Fiesta Espana

[abbyjt]

We just returned from the Fiesta Espana trip. It was wonderful. There were 6 families including ours. 26 people, 12 of which were kids ranging in age from 6 to 16. The kids bonded quickly. The guides, Elizabeth and Marc, were terrific in every way. We visited a number of palaces, castles and other historic sites. We took walking tours through all the old quarters of lots of little towns. Our family skipped a Disney meal and went to a bull fight. That was really great. Disney did take us to the bull fighting ring in Seville during the day for a tour and a tour of a museum there. We saw flamenco dancing and this was my 9 year old daughter's favorite part. My ten year old son bought futbol (soccer) jerseys in each town, my 13 year old daughter love the mezquita (originally a mosque then converted to a catholic church ) above all. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I am not going to do a day by day report. We really just loved this trip.

 

[jrj130]

We just returned from the same Fiesta Espana trip as abbyjt. We also had a great time, and we certainly enjoyed getting to know her family and all the other members of our group. I'm working on a detailed day by day report, and will start posting it soon. I'm also happy to answer questions, but I'd prefer to focus on finishing up my trip report first -- which hopefully will answer at least some questions.

 

[Joan1]

I was wondering if you could tell me what the recommended gratuities for the guides are

 

[jrj130]

I was wondering if you could tell me what the recommended gratuities for the guides are

The "During the Adventure" pamphlet we received suggested $5-$8 per guide, per day, per member of your party. You could pay in local currency, U.S. dollars, or travelers checks. In our "storybook" -- the detailed itinerary we received on Day One -- there were two envelopes for the gratuities. I'm certain this is standard for all the trips.

 

[jrj130]

I'm going to post a day by day trip report on the June 29 - July 7 Fiesta Espanda trip. I hope it's interesting, or at least useful. Disney has tried to include lots of magical surprises during the trip, and I've tried to keep some of them so that you can be surprised when you go on your own adventures.

Day One: Bievenidos

We arrive on time at Madrid airport after a good flight, and are met in the baggage area by Marc, one of our two ABD guides. He is Spanish but lives in London. We have a LONG wait for our bags, but suddenly there they are. ABD has a skycap take our bags to a waiting minibus, which is just for us. Another family arrives at the same time as we do but they get their bags faster and take a separate bus. After a short ride to town, we arrive at small, pleasant Hotel Preciados. We check in effortlessly: thanks to ABD it’s the earliest check-in I've ever experienced. We meet Elizabeth, the other guide, who is from Salisbury, NC. We go upstairs – our room isn't big but the bathroom is, and everything’s clean and modern. There's a free minibar, a blow dryer, and a rollaway bed for our son, ready and waiting when we arrive.

After a siesta, we head out again – we have free time until dinner. We take a cab to the Reina Sofia museum, which houses a large collection of modern art. We have lunch at a inexpensive cafe, El Brillante, around the corner from the museum - we eat outdoors and enjoy Serrano ham, manchego cheese, delicious heads-on grilled shrimp and excellent fried calamari. We spend about two hours enjoying a high-speed visit to the permanent collection of the museum, including an uncrowded view of Picasso’s famous Guernica (our son likes art museums, but he likes them FAST). We also stroll through the lovely, calm garden in the courtyard.

That evening, we meet up with the group for the first time in the breakfast room of the hotel and introduce ourselves. There’s 6 families with a total of 26 people, 12 of them children from ages 6 to 16. At seven and a half, our son is the second youngest, and the only boy under 10. One family is multigenerational, and there’s a couple with their teenage granddaughter. Most families on the trip have traveled extensively, and for most this is not their first escorted tour (nor even their first ABD tour).

We walk as a group ten minutes to the restaurant Cafe des Orientes, across from the Royal Palace. We dine in a basement-level private room whose clear floor is built atop ancient Muslim ruins! Dinner includes various fun surprises, including music by a trio of singing law students and a birthday party for the youngest adventurer, who has just turned six. Dinner is good - we like the stuffed piquillo peppers - but it's weird for us to eat from a fixed menu. Finally we head back for some sleep after a long day!

 

[jrj130]

Day Two: La Gran Ciudad


The hotel sets out a breakfast buffet for us – a surprisingly good and extensive selection but the absence of Cheerios is not greeted with aplomb by our son. As a group we walk back to the Palace Réal where we meet Carmen, our local guide. We get a guided tour of the Palace, which is beautifully appointed. We have to check our backpack, which is annoying, since it was heavy to carry here only to abandon, and this is a pattern throughout the trip. The guides give the kids a Castle Challenge game, but it’s aimed slightly older than our son, who quickly loses interest. He and Marc the guide adopt one another, since they have the same energy level and they run ahead while the rest of us lope along. We get a great view outside of the Campo del Moro park, which used to be the royal hunting grounds, and where a great fountain geysers up in the middle.

We board a tour bus that takes us through the center of town to the Royal Tapestry Factory, where they still make tapestries in the traditional manner, and restore existing ones. They've opened specially for us. Everyone takes a turn tying a knot – my wife gets a “muy bueno” for her work (she does a lot of craft work). Then the bus takes our hungry crew to restaurant El Espejo, which is decorated in art deco style after Alfonse Mucha. Lunch is good. At every meal they offer the kids an alternative meal, but they vary pretty widely in quality – last night’s steak was terrible, today’s spaghetti carbonara is well received. Our son shuns the meat-heavy kid’s meals and instead goes for fish, today a really good grilled swordfish in garlic sauce.

Then the bus acts as a shuttle to take members of the group to separate destinations. We're among those who select the Prado museum, one of the world’s great art museums. Among the highlights for us are Fra Angelico's amazing Annunciation, Velasquez’ Las Meninas and Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delight. We all get some swag at the gift shop. Then we head out into the hot afternoon for a walk to and through lovely Retiro Park. While strolling around the lake, we run into an unsanctioned Minnie Mouse! Our son declines to speak to her because she takes off the head of her costume and shatters the illusion. The streets are starting to close for a big Gay Pride parade in the evening. Madriellenos love a party!

That evening the whole group walks together to Plaza Mayor but we all have separate dinner reservations at restaurants around the plaza (the guides helped us arrange these). We go shopping together and have an ice cream cone from an authentic Spanish restaurant -- Ben and Jerry's. Then we dine at Meson de la Cava di San Miguel, recommended by my mother, who had recently been in Madrid. We have a table that is actually a glass-topped well! We all enjoy our tapas, including an assortment of fried fish, garlic mushrooms, and fried green peppers. Then we stroll back to the hotel and get some sleep. Another long day!

 

[phyllisnnj]

Thanks for posting the detailed trip report.
I can't wait to read the rest.

 

[jrj130]

Day Three: The Enchanted Alcázar

It's an hour and a half bus ride to Segovia. Along the way local guide Carmen tells us a little about Spain's history, and about Segovia, which is one of those towns whose moment in the sun has come and gone, leaving her an untouched treasure. From where the bus drops us, we walk into town along streets so narrow that we have to squish against the wall when a car comes. My wife’s feet are worn out from walking, so she’s using her foldable cane – if you have ANY difficulty with your feet or legs, or with walking, you should take similar precautions, because this trip involves a lot of walking on cobblestone streets

I realize I haven’t talked about weather yet. The weather every day was the same: hot, dry and sunny. Temperatures for the entire day (until about 10 pm) ranged from the low 90s to the high 100s, getting significantly hotter in Seville. However, the morning in Segovia was cool and pleasant, and we appreciated that the guides had suggested bringing jackets for the morning. It warms up fast, however. If you’re planning a trip at this time of year, don’t bother bringing much outerwear.

The Alcázar, a fortified castle with tan stone walls and high peaked grey tile roofs, is spectacular, truly out of a storybook, and indeed we learn that Walt Disney visited here and was inspired to draw on this for the design of Cinderella’s Castle. The rooms inside the castle have elaborately painted ceilings, tapestries and massive stained windows. We learn lots about the history of Castile and enjoy remarkable views of the countryside and of a Romanesque Templar church. All the kids enjoy the armory and the suits of armor, including ones for kids. Regrettably we don't get to stop at the gift shop (which is surprisingly a characteristic of the first few days of the trip). Then a long stroll to the Plaza Mayor where we briefly disperse - we check out the Gothic cathedral, which is beautiful on the outside, but fairly plain inside. There's some sort of loosely organized parade in town that none of our guides can explain but it's fun to watch.

We stroll to lunch at Meson de Candido, a world famous restaurant serving royalty. It sits at the base of Segovia's Roman aqueduct, which is simply awesome, towering above the town looking like it was built yesterday. Lunch is served in a lovely rustic room and is delicious, especially the centerpiece, a roast suckling pig. The son of the owner officially welcomes us and cuts the pig with a PLATE which he then smashes on the floor to prove it’s a real glass plate and not a trick!

That evening, back in Madrid, dinner is downstairs at the hotel restaurant. The whole group shares a big U-shaped table. The food is so-so but we enjoy lively discussion with our tablemates, especially speculation about next year’s ABD trips. The waiters are confused our son doesn’t want the kid’s meal, while I wish that we could find the kid a piece of chicken so he could get a break from the non-stop diet of fish he’s eating. The guides have an especially fun surprise for us tonight, which I won’t spoil.

 

[jrj130]

Day Four: Moorish Splendor

We have to wake up an hour earlier to meet the group and make our train to Cordoba. Ugh - not an easy task. Our bags are picked up and will magically reappear in Granada. As a group we head to the big Atocha train station - which has a non-Disney surprise - a jungle inside! I wish we’d had time to check it out. We board our high speed train. We have reserved seats in a separate car from the rest of our group - not great seatmates, so we can't really rest on our hour and a half long trip.

When we arrive the group meets tour guide number two: Terry, a British expat from Liverpool. He's very funny and our son immediately gravitates to him. We take a tour bus a short distance to the center of Cordoba; from there we walk to the Mezquita, a huge Islamic mosque, turned into a cathedral. It's a remarkable building, a piece of the Arab world deposited in a European hilltown. Terry gives us a tour, complete with lots of photo stops. We're all enthralled by the unique mixture of influences. After the Mezquita, we stroll though the winding streets of the Juderia, the old Jewish quarter. All of Cordoba's Jews are gone, but we do see a statue of cordoban Jewry’s greatest son, Maimonides.

We're getting hot and tired but it's time for lunch now! We split off and dine at El Caballo Rojo, a lovely upstairs restaurant with a full menu of delicious food. We have delicious gazpacho and a heavenly salmajero, a distinctively Andalusian cold tomato soup. Then we share an eye-popping dish of artichokes with sherry-soaked yellow raisins, Spanish beans and pine nuts. Finally flounder in apple vinegar and fried garlic and a perfectly done and juicy veal chop. Our son makes the best of a good skewer of monkfish and shrimp. This was the best meal we had in Spain, and we highly recommend this restaurant. We rejoin the group after some quick shopping. Then back on the bus for a long ride to Granada. We wish we could all nap but they play Lady and the Tramp upfront and the noise keeps us all awake. We make a rest stop at a food store where my wife finds incredibly cheap saffron (5 euros for 2 grams, compared to $17 for 1 gram in the U.S.).

After another drive, we finally reach Granada and our hotel, the Alhambra Palace. The hotel, styled after its neighbor the actual Alhambra, is glorious - it may be kitsch but it’s well-done kitsch. Staying here, we really felt like we’d gone somewhere special. Our room is terrific - a marked improvement over the one in Madrid - larger, lighter, and as our son says, “more cheerful.” We have a pleasant time getting settled and changing for dinner - hard to believe we're only here for two nights. The junior adventurers meet early for a pizza party and movie night (High School Musical and Cheetah Girls 2). We enjoy leisurely drinks and conversation on the hotel's terrace-bar, which has a spectacular view of the whole city. Later the adults dine together (at separate tables) at the hotel restaurant. The continental food is well done but unremarkable - typical hotel food.

 

[jrj130]

Whoops -- sorry, I haven't finished my day-by-day trip report. It's been a hectic week since I got back. Here's the rest.

Day Five: Life of the Alhambra

After a breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant we gather to meet our local guide, Reyes. We all walk a short, steep way to the gate of the Alhambra, once the glory of the late Islamic reign in this region. We spend several hours exploring the fortress, the palace, and the gardens. All are spectacular - a work of art in building form. It's hot but we frequently duck into shaded courtyards. We snap a lot of pictures here - it's impossible to comprehend everything we're seeing – there’s so much ornamentation that the eye has nowhere to rest. We take a rest stop and do some souvenir shopping. Then we explore the delightful gardens: in this hot, dry weather it's a pleasure to be surrounded by so much greenery.

We’re getting worn out so we head back to the hotel, and after lunch at the hotel restaurant, we forsake the afternoon's walk of the Albazin quarter for a rest in our rooms. Before dinner, we cross the street for shopping at a store that sells handmade marquetry boxes. The group boards two minibuses for a drive to the Sacramonte, the gypsy quarter, where the houses are built as caves straight into the hill and where we will see a flamenco performance. Along the steep road we get a postcard-perfect view of the whole Alhambra. I wish we could stop here for photos.

Up a steep flight of steps is the restaurant Ventas al Gallo. As usual for this early hour it's empty, and we are crowded uncomfortably into long tables at the front of the room before the stage – good view, awkward seating. We really don’t like the dinner this evening but the flamenco performance is exciting and even moving; our son is stunned by the noise, but claps enthusiastically before he dozes off from exhaustion (he can sleep anywhere). I’m going to turn it over to my wife to describe in detail.

Four women and one man dance, each of them a unique performer. The eldest woman has a very expressive face and pretty “skirt work.” A lovely beauty in purple has gypsy eyes and stylish footwork. A third woman in black, perhaps the sister of the one in purple, has great body movements and staccato heels. Finally a woman in peach displays a sense of humor, laughing as she works the floor. The male dancer doesn’t register as much for us; his movements are more restricted and controlled, limited by machismo, with mostly staccato heels and terse hand movements – it’s not as flowing or varied as the women’s performance, but a good contrast and counterpoint to them. After a bus ride back, we retire exhausted.

 

[jrj130]

Day Six: Andalucian Magic

This is a hard day to write about because it just doesn't work for us – but I know that other members of our group considered this a highlight of the trip. After breakfast we board the bus for a long drive to El Esparragal, a farm estate on the far side of Seville. I don’t know why we didn’t stop in Seville and check in to our hotels first. The ride is pleasant enough - a nice rest stop and the kids watch a movie.

El Esparragal is basically a hotel with a massive farm operation. It's hot as an oven there. Marc, our guide, organizes a soccer game, pitting himself and the young kids against the older ones. The kids all have sweaty fun - fortunately for our son we brought him a backup shirt! Lunch is family style barbeque and it’s delicious, especially the grilled meats. We down a lot of sangria. Then we move onto the arts and crafts activity - painting tiles. Everyone enjoys and they produce some beauties, but it's really an activity we could have done anywhere - although only here could we air dry them in minutes. Then we board a bumpy open air trailer for what is supposed to be a "safari" around the grounds to see animals. In fact we see only some bored-looking cows in a pen. We stop to quickly view the ruins of a Roman Bath. One of our fellow travelers falls in a hole and injures her arm and leg – my wife lends her her cane for most of the rest of the trip.

We reboard for the trip to Seville. The abba Triana hotel is unprepossessing from the outside but pleasant within. It’s a bit more “corporate” than the other two, and doesn’t have the same warmth. We like our room, which has a good bed and a lovely view of the Guadalquivir river. There is much confusion over the whereabouts of luggage, which takes a lot of work by the guides to straighten out. To our astonishment, the hotel has a small pool, a fact of which we were wholly unaware. This is a great plus, but it’s a well-kept secret, even on the hotel’s own website, and as a result we don’t have swim suits. Thanks for the useless packing list, ABD!

It’s important to note that the location of the hotel could be a problem if you want to adventure in Seville on your own; it’s across the river from the main of Seville, and in hundred-plus degree weather, the walk can be wearying. Several families reported a tough time trying to find restaurants near the hotel. However, it’s a good neighborhood if you’re shopping for locally-made tiles.

We consider ditching the group and searching out our own dinner, but we unwisely decide to follow the program. Dinner is a terrible buffet of what I guess is the hotel’s approximation of “American” food; this has to be one of the least appetizing meals I’ve had since summer camp. Marc then leads us on a walk across the river to the center of town, to help us get oriented. We have some delicious ice cream at Marc’s suggestion and wander back home to sleep.

 

[jrj130]

Day Seven: Golden Sevilla

After breakfast we gather and meet our guide, a Sevillian named Alfonso. We walk along the riverbank to learn a bit about the history and customs of the city, and then enter the Trianna market. It’s a great market, with a profusion of fresh produce, ground spices, fish, fish, fish, meats, sausages, and even baked goods. My wife remarks that we've thus far seen no sign of this bounty in any of the group meals. We board a bus that takes on a roundabout tour of the city, with stops at the Plaza de Espana, the Plaza de Toros, and the cathedral district. We all find the Plaza de Espana, built for the 1929 Iberoamerica exhibition, very impressive. At the Plaza del Toros (the bullfighting museum) our son is disappointed that there's no actual bullfight today, but we are all interested in this puzzling local tradition. We snap photos of the cathedral and walk though the labyrinthine streets of Santa Cruz. On the way, I check out our restaurant for the evening, El Alhabaca, which looks nice.

Everyone is getting tired and hungry, so we're thrilled when we finally begin our “tapas trail”. It's not very well handled by ABD - the food (and cerveza and sangria) is wonderful but the logistics of our huge group ordering a ton of food at these tiny restaurants all at once are impossible. We eat at two tapas restaurants, one traditional, one more modern. We are supposed to apportion 7 tapas choices across the two menus (some items counted as two). What no one realizes is that the second restaurant serves in larger portion sizes (called racciones), not tiny little tapas portions, and some of us end up drowning in food, while others wait an hour to receive even a single dish. We are clearly too large a group for either restaurant and over-load their serving capacity to the point that the tour guides have to take our orders, deliver the food to the table, and bus the tables, which isn’t really appropriate. It is clear to us from talking to the guides that the original plan was for the group to split up – half with one guide, half with another – and then swap restaurants. This is a much better idea, and they ought to practice it every time.

Back at the hotel, almost every kid goes for a swim in the refreshing plunge pool on the roof. Since we didn't know to bring suits, my son and I have to wear our shorts. The kids all have a blast rough-housing in the water for an hour. Then downstairs to rest before dinner. We have a babysitter tonight - a young woman named Helena booked through the hotel. She's very sweet - not much English but we communicate in Italian, which she learned in Pisa, and I learned in Florence. Our son is excited to have a sitter – and a rest. We take a cab to Plaza Santa Cruz to El Alhabaca. It's a lovely quiet space where we dine al fresco (sitting at the next table from actress Joanna Kerns from the old sitcom Growing Pains). We enjoy the food, wine and privacy. Afterwards we return home and find our boy sleeping like the dead, tummy full from a room service dinner.

 

[jrj130]

Day Eight: Viva La Feria

Another day spent outside Seville, and again it didn’t work for us as well as it did for some of the other families. I guess we’re just city-folk at heart. We're off to Jerez, an hour and a half drive. Our group is getting efficient at gathering and boarding the bus. Along the way the kids watch Hercules on the DVD player. We tour Yeguada de la Cartuja, an old monastery that raises prize Carthusian horses. The horses are beautiful and surprisingly friendly, but we don't get to see them doing much, and our son gets bored quickly - he also hates the horseflies. I wish we'd bought bug repellent. We feel like this stop lacked enough interactivity for the kids, and didn’t have enough culture or history for the adults (but again, some people clearly loved it here).

After a gift shop stop we take the bus into Jerez to the Tio Pepe bodega, where they make sherry and brandy. It's a lovely place and we learn a lot about sherry, but it's not at all interesting to our seven year old. We taste some sherry (on an empty stomach!) - we're surprised that we like the sweet variety more than the dry. We had understood that there would be a separate activity for the junior adventurers while we tasted the sherry, but this doesn’t happen – oddly enough, the Pizza Party was the only time that the kids and adults split up during the whole trip.

After a gift shop stop, we walk into the center of town to seek lunch on our own. It's confusing because the guides don't suggest specific places, other than to point vaguely down a certain street, but do suggest certain local dishes! The guides seemed to have some sort of instruction against recommending specific restaurants – they would comment on ideas we had on our own, but not proactively recommend anything. We check a few places before exhaustion, hunger and a short time frame force us to make a choice, which turns out to be a good one. We order some good tapas, especially yummy shrimp soaked in garlic that we all share.

When we return to the hotel, the kids go for another romp in the pool and then we all dress for dinner (and repack our bags). Dinner is a lot of fun, redeeming an otherwise frustrating day. We go to Taberna del Alabardero, a nice hotel restaurant in the city center (I wonder why we didn’t stay here?). We have a lovely private room for a dinner featuring andalusian paella. We make toasts and all name our favorite things from the trip: my wife’s is making a knot at the tapestry factory, our son’s is the museums, and mine is seeing the Alhambra from the side (although really it was spending nine full days with my wife and son). There are lots of other special surprises organized by our guides, and I don’t want to spoil any of them. Our son gets weepy because he doesn't want to leave Spain (“I’m going to miss España,” he cries). We reboard the bus back to the hotel and exchange addresses with our groupmates.

We’re sad to leave the next day, but we’re tired and ready for some familiar surroundings. The trip back is a 16 hour long ordeal, especially because of the sprawling, poorly signed Madrid airport (if you have to make a connection leave a VERY long time for yourself). Home at last, to start work on this very trip report. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it, and that you have wonderful adventures yourself.

 

[dingoballs]

Great trip report! I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks!

 

[Jillpie]

That was an excellent trip report! My DH and I are going on a very similar Spain trip this March (also includes two days in Portugal). Having never been there, how did you handle finances, thru a debit card? I'm the type of person that likes to have separate envelopes of "cash", actually travelers checks, for each day of our trips. I'd love to do that with Euros, but not sure if that's the best way to budget in Europe. Any info would be a tremendous help!

 

[sayhello]

That was an excellent trip report! My DH and I are going on a very similar Spain trip this March (also includes two days in Portugal). Having never been there, how did you handle finances, thru a debit card? I'm the type of person that likes to have separate envelopes of "cash", actually travelers checks, for each day of our trips. I'd love to do that with Euros, but not sure if that's the best way to budget in Europe. Any info would be a tremendous help!

I have not been on this trip, and was only in Spain for 2 days during my Med cruise, so I can't really comment on Spain specifically.

But I have found that in Europe in general (as in the US) fewer and fewer places are taking travelers checks any more. Usually I've found the best bet is to use a combination of a credit card and cash. I arrive with a small amount of cash that I exchanged at my bank, and then replenish it using ATMs, which I've not had a problem finding in Europe. Your tour guides should know where the ATMs are (and aren't). I make sure that my credit card does not charge me a foreign transaction fee (Capital One is the best for that in my experience). And if I have a choice, I use ATMs that are on the same network as my bank, to minimize those fees.

Sayhello

 

[jrj130]

I second all of the advice offered by sayhello. Get a small amount of cash at your local bank to get you through the first day, then use a combination of ATMs (preferably through affiliated banks) and a credit card with no foreign transaction fee (I have a card from United Airlines / Chase with that feature). Cash machines are easy to find in any major city, and plenty of minor ones. I would advise against traveler's checks while traveling abroad; merchants are never happy to see them. Enjoy your travels!

 

[Jillpie]

Okay thanks everyone. Is there anything wrong with getting all my euros here, before we go? I'd rather not have the inconvenience of stopping at AtM's. other than carrying around (keeping in safes too) all our expense money, is there any negatives to going that route?

 

[jrj130]

Yes, exchange rates. The one you get from an ATM on the ground in the foreign country will always be better than what you get here in the U.S. (or from a currency exchange place at the airport). Also, I tend to think that carrying around lots of currency -- even if you're storing it in your safe -- is riskier than just having smaller amounts between visits to the ATM.

 

[Jillpie]

Yes, exchange rates. The one you get from an ATM on the ground in the foreign country will always be better than what you get here in the U.S. (or from a currency exchange place at the airport). Also, I tend to think that carrying around lots of currency -- even if you're storing it in your safe -- is riskier than just having smaller amounts between visits to the ATM.

Ok stupid question. Are their ATM's as simple as ours to use, or are they complex? If we use a debit card from here, do we just need to know our pin and that's it?