Topic Wiki

Barcelona
Links to Trip Reports: @Yehuda, Yehoshua, CGR
Kosher Restaurants: http://www.restaurantmaccabi.com/en/
Activities: Jewish Tours in Barcelona, http://www.urbancultours.com
http://www.barcelonadreaming.com/package/barcelona-jewish-tour/
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips: Stay at Hotel Condado it is about a 3 minute walk from the shul (local community), bear in mind there is no eruv, so you will need to either leave the room open or make some arrangement with the hotel, they do not offer keys (or have that option at all)
Public Transport options:
Guidebooks:
Other Tips: Jewish Community of Barcelona (Orthodox): http://www.cibonline.org; Go to the local shul and meet Rabbi Daniel Ashkenazi he is wonderful and quite helpful.

Madrid
Links to Trip Reports: @Yehuda, @Yehuda pics, Yehoshua, @zalc (Mini)., CGR
Kosher Restaurants: http://www.restaurantelaescudilla.com  https://www.pinatimadrid.com/  https://www.pizzeriarimmon.com/(teuda)
Activities: Toledo - a day trip from Madrid to see 2 old Shuls. Can hire a tour guide, Rabbi Hanoka (info@jewishtoledotour.com), which is not cheap, or can take a train on your own. 1 of the Shuls (El Transito) is closed on Mondays. @Yehuda went on a day when that Shul was closed, and the other Shul was really just an empty room and seemed like a Christian organization now runs the center. Without a tour guide, it was hard to get anything Jewish out of our trip (other than an antique store that had some Judaica). But, people who have taken the tour (discussed in the thread) have said it was great! Recommended to go with a tour or not go at all (and ensure to go on a day when both are open!). Report in the thread that the sometimes-closed Shul has audio headsets for use, so that would help. If going alone, you can research the Jewish places at the link HERE
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips: Chabad Site
Public Transport options: Uber works well, as does the subway if you speak Spanish.
Guidebooks:
Other Tips: Jewish Community of Madrid (Orthodox), http://www.cjmadrid.org

Malaga
Links to Trip Reports:
CGR
Kosher Restaurants:
Activities:
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips:
Public Transport options:
Guidebooks:
Other Tips: Comunidad Israelita de Malaga (Orthodox), http://www.cimalaga.es

Seville
Links to Trip Reports: @Yehuda, Yehoshua, CGR
Kosher Restaurants:
Activities: Jewish Tours in Sevilla/Cordoba, http://www.jewishsevilla.com
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips:
Public Transport options:
Guidebooks:
Other Tips: Comunidad Judia de Sevilla, synagoguesevilla@gmail.com

Gibraltar
Links to Trip Reports: Yehoshua
Kosher Restaurants: Amar's Bakery and Coffee shop, http://www.amarsbakery.com/
Activities:
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips:
Public Transport options:
Guidebooks:
Other Tips: Jewish Community of Gibraltar, http://www.jewishgibraltar.com

Mallorca
Links to Trip Reports:
CGR
Kosher Restaurants: Their is not - one restaurant serve felafel it's own by an israeli but no hechsher
Activities:
Hotels:
Shabbos Tips: The Shul its open on Friday night
Public Transport options:
Guidebooks:
Other Tips:
 
4500 IB Avios from anywhere to anywhere in the country
Best way to get around anywhere in this country is by scooter. It is safer driving them there since they outnumber cars by great proportions.
« Last edited by cgr on September 04, 2023, 09:01:01 PM »

Author Topic: Spain Master Thread  (Read 269510 times)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #240 on: May 11, 2014, 03:21:37 PM »
youre asking the guy who spent a day in Girona
I don't get it.

Offline moish

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #241 on: May 11, 2014, 03:58:21 PM »
I don't get it.
that for me its for sure worth it. but, im someone who would visit gerona, a city steeped with jewish history (home of the baal hamaor, ramban and r' yonah among other rishonim) even though there arent any shuls to be seen today. so for me, i would certainly visit toledo even though i would be able to access but one shul (and feel bad that i couldnt see the second with the museum)

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #242 on: May 11, 2014, 04:29:00 PM »
that for me its for sure worth it. but, im someone who would visit gerona, a city steeped with jewish history (home of the baal hamaor, ramban and r' yonah among other rishonim) even though there arent any shuls to be seen today. so for me, i would certainly visit toledo even though i would be able to access but one shul (and feel bad that i couldnt see the second with the museum)
Ahh, good to know. Yeah the Shul looks beautiful, and we hope to go. Any idea if the Santa Maria Synagogue/Museum is an issue with visiting though - seems like it's now owned by the Church, although not used as a Church. Would paying a fee to get in be a problem of supporting the Church?

Offline rediplus

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #243 on: May 20, 2014, 04:44:22 PM »
Hi All,

I'm looking into booking EWR-MAD in November.
Thanks so far for all the info.
Whats the best way to get from MAD to GIB for Shabbos ?
Also, would like to go from GIB to TLV for a few days after.
Any suggestions on how to go about that ?

thanks

Offline rediplus

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #244 on: May 20, 2014, 04:46:59 PM »
If anyone has any other questions please feel free to ask!
How do you get into the BA club ?
Do they have kosher food ?

thanks

Offline bochur123

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #245 on: May 20, 2014, 04:47:46 PM »
I think u would have to fly from Malaga to tlv

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #246 on: May 20, 2014, 06:58:35 PM »
thanks for the quick reply.
looking for the shortest flight.
how would you get from GIB to Malaga ? train ? any idea of the travel time ?
Read upthread a bit. I just planned this a few weeks ago. I'm flying from Madrid to Seville, which, like Malaga is a 1.5-2 hours drive to Gibraltar. It's 4500 BA to fly MAD-SVQ or AGP. From there, rent a car to go to GIB.

Again, read upthread to see your hotel options. None of them seem super fancy (although the new hotel that opened up on a docked cruise ship is probably cool!) but nice enough to get the job done. From people's comments, the Eliott seems a "bit" fancier than The Rock, but more importantly, it's up the hill by all the Shuls and The Rock is at the bottom of the hill. (Not sure how big of a deal this "hill" is but people made mention of it in the thread.) From the amount of people here that talked about those 2 hotels, I'm sure they know about Shabbos at these places (i.e. I assume no electric lobby door, and if the room door is electric follow this advice). I'm actually eating by a family friend in GIB, so I imagine we'll light candles at their house. If you're eating at the hotel, not sure about lighting candles/warming up food there. Can't comment on that. There are no hotels that are part of any chains, but several can be booked with points through different program's booking sites. I only found Eliott available for UR points (although IIRC I found the other hotels available with MR, BA, and AA) - the amount of points you need depends on how much the hotel costs in $ that night. For me, it cost 14K UR, which is how I booked it.

Getting to TLV... GIB only flies to England as it's part of the UK and for some reason, doesn't have any flight deals worked out with Spain (which is why you need to rent a car or bus to the border and take a cab across). It's too bad. Anyway, you'd have to again cross the border and get back to an airport that flies to TLV. I imagine that's only MAD or BCN. I think bochur was only suggesting AGP as you'd definitely have to go back to Spain, but acc to ITA there's no flight from AGP-TLV. I personally am driving my rental car back to SVQ and flying SVQ-MAD then leaving the country.
« Last Edit: May 20, 2014, 07:21:31 PM by @Yehuda »

Offline rediplus

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #247 on: May 21, 2014, 04:56:36 PM »
WOW !!
Thanks for the info...
Enjoy your trip...

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #248 on: May 21, 2014, 05:22:54 PM »
WOW !!
Thanks for the info...
Enjoy your trip...
My pleasure, I want the research I did to help others as well, especially while it's still fresh in my mind. Giving back as they say.

Thanks, I hope you do too!

Offline bochur123

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #249 on: May 21, 2014, 07:14:27 PM »
thanks for the quick reply.
looking for the shortest flight.
how would you get from GIB to Malaga ? train ? any idea of the travel time ?
like 1 and half hours... I dont think there is a train but there might be buses. I had a car when I was there

Offline Dak613

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #250 on: June 08, 2014, 01:03:38 AM »
We are traveling to Barcelona, Madrid with a couple of days in Mallorca in July 2014.  I would appreciate any info regarding Kosher food and hotels.  Will be using SPG points for most of our stay. 
Thanks in advance

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #251 on: June 08, 2014, 01:14:07 AM »
We are traveling to Barcelona, Madrid with a couple of days in Mallorca in July 2014.  I would appreciate any info regarding Kosher food and hotels.  Will be using SPG points for most of our stay. 
Thanks in advance
Will be there at the end of June if you want to wait for a TR (trip report).

Don't know about SPG hotels in MAD, but I emailed Chabad and they said there's nowhere to get Kosher food so bring stuff with you from BCN if you're there first. In BCN, I'm using SPG 7K/night at the Four Points Sheraton Diagonal but that decision was based on it being the cheapest SPG hotel in BCN. If you have more points to use, I'm sure there are nicer hotels + some that might be closer to town. Seems like the 4P is 10-15 min from the Shul as well as 10-15 min from La Rambla.

Like all of Europe, it's hard to know what's really Kosher, but the Chabad there gives a hechsher on a Maccabi Restaurant (you can google it for address, but it's on La Rambla). I also heard there's a place called Delicias, whose website says they're the only Glatt Kosher meat in BCN (and doesn't list their hechsher other than "Chalak Bet Yosef". If they're the only Glatt place, then what's the deal with Maccabi... ???

Check back one I've posted my TR iy"h and good luck!

Offline SamKey

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #252 on: June 08, 2014, 01:38:41 AM »
Will be there at the end of June if you want to wait for a TR (trip report).

Don't know about SPG hotels in MAD, but I emailed Chabad and they said there's nowhere to get Kosher food so bring stuff with you from BCN if you're there first. In BCN, I'm using SPG 7K/night at the Four Points Sheraton Diagonal but that decision was based on it being the cheapest SPG hotel in BCN. If you have more points to use, I'm sure there are nicer hotels + some that might be closer to town. Seems like the 4P is 10-15 min from the Shul as well as 10-15 min from La Rambla.

Like all of Europe, it's hard to know what's really Kosher, but the Chabad there gives a hechsher on a Maccabi Restaurant (you can google it for address, but it's on La Rambla). I also heard there's a place called Delicias, whose website says they're the only Glatt Kosher meat in BCN (and doesn't list their hechsher other than "Chalak Bet Yosef". If they're the only Glatt place, then what's the deal with Maccabi... ???

Check back one I've posted my TR iy"h and good luck!
From what we were told (by the people we ate by in GIB) was that there are plenty of politics between the chabad and the locals, but there is a kosher restaurant in MAD (and reliable) as well as other kosher food (don't know details) in BCN I was much more comfortable eating at delicios as we spoke to the  mashgiach  and saw how they asked him to serve the wine etc. as opposed to the chabad place the  "mashgiach" solicited us to come in to the store. Besides the food at delicious is way better. There is also a great dairy place under the same hashgacha as delicios (the chief rabbi of BCN).

Offline Moishebatchy

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #253 on: June 08, 2014, 03:02:50 AM »
Getting to TLV... GIB only flies to England as it's part of the UK and for some reason, doesn't have any flight deals worked out with Spain (which is why you need to rent a car or bus to the border and take a cab across). It's too bad. Anyway, you'd have to again cross the border and get back to an airport that flies to TLV. I imagine that's only MAD or BCN. I think bochur was only suggesting AGP as you'd definitely have to go back to Spain, but acc to ITA there's no flight from AGP-TLV. I personally am driving my rental car back to SVQ and flying SVQ-MAD then leaving the country.

No flights from AGP to TLV? Who made that one up?! There are plenty of one-stop options, including TK for bupkis. No nonstops, maybe, but you'll lose time traveling to other airports anyway.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #254 on: June 08, 2014, 07:49:11 AM »
No flights from AGP to TLV? Who made that one up?! There are plenty of one-stop options, including TK for bupkis. No nonstops, maybe, but you'll lose time traveling to other airports anyway.
I guess it's another example of ITA not being so accurate these days.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #255 on: June 08, 2014, 07:49:37 AM »
From what we were told (by the people we ate by in GIB) was that there are plenty of politics between the chabad and the locals, but there is a kosher restaurant in MAD (and reliable) as well as other kosher food (don't know details) in BCN I was much more comfortable eating at delicios as we spoke to the  mashgiach  and saw how they asked him to serve the wine etc. as opposed to the chabad place the  "mashgiach" solicited us to come in to the store. Besides the food at delicious is way better. There is also a great dairy place under the same hashgacha as delicios (the chief rabbi of BCN).
Wow, interesting. I actually know someone in GIB, so I'll email them.

Offline Moishebatchy

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #256 on: June 08, 2014, 04:06:16 PM »
I guess it's another example of ITA not being so accurate these days.

Perhaps you had it on "Nonstop only" from a previous search? ITA is sometimes a bit inaccurate, but not THAT bad. :P

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #257 on: June 08, 2014, 04:10:37 PM »
Perhaps you had it on "Nonstop only" from a previous search? ITA is sometimes a bit inaccurate, but not THAT bad. :P
Just re-read your original comment. Didn't see the "one-stop" phrase. Of course there are flights AGP-MAD-TLV or AGP-BCN-TLV. My post said there was no AGP-TLV and that you'd have to get to a city whether it's AGP or SVQ that flies to a city (like MAD or BCN) that goes to TLV. We're saying the same thing.

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #258 on: June 08, 2014, 08:19:11 PM »
Just re-read your original comment. Didn't see the "one-stop" phrase. Of course there are flights AGP-MAD-TLV or AGP-BCN-TLV. My post said there was no AGP-TLV and that you'd have to get to a city whether it's AGP or SVQ that flies to a city (like MAD or BCN) that goes to TLV. We're saying the same thing.

Ummmmm... no, we're not. I actually have no clue what you're saying at this point. ;D

FTR, I flew AGP-IST-TLV. Not sure why you think MAD or BCN needs to be involved.

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Re: Spain And Gibraltar Master Thread
« Reply #259 on: June 08, 2014, 08:25:40 PM »
Ummmmm... no, we're not. I actually have no clue what you're saying at this point. ;D

FTR, I flew AGP-IST-TLV. Not sure why you think MAD or BCN needs to be involved.
Okay sorry, I meant you can't go AGP-TLV direct. I guess you're right, you could get out of the country from AGP and then go to TLV. My bad.