Please join our online Travel Group meetings! We started in 2020 when the "SF East Bay" travel group went online. Now we're a widespread group of travelers from around the US and in Europe.
We welcome newcomers and travelers to our online and in-person meetings.
WHERE: online
WHEN: April 13, 2024 @ 11am PT - 1pm PT
Please RSVP on this thread if you'd like to join us. I will send the meeting link via private forum message a few days prior to the meeting.
PREVIEWS
FUTURE ONLINE MEETINGS: 2nd Saturdays, except as noted
(May - no online meeting)
June 15, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT (3rd Saturday!)
July 13, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
(August - no online meeting)
Sept 14, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
Oct 12, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
(November - no online meeting)
IN-PERSON MEETINGS:
Please watch for separate announcements for our in-person meetings.
Click HERE for the most recent announcement with the dates of upcoming in-person meetings.
TOPICS for April 13
Travel Talk: Andalusia
Several people have recently gone; several more (myself included) are planning trips. Let's ask questions and get ideas!!
Travels and Travel Plans: let's talk about the places we've been and the places we're going!
Hi! I can plan to attend & looking forward to hearing others’ plans & experiences! For recent info, my husband & I stayed in these Andalusian cities two months ago: Malaga, Estepona, Cadiz, Sevilla. Day trip/lunch stop in Jerez & Tarifa.
Let’s do it!
Sadly (not) we’ll miss this meeting since we’ll be away. Hope to make the next one!
I think I can make it! Planning Andalucia in March 2025!
think I can make it - yes please!!
I’ll be there!
Yes please!
Speaking of the East Bay and El Andaluz,
check this out:
A Gitano flamenco singer, guitarist and composer born and raised in Motril on the Andalusian coast, Carlos de Jacoba is steeped in flamenco tradition and makes a rare Berkeley appearance at La Peña with his trio featuring Natanael Borja Vicente on electric bass and percussionist Paco de Mode as part of a series of Bay Area performances. Friday, April 5, 7:30-9:30 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center. $55
Also, please remind me to set up the zoom room for the 13th...
Boy am I tempted, Avi! Listening to some of his music now. I need Tapas and a glass of Sangria!
Please add me to your list. We visited a few cities October 2022.
Please save me a "seat!"
And thanks!
Please add me! Thanks.
I'm pretty sure I'll be able to join. Andalucia is one of my favorite places. My first visit was in 2013 for 3 weeks. I thought that would be enough to cover it pretty thoroughly and cross it off my list. I was barely a week in when I knew I'd be back. Sure enough 2 years later, I spent another 2 weeks there, and was back again a year later for 10 days for Semana Santa.
I've sent the link to everyone, above, who has expressed interest. Please let me know if you didn't receive it.
Everyone is welcome and we have space!
Please add me to the list!
Can’t wait! Deep in the planning!
Barbara N, I've just sent you the meeting link. Looking forward to hearing about your long-awaited trip!
Hello! Please add me to the list. I will try to make it. Thank you!
I will attend this as we are heading to Spain in 3 weeks so this is great timing for us! thanks
I'd like to attend!
Hello and welcome to MMV, bikerbarb and barbjim1, glad you'll be joining us tomorrow morning.
I have sent each of you some preliminary setup instructions. Please make sure you've got that message and have followed that step, then reply back to me and I will send you the meeting link.
Thanks and I'm glad to see the interest in Andalusia!
In preparation for this discussion you might want to look at this exhibition trailer:
https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/sargent-and-spain.html
Especially since a current Sargent show in London is getting mentioned here on the Forum and a movie version is circulating in limited release here in the USA (on Sargent and fashion)
Hi! Can I still be added to the zoom meeting? Thanks!
sue, yes you can. I'll send you a message on this forum. Please watch for it in about 3 minutes.
avirosemail, I would have loved to have seen that exhibition, so cool!
For those who are new to our online meetings, if you've already responded to my message on this forum and I've sent you the meeting link, you are set. We'll see you online soon!
For anyone who has not responded and not received the meeting link, please check your messages on this forum and respond so that I can make sure you are set up to attend.
I will continue to check this thread until 10:15am PT for anyone else who would like to join.
Thank you everyone for the enthusiasm abut Andalusia and all your tips about hotels and restaurants and trains and tapas and tours and more!
I've taken pages of notes and will be sorting through those, and continuing to pull details from your trip reports!
Here’s the details from our two trips to Spain. Thanks for the great conversation this morning! Happy planning!
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/1st-time-to-spain-trip-report
And here is my report from 2023, with the extras of Segovia, Toledo, and a last night in Madrid thrown in.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/2-weeks-mostly-andalusia-march-2023
Edit: My favorite tapas bar in Granada: Bar Castañeda. My favorite restaurant in Seville from both trips: Taberna Coloniales.
I apparently did not write a report for 2016’s trip.
What a fun meeting!
It was great to hear everyone's tips and stories.
The Sevilla dining I recommended is no longer a back-door find -- it's been found:
https://www.andalucia.org/en/sevilla-where-to-eat-meson-don-raimundo
but the backstory is still impressive; I should have saved it b/c the current owners seem to not be highlighting the history of the edifice -- it goes back hundreds of years
Hello all! Great meeting..took lots of notes and will read all stories. I might be back with more questions. Thank you!
thanks Avi and Catherine!
Hope Chani is well, and getting some sleep.
Sorry I had to run away after France
http://www.elrinconcillo.es/en/home/
Avi, this is the restaurant recommended by our hotel staff. It was very busy, we even ran into two couples from our cooking class. We ate the best lamb chops there.
They claim to be the oldest bar around.
I'm enjoying these location meetings - especially when we get the synergy we had yesterday with people who have recently been to a destination and some others who are heading there. I also enjoy that we meet new people with interest in that destination!
Where shall we go next? Where are you off to that you'd like to "borrow" from someone else's destination experience?
Great meeting! I loved it and it kicked my booty a little bit to work on our 2 week Andalucia itinerary for next March! I have been busy with several other trips, so only had a rough draft done, but worked on it quite a bit yesterday and made some good progress!
Tammy, I also made some reservations for three cities in Spain last night after our meeting! We’re returning to two where we stayed in February and adding a new one.
I'm fine, thanks Nigel. I'm not getting enough sleep because of the spring cleaning push before Passover next week. Thanks to our lively meeting, I went right to bed afterward and didn't know about the Iranian attacks until it was all over.
CW, I would be interested in a central Europe discussion. I’m working on 87 days in the Schengen zone (+3 weeks in Turkey), in 2026. Some of the places on our itinerary;
Flying into Munich ( from Greece & Turkey)
Salzburg, Erfurt, Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Vienna, Budapest.
Jean, your third trip to Spain?! What are the 2 places you are returning to?
Chani, thank you for letting us know you are okay!
Tammy, we are hoping to fly into Malaga again and head directly to Fuengirola which will be new for us. Then we are returning to Estepona. Fuengiorla sounds like it’s a large variety of people on vacation, and we will have a small beachfront place on the quieter end. And, we loved that Estepona was mostly locals in February. Both of those should be nice coastal winter relaxation and activities. We end the trip with four nights in Malaga, our third time there - possibly 1-2 short train or bus day trips from Malaga, if we’re in the mood.
We would love to return to Sevilla for the third time, but the connections weren’t convenient to make it worth the effort. Unlike my summer solo trips where I am moving locations frequently, we like to make our winter trip very laid back.
Chani , I am glad you missed it. I would have been petrified... I worry for you...
Tammy, lots of great places; that's going to be an amazing trip! I've been wanting to hold a Turkey discussion. My experience is Istanbul and within the route of the tour, though I know others have been beyond that. Maybe we'll hold that one after my August return to Istanbul. And I've been to most of your Schengen cities, as I know others have as well. I'm pretty sure we have some Budapest expertise!! ;-)
Thanks for the ideas - between my meeting and Andrea's, we'll start covering them!
Chani, continued hopes and good thoughts for your safety!
So…. Areas I would love to hear about from people who have been there are: Puglia; Sicily and Malta; Turkey; northern Spain. None of these would happen before 2026, but I am thinking. Well, it’s possible Turkey could pop in in 2025.
TexasTravelMom, thanks for the ideas! I'm thinking of Turkey for September (possibly October) when I'll have just gotten back from my 2nd visit to Istanbul. I'll add the others to the list that Andrea and I are coordinating.
Tammy, there’s some people on the forum with good information about Puglia. Nancy8 & Suki come to mind. I’m staying in six cities in Puglia soon and also Palermo, plus more areas. Look for a trip report in early June.
For a future topic, I would really love to hear about towns & regions in France beyond those typically covered. But also reached by train.
Jean, Andrea and I are coordinating destinations. She will be holding meeting(s) to talk about France. I'm sure she'd love to hear your specific destination ideas!
She's also going to host a Budapest meeting and will coordinate timing with you, TexasTravelMom.
This might be a tough subject, but I'd like to see us take a crack at how to do Germany if you hate German people and culture and history. Most of the cuisine as well. And, of course, the weather.
Ummmm, scratching my head, wondering why you would go there then?
Probably a typo?
Avi My first visit to Germany was a combination of 3 reasons. First, I had a good friend who was at the time near the end of a 5-year posting to Berlin as head of the region (3 countries) for the Israeli Ministry of Tourism. Second was a group "seminar tour" of medieval Jewish and Christian history. Third was Mrs. Jo's promise to show me the best of Frankfurt. I started with Jo in Frankfurt - well-preserved historic center, especially the cathedral, and chock-full of Jewish history, especially the amazing excavation of the Jewish quarter. The tour began with Mainz's cathedral, Chagall windows, and ancient Roman relics. It continued with overnights in Cologne (awesome stained glass in the cathedral), Aachen, and Trier (superb Roman ruins) and ended with a scenic trip through the Mosel Valley mostly by boat and returned to Frankfurt. Highlights for me included two beautiful medieval mikvahs (ritual baths), churches, and Jewish cemetery, the Aachen cathedral where Charlemagne is buried and the super picturesque village of Monschau. Berlin has wonderful museums and lots of interesting WWII sites. Then I spent 2 nights in beautiful Dresden (good museums, lovely Frauenkirche painstakingly rebuilt piece by piece from the rubble after the WWII bombing raids, as is nearly all the historic center. From there I took the bus right to the Berlin airport.
My second, and probably final, visit was for Xmas markets.
PS - I had excellent weather on the first trip (3 weeks, June to early July), never too hot, only a little light rain. December was different of course, but never bitterly cold once I learned how to dress properly, but enough snow to last me for years to come.
Nigel " I am glad you missed it. I would have been petrified... I worry for you..."
Most of us, who like me, are not so often in the line of fire and have adequate warnings and sheltering options, take it all in stride. I've been through more than one or two wars here, sigh. Thank you and all the others for your concern. It really helps.
PS - I tried to include a heart emoji, but it's not allowed on the site.
CWsocial, thanks for the reply. I won’t be able to attend Andrea’s meetings because I’m in church Sunday mornings. But, I won’t be planning a France trip right away, so there’s a whole winter to be researching. ; )
Jean, I'm also hoping Barbara N will share her recent France trip in a photos Trip Report. She and SharYn have both wandered a lot through France and both might be good sources for information. Watch this space, likely coming to this meeting soon!
Chani, you're bringing back such colorful memories of my various trips to Germany. My very first trip to Europe included Cologne, where my Mom and I went to a German service in the Cathedral. And had pizza for Thanksgiving and saw the news of the Berlin wall coming down.
And I've been around Frankfurt with Ms Jo a couple of times, to see the Chagall church windows, visit Höchst and a tour of Christmas Markets while she was making videos. She's like Avi, filled with information waiting to be shared!
See, @Chani -- I thought it would be hard to make a case for Germany, and there you did it in just a few paragraphs. You're a wonder.
I would be very keen for any discussion of Germany, either regions I know well or regions I have yet to visit - yes, please
Hey Nigel, I think Andrea will have you covered for most of Germany, since she's spent more time in that region than I have. We may chat about Dresden and Erfurt, since Tammy is planning a trip and Andrea hasn't been to those two. Tammy is also interested in Leipzig .... have you been there? We need someone with expertise!
sorry - never yet been behind the Iron Curtain
