit Jaen and Sierra Cazorla. There is a very beautiful hikings, rich wildlife and gorgeu landscapes. I think it is more than recommended.

In resume, your itinerary is find and if you are interested in doing some easy hiking I recomend you CAZORLA and surroundings.

For sure there are a lot of great places like the YECLA GORGE and lot of other incredible places.

If you need more help, do not hesitate contact me again.
Mikel

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