I will be in Spain Sept. 24 - Oct 7th. (Madrid 5 days, Alicante/coast 4 days and BCN 5 days).

I'm going to pick up my sister who has been in Madrid the last 1.5 years doing a church mission. I also lived in the Barcelona area 12 years ago and can't wait to see old friends, not to mention the Spanish culture which I had become so accustomed to. My wife has never been to Europe, so I'm starting with Spain. Lastly, as we're from Oregon, we had to go by the coast to hopefully catch some rays and warm water - which is relatively foreign to us Oregonians.

We partly went in Sept to miss the crowds and high costs, though we're happy we booked tickets when we did because they are now over $1K. It sounds like a lot of forum members are going in the fall, while the Europeans visit in the summer.

Que lo paseis bien!
el tio

it's def. cheaper.
Right now I'm looking @ $540.00 (tax included) from JFk for October travel. Recently, the prices were close to double for July and August travel. That's a huge difference! With that additional money I save for fall travel I an pay for lodging.

I am in Spain Sept 22-30!

2) why did you choose this time of year
I choose this time of year because my sister receives emails for travelocity and they sent her a deal for only 185!!!! EXTREMELY CHEAP (turns out they screwed up but the airline still had to honor the fare!)
3) your primary places/sites of interest
Madrid, because I studied there fall '03 and miss it so much! I will probably be overcome with happiness just stepping into the airport. It's weird to think that I used to consider it to be my "home." And now I will just be a visitor..... But we are also traveling to Sevilla and Toledo!

I can't wait!

Hello all! It has been a long time since I have posted here - I've been traveling almost non-stop for work this year.

I'm planning 2 1/2 weeks in Spain the last half of September. Planning on visiting Navarra/Basque Country/La Rioja areas. Unfortunately, I've been so busy with work I haven't found the time to actually plan the flight, itinerary, and hotels! :o :o

Hope all has been well here and hopefully I'll be a more frequent visitor in the future.

a friend and i are arriving in paris 9/28 and flying out of madrid on 10/25. i wanted to avoid the summer crowds and prices. my travel buddy is in a band and they had shows already booked for up til 9/24. we decided to start in paris and work our way south in the hope that the weather will stay warm as we go along. planning to spend two weeks in paris, berlin, prague, munich, then two weeks for spain. looking forward to barcelona, granada, sevilla, segovia, and jerez de la frontera for the royal andalusian school of equestrian art. other places if time permits.

I'm learning Spanish through a study abroad program at the Universidad Antonio de Nebrija that starts Sept. 2 and ends Dec. 21. I'll be living in Madrid with a family and experiencing as much as I can in the 4 months I'm there!

My husband and I will be in Madrid from 24 Sep to 01 Oct. We were there at New Year, and as some museums were closed for a couple of days, we didn't see everything we wanted to. We were in Gandia, Valencia in July and it was quite hot so we thought September in Madrid wouldn't be too hot. We also want to visit Toledo and Segovia.

We are staying at the Adriano, as I think a few others are at that time. If the lift isn't finished, look out for a grey-haired man and a fair-haired woman with a red face and out of breath.

Blossom

I'll keep my eyes our for you at Adriano! I just made reservation for my wife and I for the 24th - 27th and my mom and 2 sisters for the 24th - 29th. If you see a middle aged guy flanked by 4 women, that will be me.

We will also be visiting Valencia (the women wanted to stop by the Lladro factory/shop) - do you have sites/restaurants to recommend in Valancia? Did you visit the museum of art and science?

el tio

el tio

We have never stayed in Valencia itself. We always stay in Gandia and visit Valencia for the day by train, so we have never been to any restaurants there. We did go to the Science Museum in March 2002, which I think was shortly after it opened. As an ex-scientist I found it quite interesting.

Will look out for you at the Adriano.

Blossom

Hello, all--

Just joined the message board and this is my first post.

My wife and I will be arriving in Madrid on October 9. We plan to stay in Madrid for at least three days, possibly longer, while we go searching for a small town called "Villalobos" (my ancestral origins). I'm told it's about 140 miles from Madrid, but I have not been able to find it on any map of Spain. Has anyone ever heard of it or been there?

I chose October because (a) the price of our airline tickets was considerably lower in October than in August or September, (b) the weather is more pleasant in October than in summer, and (c) I wanted to give myself an unusual birthday present.

If anyone on this board will be in Madrid on October 9, 10 or 11, we sure would like to meet you while we're there.