To give due credit, this post was inspired by MadridMan's "Airplane stories to/from Madrid." Thought we could take the theme on the road, if you'll pardon the pun...

So, please share all fun, educational, scarry, or otherwise amusing tales of driving in España...


I was the dedicated driver while in Andalucia last August. With tourists from all over the world (!) in this area of Spain we had quite a bit of competition for our place on the Autopistas.

Everyone (American AND Spanish) had given me "war" stories of driving here - fast aggresive driving!

I was a little overwhelmed with my repsonsibilities of piloting our little Opel Corsa. With a manual transmission, packed with three friends and gear, I had quite a mission. Thankfully, our little under-powered Opel was a loyal participant!

As anyone who has rented a car in Europe knows, you tend to get a small (by American standards) manual transmissioned item. To me, though, even our mundane Opel even felt slightly sporty...zipping around narrow Spanish streets (if you're not walking like one should ) is much more fun in a small car!

The moral of the story? Yes the Spanish tend to drive fast, yes they can be aggressive, but more importantly (as someone posted in a previous area) the Spanish driver is usually predictable.

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Hopefully, your stories will be more amusing than mine!

Or if anyone has any warnings/advice about habits or driving laws... For example, I think it's illegal to drive and use a mobile/car phone at the same time.

Cows, stray dogs, hikers, snow...oh my!!!

Ok, here are my two cents...
I am an American who has always had the comfort of driving an automatic, compact car(mid sized by Spanish standards)..now that I am living here in Spain, it is high time that I learn to drive stick shift. (We live in the "country", not in Madrid, so a car is a little more necessary.) I have been practicing...yesterday we went out and picked a back country road where there would not be much traffic...and there wasn´t much auto traffic. However, was I suprised as I desperately stepped on the clutch to downshift to second and swerve to miss a cow who decided to take its afternoon stroll outside the pasture! I swear, it was the same size, if not bigger, than my little Fiat Uno! A little further up the road we encountered a stray dog who darted across the road to chase an imaginary rabbit. Then the hikers, they converged on the road like those making a pilgrimmage. Uff!! A true test of my nerves... and today it was the snow... what will tomorrow bring??

[ 12-24-2001: Message edited by: Chica ]

[ 12-24-2001: Message edited by: Chica ]

I have to confess I spent several hours driving round in circles in Barcelona. How hard can it be to find 1 diagonal avenue in an otherwise gridiron city?!
I was seriously considering payhing a taxi driver to lead me out of the city.
It was a harrowing experience but I feel like I got to know the place well.

Hi, Chica--
That road from El Espinar to Avila was one of the most fun drives I have ever done!! Was that the one you were on? We were the only people on the road, in a little bitty stick-shift car, and it was great!!

I got stuck driving in and out of Segovia once, and in and out of Toledo. And Avila, now that I think of it. One of the tricky things is that most of the little old towns have a network of one-way streets, designed to let you in through one gate and out somewhere on the other side of town. It's hard to backtrack, as there often is just one winding route through!

And parking...but that's another thread entirely!

Tara

[ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

I never found the actual drivers or roads to be a problem...it was the signage (or lack thereof) that caused some drama in our trip. Myself and two friends had an automatic Ford Focus (great car for a week long road trip) and were doing the Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos. We had three separate maps of the region and each had different road names/numbers for the same road!!!! The best advice I can give, by far, is to follow the signs for the cities you're trying to go to...practically ignore the road numbers...particularly for the small, rural roads.

Also, in Granada we had a lousy map (my fault) which cut-off a part of the city. We drove around in Granada for over an hour before finding our hotel.

Regardless of the minor problems, renting a car is definitely the way to go if wanting to get out of the city (which is great!). We actually asked for a manual transmission, but were upgraded to automatic because they were out of manual. Thank God!! The windy, downhill road from Ronda to Malaga would have been a nightmare with a stick!!!

Oh, yes, and another thing to be aware of is that the signs for the major highways list the "end point" of the highway, rather than the next nearest big town. For example, in America, if I am driving from Orlando to Jacksonvile, Florida, I would take I-4 east toward the Atlantic Ocean. After a while, I would have to decide which way to go on I-95, which is the main north-south highway in Florida (and up and down the East coast of the US). The signs in America will say "Jacksonville" is one way (north)and "Fort Lauderdale/Miami" is the other way (south)--because those are the nearest large cities. But in Spain, the signs might say "Key West" and "Portland" (Maine), or something like that! You've got to have a map of the country to know which places are where!! The ones they choose for the signs are not always large and recognizable to the average American tourist!

Sorry to be so rambly--I hope someone can make heads or tails of this!

[ 01-22-2002: Message edited by: taravb ]

I am pleased to announce that I have successfully passed the written part of my Spanish drivers´ license...

after 2 months in autoescuela... who knows how many practice tests and frustrating hours of learning technical vocab in Spanish (I can probably name more parts of an engine in Spanish than I can in English1!), I beat the odds yesterday and scored 39/40 questions correct on the first try! Yippee! Now, wish me luck when I take the on the road test next week!!

I just located a copy of the written portion of the Spanish "carnet de conducir" test. Here's a sampling of the questions:

#23. You come to a roundabout with two sets of dotted lines leading up to it and the traffic signal on red. How many lanes of traffic are there:

a) 2
b) 3
c) 1
d) This is Spain. Squeeze in and shut up about it.

#24. You have a moped with a 15cc engine in it. You come upon an intersection with 23 cars waiting across three lanes. You should:

a) wait your turn
b) pull to the curb
c) signal a stop
d) wedge yourself up to the front by bending rear-view mirrors, scratching paint and kicking fenders

#25. The light has just gone from red to flashing yellow, but there is an elderly man still ambling across the crosswalk. You:

a) wait for him to complete his journey
b) honk the horn loudly and yell "anciano lento"
c) honk the horn and offer the man an outstretched finger for assistance
d) both b and c

#26. You're late for the concert and parking is scarce. You:

a) circle the block and find an adequate parking spot
b) double-park
c) triple-park
d) b or c, this is Madrid, [censored]!

If you want the rest of the questions, you'll have to take the test like Chica did!

We had a stick and I'd have to say that road was exhilarating. Anyone afraid of heights should sit opposite of the drop-off. Many of the sections between Ronda and Malaga had no barriers or guardrails. What an intense drive…

You should have tried it before it was made "safe" and widened, JJP!! You can still see parts of the old road and can realise that there weren't that many overtaking places for the donkies!!

Incidentally, a word of advice for anyone thinking of driving into Jerez..... don't!! I spent two weeks there one weekend, trying to find a way out of town by car.