April 23, 2025 • 29 mins
We share the highlights of our recent trip to Madrid, Seville and Barcelona, including our favorite tours, how we got around, where we stayed and what we'd do differently next time.
• Split our three weeks across Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona with a week in Portugal in between
• Had to adjust our original plans to visit northern Spain due to train strikes
• Chose apartments over hotels in Seville and Sitges (near Barcelona) for laundry facilities and flexible mealtimes
• Found Spanish metro systems intuitive and similar to London Underground
• Participated in multiple tapas tours with Devour, providing cultural context and authentic food experiences
• Experienced incredible authentic flamenco in Seville on a combined tapas and performance tour
• Took guided walking tours in Seville and Barcelona with Walks Tours, enjoyed wonderful guides sharing local history and insights
• Dealt with unusually rainy weather throughout much of our Spanish journey
• Discovered Sitges as a peaceful beachside alternative to staying in busy Barcelona
If you're considering visiting Spain in 2025, check out our detailed guides and tips on the website at globaltravelplanning.com to help plan your adventure.
📝 Show Notes - Episode 51
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #37 - Tips for first-time visitors to France
- Episode #38- Top Tips and Insights for First-Time Travellers to Tokyo, Japan
- Episode #42 - Discover Italy: Essential tips for first-time visitors with Dianne Bortoletto
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If Spain is a destination you can't wait to
explore, this week's episode ofthe Global Travel Planning
Podcast is for you.
We're sharing the highlights ofour recent trip to Madrid,
seville and Barcelona, includingour favourite tours, how we got
around, where we stayed andwhat we'd do differently next
time.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:20):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 51 of the Global Travel
(00:46):
Planning Podcast.
This week, doug and I are hereto talk all about our recent
time in Spain, but we have againour lovely guest interviewer,
melissa, who is our residentAussie every month in the Brit,
aussie and Yank episode that wehave, which where we share
general travel tips.
(01:06):
So Melissa again has agreed tocome on and do the interview,
and as she did for the Moroccoepisode.
So welcome, melissa.
Thank you, tracy and Doug.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, we're here to talk tonight about your trip to
Spain, so how about we startwith just a general overview
about your trip?
So how about we start with justa general overview about your
trip Okay should.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I start, you start Okay.
So we literally spent threeweeks in Spain, divided up,
actually, by one week inPortugal, so we actually flew
from Morocco.
At the end of our trip fromMorocco, we flew from Marrakech
to Madrid, spent a couple ofdays in Madrid, then went down
to Seville for 12 days beforeheading over to Portugal for a
(01:46):
week and then flying over toBarcelona for seven days.
So basically it was Madrid,seville and Barcelona that were
for 21 days, that's right intotal.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
yeah, we didn't actually stay in Barcelona
itself, but I'll explain thatlater.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, okay.
So why did you decide andSpain's a big place, obviously
why Madrid, seville andBarcelona?
What drew you to thoseparticular cities?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, madrid, initially, because neither of us
had been there, because we werein Morocco.
When we were looking at optionsto get into Spain, we saw good
deals on the flights fromMarrakesh to Madrid, so it
seemed to tick a few boxes atonce, really.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, and then after that we were trying to decide
where else to go.
So then we felt we want to do atrain, a few train trips.
Actually that was part of alsowhat we want to do in spain, and
neither of us had been toseville, so we decided to head
down to seville.
And then it kind of made senseto go into portugal, and our
original plans were actually togo to northern Spain after
Portugal.
Where were we?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
going to go Well.
I wanted to go from Porto inPortugal up to Santiago de
Compostela to see basically thesights there, and then work our
way around northern Spain to theBasque area and then down into
Madrid.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And then back to Barcelona and then down to
Barcelona.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That was the initial plan.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And then back to.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Barcelona and then down to Barcelona.
That was the initial plan.
Unfortunately, the Renfe well,the Spanish trains were going to
be on strike, so it wasn't justone or two days, it was three
or four days in a week.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It was over a few weeks, it was just going to be
impossible.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
We couldn't make any concrete plans.
So we decided to buy thebulletin book a flight, but
unfortunately, within an hour ofbooking the flight they called
the strikes and we couldn'tbelieve it.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It literally was one of those moments where we sat
and went right, we have to makea decision now.
Because it, because we werekind of booking things as we
went, and so we had thatflexibility when we were like
that was, the plan was to gonorthern spain, but it was just
not going to work because of thestrike.
So we just went no, we're justgoing to have to fly to
Barcelona.
And I'm not joking, I think itwas 10 minutes after we booked
(03:53):
the flight non-refundable flightthey called off the strike and
I think we just went okay, right, we'll just have to call it a
day and we're going to go toBarcelona and that's what we're
going to do.
So we just kind of sometimesyou have to just have that
flexibility and go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I mean, anyone who knows me knows my love of trains
, all things trains.
So you can imagine mydisappointment.
And nothing against flying, butI'd rather be on a train.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Well, I'd always rather be on a train as well, on
a train rather than a plane, Ishould say rather than a plane,
I should say.
But anyway, so that's what wedid.
So it ended up being it kind ofshortened our time that we
wanted to spend in Spain, but itjust means that we'll have to
go back again.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Absolutely.
And what about, like, where didyou stay in each city and how
did you choose where you stayed?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I think, Madrid.
We just stayed in a hotel for acouple of nights.
We flew in and just got atransfer and stayed in a hotel
kind of in a central part of.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Madrid yeah, not far from the palace.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, because we knew we were going to do a couple of
tours, so that was going to bethe easiest place to stay.
But Madrid was actually veryshort.
We were only there for a coupleof nights and then because we
had quite a lot of things likewashing to do and also, when you
travel long term, you have tothink about expense, and staying
in hotels means that you haveto pay out for food all the time
in restaurants.
So we decided that we'd bookapartments so in seville.
(05:13):
We actually were only going togo to seville for a week, but we
really liked seville so weloved it anyway.
We loved seville so much thatwe extended it by another five
days, so we unfortunately theaccommodation that we had, which
was a huge apartment, uh, andit was a lovely part of seville
as well.
We had to move from that closerto the bus station, because
(05:33):
we're actually catching a bus toum lisbon so we had to move
accommodation.
Then that was a part hotel andthen in bar.
We actually stayed south of thecity.
We stayed in a town calledSigis and again we had another
apartment with a washing machinebecause, again, just trying to
keep on top of things likewashing and also we could have
our own breakfast.
(05:54):
Take things a little bit easier.
You know, when you stay in ahotel hotels are lovely, but you
have a certain time forbreakfast, whereas you know if
you're in your apartment, get up, you kind of do eat what you
want, do what you want, butthings like just the
practicalities of keeping on topof washing things that's right
and uh, some days because of theweather, there were work days
as well, and we also looked atfeedback on the strength, the
(06:15):
quality of the wi-fi as well,which was a also a factor yeah,
that was actually reallyimportant because we yeah,
because, unfortunately well, I'msure we'll get onto it we've
not had the best weather and wehave to work when we're on the
road.
It's not just we don't.
We'd be lovely just to travel,but we have to work.
So, recording podcasts anddoing consults and writing
articles, it has to be done.
(06:37):
So, yeah, making sure we hadgood Wi-Fi in the apartments, it
actually worked pretty well, tobe honest, so we're able to do
everything that we need to do.
And, um, all the places werecentral.
I say siges, we stayed in,which is south of barcelona.
Um, it was somewhere that I'dnever heard of it.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Doug wanted to go there yes, it was a place, um, I
visited frequently with myparents when I was very little
and we went, you knowconsecutive number of years.
So I was trying trying to workout, did I say sort of 30-odd
years since I was last there.
So it was a bit of a return tochildhood, to a holiday location
(07:14):
, which was really nice.
To be honest with you, Iremembered a few little bits and
pieces, didn't I?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I actually loved it, where the beach was, yeah, but I
absolutely loved Sijas.
It was actually nice not to bein Barcelona, which is crazy.
Even this time of year it'scrazy busy, so it is the most
popular destination in Spain,yeah, and it just is crazy,
crazy busy.
So it was actually nice gettingon the train and going out and
going south and staying besidethe beach.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It was just lovely it was because the accommodation
was close to the train station,close to a good supermarket as
well, and it gave me anopportunity, every time I went
into Barcelona, to experiencethe local train service there
called Rodales, which, on alltruthfulness, was a bit of a
challenge at times, but you know, that's part of the adventure
(08:02):
and I enjoy the railwaychallenge.
But no, it was a nice place.
It's a nice place of life incaesars as well which was nice.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I will.
I'll link in the show notes tothe three um the four different
accommodations that we had inspain.
I will put a link to those.
But yeah, but pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, no complaints so we've um talked a little bit
about how you guys got around umbetween and within the cities,
but did you want to talk aboutthat?
Expand on that and any tips orinsights you've got from
traveling around?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, I like using metros.
Obviously, like London, theLondon Underground, the metro
system in Madrid was very good,very identical in a lot of ways
with the different colored lines, so the principle was the same.
The ticket is slightlydifferent because we could buy
one travel card in Madrid whichwas for the both of us, which is
(08:51):
different to London where youhave an Oyster card each.
So we loaded it with 10 singlejourneys and obviously that
would be five each travelingtogether, and that worked very
well in Madrid.
And then, as I said, inBarcelona, the local services,
redalis, which covers into thecity as well.
So it's again colored lines andit's like many other metro
(09:15):
systems around the world, onceyou got your head around it, the
principal lines where you stayin and where you want to get to
the main tourist areas, you knowit's.
It's pretty straightforward, um, and easy to use.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
so, besides metros and walking, yeah, I mean,
places like Seville are verywalkable, very walkable city
anyway.
We did use the fast train,though, when we went from Madrid
down to Seville, which waspretty good, that was excellent.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
yes, yeah, it took a few hours and we upgraded on
that one to the first class aswell.
I should mention Madrid.
Seville and Barcelona have atram system as well a light rail
system.
Obviously, the size of thecities determines how many lines
that they have, which looksvery efficient as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But Seville doesn't really go in this.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
No, there's only the one line.
There's only the one line.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
yeah, so you don't really see that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
The ones at the back of the palace.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, that's true.
Yeah, just thinking the palace,yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, that's
true, yeah, just thinking aboutit makes it up with all these
different cities.
But yes, but pretty easy to getaround.
I don't think we had manyproblems.
Actually, the most difficulttrip we had was our trip from uh
sigers to barcelona, to the, tothe airport, because we had to
change trains and obviouslywe've got suitcases with us and
none of the um escalators wereworking and there were no lifts,
(10:26):
so we both had to carryupstairs like 20 kilograms
suitcase, up actually a longescalator and then back down
again as well, because it'sneither going up or down.
So, yeah it, that was.
That was really difficult I was.
I was not in the best of frameof mind by the time we're done
no, and a bit discouraging.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's no staff around to help or advise either,
which is no, and that wouldhave been a struggle.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
So anybody, you know it was difficult for us to do,
uh, and actually there was anelderly couple that were coming
down and they they in spanishwere saying to us like you're
gonna have to have some strength, the right doing the like,
showing the muscles, gonna belike this, because it was a big
escalator to carry all thesuitcases, but we're looking at
alternatives because Sidge's ispretty close to Barcelona
(11:11):
Airport, so when we arrived wetook an Uber, didn't?
We yeah, normally yeah, whichis straightforward yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And then we thought we were being smart because the
apartment was so close toSidge's train station.
We thought we were being smartby taking the metro.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
No, obviously.
So you can imagine how manytimes I said this is why I
booked the transfer, this is whyI booked the transfer, this is
why I get a taxi.
So, and and um, yeah, I did saythat it's because of those
things you can't plan for itseemed like the easiest way to
do it.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It ended up being a nightmare.
It did, and the train line tothe airport went to the wrong
terminal as well yeah, so.
So then we had quite a faffgetting from terminal two to
terminal one.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, so it was a pain.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So when it took us about 30, 40 minutes to get from
Barcelona airport to theaccommodation, it took over an
hour and a half to get back tothe airport.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah.
So my advice honestly is if youdecide to stay in the Sijas,
which I would highly recommend,rather than staying in Barcelona
, just get a transfer, get ataxi to the airport.
Do not do what we did.
Honestly, we never do that.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
It's first time we've done that ever and it was not
good.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
We'll be doing it again let's talk about some of
the things you did there, likeyour tours and experiences.
Um, I think you said you did acouple of tours food and
historical history sort of toursso what were your favorites,
what were the highlights?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh, we did quite a few tours.
Now I'm going to start off withthe three tapas tours that we
did.
Well, actually we did four.
We did three specific tapas,like history of the food, trying
the food tours in in sevilleand madrid and barcelona.
But in seville we also did anadditional tapas tour, which was
(12:54):
a tapas and flamenco tour,which I have to say was one of
the best tours.
I love food tours anyway, butbecause you learn about history
and you meet the locals and yougo into local places where they
have the food that you know thatthe food is genuine, authentic,
but marrying that tapestry withthe flamenco that we saw.
(13:15):
I've never seen anything likethat.
It was incredible.
And we had Sophie who was aguide.
So massive shout out to Sophiebecause you were amazing, and
she's been to 500 or so theseshows and she said this is one
of the best ones she'd ever seen.
Um, so I would highly recommendthat.
That was with devour.
We did all of the food tourswith devour.
(13:36):
So thanks very much, devour,for inviting us onto those tours
.
As I say, we did four, uh, withmonty in madrid, which was
fantastic.
So, um, and that's, that wassome of the most amazing food.
Honestly, it was fantastic.
And then, obviously, in Seville, we did, we did two, two tours
there, food tours, and then wehad the final one, in Barcelona,
um with Ariana on, which wasjust last week, and Ariana was
(14:00):
excellent, excellent.
It was just so good because youdon't just learn about the food,
you learn about history, youget to eat in local places, you
just learn so much, um, and also, I mean, you do get the food
and the drink, which isfantastic.
Um, so they, they were justjust made us so much, in fact,
so much when we're in istanbulat the moment and we're doing a
food tour tomorrow, um, becauseit's just a wonderful way to
(14:22):
learn about a place through thefood culture.
Um, but honestly, I have to say, one of the absolute highlights
I will never, ever forget thatflamenco.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
No, it was absolutely outstanding.
I saw it when I was a littlelad and my memory had held fast.
It was just as exciting just aspassionate.
It was just an unbelievableexperience.
And of course Andalusia is thehome of flamenco.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, that's where it comes from and you know.
It's just fantastic, honestly,they're so talented.
And we also did some walkstours.
We did civil in a day uh withalba, who is going to be one of
my all-time favorite uh tourguides ever.
I absolutely loved alba.
Alba was amazing.
We did a real show show at albain which you can see on our
instagram.
I'm following her on Instagramnow.
(15:09):
She follows us.
Just amazed, she was so lovely,wasn't she?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
She really was.
We went and had lunch with her.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, we had lunch with her afterwards.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Because we went on this show and it was just me and
Douglas, so we ended up havinga private dinner.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know how lucky were we.
It was incredible.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I can say, with all the Devour and the Walks or
the guides, they've chosen theirstaff well, because they all
demonstrate such passion and areal love for the whole topic.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
They're storytellers.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
They are, and they have that right balance between
the history of the towns orcities and the food part.
They do seem to have it wellplanned out, yeah yeah, no, it's
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So that's the other devour ones, and then the the
walks tours as well, like sayingthe guides are just fantastic
you know, um alba was wasamazing.
And then a barcelona we did.
We recently did a um gaudi touras well, with with walks, which
was amazing.
So obviously went to la sagradafamiliar, which I saw 20 years
ago and my goodness howdifferent.
It's nearly finished and itjust, oh, it's beautiful, it's
(16:14):
absolutely beautiful.
And then we went to Park Güellagain, which I went to 20 years
ago.
I remember it's the first timeyou'd been it was yeah.
And then we did Casa Barlo,which I'm going to pronounce
completely incorrectly, which isanother one of Gaudi's houses
that he designed, and yeah, sothat was fantastic and it's
really lovely.
I mean, you know, you associateBarcelona and Gaudi, kind of go
(16:37):
hand in hand, so I think I havean appreciation of that.
Again, our guide, oliver, wasvery good.
Same passion, exactly, it wasexcellent.
We did do a data to Granada andalhambra which we took from
seville, um, which we justbooked, uh, through another
company, through through getyour guide, and I think that was
(16:58):
probably our most disappointingtoo, actually the weather
didn't exactly help for the dayeither, to be truthful, but it
was a bit large group.
It was a full coach size partyand I mean large, we're talking
like maybe 48 something, 48, 50people or something like that.
And you know you can see thedifference between that tour and
something like if you go on thewalks tours where there's
(17:19):
maximum like 15 of you.
It's like it's so different andit was a little bit it.
No offense to the guide and theheart hammer, it just was a
little bit boring.
I think it was just a littlebit it.
No offense to the guide in thealhambra, it just was a little
bit boring.
I think it was just a littlebit too much information and
detail.
There's a certain amount.
You know what I think thedifference is.
You need to have the stories togo with it, because if you just
tell people history, it gets abit.
I don't know, I used to be ahistory teacher it gets a bit
(17:41):
dry and boring every lecturerather than, like tell us the
stories about the place.
The thing I'll always remember,you know, is just think about
the fact that in Alhambra thesultans had red hair, which I'll
always remember that, becauseshe was telling the story of
that, because it's not what youkind of expect.
So that was really interesting,but otherwise it was a very,
very long day.
(18:01):
I think if I did that again,I'd stay in Granada.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Oh, it was 13 hours.
But another thing with thelarge groups, everyone is less
inclined to ask questions andinteract with the group In a
sort of you know, 10, 12, 15,.
It's easy to mix with othermembers of the group yes, very
true, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And also I'm also going to say, to be honest, we'd
just been to Morocco, so Ithink everything was held up
against the I, I was a littlebit or I'm going to get shot
down in flames by this, I'm surebut the alhambra, I guess I was
a bit disappointed by it.
I just expected it to be, Idon't know, to just impress me
more.
Yeah I don't know, I just thinkafter morocco, and I did
(18:42):
actually say, I think I said onmy instagram, on my instagram
stories, like don't, don't go tomorocco, because you've just
been to Morocco because you'regoing to help.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, the weather didn't help that day
.
To be fair, true, true.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Well, talking about weather, let's talk about the
weather overall.
While you were in Spain and youknow what was it like and how
did it impact your travels- Well, the saying goes, the rain in
Spain falls mainly on the planebut it didn't?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
The rain in Spain fell mainly on me and Doug.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
To be honest, Wherever we were in Spain.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Spain had the worst March I think they've had, for I
think every single day itrained.
I won't even talk aboutPortugal, because Portugal ended
up in a complete wash-up.
Portugal was even worse.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
We did have some.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Madrid it rained every day.
Seville we did have somesunshine, which, thank goodness,
so it was more showers.
We did have a couple of days oftorrential rain.
Barcelona thank goodness thisis ironic that we flew out from
Porto, we left beautifulsunshine and we actually got
delayed.
In fact, we were delayed on therunway in porto for an hour or
(19:51):
so because we couldn't land inbarcelona because there was such
bad weather thunderstorms so wehad to be delayed.
Anyway.
We eventually landed inbarcelona, beautiful sunshine.
So I will not complain because,honestly, for most of that week
in barcelona we had beautifulsunshine and lovely weather and
we were sit on the beach and atthe times when we weren't going
off to Barcelona to do stuff orwalking around Sidgers, we could
(20:13):
just have an hour or so on thebeach and relax and enjoy some
sunshine, which I have beencraving.
I actually read a book as well,which is nice.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Well, let's just talk overall Any tips or
recommendations that you know,anything you learned from your
trip and your time in spain well, I've actually just put an
article together of um 12 tipsfor anybody visiting, uh, spain
for the first time, so I'll puta link to that in the show notes
.
Um, and we've also written um aguide to visit in seville, uh,
(20:46):
and I'm finishing off a guide tovisit in barcelona.
From our kind of, from whatwe've learned from this trip as
well.
I mean, spain is somewhere thatI'd visited many times as a
child, many times as I wasgrowing up.
It's very popular with Britishvisitors.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Oh yeah, we're both visited.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And Doug had been many, many times before, so it
was kind of nice to rekindlethat, but also kind of just to
learn a little bit more aboutyou know.
Rekindle that, but also kind ofto just to learn a little bit
more about you know, visitingspain in 2025 and and what it
looks like.
Um, I think for me, I wouldjust say, if you plan to visit
spain, read our articles,because we've literally just
been, so you've got up-to-dateinformation about all the places
we've visited and gettingaround and also, um, some tips.
(21:23):
If it's a first-time visit, andthen I don't know for you, doug
, what would be your one tipwell, it's just.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Similar advice to give to visit in the uk is to
try as far as possible to keepyour travel plans flexible.
And new piece of advice as wellis we wouldn't have found out
about the train strikes if wedidn't try and keep you know on
top of local news as well,because we wouldn't have known
not speaking spanish, we wouldnot have known.
(21:49):
So it's only by chance we didactually find out from the guide
in Seville who mentioned it?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, it was Alba.
She mentioned it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
So, yeah, where possible, keep your plans
flexible.
Not always easy, particularlywith families, you know you do
need that more rigidity in yourplanning, but as much as
possible, you know, keep on topof local news where possible to
find out if your plans can beimpacted.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And let's just have that flexibility.
I mean, you know we weren'texpecting to have so many days
of rain, but luckily we packedlayers, we had raincoats, we'd
just bought some cheap umbrellasand you just got to go with it.
You know, train strikes happen,the weather can be awful, but
you know, at the end of the dayit was.
We had a wonderful timeexploring Spain.
(22:35):
We met some fabulous people onour trips.
We met some amazing guides,we've tried some wonderful food
and, again, some fantasticexperiences.
So, yeah, we thoroughly enjoyedit.
So you know, if you'reconsidering a visit in Spain in
2025, you know, go for itabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Most definitely.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
All right, one last question for each of you, Tracy,
just tell us off the top ofyour head what was your
favourite thing that you did,saw, experienced?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It's going to have to be the flamenco.
I just couldn't and I knowDil's probably going to want to
say the same, but I just Icannot tell you just how
fantastic the whole experienceis.
It really just carries you away.
We went to off the top of myhead.
I can't remember the place inSeville.
It just reopened again and Iknow that the guy that he really
wants the kind of like theauthentic experience for anybody
(23:27):
who goes there.
And I think that while they saywho's going to be on that night,
it may change even up to anhour or so before and generally
the performers will not have meteach other.
They will never perform againtogether.
So they just arrive, theydecide on the style they're
going to do and then they justgo for it.
So it's really improvised.
So that is what's incredible.
(23:48):
You kind of know that theyhaven't practiced this.
Night after night after night,they just turn up, they talk to
each other about whichever stylethey're going to do and then
they just go for it.
I mean, like it's, it'sincredible.
Oh yeah, not choreographed, no,no, they just go for it and um,
yeah, so that was fantastic andobviously the food, but the
yeah, the flamenco.
(24:09):
I'll never forget that.
It really was so amazing and Ihave put some videos on
Instagram and we're going to doYouTube videos as well.
And we have got because youcan't take video or photos
during the actual performance,but they do let you.
They do like a little miniperformance at the end where you
can, because you don't want toduring it because you're so
immersed in it.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I, because you don't want to during it, because
you're so immersed in it.
I'll just say that yeah,because that would be my
experience as well.
The standout, because youcannot help not to be moved by
the flamenco.
You can see everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Their eyes are just fixed on it from the first
minute to the last minute.
You just cannot take your eyesoff it.
So when they say you can't takephotos and videos, it's
actually in your favour.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah .
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Because you would miss it.
And you know Sophie saidbeforehand, you know, don't just
watch the performers, but watchthe guitarists, the musicians,
because they lead.
You know, watch their eyemovements, the little flickers
they're looking at each otherall the time.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
They're literally looking at each other, watching
each other, and then that willkind of motivate them to
whatever they do next.
It's incredible.
It's such a the relationshipbetween all those performers and
, like I said, they might neverhave met and may never ever
perform together again.
For the professionals, it'sincredible.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Absolutely incredible , and my other one, to return to
cities after all those years,was special.
Um, because you know, you'renot sure your memories of a five
to six, seven year old areactually are actually real ones
or not, or just manufactured inmy head.
But there's a little bit ofpieces that just came back to me
(25:47):
and I said so we can go downthat road there, we can turn up
there.
Are you sure I went?
well, yeah, I think so, yeahyeah, I don't know how, I don't
know how, but that was prettyspecial, yeah yeah, so that was
really good and when he said itwas 30 years I think he wishes
(26:22):
well, you've given us a greatoverview of spain.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Um, you know, it took me back.
I was in Spain last year myselfand I love, I love Spain so
much.
So, um, yeah, I definitely say,just go to Spain, it's so much
fun.
Um, but anyway, thank you somuch for giving us that overview
and letting me interview youagain well, I'm gonna say um,
melissa, thank you so much forcoming on and agreeing to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Um, it's great.
I'm probably going to be askingyou to do exactly the same
thing about Istanbul in you'rekind of a resident, resident
interviewer.
So if you just want to remindour listeners exactly where they
can find you as well, becauseobviously if you're listening
every month you're on, but yeahyeah, sure, thank you, tracy.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Uh, yes, well, um, you can find me on thrifty
family travels, where I have myfamily travel or my local pages
are the Queensland Travel Guideand Brisbane Travel Guide.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Perfect, so you can find a link to Melissa's
websites and the show notes andall the places we talked about
and the articles in the shownotes for this episode, which
will be atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 51.
But that just leaves all of usto say until next week's episode
, happy global travel planning.
(27:38):
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Global
Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
(28:00):
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always happy global travel
planning.
If Spain is a destination you can't wait to
explore, this week's episode ofthe Global Travel Planning
Podcast is for you.
We're sharing the highlights ofour recent trip to Madrid,
seville and Barcelona, includingour favourite tours, how we got
around, where we stayed andwhat we'd do differently next
time.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:20):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 51 of the Global Travel
(00:46):
Planning Podcast.
This week, doug and I are hereto talk all about our recent
time in Spain, but we have againour lovely guest interviewer,
melissa, who is our residentAussie every month in the Brit,
aussie and Yank episode that wehave, which where we share
general travel tips.
(01:06):
So Melissa again has agreed tocome on and do the interview,
and as she did for the Moroccoepisode.
So welcome, melissa.
Thank you, tracy and Doug.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, we're here to talk tonight about your trip to
Spain, so how about we startwith just a general overview
about your trip?
So how about we start with justa general overview about your
trip Okay should.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
I start, you start Okay.
So we literally spent threeweeks in Spain, divided up,
actually, by one week inPortugal, so we actually flew
from Morocco.
At the end of our trip fromMorocco, we flew from Marrakech
to Madrid, spent a couple ofdays in Madrid, then went down
to Seville for 12 days beforeheading over to Portugal for a
(01:46):
week and then flying over toBarcelona for seven days.
So basically it was Madrid,seville and Barcelona that were
for 21 days, that's right intotal.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
yeah, we didn't actually stay in Barcelona
itself, but I'll explain thatlater.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Yeah, okay.
So why did you decide andSpain's a big place, obviously
why Madrid, seville andBarcelona?
What drew you to thoseparticular cities?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, madrid, initially, because neither of us
had been there, because we werein Morocco.
When we were looking at optionsto get into Spain, we saw good
deals on the flights fromMarrakesh to Madrid, so it
seemed to tick a few boxes atonce, really.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah, and then after that we were trying to decide
where else to go.
So then we felt we want to do atrain, a few train trips.
Actually that was part of alsowhat we want to do in spain, and
neither of us had been toseville, so we decided to head
down to seville.
And then it kind of made senseto go into portugal, and our
original plans were actually togo to northern Spain after
Portugal.
Where were we?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
going to go Well.
I wanted to go from Porto inPortugal up to Santiago de
Compostela to see basically thesights there, and then work our
way around northern Spain to theBasque area and then down into
Madrid.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And then back to Barcelona and then down to
Barcelona.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That was the initial plan.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
And then back to.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Barcelona and then down to Barcelona.
That was the initial plan.
Unfortunately, the Renfe well,the Spanish trains were going to
be on strike, so it wasn't justone or two days, it was three
or four days in a week.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
It was over a few weeks, it was just going to be
impossible.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
We couldn't make any concrete plans.
So we decided to buy thebulletin book a flight, but
unfortunately, within an hour ofbooking the flight they called
the strikes and we couldn'tbelieve it.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
It literally was one of those moments where we sat
and went right, we have to makea decision now.
Because it, because we werekind of booking things as we
went, and so we had thatflexibility when we were like
that was, the plan was to gonorthern spain, but it was just
not going to work because of thestrike.
So we just went no, we're justgoing to have to fly to
Barcelona.
And I'm not joking, I think itwas 10 minutes after we booked
(03:53):
the flight non-refundable flightthey called off the strike and
I think we just went okay, right, we'll just have to call it a
day and we're going to go toBarcelona and that's what we're
going to do.
So we just kind of sometimesyou have to just have that
flexibility and go with it.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I mean, anyone who knows me knows my love of trains
, all things trains.
So you can imagine mydisappointment.
And nothing against flying, butI'd rather be on a train.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Well, I'd always rather be on a train as well, on
a train rather than a plane, Ishould say rather than a plane,
I should say.
But anyway, so that's what wedid.
So it ended up being it kind ofshortened our time that we
wanted to spend in Spain, but itjust means that we'll have to
go back again.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, basically.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Absolutely.
And what about, like, where didyou stay in each city and how
did you choose where you stayed?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I think, Madrid.
We just stayed in a hotel for acouple of nights.
We flew in and just got atransfer and stayed in a hotel
kind of in a central part of.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Madrid yeah, not far from the palace.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
Yeah, because we knew we were going to do a couple of
tours, so that was going to bethe easiest place to stay.
But Madrid was actually veryshort.
We were only there for a coupleof nights and then because we
had quite a lot of things likewashing to do and also, when you
travel long term, you have tothink about expense, and staying
in hotels means that you haveto pay out for food all the time
in restaurants.
So we decided that we'd bookapartments so in seville.
(05:13):
We actually were only going togo to seville for a week, but we
really liked seville so weloved it anyway.
We loved seville so much thatwe extended it by another five
days, so we unfortunately theaccommodation that we had, which
was a huge apartment, uh, andit was a lovely part of seville
as well.
We had to move from that closerto the bus station, because
(05:33):
we're actually catching a bus toum lisbon so we had to move
accommodation.
Then that was a part hotel andthen in bar.
We actually stayed south of thecity.
We stayed in a town calledSigis and again we had another
apartment with a washing machinebecause, again, just trying to
keep on top of things likewashing and also we could have
our own breakfast.
(05:54):
Take things a little bit easier.
You know, when you stay in ahotel hotels are lovely, but you
have a certain time forbreakfast, whereas you know if
you're in your apartment, get up, you kind of do eat what you
want, do what you want, butthings like just the
practicalities of keeping on topof washing things that's right
and uh, some days because of theweather, there were work days
as well, and we also looked atfeedback on the strength, the
(06:15):
quality of the wi-fi as well,which was a also a factor yeah,
that was actually reallyimportant because we yeah,
because, unfortunately well, I'msure we'll get onto it we've
not had the best weather and wehave to work when we're on the
road.
It's not just we don't.
We'd be lovely just to travel,but we have to work.
So, recording podcasts anddoing consults and writing
articles, it has to be done.
(06:37):
So, yeah, making sure we hadgood Wi-Fi in the apartments, it
actually worked pretty well, tobe honest, so we're able to do
everything that we need to do.
And, um, all the places werecentral.
I say siges, we stayed in,which is south of barcelona.
Um, it was somewhere that I'dnever heard of it.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Doug wanted to go there yes, it was a place, um, I
visited frequently with myparents when I was very little
and we went, you knowconsecutive number of years.
So I was trying trying to workout, did I say sort of 30-odd
years since I was last there.
So it was a bit of a return tochildhood, to a holiday location
(07:14):
, which was really nice.
To be honest with you, Iremembered a few little bits and
pieces, didn't I?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I actually loved it, where the beach was, yeah, but I
absolutely loved Sijas.
It was actually nice not to bein Barcelona, which is crazy.
Even this time of year it'scrazy busy, so it is the most
popular destination in Spain,yeah, and it just is crazy,
crazy busy.
So it was actually nice gettingon the train and going out and
going south and staying besidethe beach.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
It was just lovely it was because the accommodation
was close to the train station,close to a good supermarket as
well, and it gave me anopportunity, every time I went
into Barcelona, to experiencethe local train service there
called Rodales, which, on alltruthfulness, was a bit of a
challenge at times, but you know, that's part of the adventure
(08:02):
and I enjoy the railwaychallenge.
But no, it was a nice place.
It's a nice place of life incaesars as well which was nice.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I will.
I'll link in the show notes tothe three um the four different
accommodations that we had inspain.
I will put a link to those.
But yeah, but pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah, no complaints so we've um talked a little bit
about how you guys got around umbetween and within the cities,
but did you want to talk aboutthat?
Expand on that and any tips orinsights you've got from
traveling around?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, I like using metros.
Obviously, like London, theLondon Underground, the metro
system in Madrid was very good,very identical in a lot of ways
with the different colored lines, so the principle was the same.
The ticket is slightlydifferent because we could buy
one travel card in Madrid whichwas for the both of us, which is
(08:51):
different to London where youhave an Oyster card each.
So we loaded it with 10 singlejourneys and obviously that
would be five each travelingtogether, and that worked very
well in Madrid.
And then, as I said, inBarcelona, the local services,
redalis, which covers into thecity as well.
So it's again colored lines andit's like many other metro
(09:15):
systems around the world, onceyou got your head around it, the
principal lines where you stayin and where you want to get to
the main tourist areas, you knowit's.
It's pretty straightforward, um, and easy to use.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
so, besides metros and walking, yeah, I mean,
places like Seville are verywalkable, very walkable city
anyway.
We did use the fast train,though, when we went from Madrid
down to Seville, which waspretty good, that was excellent.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
yes, yeah, it took a few hours and we upgraded on
that one to the first class aswell.
I should mention Madrid.
Seville and Barcelona have atram system as well a light rail
system.
Obviously, the size of thecities determines how many lines
that they have, which looksvery efficient as well.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But Seville doesn't really go in this.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
No, there's only the one line.
There's only the one line.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
yeah, so you don't really see that.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
The ones at the back of the palace.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, that's true.
Yeah, just thinking the palace,yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, that's
true, yeah, just thinking aboutit makes it up with all these
different cities.
But yes, but pretty easy to getaround.
I don't think we had manyproblems.
Actually, the most difficulttrip we had was our trip from uh
sigers to barcelona, to the, tothe airport, because we had to
change trains and obviouslywe've got suitcases with us and
none of the um escalators wereworking and there were no lifts,
(10:26):
so we both had to carryupstairs like 20 kilograms
suitcase, up actually a longescalator and then back down
again as well, because it'sneither going up or down.
So, yeah it, that was.
That was really difficult I was.
I was not in the best of frameof mind by the time we're done
no, and a bit discouraging.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
There's no staff around to help or advise either,
which is no, and that wouldhave been a struggle.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
So anybody, you know it was difficult for us to do,
uh, and actually there was anelderly couple that were coming
down and they they in spanishwere saying to us like you're
gonna have to have some strength, the right doing the like,
showing the muscles, gonna belike this, because it was a big
escalator to carry all thesuitcases, but we're looking at
alternatives because Sidge's ispretty close to Barcelona
(11:11):
Airport, so when we arrived wetook an Uber, didn't?
We yeah, normally yeah, whichis straightforward yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
And then we thought we were being smart because the
apartment was so close toSidge's train station.
We thought we were being smartby taking the metro.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
No, obviously.
So you can imagine how manytimes I said this is why I
booked the transfer, this is whyI booked the transfer, this is
why I get a taxi.
So, and and um, yeah, I did saythat it's because of those
things you can't plan for itseemed like the easiest way to
do it.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
It ended up being a nightmare.
It did, and the train line tothe airport went to the wrong
terminal as well yeah, so.
So then we had quite a faffgetting from terminal two to
terminal one.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, so it was a pain.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
So when it took us about 30, 40 minutes to get from
Barcelona airport to theaccommodation, it took over an
hour and a half to get back tothe airport.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Yeah.
So my advice honestly is if youdecide to stay in the Sijas,
which I would highly recommend,rather than staying in Barcelona
, just get a transfer, get ataxi to the airport.
Do not do what we did.
Honestly, we never do that.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
It's first time we've done that ever and it was not
good.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
We'll be doing it again let's talk about some of
the things you did there, likeyour tours and experiences.
Um, I think you said you did acouple of tours food and
historical history sort of toursso what were your favorites,
what were the highlights?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Oh, we did quite a few tours.
Now I'm going to start off withthe three tapas tours that we
did.
Well, actually we did four.
We did three specific tapas,like history of the food, trying
the food tours in in sevilleand madrid and barcelona.
But in seville we also did anadditional tapas tour, which was
(12:54):
a tapas and flamenco tour,which I have to say was one of
the best tours.
I love food tours anyway, butbecause you learn about history
and you meet the locals and yougo into local places where they
have the food that you know thatthe food is genuine, authentic,
but marrying that tapestry withthe flamenco that we saw.
(13:15):
I've never seen anything likethat.
It was incredible.
And we had Sophie who was aguide.
So massive shout out to Sophiebecause you were amazing, and
she's been to 500 or so theseshows and she said this is one
of the best ones she'd ever seen.
Um, so I would highly recommendthat.
That was with devour.
We did all of the food tourswith devour.
(13:36):
So thanks very much, devour,for inviting us onto those tours
.
As I say, we did four, uh, withmonty in madrid, which was
fantastic.
So, um, and that's, that wassome of the most amazing food.
Honestly, it was fantastic.
And then, obviously, in Seville, we did, we did two, two tours
there, food tours, and then wehad the final one, in Barcelona,
um with Ariana on, which wasjust last week, and Ariana was
(14:00):
excellent, excellent.
It was just so good because youdon't just learn about the food,
you learn about history, youget to eat in local places, you
just learn so much, um, and also, I mean, you do get the food
and the drink, which isfantastic.
Um, so they, they were justjust made us so much, in fact,
so much when we're in istanbulat the moment and we're doing a
food tour tomorrow, um, becauseit's just a wonderful way to
(14:22):
learn about a place through thefood culture.
Um, but honestly, I have to say, one of the absolute highlights
I will never, ever forget thatflamenco.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
No, it was absolutely outstanding.
I saw it when I was a littlelad and my memory had held fast.
It was just as exciting just aspassionate.
It was just an unbelievableexperience.
And of course Andalusia is thehome of flamenco.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Yeah, that's where it comes from and you know.
It's just fantastic, honestly,they're so talented.
And we also did some walkstours.
We did civil in a day uh withalba, who is going to be one of
my all-time favorite uh tourguides ever.
I absolutely loved alba.
Alba was amazing.
We did a real show show at albain which you can see on our
instagram.
I'm following her on Instagramnow.
(15:09):
She follows us.
Just amazed, she was so lovely,wasn't she?
Speaker 3 (15:12):
She really was.
We went and had lunch with her.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Yeah, we had lunch with her afterwards.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Because we went on this show and it was just me and
Douglas, so we ended up havinga private dinner.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
I know how lucky were we.
It was incredible.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So I can say, with all the Devour and the Walks or
the guides, they've chosen theirstaff well, because they all
demonstrate such passion and areal love for the whole topic.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
They're storytellers.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
They are, and they have that right balance between
the history of the towns orcities and the food part.
They do seem to have it wellplanned out, yeah yeah, no, it's
fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
So that's the other devour ones, and then the the
walks tours as well, like sayingthe guides are just fantastic
you know, um alba was wasamazing.
And then a barcelona we did.
We recently did a um gaudi touras well, with with walks, which
was amazing.
So obviously went to la sagradafamiliar, which I saw 20 years
ago and my goodness howdifferent.
It's nearly finished and itjust, oh, it's beautiful, it's
(16:14):
absolutely beautiful.
And then we went to Park Güellagain, which I went to 20 years
ago.
I remember it's the first timeyou'd been it was yeah.
And then we did Casa Barlo,which I'm going to pronounce
completely incorrectly, which isanother one of Gaudi's houses
that he designed, and yeah, sothat was fantastic and it's
really lovely.
I mean, you know, you associateBarcelona and Gaudi, kind of go
(16:37):
hand in hand, so I think I havean appreciation of that.
Again, our guide, oliver, wasvery good.
Same passion, exactly, it wasexcellent.
We did do a data to Granada andalhambra which we took from
seville, um, which we justbooked, uh, through another
company, through through getyour guide, and I think that was
(16:58):
probably our most disappointingtoo, actually the weather
didn't exactly help for the dayeither, to be truthful, but it
was a bit large group.
It was a full coach size partyand I mean large, we're talking
like maybe 48 something, 48, 50people or something like that.
And you know you can see thedifference between that tour and
something like if you go on thewalks tours where there's
(17:19):
maximum like 15 of you.
It's like it's so different andit was a little bit it.
No offense to the guide and theheart hammer, it just was a
little bit boring.
I think it was just a littlebit it.
No offense to the guide in thealhambra, it just was a little
bit boring.
I think it was just a littlebit too much information and
detail.
There's a certain amount.
You know what I think thedifference is.
You need to have the stories togo with it, because if you just
tell people history, it gets abit.
I don't know, I used to be ahistory teacher it gets a bit
(17:41):
dry and boring every lecturerather than, like tell us the
stories about the place.
The thing I'll always remember,you know, is just think about
the fact that in Alhambra thesultans had red hair, which I'll
always remember that, becauseshe was telling the story of
that, because it's not what youkind of expect.
So that was really interesting,but otherwise it was a very,
very long day.
(18:01):
I think if I did that again,I'd stay in Granada.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Oh, it was 13 hours.
But another thing with thelarge groups, everyone is less
inclined to ask questions andinteract with the group In a
sort of you know, 10, 12, 15,.
It's easy to mix with othermembers of the group yes, very
true, yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
And also I'm also going to say, to be honest, we'd
just been to Morocco, so Ithink everything was held up
against the I, I was a littlebit or I'm going to get shot
down in flames by this, I'm surebut the alhambra, I guess I was
a bit disappointed by it.
I just expected it to be, Idon't know, to just impress me
more.
Yeah I don't know, I just thinkafter morocco, and I did
(18:42):
actually say, I think I said onmy instagram, on my instagram
stories, like don't, don't go tomorocco, because you've just
been to Morocco because you'regoing to help.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, the weather didn't help that day
.
To be fair, true, true.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Well, talking about weather, let's talk about the
weather overall.
While you were in Spain and youknow what was it like and how
did it impact your travels- Well, the saying goes, the rain in
Spain falls mainly on the planebut it didn't?
Speaker 1 (19:09):
The rain in Spain fell mainly on me and Doug.
Speaker 3 (19:13):
To be honest, Wherever we were in Spain.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Spain had the worst March I think they've had, for I
think every single day itrained.
I won't even talk aboutPortugal, because Portugal ended
up in a complete wash-up.
Portugal was even worse.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
We did have some.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Madrid it rained every day.
Seville we did have somesunshine, which, thank goodness,
so it was more showers.
We did have a couple of days oftorrential rain.
Barcelona thank goodness thisis ironic that we flew out from
Porto, we left beautifulsunshine and we actually got
delayed.
In fact, we were delayed on therunway in porto for an hour or
(19:51):
so because we couldn't land inbarcelona because there was such
bad weather thunderstorms so wehad to be delayed.
Anyway.
We eventually landed inbarcelona, beautiful sunshine.
So I will not complain because,honestly, for most of that week
in barcelona we had beautifulsunshine and lovely weather and
we were sit on the beach and atthe times when we weren't going
off to Barcelona to do stuff orwalking around Sidgers, we could
(20:13):
just have an hour or so on thebeach and relax and enjoy some
sunshine, which I have beencraving.
I actually read a book as well,which is nice.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
All right.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Well, let's just talk overall Any tips or
recommendations that you know,anything you learned from your
trip and your time in spain well, I've actually just put an
article together of um 12 tipsfor anybody visiting, uh, spain
for the first time, so I'll puta link to that in the show notes
.
Um, and we've also written um aguide to visit in seville, uh,
(20:46):
and I'm finishing off a guide tovisit in barcelona.
From our kind of, from whatwe've learned from this trip as
well.
I mean, spain is somewhere thatI'd visited many times as a
child, many times as I wasgrowing up.
It's very popular with Britishvisitors.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Oh yeah, we're both visited.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And Doug had been many, many times before, so it
was kind of nice to rekindlethat, but also kind of just to
learn a little bit more aboutyou know.
Rekindle that, but also kind ofto just to learn a little bit
more about you know, visitingspain in 2025 and and what it
looks like.
Um, I think for me, I wouldjust say, if you plan to visit
spain, read our articles,because we've literally just
been, so you've got up-to-dateinformation about all the places
we've visited and gettingaround and also, um, some tips.
(21:23):
If it's a first-time visit, andthen I don't know for you, doug
, what would be your one tipwell, it's just.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
Similar advice to give to visit in the uk is to
try as far as possible to keepyour travel plans flexible.
And new piece of advice as wellis we wouldn't have found out
about the train strikes if wedidn't try and keep you know on
top of local news as well,because we wouldn't have known
not speaking spanish, we wouldnot have known.
(21:49):
So it's only by chance we didactually find out from the guide
in Seville who mentioned it?
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Yeah, it was Alba.
She mentioned it, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
So, yeah, where possible, keep your plans
flexible.
Not always easy, particularlywith families, you know you do
need that more rigidity in yourplanning, but as much as
possible, you know, keep on topof local news where possible to
find out if your plans can beimpacted.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
And let's just have that flexibility.
I mean, you know we weren'texpecting to have so many days
of rain, but luckily we packedlayers, we had raincoats, we'd
just bought some cheap umbrellasand you just got to go with it.
You know, train strikes happen,the weather can be awful, but
you know, at the end of the dayit was.
We had a wonderful timeexploring Spain.
(22:35):
We met some fabulous people onour trips.
We met some amazing guides,we've tried some wonderful food
and, again, some fantasticexperiences.
So, yeah, we thoroughly enjoyedit.
So you know, if you'reconsidering a visit in Spain in
2025, you know, go for itabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Most definitely.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
All right, one last question for each of you, Tracy,
just tell us off the top ofyour head what was your
favourite thing that you did,saw, experienced?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It's going to have to be the flamenco.
I just couldn't and I knowDil's probably going to want to
say the same, but I just Icannot tell you just how
fantastic the whole experienceis.
It really just carries you away.
We went to off the top of myhead.
I can't remember the place inSeville.
It just reopened again and Iknow that the guy that he really
wants the kind of like theauthentic experience for anybody
(23:27):
who goes there.
And I think that while they saywho's going to be on that night,
it may change even up to anhour or so before and generally
the performers will not have meteach other.
They will never perform againtogether.
So they just arrive, theydecide on the style they're
going to do and then they justgo for it.
So it's really improvised.
So that is what's incredible.
(23:48):
You kind of know that theyhaven't practiced this.
Night after night after night,they just turn up, they talk to
each other about whichever stylethey're going to do and then
they just go for it.
I mean, like it's, it'sincredible.
Oh yeah, not choreographed, no,no, they just go for it and um,
yeah, so that was fantastic andobviously the food, but the
yeah, the flamenco.
(24:09):
I'll never forget that.
It really was so amazing and Ihave put some videos on
Instagram and we're going to doYouTube videos as well.
And we have got because youcan't take video or photos
during the actual performance,but they do let you.
They do like a little miniperformance at the end where you
can, because you don't want toduring it because you're so
immersed in it.
Speaker 3 (24:27):
I, because you don't want to during it, because
you're so immersed in it.
I'll just say that yeah,because that would be my
experience as well.
The standout, because youcannot help not to be moved by
the flamenco.
You can see everybody.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Their eyes are just fixed on it from the first
minute to the last minute.
You just cannot take your eyesoff it.
So when they say you can't takephotos and videos, it's
actually in your favour.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah .
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Because you would miss it.
And you know Sophie saidbeforehand, you know, don't just
watch the performers, but watchthe guitarists, the musicians,
because they lead.
You know, watch their eyemovements, the little flickers
they're looking at each otherall the time.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
They're literally looking at each other, watching
each other, and then that willkind of motivate them to
whatever they do next.
It's incredible.
It's such a the relationshipbetween all those performers and
, like I said, they might neverhave met and may never ever
perform together again.
For the professionals, it'sincredible.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Absolutely incredible , and my other one, to return to
cities after all those years,was special.
Um, because you know, you'renot sure your memories of a five
to six, seven year old areactually are actually real ones
or not, or just manufactured inmy head.
But there's a little bit ofpieces that just came back to me
(25:47):
and I said so we can go downthat road there, we can turn up
there.
Are you sure I went?
well, yeah, I think so, yeahyeah, I don't know how, I don't
know how, but that was prettyspecial, yeah yeah, so that was
really good and when he said itwas 30 years I think he wishes
(26:22):
well, you've given us a greatoverview of spain.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
Um, you know, it took me back.
I was in Spain last year myselfand I love, I love Spain so
much.
So, um, yeah, I definitely say,just go to Spain, it's so much
fun.
Um, but anyway, thank you somuch for giving us that overview
and letting me interview youagain well, I'm gonna say um,
melissa, thank you so much forcoming on and agreeing to do it.
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Um, it's great.
I'm probably going to be askingyou to do exactly the same
thing about Istanbul in you'rekind of a resident, resident
interviewer.
So if you just want to remindour listeners exactly where they
can find you as well, becauseobviously if you're listening
every month you're on, but yeahyeah, sure, thank you, tracy.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Uh, yes, well, um, you can find me on thrifty
family travels, where I have myfamily travel or my local pages
are the Queensland Travel Guideand Brisbane Travel Guide.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Perfect, so you can find a link to Melissa's
websites and the show notes andall the places we talked about
and the articles in the shownotes for this episode, which
will be atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Forward slash, episode 51.
But that just leaves all of usto say until next week's episode
, happy global travel planning.
(27:38):
Thank you for joining us onthis episode of the Global
Travel Planning Podcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobaltravelplanningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed theshow, please consider leaving us
a review on your favoritepodcast app, because your
feedback helps us reach moretravel enthusiasts, just like
(28:00):
you.
Anyway, that leaves me to say,as always happy global travel
planning.
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