CPers going to Spain thread

[cmyden]

Well, we got back last night at 8PM Calgary time with no issues at all with flights or changes. It was nearly perfect weather the whole time we were there - rain/thunderstorms arrived in Menorca on Sunday afternoon, just as we were leaving the beach.

I can't state enough how amazing of a trip it was. We were constantly busy and could have stayed another week for sure. I'm a history geek, so this place is a dream for me.

Will post pics soon. I think I took over 500 of them in five days

Nice to hear, can you give us an idea of what the highlights were for you?

I'm sure everyone else leaving in the following weeks to come would appreciate it!

cM

[tete]

Originally Posted by cmyden

Nice to hear, can you give us an idea of what the highlights were for you?

I'm sure everyone else leaving in the following weeks to come would appreciate it!

cM

Just off the top of my head:

The pre-historic ruins EVERYWHERE. Menorca has hundreds of these sites and they're just astonishing - big thumbs up to Torees d'en Galmes - a site that was used for 14 centuries. It was amazing to see these huge rocks stacked up into homes, burial chambers, ceremonial sites, etc.

How low-key the place is. Easy-going, super nice locals, signage for the most part is great for driving (although if you're not familiar with European road signs you do scratch your head a bit for the first while). Huge thumbs up to the roundabouts - they're just great once you learn how to use them. Rent a car - much easier to get around. If you want any reco's we loved our rental car place, just PM me. Many shopkeepers speak English (or try very hard to) - and we found they don't pressure you to buy stuff - they show you things, but don't push, which was really nice.

The food was excellent - fresh fish and meat, the CHEESE. We brought back 2 things of cheese because my husband couldn't get enough of it. Oh, for sure try the Pomada's - Menorcan Gin mixed with bitter lemon drink (Fanta usually). Wine is cheap and abundant. I think our luggage was filled with more food than anything - we love hitting up grocery stores and markets in new countries.

The beaches - the water is clear and warm, beaches vary from tiny and isolated to huge (Son Bou/Sant Jaume beach is 4K's long). If you like nudity, you'll love the beaches! I don't think I've ever seen so many naked people in real life EVER - and that ranged from little kids to 90 year old men who needed canes to push themselves into the water.

The architecture is great - mixture of British, French and Spanish. I love the tiny little streets in Cuitadella, the narrow roads throughout the countryside, the huge amazing churches in both Mahon and Cuitadella. (I'm a church nut).

We ran out of time to see La Mola - a Spanish Fortress just outside of Mahon - you need pretty much an entire day to do the place justice and I heard from others it was pretty good - so I'd say go do that if you can. We saw the smaller Fort Marlborough which is across the bay from La Mola, and it was good too.

We didn't do any water-based stuff like sailing, but if we had more time, we would have. The time went by way too quickly!

I'll let my husband pop in and throw in his two cents and see what I've missed for highlights. I'm still going through the 519 photos from the time, but will post a few soon.

[tvp2003]

^^ How much planning did you do beforehand? I've got some Menorca guidebooks and such, but figured we could get by just exploring for the most part...

[tete]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

^^ How much planning did you do beforehand? I've got some Menorca guidebooks and such, but figured we could get by just exploring for the most part...

I'll admit I'm a bit overzealous about research - I basically research for a living. So I did a lot of reading to get a good overview of the place, but we didn't really plan much until we got there (though we did book the car and hotel from Canada). Our rental car place gave us a number of guide books/free tourist magazines which were great to give us a base to work from. So we used those a bit for guidance, but spent most of the time just exploring.

[Zarathustra]

Thanks for the info guys.

But I do have a question about money. I've got all my hotels booked and paid for already, but I'm just wondering about how much spending money I'll need.

I've got $310 euros right now, how far will this go? How much did the average meal cost in Menorca? What about in Ibiza? Thanks.

[jtfrogger]

Meals can be reasonably priced. Our hotel had breakfast included, so I don't know what that is like if you eat elsewhere.

Many restaurants have a menu of the day (menu del dia or menu del noche), where you get a three or four course meal for about 18 Euros. That is usually the best deal. When you do that, you get your choice of an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. It usually comes with wine (one bottle for two people). If you order off the menu, you'll pay a little more for a little less food. Or a lot more for the same quantity of food. So, you can eat two huge meals a day for about 30-35 Euros if you want. If you a smaller lunch (e.g. bocadillo sandwich or a pizza), you can eat for about 25 Euros a day (again, ignoring breakfast). We also spent about 10 Euros a day each on coffee, water, pop, ice cream, etc.

Pomadas tended to be between 3-6 Euros, so I expect that is normal for a cocktail. However, these are usually very strong with a free pour of the gin.

We ended up spending about 1,100 Euros over the week. About half was on food, including snacks, drinks and meals. We ate out at the nicer places most of the time and had alcohol with most of our meals. So, this was 50 Euros a peice, and we were not holding back at all. Our most expensive meal was about 80 Euros for the two of us.

BTW, plan on eating supper no earlier than about 7:30. Most of the restaurants don't open for supper until about then. If you show up around 8:30, you will still be one of the first ones there.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

I've got $310 euros right now, how far will this go? How much did the average meal cost in Menorca? What about in Ibiza? Thanks.

Expect Ibiza to be a lot more expensive than Menorca. Ibiza is not cheap. A sit down main course will be about €15-20. Going to a club? Cover will be about €30-50 for the main clubs, and drinks can be €10-15 once inside. Predrinking is critical. Around this time a lot of the clubs are closing down for the year, so look online to see when they do and if there are any good closing parties.

Oh, also, you can dine earlier in Ibiza than Menorca because it is so geared towards the Brits that usual dinner hours apply. Plus people stay up all night and thus get hungry earlier.

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by icarus

Expect Ibiza to be a lot more expensive than Menorca. Ibiza is not cheap. A sit down main course will be about €15-20. Going to a club? Cover will be about €30-50 for the main clubs, and drinks can be €10-15 once inside. Predrinking is critical. Around this time a lot of the clubs are closing down for the year, so look online to see when they do and if there are any good closing parties.

Oh, also, you can dine earlier in Ibiza than Menorca because it is so geared towards the Brits that usual dinner hours apply. Plus people stay up all night and thus get hungry earlier.

I've already got all my club tickets.

[cmyden]

For anyone planning to be in Barcelona from the 24th-27th there's a huge festival going on.

It involves all kinds of things from free music concerts all around the city, to crazy fire parades, to wine festivals, to human towers, fireworks, and a whole lot more. It's basically all day and all night.

The complete program can be found here, but it's all in Spanish

http://www.bcn.es/merce/ca/programa-actual.shtml

An English version of the highlights can be seen here:

http://www.siabarcelona.com/MerceEng2009.htm

Oh and all museums in Barcelona are free on the 24th.

cM

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by icarus

Expect Ibiza to be a lot more expensive than Menorca. Ibiza is not cheap. A sit down main course will be about €15-20. Going to a club? Cover will be about €30-50 for the main clubs, and drinks can be €10-15 once inside. Predrinking is critical. Around this time a lot of the clubs are closing down for the year, so look online to see when they do and if there are any good closing parties.

Oh, also, you can dine earlier in Ibiza than Menorca because it is so geared towards the Brits that usual dinner hours apply. Plus people stay up all night and thus get hungry earlier.

I actually found Ibiza to be cheaper on the meal side once you got off the beaten path. Clubs were crazy though. Hit up privelege with Tiesto, Space, and Amensia´s foam party.Good times but its taking a toll.

For those who have returned already and had a night lay over in Madrid...did you re-checkin the next morning? And terminal 4 with Spanair I´m guessing?

[icarus]

Originally Posted by jar_e

Clubs were crazy though. Hit up privelege with Tiesto, Space, and Amensia´s foam party.Good times but its taking a toll.

Let me guess... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights?

[fundmark19]

Highlight of trip - getting engaged. We were kind of lazy and didn't really explore all to much just went to the beach and the pool and town. Definitely recommend taking the glass bottom boat tours as you get to see some amazing beach's. Menorca was just beautiful. I will try and return here again and some point I wish I stayed a lot longer then a week to see everything.

[FFR]

Just sitting at the airport waiting to board. Got some snide comments from the checkin agent about the price we paid. Can't wait to get going!

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Highlight of trip - getting engaged. We were kind of lazy and didn't really explore all to much just went to the beach and the pool and town. Definitely recommend taking the glass bottom boat tours as you get to see some amazing beach's. Menorca was just beautiful. I will try and return here again and some point I wish I stayed a lot longer then a week to see everything.

Congrats!

[tete]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Highlight of trip - getting engaged. We were kind of lazy and didn't really explore all to much just went to the beach and the pool and town. Definitely recommend taking the glass bottom boat tours as you get to see some amazing beach's. Menorca was just beautiful. I will try and return here again and some point I wish I stayed a lot longer then a week to see everything.

Congrats! (On a side note, I think we have friends in common - a friend of mine mentioned that someone else she knew was going to Spain at the same time as us and was hoping they'd get engaged there)

FFR - Have fun!!! Wish I was still there!

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by jar_e

I actually found Ibiza to be cheaper on the meal side once you got off the beaten path. Clubs were crazy though. Hit up privelege with Tiesto, Space, and Amensia´s foam party.Good times but its taking a toll.

My flight is tomorrow and I'm getting really excited. I'll be going to both Privilege and Amnesia for sure, how much are the taxis though? I'll be staying in San Antonio on the other side of the island.

Any quick advice about Ibiza for those that are going there? Any restaurants or bars with good drink prices for pre-drinking? Should I just buy a bottle of booze in the airport and drink in my hotel room to save money?

Hey icarus are you back already, or have you yet to leave? If you haven't left yet, when are you leaving, and will you be in Ibiza? It would be nice to know some Canadians on the island when I'm there. I'll be in Ibiza from Sept 22-25.

[icarus]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

My flight is tomorrow and I'm getting really excited. I'll be going to both Privilege and Amnesia for sure, how much are the taxis though? I'll be staying in San Antonio on the other side of the island.

Any quick advice about Ibiza for those that are going there? Any restaurants or bars with good drink prices for pre-drinking? Should I just buy a bottle of booze in the airport and drink in my hotel room to save money?

Hey icarus are you back already, or have you yet to leave? If you haven't left yet, when are you leaving, and will you be in Ibiza? It would be nice to know some Canadians on the island when I'm there. I'll be in Ibiza from Sept 22-25.

Privilege and Amnesia are in the middle of the island between Ibiza Town and San Antonio IIRC. A taxi from San Antonio should be about 10 Euros maybe? If you've got your tickets already check to see if taxi or bus is included because sometimes they do that. Cafe Del Mar is overpriced but you've got to go there for drinks at sundown anyway just for the experience. Get there early though or you won't get a table, and just drink slowly because the drinks are expensive.

There are lots of bars along the beach in San Antonio that are cool for chilling out in and predrinking and they will be reasonably priced. There's a lot of competition so they'll post drink specials at the entrance so that's pretty good. But yeah, always a good idea to predrink at the hotel before going out. What hotel are you staying in?

I was there in July so won't be there when you are. Have fun though!

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

My flight is tomorrow and I'm getting really excited. I'll be going to both Privilege and Amnesia for sure, how much are the taxis though? I'll be staying in San Antonio on the other side of the island.

Any quick advice about Ibiza for those that are going there? Any restaurants or bars with good drink prices for pre-drinking? Should I just buy a bottle of booze in the airport and drink in my hotel room to save money?

Hey icarus are you back already, or have you yet to leave? If you haven't left yet, when are you leaving, and will you be in Ibiza? It would be nice to know some Canadians on the island when I'm there. I'll be in Ibiza from Sept 22-25.

Privelege and Amnesia were in the middle of the island like Icarus said...we paid just under 15 euro I think from Evissa. I would think it would be similiar from the other side...there were party buses at all three...but I never figured out how they worked.

To be honest, considering how cheap booze was there I did pre-drinking all in my hotel. There are a few holes in the wall...but again...it was on the other side of the island. And yeah...definitely pre-drink a lot though. The last two nights I didn't even buy drinks inside. Its just insane.

[Zarathustra]

Thank guys.

But I´ve got a huge problem right now. Just checked my email, I´m in Ibiza now, and expedia sent me an email saying that my flight had been changed and to phone them within 48 hours! I don´t even know how to use the phone here.

For any other posters in Spain right now, check your email. This better not be some way of trying to scam us out of the flight after we already paid.

Did any posters get any of these type of emails while they were in Spain?

I gave all the info to my mom to phone, hopefully this gets resolved and I don´t get stranded in Spain! Thank god I checked my email.

[Rhyme]

I received that email about midway through my flight home. Apparently the the Madrid to Toronto portion was "changed," but I think that it just means that they changed the flight numbers. I would definitely have it looked into, but I assume that it just means that the flight number is different but your flight home is still leaving at the same time. For example, we were suppose to fly Flight #9985 or something and we flew on AC 837 instead.

Enough of us made it home that I don't think they're trying to screw us Calgarians now. We were still able to get on our flight and had no troubles (other than the fact that we had to re-check in at Madrid because Spanair could check us in for the Air Canada portion of our trip: Madrid to Toronto to Calgary). But like I said, we got the indication that they changed our flights while in mid-air on the changed flight!! HA!