Trip Report: Spain, Portugal, Berlin, Prague

June 21 - July 16, 2004
Here are some travel tips, highlights and photos from our ~4 week trip that ended two weeks ago. Thanks to those whose postings helped us-- we hope some of this is equally useful or entertaining.
Our trip was much too short, but we decided to add little tastes of Portugal and Prague to check them out for future visits:
  • Spain: Madrid, Nerja, Sevilla (just 2 weeks)
  • Portugal: Évora, Sintra outside of Lisboa (just 4 days)
  • Berlin (visited family for just 5 days)
  • Prague (just 4 days)
A I R F A R E - some favorite websites for shopping airfare were:

http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch/ - new all time favorite for domestic or intl flights; you can't buy here—it just searches and lists very effectively; also wonderful search for showing calendar with best days to fly, flexible trip durations, etc.

http://applefares.com/v11/index.php - great way to find flights on several cheapie European airlines

http://www.lonelyplanetexchange.com/flights/index.php - very helpful links to many small airlines that won't list on most search engines

http://www.tours.com/airlines2.php - a travel agency website that appears to list most of the airlines in the world

http://www.opodo.co.uk/otpbvpl/Jsp/opodo/HomeServlet?locale=en_GB - if all else fails, European equivalent of Orbitz

General airfare strategy next time: get to UK, then take ridiculously cheap flights to anywhere. This might work with Virgin Express via Brussels too, not sure.

Air Highlight: Swiss Air's new big Airbus (A340-300? don't remember) has interactive TV monitors for every passenger. In addition to many movies, TV shows and audio programs (which help make a 12 hour flight feel shorter), you can access a camera that points straight down at the ground or one that points straight ahead from the nose of the plane. This was great fun! I took still and video photos as we passed very cool geological features. Unfortunately, they turn the system off before landing approach. Probably would generate some screams, but what fun for those of us with good stomachs!

Air Low Point: Germania Express from Lisbon to Berlin on 8 July for 133 euros each. Their customer service was a tad rough: They canceled our non-stop to Berlin via email, re-routed us on an earlier flight through Munich and thus we lost a precious day of sightseeing. Upon check-in, they couldn't give us a boarding pass all the way through from Lisbon to Berlin; upon arrival in Munich they announced "connecting passengers proceed to gate A11" which turned out to be wrong; unhelpful and unpleasant agent directed everyone to another gate. No one there. A heroic, fellow passenger from Brazil found out we'd have to exit through baggage claim, check-in at main counter, and pass through security to catch our connection. Fortunately, there were long rain delays in Munich, so we had plenty of time. :-) On the other hand, we were quoted $500 US on every other airline, so the discount probably made it worthwhile.

Air Low Point #2: Sticky, gooey stuff in someone else's luggage leaked all over our suitcases on Germania Express. We might have been able to file a claim, but after arriving in Berlin very late, this was the least of our worries. Until we got home. Note to fellow travelers: Place chutney in your carry-on luggage.
P H O N E C A R D S - we found two kinds handy, both seemed to be limited to he country of purchase (i.e. buy it in Spain, use it in Spain only). Buy both at a newsstand, tobacco or long distance (e.g. Locutorio) shop: (1) official plug-into-a-payphone card - this has an embedded chip and saves rummaging for coins; no long distance discounts, so use for long distance only in a pinch (2) a long distance card with a toll-free access number. 6 euros bought us 3.5 hours in Spain (2.8 cents per minute). Great to use from payphone or from hotel to avoid jacked up LD charges. Three gotchas: (a) make sure your hotel doesn't charge you for calling a toll-free number (b) one card we bought kept being unavailable at peak hours (c) some cards let you call to one country only (e.g. US), while others can be used to call anywhere. So buy a small denomination and try it before buying a handful. WARNING: some places sell phone cards for internet access or pay-as-you-go cell phones. Look at the card before you buy!
Understanding Spain - My former Spanish teacher recommended a book on Spanish history which I found unbelievably valuable. It's called The New Spaniards by John Hooper. Very readable and illuminating.

M A D R I D

Locutorio SION TELCOM (La Cruz No. 14, 917-010-441) - cheap phone calls, cards and internet access. Give Jorge from Peru saludos from the couple from Santa Cruz. Computer room is pretty stuffy, but cheap and fast. Best phone cards to US we found. Avoid the other, very small Locutorio a few doors uphill.
Hostal Adriano (Calle de la Cruz 26 www.hostaladriano.com). Cute, small, clean, QUIET, inexpensive room (55 euros per night for a double in late June). AC, tiny bathroom, refrig, very nice staff. Up 4 flights of stairs, but just 2 quick blocks from Puerta del Sol (towards Plaza de la Cruz) and...

...right across the street from Casa La Abuela (bar with GREAT scampi mentioned in guidebooks).

Best olives of our trip: Taberna de Dolores (13:00 - 24:00 daily; Plaza de Jesús 4, +34 914-292-243) near El Prado on Plaza Jesus Cristo. We just phoned them—they're a brand named La Novia del Sol (http://www.cannedfoodspain.com/agrdo_in/faroliva.htm). Yum.

Great restaurant: Las Casina Tres right near main train station (Atocha). Bar in front, nice seating in the back. We had a fine meal here and the dessert was out of this world. We asked a patron at the neighboring table which pastel she ordered and she offered us a bite!

Really enjoyed the guide we hired at El Prado, the art students painting copies of the masterpieces there, and Guernica at La Reina Sofía.
Interesting night: Arab baths and then dinner at Medina Mayrit (near Plaza de la Cruz, www.medinamayrit.com). Hot, medium and cold pools plus 15 minute mini-massage cost 25 euros per person (bathing suits required, reservations suggested). Dinner was very good, especially Spinach with Pasas (raisins) y Piñones (pine nuts). Dancing performance was an unexpected surprise.

Great candy - violetas from tiny store (Casa Mira, Carrera San Jerónimo, 30 tel. 914 296 796) at the first plaza on your right heading towards El Prado from Puerta del Sol on Carrera de San Jerónimo. Kinda grumpy service, but great candy!

AVOID: double-decker tourist buses (Tour Madrid) - 2-day pass was costly mistake for us. Buses constantly late, long slow routes; headsets often don't work and info provided is minimal anyway. Might be worth it for first day just to get your feet wet but after that I'd walk, take public transit or even a cab. Better yet, skip altogether and take a real tour.

N E R J A (Andulcia)

Took fast train from Atocha to Málaga (depart 9:30, arrive 13:45) for 60 euros each. Exit train station and walk around construction m e s s to "adjacent" bus station to Nerja (45 minutes, cheap). Bus schedule and other tourist info www.nerja.org. Note: we HUSTLED from the train to the bus station and, sure enough, just barely made a bus that saved us a 90 minute wait. :-)

Spent week with our family there. We were advised to be up near "town" because the hill is so steep. Nonsense! Next time, I'd ask for as quiet a unit as possible, as close to water as possible (Wherever that would be—didn't have time to scout).

Best tapa - Las Posada Ibérica (AKA Méson Iberica, Calle Nueva 1, +34 952 526 286). Order their delicious-but-deceptively-named Ensalada a la Málagueña (cod, potatoes, onion and then baked) Don't order the ración, though, they didn't bake it and the texture was completely different. Alicia also really liked their pastel con miel (honeycake). Tell Anabel hello from the Mexicana with the guero novio (who meant to offer to loan her a car but instead offered to borrow her horsecart) and give our regards to her father (he turned 80 while we were there).

Best store-bought olives - we tried everything, but the best we found were in a simple can of La Española.

Best supermarket - we liked the Supermercado Iranzo. It's on the main drag just north of the main roundabout.

Travel agent - we really liked this gal and regretted not being able to buy anything from her: Eva Méndez Ramírez at Viajes Benamar (+34 952 521 745, fax +34 952 520 387 or nerja@viajesbenamar.com). She won't remember us, so make up any story you'd like about how you got her name…

(Frigiliana)

 Best day trip - Nerja Caves and then to the hill town of Frigiliana. We took the bus to the caves, then a cab to Frigiliana (12 euros cab fare made it easier to do both in one day with our baby niece). WARNING: we called the cab and they quoted us 12 euros, but the driver insisted on charging us for his empty trip to the Caves. If you do this, confirm the price with the driver before getting in. Also, someone "stole" our first cab, so be ready to outcompete other aggro tourists (they certainly didn't know that we had called the cab). :-)

Best restaurant (Frigiliana)- La Taberna del Sacristán (Plaza de la Iglesia 12, +34 952 533 009) right in the main plaza opposite the church (walk about 15 minutes into town from the lower entrance). Long, slow, delicious meal. Unbelievable fish, eggplant dish, and fantastic desserts and coffee…
…while my toddler niece scattered the local boys by chasing them with intent to kiss.

S E V I L L A

Took early bus from Nerja to Málaga, then train to Sevilla (dep. 9:30 ish, arrive around noon), cheap cab to our hotel. Wow, what a beautiful place!. Had only 2 nights here—we're coming back!! It was sweltering during the day, but we got used to it. A cool breeze arrived both evenings we were there.
Stayed at great little B&B: La Casa del Maestro (www.lacasadelmaestro.com). 109 euros per night. Very nice, cool, quiet room, great staff, nice breakfast, rooftop terraza, free internet access in common room. Sweetness all around. Just around the corner from El Rinconcillo (oldest restaurant in Sevilla), otherwise location is a bit farther than ideal from La Giralda and other sites, but had fun getting there through hopelessly disorienting streets. These crazy streets led directly to…
Best stumbled-into-it moment - Remnant of Roman aqueduct (Ruinas Acueducto) in the intersection of Luis Montoto and Alberto Duero. Noticed it on the map, wanted to see it, but decided it was too far to walk (limited time and it was HOT); however, a few wrong turns on my way to La Giralda and voila—there it was! That fortuitous "mistake" led me right into…

A second great stumbled-into-it moment - spontaneous Flamenco duet at street vendor's table near Real Alcázar (we did enjoy the very staged espectáculo at El Gallo the night before). The young son of the vendor was picking on his guitar when a couple of women strolled up to look at the wares. The guitarrista looked at one and said, Cantas? Flamenco? Que clave? And then they were playing and singing together. Turned out the singer was an American mom studying Flamenco in Sevilla for the summer.

Highly recommended: (a) Climb up La Giralda tower (35 levels up, access through cathedral).

(Great views, to say the least!)

(b) Walk along the river (enjoyed the Sevilla side more because it's shaded and without shops; the Triana side is touristy but socially pleasant). Both are nice when it's cool (morning or evening).

(La Torre del Oro y La Giralda)
Loved the Real Alcázar (Moor-inspired palace). The cathedral is massive and, well, the real deal.
AVOID: Restaurante la Primera del Puente in Triana. Recommended but not sure why. Wonderful view across the river, but food was mediocre and not exactly cheap; the bugs were just tolerable. Not even the Sangría was very good.

É V O R A (Portugal, about 2/3 along the way from Sevilla to Lisbon)

Took bus from Sevilla. This was the most challenging part of the trip to arrange in advance and eventually we gave up. Once we got to Sevilla, it was trivial to buy cheap bus tix to Évora. Oh well. Useful bus websites in Spain to make this trip are: www.anabel.net www.alsa.es www.eurolines.es

Incredible Roman Aqueduct right as you approach town. Cab from bus station to our very musty room at Solar de Monfalim. Great location in old town, but maybe the other rooms offer better air?
Touring highlights: Roman Arch (Porta de Dona Isabel) leading to the area outside the city walls where the Moors were forced to live, tile work in the chapel adjacent to La Pousada dos Loios,

the Roman Temple of Diana ruins,

the roof terrace of the early Gothic cathedral,

and the indescribably macabre décor inside the Chapel of the Bones:

"NOS OSSOS QUE AQUI ESTAMOS PELOS VOSSOS ESPERAMOS"

"Our bones here show what's waiting for you…"

Best meal: (sorry about the unappetizing juxtaposition with the above) Mr. Pickwick (Alcárcova de Cima 3) just a block up Rua 5 de Outubro. Portuguese gaspacho, scrumptious sheep cheese (quiejo de ovelha) , delicious everything else and a deceptively simple-but- yummy local dessert (a sort of rice pudding with cinnamon). The young man who runs the restaurant (with his father) sat at table and was great company. He told us about a good farmer's market that we didn't have time for, hopefully you will.

S I N T R A (11 miles north of Lisboa)

Took bus from Évora to Lisbon (90 minutes, 9.80 euros): www.rede-expressos.pt or www.eva.bus.com, then taxi from bus station to Lisbon train station. Commuter train from Lisbon runs a lot and is very cheap (1.30 euros each). There's a very helpful tourist info booth in the train station in Sintra. Buy a great phone card for use in Portugal (both kinds, see note above) from the newsstand out the door and to the right.

Much cooler up here, we actually wore long pants and a sweater in the evenings.

Best meal - One of our best meals in Europe: Restaurante Tópico (Rua Dr. Alfredo da Costa #8, +35 219 234 825). Bacon wrapped around dates, sweetest melon ever with prosciutto, cod/spinach baked somehow, and a very tender filet mignon cooked and served Brazilian style with black beans and rice (not on the menu—ask her), a tasty plum jam and some other delicious relish that was… Well, you get the idea. Great wine, great bread (WOW), cheese, dessert sampler—everything was perfect. Not real cheap, about 70 euros for 2 including wine, water, dessert & coffee.

Best hot chocolate - actually a very decent place to eat: Harkell Caffee (Praça da República, 13-14; phone 219 235 710). Centrally located, open late with a very diverse menu. The hot chocolate is other-worldly if you're a serious chocolate lover. Good gelato, too.

Cool azulejo (tile) demonstration at O Patamar (Rua da Ferraria, 13). Nothing formal, but there were two artists painting in the back while we browsed around. They kindly answered all questions and let us watch.
Lodging - we stayed at Vila Marques (219 230 027). Heartwarming just to meet the proprietor. The suites that are outside were overpoweringly musty to us, so we stayed upstairs in the main house. A tad communal for us, but great view out the back, great location (just down the steep ramp past Hotel Tivoli) and good price (50 euros per night for 2). We'd find another place to stay if we return, but this was okay in a pinch.

AVOID: We let our esteem for our hostess guide us to a restaurant run by her daughter. For us, it was a mistake. Let me put it this way: if you like going to hoaky Hawaiian luaus with lots of heavy smoking and drinking and large quantities of very dry, overcooked brown food, then consider Páteo do Garrett. The singer was actually wonderful. And the "authentic folk dancing" was pretty cool to watch, although the kids looked so coerced (all the same, very fancy folk footwork). But it wasn't cheap and it was, well, very brown, lifeless food (except the cabbage soup and the very thinly sliced bread with a dark crust—yum). They had an extensive menu and we tried to order off it, but our waiter said they were out of this and out of that until he cowed us into eating whatever the kitchen was already preparing for a large group. Hrrmph. Anyway, I don't know whether you could just show up at the right time to get a drink and catch the show without paying some minimum, but I'd try that and dine somewhere else.

B E R L I N

I have family there and am now a firm believer in the saying: FRIENDS WELCOME ANYTIME, FAMILY BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. But seriously, the weather and our adorable niece kept us indoors quite a bit.
One must is the Pergamon Museum. Oh-my-gawd. You'll need half a day at least. In fact, there's a "museum island" that is worth intensive touring.

We also toured the Brandenburg Gate, the Bundestag and the Memorial to the Holocaust (under construction).

There are solar boats on the River Dahme near Kopenick that we intended to rent, but the weather had other ideas
Two surprises for us babes-in-the-city: we caught the train into town and saw Spiderman-2 at a huge theater complex (OV or "original version" means "in English without subtitles", by the way). First, when you order popcorn they ask (in German) whether you want it salty or sweet! We had them do both and were delighted. Second, your seats are reserved! We plunked ourselves down in the best available and only later saw people bumbling around to find their reserved places. We checked our ticket stubs and—surprise—we had lucked into the right seats (actually, I guess this means that we had the same concept of "best available" as the software that chose our seats for us). Nice touch, wish our theaters were as organized.

P R A G U E

We caught the DeutscheBahn train from Ostbahnhof at 9:30 AM (85 euros for 2 people www.bahn.de). Arrived Prague around 2 PM. Pass by Dresden, the Elbe River, and castles on the hilltops as you cruise along. There's a thorough passport check at the German-Czech border (for now, anyway) and surprisingly decent food on the train. Seats are reserved and occasionally numbered strangely (big gaps). A local told me to come to Dresden for at least 5 days and make sure to see the many castles in the area. He also recommended visiting the castles in Berlin in the Potsdam area. Some future time....
It was tricky getting into the city for Holesovice station. A friendly told us to save money by calling for a cab from this company: City Cabs (257 257 257). It's true! They're half the price. The ATM in the train station had a HUGE line, so we changed enough euros for cab fare and looked for ATM in the city. Now that they're in the EU, they'll convert to euros in about a year, so maybe this won't be an issue for future visitors.

Security note: people in the train station were the most aggressive we saw anywhere. Want a room? Want to exchange money? It went on and on multiple times per minute, sometimes with a little body contact or a face pressed uncomfortably close. Definitely a place to pay attention to your stuff and just walk through like you know where you're going. There was too much harassment near the phones, so my gal and luggage found refuge at MacDonald's (an act of true desperation for us) while I exchanged money and arranged a cab.

We stayed just a block from Staromestske namesti (Old Town Square) in a studio apartment at the Masna Apartment House (Masna 5, www.e-travel.cz). Clean, semi-austere room, furnished by Ikea with B&W photos of Manhattan on the walls! Iffy hot water, but we didn't complain so maybe they could have resolved it. Very quiet and right in the heart of things. Free internet access on a computer in reception (open 24x7). Cost us 260 CZK per night, or about $90 US. My brother found this place, so I have no idea how it stacks up. They charged us a very reasonable 260 CZK ($10 US) for a 5 AM ride to the airport (this would have been free with a 5 night minimum).

Best beer. I'm not a big beer drinker, but now thinking about becoming one: Velkopopovicky Kozel. We had their dark beer at a restaurant called Kolkovna (V Kolkovne 8, www.kolkovna.cz). Apparently only available in a bottle or keg, so not sure I'll find it in the US.

Best sandwiches & pastries (French-ish). Au Gourmand (Dlouha 10 222 329 060) just a block or two from Old Town Square. Very tasty, very nice. We also bought food the night before for our long airport trek home, turned out to be a good choice. They also own a restaurant that was our last meal in Prague and also quite good that's a block or two away: Café Gulu Gulu (Týnská 12). Quite yummy but not too pricey.

We had some bad meals here, so we were happy just to find the occasional lunch that was acceptable, like Maestro Ristorante (Krizovnicka 10, 222 320 498) just outside the Jewish Quarter. Maybe you'll have better luck.
Best view - we were told there are 200 towers in Prague, so there are probably many great views. But we LOVED the view from this tower on the Old Town side of the Charles Bridge.

Burned up lots of "film" (okay, it was digital) and, in fact, I kept banging backsides with others doing the same thing.

Overall, the buildings and scenery are breathtaking, sometimes it's hard to believe it wasn't constructed as part of a movie set. The Czech people we encountered were more like the warm Iberians than anyone else we met on this or other journeys.

(Oldest synagogue in Western Europe)

 Despite all the beauty, we were surprised at how sad we found Prague. Maybe we brought the gloom with us from bad weather in Germany, or maybe it was fallout from our first encounter with a European Jewish Ghetto, holocaust museums, children's drawings from The Camps, and the painfully cramped Jewish cemetery.

The desperation between the cracks of the current economic boom mixed with the hangover from the Cold War, WWII and the Middle Ages all felt palpably heavy to us.

We'll never see this famous crucifix on the Charles Bridge without remembering that a 17th century Jew was forced to pay for the words "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord" as a penalty for his "blasphemy"
or that the clockmaker of this famous town hall clock was said to have been blinded by the town council so he wouldn't make something as grand somewhere else. Ouch!
One promise for our next trip here: we will learn how to say "excuse me, do you speak English" and "thank you" (difficult to pronounce for us) and "how are you" and all those simple courtesy phrases in Czech. Though everyone seemed to speak enough English for us to get by, it was embarrassing to be so ignorant of their language.

We have lots of details and pictures if anyone wants more info, bus schedules, etc. Email us at (written like this to avoid spambots) g at skyhighway.com.

- Gary & Alicia

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