Spanish holiday in British Beast

[FalconWood]

Off to Spain for 17 days in April. Taking in Madrid, Granada, Seville and Salamanca before returning via Bilbau. Taking the Vantage and made sure all hotels have good on site parking. Just cannot wait. Only regret is that I wish the car was a cabriolet!!! Oh well it will be a great driving experience regardless.

[erics]

FalconWood said:

Off to Spain for 17 days in April. Taking in Madrid, Granada, Seville and Salamanca before returning via Bilbau. Taking the Vantage and made sure all hotels have good on site parking. Just cannot wait. Only regret is that I wish the car was a cabriolet!!! Oh well it will be a great driving experience regardless.

Got house in spain and always thought of doing the same. Do you drive all the way from uk?

[FalconWood]

erics said:

Got house in spain and always thought of doing the same. Do you drive all the way from uk?

Yes i drive from NW down to Portsmouth through to Bilbau or Santender.. In total about 2500 miles trip. Great run down on great roads and lovely scenery - depending of course on the route you take. This will be third trip through Spain, and last year I went to carcasonne in France for a change. You should try it.

[PiloteAM]

Last year I did a ferry to Santander, drove around Spain for a bit, then back up through France and back on the train. Was a good trip. Great roads between Rioja and the coast.

[V8 Animal]

I'm off there in April too via the ferry.

[Stuart3834]

Sounds like a great drive. I live in Spain and I know pretty well the places you are visiting. If have never tried this road, may I suggest the following?

Take the road, N122, from Valladolid to Burgos via Aranda de Duero through the Duero valley (turn left at Aranda to go north to Burgos) and you can stop around every 20 mins and sample another wine. This trip could take a while.

From Burgos take take the N623 to Cilleruelo de Bezana. From there you can continue north to Santander and take a right to Bilbao. The important bits are the Duero valley (leave room for a case or two) and the N623 from Burgos to Cilleruelo. You will enjoy both.

This is longer route for sure, but I believe you will find it worthwhile.

Enjoy the hols.

[FalconWood]

Only 8 more sleeps before my epic trip. Cannot wait!

[delays]

I lived in Salamanca for a year - absolutely incredible place, the Plaza Mayor quite rightly gets most of the press, it's gorgeous.

Heartily recommend the restaurant La Boca Abierta and the Doze cocktail/gin club, both on Calle Sanchez Barbero. Many of my other recommendations are rather more, shall we say, pocket-friendly, given I was at the Uni there. You will love it there and I miss it dearly.

[FalconWood]

Thanks for all the recommendations. As it turns out we are three nights in each location (except one night in Burgos) We have bought all the books and looks like there are too many things (obviously) to fit in in such short visits. We will just have to revisit. Cannot wait now. One thing that surprised me was I thought it sensible to buy belts and oil filters before I went - you never know!! Those of you who might have seen my 911 threads will see I have a thing about fan belt wear!!! I could not believe the size of the V12V belt - just one but what a length!!!

[hornbaek]

Have a great drive to Souther Spain. I just looked through your profile and your car colleaction shares a couple of similarities with what I am lucky enough to have. I also recognise that you have spent quite a lot on maintaining a 993 which is exactly my experience. These (relatively) old Porsche's are wonderful but they require a bit of maintenance to make them top notch. Enjoy the trip. And don't believe it when your wife tells you she hates the carbon backed seats in the V12V after a while!.

[Far Eastender]

I'm doing a similar trip in May. Portsmouth - Santander - Zaragoza - Madrid - Marbella - Seville - Coimbra - Santander - Portsmouth.

Should be fun.

[FalconWood]

hornbaek said:

Have a great drive to Souther Spain. I just looked through your profile and your car colleaction shares a couple of similarities with what I am lucky enough to have. I also recognise that you have spent quite a lot on maintaining a 993 which is exactly my experience. These (relatively) old Porsche's are wonderful but they require a bit of maintenance to make them top notch. Enjoy the trip. And don't believe it when your wife tells you she hates the carbon backed seats in the V12V after a while!.

She won't moan to much as it is a very long walk back!!

[DB4DM]

Great trip. While Porto works, Coimbra studies, Braga prays and Lisbon plays. Or so it was when we lived in Portugal in the 80s

Edited by DB4DM on Wednesday 26th March 20:17

[CHRW]

Say hello when you are in marbella!