My husband & I are planning a self-drive tour of Spain & Portugal in September, 2005. We are 60+ and neither can walk > 4 or 5 blocks at a time. We would like to extend our trip to 3 weeks by staying mostly at hostals instead of fancy hotels. Will it be a problem to park the rental car if we are staying at hostals?

We like to take a little 4 cup drip coffee pot and a small fan with us when we travel in the states. Here you can buy both for < $25. Since most are made in Asia anyway, are they inexpensive there, too? If so, we would rather buy them when we fly into Barcelona and not have to worry about the correct adapters. Do both Spain and Portugal have the same type of current? Do you know if plugging a pot in would be permitted in most of the hostals.

We have never been to Europe before, & I have just discovered this site, Lonely Planet, and Let’s Go, so will be reading your comments with great interest in the next few months – and asking additional questions, I am sure. Thank you for your comments.

Hi there and welcome!

Unfortunately, I can only answer one of your questions as I am still planning my trip and am asking a lot of questions myself. The one I can answer is yes, both Spain and Portugal use the same type of power (220V @ 50 cycles).

-Loc

Hi DJC - Welcome to the board

First thought, based on your comments, is to make sure you are staying in hostels that have elevators. Check the listing of hostels on this site - perhaps if you let us know what cities you are planning on visiting & an idea of what you want to spend, we can offer suggestions. Yours is a question that has come up before re being a bit older and not wanting to 'walk the day through' - I just can't remember when or the title of the thread. I do know there was some solid information about your type of situation.

Because you didn't detail your chosen itinerary, it's a bit hard to comment on the car aspect. Without this knowledge my first suggestion might be a moot point - but have you considered the possibility of using trains, buses and cabs in lieu of renting a car? If you are planning on spending the bulk of your time in the larger cities - you do not want to go to the expense or hassle of a car. Driving in the larger cities can be tough for a variety of reasons. If you are planning on spending most of your time outside of the main cities - then - a totally different response would be in order.

Please give us a bit more info -

Puna, you said you needed more details. There is still a lot we do not know. Because we can’t walk more than a couple of hours a day total, we will not actually go inside a lot of the cathedrals and castles. We are interested in history, and my husband plans to taste his way through all of the sausages, hams, and cheeses (and sweets in Portugal) – which is good because if dinners are at 10:00, he won’t make many!

I’ve put the accommodations that we have decided on in the parentheses and ??? where we don’t know yet where to stay. We are trying to hit market days, and the caves of Tito Busillo close for the year on September 15th. We would like to stay as cheaply as possible and ask mainly that the room is clean, accessible, and cool, with its own bathroom. We use our room to rest & sleep, not to hang out, so it doesn’t need to be large or fancy.

Friday, September 10, 2005 --FLY TO BARCELONA
1S Barcelona (arrive) to Vic to Barcelona (???)
Vic market day -- sausages – back to Barcelona
2 S Barcelona -- Barcelona morning tour (???)
3M Barcelona to Tarragona to Bilbao (Hostal Begona) -- Roman ruins/pintxos
4T Bilbao to Ribadasella ( Posada Del Valle) Area cheese makers/ Neocueva
5W Ribadasella to Torre de Moncorvo (???)
Caves of Tito Busillo; Astorga museo de chocolate
6Th Torre de Moncorvo to Guimaraes (Casa Sezim)
National archeology site; Vineyard tour; Celtic ruins
7F Guimaraes to Santarem (Hotel Rural de Santarém) -- Tours to bull breeding farms;
8S Santarem to Lisbon (???) ½ day city tour; market - Feira da Ladra; Estoril casino
9S Lisbon to Sintra (Hotel Vip Miramonte) Artisans/Sintras market days; Fado Music
10M Sintra to Lagos (???)
Bom Dia grottos/sailing tour ; Palace of Prince Henry the Navigator
11T Lagos to Tavira (Casa Vale Del Rei) Motorbike rental
12 W Tavira to Seville (???) City tour and night flamenco/tapas tours
13Th Seville to Jerez de la Frontera (???)
Andalusian Equestrian school -- dressage day /Archelogical museum
14F Jerez to Rondo to Granada (???) -- Granada city tour
15S Granada to Madrid (Hostal Bianco II) Alhambra morning
16S Madrid (Hostal Bianco II
17M Madrid (Hostal Bianco II
18 Wednesday fly from Madrid to Texas

DJC writes: Short answer: Yes! But in most cases that can also be a problem at Hotels.

Be sure to 'book' your rental car before leaving Texas (with your airline tix): Some Car rental Agencies in Spain won't rent a car to people over 65.

I'll probably have some more comments on your itinerary later ...

Then you definitely must visit the marketplace across the bridge from the Casco Viejo (Old Helmet - so named because it is shaped like a helmet by the course of the rio Nervion) in Bilbao.

15 Sep is also el día de Cantabria and a holiday in the Autonomous Region (Province).

Tapas are for 'cocktail hour' (i.e., before supper). Flamenco is for late at night.

Eddie, thank you for all the info. I'll factor all those things in. I think I made us sound more feeble than we are. (He has a bad knee & I a bad ankle that cause the walking problems.) A few late nights we can handle, but it helps to know about the different times for the tapas and flamenco.

Hope you have a great trip. We rented a car in Madrid and drove to Granada, Gibralta, Seville and back to Madrid this past April. Driving in the cities can be a nightmare and parking is very expensive at most of the hotel - 10 to 20 euros per day. Please be aware that almost all rental cars are standard shift, not automatic. If you get an automatic transmission you will pay double. We rented from CARJET and got an awfully good rate and a nice car. Much better that US companies like Avis, Hertz, etc. Good luck and have fun.

Between Bilbao and Ribadasella there's a lot to see: I especially like Santillana del mar where there are two Paradores and several excellent restaurants. Further west, you could 'hang a left' at Unquera (near San Vicente de la Barquera) and drive thru the Gorge of the rio Deva to Potes, Capital of a region called Liebana. Then you're in 'Cheese Heaven!' The drive south is short, but it's a 'white knuckler.'

If you eat the Cocido de Liebana, a stew of Garbanzo beans, Chorizo and Morcilla and Salt pork, you'll need to rest a bit before continuing on your journey: you'll feel like you've eaten a brick.

You could wait until you get to Ribadasella and dine on a Favada Asturiana (same basic dish - different kind of beans: favas).

Eddie, make that 'fabada' and 'fabes' quick before an 'asturiano/a' sees it and calls it a sacrilege!

I consider tapas the "Spanish snacks", so they can be had most anytime; at 'aperitivo' time(before lunch), for lunch, 'a mediatarde', before dinner, for dinner, after dinner....anytime you feel like it