Hello ,

Has anyone heard of these people?

I got the adress of this site somewhere and their service looks like a lot of fun... organized tavern crawling with other people visiting Madrid !!! Anyway, go see for yourself http://www.walksofspain.com !

I am preparing myself to book with them for an evening so any comments from people who tried it would be appreciated... I wouldn't want to find myself all drugged up in a back alley somewhere !!!!

Thanks a lot

this person who runs this, has posted on this board before and madridman has talked to him so we have heard of him before. It sounds fine.

yes, many of us here have heard of that site. the person who organizes the walks often does a very thinly veiled job of advertising on this page. madridman has actually addressed this with him on several occasions. from what i can see, these walks are nothing you couldn't do on your own.

Hi mimijac!! So did you take the Tavern Crawl Tour with Andrés? If so, how was it? Please give us the true "scoop" so others can benefit from your experiences. Thanks!

Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 11-21-2000).]

Last Saturday I joint Andrés for one of his tavern "tours".

Ann and Nicole - two of my customers from Colorado - came with me as well. We met Andrés at Plaza Mayor at about 8:30 pm. We were a large group (18 people at the begining).

We ended being a group of 14 people (Andrés told me he didn't expect so many people and he wants to keep groups smaller).

First, we went to have a vermout in an old bar besides the Plaza Mayor. On that night there was a party organised by the a radio station and the Plaza Mayor and Puerta del Sol were very crowded.

Then, we moved to another tavern where we had gambas al ajillo, wine and sangría.

As you probably know, we Spaniards love to change from one place to another so we moved again to have patatas bravas and Spanish omelette with bravas sauce (btw, they have patented the recipe of the sauce at that bar).

By that time everyone was full up, but Andrés took us to an old tavern near Tirso de Molina were we have wine and we tried torrijas (which I considered unusual in a bar).

Then, we went a "El Son", a Salsa club (I think it's one of Andrés' favourite places). I had to wake up early the following day so I didn't enter that disco. But Ann and Nicole told me they had a great time and Andrés even tried to teach them how to dance merengue.

Although there were some Spaniards, the "official" language of the tour is English so we were all talking in English. Most of the people were from the US and they were really nice. We had a great time and I think so they had the rest of the people.

I'll tell Ann and Nicole to post their comments on Andrés' tours here.

Regards,

Antonio

PS: BTW, there were some people at the tour who followed my posts here. They seemed very happy to meet me!. I guess I'm becoming famous !!

------------------
The best tips from your favourite hostal in Madrid.
Hostal Chelo at http://www.chelo.com

Hello, yes we are back from our trip and enjoyed every second of it ! As soon as everthing calms down at home i'll tell you all about it ...

As for the Tavern crawls, me boyfriend and I really enjoyed it. Andres came with a friend which was a blessing since we were only my boyfriend, I, Andres and his friend. We really enjoyed the tour for the company, the drinks and the food.

Sure some people would say that we could do it on our own but that not true ...

As tourists, we don't know about the good places, plus, we don't speak the language (it makes it difficult to asks what's good, what's the specialty of the house...let alone understand the answer ha!ha!ha!. It is also nice to spend an evening talking with people who are from Madrid. Finally, we felt more secure this way (walking at night with a group of people is much more nicer than with two people alone constantly looking at a map to make sure they don't get lost !!!).

I hope Andres tours continue to develop its clientele because it would have been even more nicer to have been 5-6 people instead of 4... but hey, we had a nice time anyway.

On a more intellectual note, I also recommend Wellstours (a tour with a historic perspective of Madrid)... I'll tell you more another time.

Just for the record here, mimijac, how much did Andres charge per person for the tours?
His website says, "TAVERN-CRAWL: 2.500 pesetas per person paid at the beginning of the tour (Around 14$). Lots of "tapas" and many drinks included." Is this about right?

By the way, I too LOVED the Stephen Drake-Jones Welltours. I HIGHLY recommend it!!

Saludos, MadridMan

hey madridman:
question about the wellstours. i very much want to joing mr. drake-jones for a tour. he alone sounds like an attraction to be experienced, and i'm sucker for anything that deals with history. especially when taught from what sounds like such a character. anyway, what i wanted to ask was how did you go about setting up your tour? did you become a member, then pay once you arrived?

Thanks for asking that question - I really would like to join that walking tour next trip - especially after MM raved about it so.

Hi Nicoleye! I really can't say enough of Welltours , historical nightime walking tours of Madrid with British expatriate Chairman Stephen Drake-Jones. I really had the time of my life.

Chairman, as he likes to be called, is SUCH a character, wonderful British sense of humor, distinguished, in his late 40s or early 50s, EXTREMELY knowledgeable about Madrid and Spanish history (don't test him on dates - HE KNOWS IT ALL backwards and frontwards), and takes his smallish groups (nor more than 8 or 10 I think he says) to little-known or unknown parts of old Madrid.

Along the way, you'll stop in to sample tapas and drinks in 2 or 3 out-of-the-way and UNtouristy bars.

Stephen is SO charismatic, so kind, funny, and makes the 2.5 to 3 hour tour go unfortunately TOO quickly. AND, if you're deserving and call him "Chairman", he just MIGHT let you hold his walking cane.

By the way, I'm getting THOSE photos developed after returning from Thanksgiving so look for them here.

To reserve your spot, you'll want to email "Chairman Drake-Jones" through his website. He'll likely pencil you in and then ask you to call him on his cell phone when you arrive in Madrid just to confirm. "You'll all pay for your memberships when I tell you and not before so don't ask," he says at the beginning of the tour with a smirk on his face. hehee.. You pay towards the end of the tour, but he gives you your official membership card at the beginning as he explains the great many benefits of becoming a Wellington Society member. Stephen is REALLY one of a kind and his tours are top-notch, memorable, and lots of fun. I'm looking forward to taking another tour with him already. You can read my account of the tour in the 10/16/2000 journal entry of MadridMan's Madrid 2000 .

Saludos, MadridMan

[This message has been edited by MadridMan (edited 11-22-2000).]