Today I went to Monserrat, Park Guell and around Barcelona with Spain Day Tours
It was not a good experience. I could never recommend Spain Day Tours after today.
Some of you might remember that there were some misgivings based on earlier experiences but thing seemed to Improve enough so that I felt good about booking the day excursion
I found Spain day Tours to be inefficient, incompetent and misleading among other things. There was deceit. There were inaccuracies.
I am not going to be able to fully write about my experience this evening. There is not the time but I thought that I would begin
We never got to Magic Mountsin although that was supposed to be one of the attractions. We were to visit.
We only got to spend 30 minutes total in the Bascillica at Monserrat. We never saw a the Black Virgin. We never got to eat at Monserrat or shop or go to the museum.
We only got to spend 45 minutes at Park Guell total.
At both Monserrat and Park Guell, the tour guide did not go in with us. She let us off a short distance from the front door and waited outside. We were on our own. And would have to find our way back to the vehicle.
There were five guests total. there was a family of three and they took off and did their own thing. there was myself and another elderly woman who I was left looking after.
More to come.
Editing and updating
So let me get to the beginning. SDT was going to originally pick me up at 8:30 .we were supposed to go the Barcelona and then on to Monserrat. This was changed to my being picked up at 8 am and we were going to go to Monserrat first and then Barcelona.
I was being picked up outside the Olivia Plaza Hotel. In front of the bus stops.
I began to worry ehen 8 am came and went and no van appeared. About 8:15, I phoned SDT and fortunately someone answered who spoke very good English. The are actually in Canada or The United States. I told them the tour guide had still not arrived and he got on it. In the meantime, another tour company heard my distress and pointed out a woman from SDT who was looking for her guests
So I connected with my tour guide. Who had expected me to be outside of the hotel, not outside of the bus stops which makes perfect sense.
But she was still looking for a family of three. As it turned out, they were inside the lobby of the hotel. First they had been Tod, they were going to be picked up outside of their hotel, then they were to,d t go to the Olivia Pkaza Hotel but to sit in the lobby.
Anyway, there was now myself and a family of three and we had another woman to pick up at Eurostar. She was an elderly woman like myself.
She was outside her hotel but we were late and no o e from SDT called her to tell her we were going to be late.
OK so now we are on our way to Monserrat. And that was fine. Our tour guide was very knowleadgable. And pleasant and articulate. And informative.
Well we get to Monserrat and we were informed that she would not be entering the Basillica with us. There is now a blur of memory. We were going to be on our own. And she goes on and on about the small bus that will take us back to where she would be parked and we had to wave it down.
And I remember asking “are you telling us that you are not coming in with us” and she said “yes”
We had not been told that we would be on our own in the Basillica. We were also be told that we had to pay extra if we wanted to see The Black Virgin even though that was advertised as a highlight.
To be continued.