Sancho

Thanks again for the very useful thoughts.

Yes, I had taken into account that many museums seem to close on Mondays. In fact I changed the day when I'd be arriving for just that reason. As it is, I land at Bilbao on Tuesday, in the early afternoon, and will probably leave (on the FEVE train to Santander) at 1302 next day, which should leave time to see both the outside of the Guggenheim (plus "Maman", etc, and the Calatrava bridge) and something of the Museum of Fine Art.

(From the net, I thought the Museum of Fine Art now closed on Tuesdays. I'll check again.)

Thanks for the Sandwi Bar suggestion. It sounds ideal. If marmitako's the sort of thing nobody eats in the evening, I'd better get the taxi to take me there straight from the airport and have it for a late lunch.

Yes, I do mean to come again, and thanks a lot for the idea of leaving some places near Madrid to then. It takes a lot of the pressure off. Yuste still looks difficult, but it'd be a lot easier with an overnight stay than squeezed in between one thing and another. Avila actually seems easy to get to from Salamanca (plenty of trains, about an hour each way), but it might be better not to muddle things. Aranjuez would be another possibility, in memory of Pete Postlethwaite and to see the royal barges. I've heard Vitoria's lovely, and it's said to be the most recognisable of Wellington's battlefields. Otherwise I suppose it'd just be a question of looking through the spain.info tourist site and selecting the most romantic-looking castles which for one reason or another don't look likely to get hordes of tourists from the far east with digital cameras. I wonder if the Wellington Society in Madrid could help.

The tourist office in Heidelberg say that 300,000 Japanese couples get married there every year! Why? It didn't look particularly romantic to me. Do they think they're going to get married in Neuschwanstein ?

Kevin Javea

Sounds like a beautiful plan, Zaragoza is great, make sure you find the waterfall garden nearby in Monasterio de Piedra, as featured in novel By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paolo Coelho.

Also add Javea to your itinery, I live there, ancient drawings, history, great beaches, great food and a good mix of Spanish and ex-pats.

Porth

Cannot help you with Spain my knowledge is limited to Javea. However Collioure I know very well and having spent many holidays there. Its charming but busy but for the end of May when I believe you will be there its fine. However the front line and indeed second line back from the beaches are tourists traps. Their season is short and their prices high. Quite a few interesting galleries and their wines are superb but of course public transport? We love Banjuls just down the coast and where the cost of eating is much lower and a very famous producer of artisanal vinegars please do not shoot me down! But again public transport.

Normally I keep well away from 'tourist trains' but would encourage you to take the one in Collioure near the main car park and which takes you up through the high vineyards with breathtaking views of the Med it then descends and returns via the coast. Great market I think on Wednesday and Sunday.

There are two exceptional restaurants just off the main coastal road to Banjuls but the prices match the location and sea views.

Tenerific

hello,I´m new

Retired in Euskadi

Vitoria is OK, but really only the old part (casco viejo). It's very spread out, with 'barrio' after 'barrio'. There are trams as well as buses.

Sancho

Hi and thanks again for all the thoughts;

Yes, I had gathered that Talavera's nothing much to write home about, which at least means I won't be disappointed ! The only reason I chose it was that the name had stayed in my memory from childhood as one of Wellington's Peninsular War battlefields. Otherwise, I'll have to stop somewhere round there for a night, and I could't think of anywhere else.

Javea sounds great, but it looks a bit out of the way for this trip. Next time, I hope. I'd never heard of the Monasterio de Piedra waterfall garden, or come to that Paolo Coelho's book. Thanks for telling me. I'll have a think.

Vitoria will be for another time. I'll bear in mind what you said and not have too high expectations.

Looking on the RENFE, SNCF and Deutsche Bahn sites, I thought it looked quite feasible, if I was in Girona, to go up to Collioure and back for the day by train. Did I miss something ? Is there some reason for querying "public transport" ?

(I don't mean to stay overnight in Collioure, just to look, to walk the "chemin du fauvisme" and, as you suggest, do a tour on Le P'tit Train Touristique. Perhaps to visit Patrick O'Brian's grave too, if the new cemetery isn't far from the station.)

Someone else told me that Banjuls was lovely, but I hadn't heard about the vinegar. Will think about that too.

Setting off tomorrow evening


P.S. Here's a list of regional Spanish specialities to try I've compiled from the net:


Basque Country

Hake in Green Sauce - Merluza en Salsa Verde
Fresh Tuna Stew - Marmitako
Pork with Idiazabal Cheese Sauce - Solomillo de cerdo con salsa de queso Idiazábal
Cod a la Vizcaina - Bacalao a la Vizcaína

Asturias

Fabada Asturiana (bean & sausage stew)
Caldereta – Fish Stew
Merluza a la Sidra – Hake in Cider
Salmón a la Ribereña – Salmon with Cider
Carne Gobernada - Beef in White Wine (esp. Oviedo)
Arroz con Leche - rice pudding
Quesada Asturiana - cheesecake
Cabrales cheese
Sidra - cider

Castilla-La Mancha

Madrilene Stew - Cocido Madrileño
Pisto manchego
Sopa de Ajo - garlic soup
El Asadillo - roasted peppers with tomatoes, garlic and oil
El Salpicon – minced veal with onion etc
Los Gazpachos (winter stew)
Migas de Pastor (with breadcrumbs)
Manchego Cheese, Morteruelo (game pate)

Catalonia

Escudella i carn d’olla - quintessential Catalan stew
Fideos a la Cazuela - noodles in a pot, with pork, etc
Habas a la Catalana - beans and meat in stew
Escalivada - Catalan Roasted Pepper, Eggplant and Onions
Crema Catalana - like creme brûlée
Suquet de peix - seafood casserole

Town specialities

Tordesillas - Gallo Turresilano (sounds like a sort of local coq au vin)
Zamora - for example arroz a la zamorana - rice with peppers, onion, pork...
Oviedo - see an espicha, with people pouring cider from a height, with sausage, cheese, tortilla... in a cider bar
Salamance - ochinillo al Fuego, roasted piglet, Chafaina, rice with meat
Toledo - Cordero Asado, roast lamb, and also cochifrito, deep-fried lamb made into a stew, and game generally - boar, venison... Also pisto manchego (like ratatouille), and gazpacho
Zaragossa - Longaniza de Fuentes (sausage), Pollo a la Chilindrón, Recao (beans, rice, potatoes)

Porth

The only reason I queried public transport was in respect of buying wine and vinegar and then getting it back home safely not public transport per se

Porth

Also and you might find this strange and I certainly did was that one of the lesser known tourist attractions in Collioure is the old cemetery in the middle of the town. I kid you not.

Carol&John

Hi,

I was glad to see your trip includes Trujillo. We have stayed at both the parador and Hostal San Miguel.

Trujillo is an amazing town with a fascinating, historical connection with Ruta de los Conquistadores (Cáceres, Mérida, Guadalupe, Zafra, Jerez de los Caballeros). You already know this, I'm guessing.

I enjoyed the Casa Museo de Pizarro, more of which you can see on the turismotrujillo.com website.

If time allows, do try to journey by bus from Trujillo to Guadalupe in the Sierra. Overnight there and take in the mountain air, with perhaps a visit to see the Black Madonna. (I think you'll have no other choice but to overnight in Guadalupe from what I can read on the bus timetables.) Next day bus it from Guadalupe to Talavera de la Reina.

We visited Talavera de la Reina in October, as a leg stretch from our car journey Trujillo - Madrid. It is a large town. Ceramic factory chimneys are dotted about, and I was happy to learn of the connection with the famous, yellow and blue, Talavera Pottery. I also recalled the Battle of Talavera (1809) from reading Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe novels.

We stopped for refreshments at El Corte Inglés, their restaurant at the top has a view over the river Tajo, and which also happens to be near the bus station.

¡Buen Viaje!

Sancho

Thank you for the reply.

I wish I could get to Guadalupe. Paddy Leigh Fermor and Jan Morris both say it's wonderful. But as you saw, coming from the west by public transport you really have to spend the night, so I'll leave it till next time.

There are other places I'd have liked to go to too, that weren't possible for one reason or another. Yuste I think I mentioned, Medellin (Cortez, I think), Elvas (just across the border in Portugal - George Borrow had an argument with an innkeeper there about British foreign policy. The innkeeper wanted Britain to intervene in something; Borrow thought Britain had intervened quite enough), Aranjuez I think I mentioned, Burgos, Villanueva de la Serena (for Pedro de Valdivia), Segovia... All the more reason to come back. Next time I'll do it in a more leisurely fashion.

I have a feeling I'm going to find that the Talavera battlefield is a bit outside the town and I'll have to get a cab. There's a monument, I believe. The house where Wellington found a group of officers enjoying a meal while their men lay wounded outside (and dismissed them on the spot) has doubtless disappeared.

Thanks particularly for what you said about the Pizarro house, which otherwise I might not have left much time for. I'm staying at the Hostal San Miguel too.

Retired in Euskadi

The Sandwi Bar I recommended only does pintxos & sandwiches with nice bread. For Marmitako, suggest somewhere like "Café Iruña" which is just off the Gran Via near the tall copper-coloured BBVA building. They ought to do marmitako, but if not, go a bit further down towards the "casco viejo" (Siete calles or 7 streets) where there's bound to be somewhere, especially in/near plaza nueva.
Café Iruña is worth having a drink in though; very Moorish in style, especially the wooden carved ceiling.
A book called "A late dinner" by Paul Richardson is worth getting/reading; it's a culinary tour round Spain.

rugbymatt

Blatant spamming! The only thing that would be worse is if there was a motorbike in each picture!

Good luck with the trip, that's some amount if information in a short space of time for sure! You might need a little holiday afterwards just to absorb it all!

chopera

During summer they run a steam train from the railway museum in Delicias to Aranjuez:

http://www.esmadrid.com/es/tren-fresa

The day trip can include a visit to the palace and the royal barges as well.

The train journey goes through some pretty boring countryside to be honest, but it's still a good day out overall. The museum itself isn't bad either.

steviedeluxe

be careful where you order this - it can mean a completely different dish. In fact I've only ever known Salpicón as a mixed seafood dish, but it seems there are different dishes with this word

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salpicon

cricketman

Yes salpicón can mean almost anything in Spain, but usually they specify what it is e.g. "salpicón de mariso"