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 338216 times)

Offline SamKey

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #300 on: September 07, 2014, 09:07:36 AM »
Spain to GIB is much faster than GIB to Spain IIRC and it all depends on the day and time of day

Offline Menachem613

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #301 on: September 07, 2014, 10:55:29 AM »

Thanks.  How long ago? Time of day?

Friday in July.

Offline Hershelsdeals

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #302 on: September 07, 2014, 10:56:42 AM »
Friday in July.
Thanks. I'm reading that Gibraltar to Spain takes much longer, looking for more info about that

Offline SamKey

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #303 on: September 07, 2014, 11:29:48 AM »
Thanks. I'm reading that Gibraltar to Spain takes much longer, looking for more info about that
By car is more of an issue than by foot. We left motzei Shabbos by car and there were no lines

Offline sruly101

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #304 on: September 08, 2014, 02:03:48 PM »
Does anyone know whats about the weather in GIB in January ?? Officially it should be warm (warmer then NY ;)) Does this mean that it is nice sunny days or not at all?

Offline sruly101

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #305 on: September 11, 2014, 02:50:20 PM »
Is there anyone on this forum living in GIB? pls PM me.

TIA

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #306 on: October 13, 2014, 11:50:59 PM »
Looking into a trip to Tenerife. (TFS) Seems to be a nice Sheraton for only 10,000 points there.

Couple of questions:

1) Can I bring along kosher food from NY into this Island?
2) If I can only leave 7:06pm from Brooklyn, NY 11218 to JFK & SQ A380 leaves 8:25pm do you think I can make it without luggage?
3) If yes how do I print boarding passes right by the zman as the check in counter will never give me one that late.
4) I have TSA Precheck if it matters.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #307 on: November 03, 2014, 10:29:42 PM »
Wow that was a long thread to read. I'm just at the beginning stages of planning a trip that starts and ends in MAD. We don't plan on spending the entire 2 weeks in Spain though. Based on the whole thing here are my questions/summaries (I know I'm asking a lot in one post, but the first 4 are just agree/disagree so don't shoot me):

We'd arrive in MAD Monday night. It seems that spending Tuesday in MAD is enough if you skip Toledo (per @Yehuda). It would also seem like the restaurant there is okay according to many but not chabad. (1) Agree or disagree?

If we take a late flight out of MAD (say after 7pm) to BCN we could spend Wednesday there. We can skip the rooftop Guadí thing and the paid part of Park Guell and still get a nice feeling of the city. If we wanted to take the Jewish tour (which seems worth it) and see the sites we'd need another day. Leaving BCN in the evening at around 7pm again would still be enough time. (2) Agree or disagree?

We were thinking of visiting Seville next on Thursday. There seem to be things to see there though not necessarily lots Jewish history. We'd spend Thursday night there also and drive to GIB early Friday. There's no kosher food in SVQ. (3) Agree or disagree?

Parking/driving in GIB is extremely difficult and not recommended. We'd spend Friday afternoon through Sunday evening in GIB, with Sunday being 17 Tammuz. The community a really nice place to spend shabbos and the Rock hike is awesome if you don't take a restricted path. (4) Agree or disagree?

We would like to go to either CDG or LHR next. Flights from GIB only go to LHR, LGW, or LTN and are all in the evening (5pm-10pm). If we want to go to LON, (5) What would we be able to do in GIB on a fast day?

If we go to CDG next, we'd have to fly from AGP or SVQ. (6) Is it easier to fly to LON and spend the whole day Sunday fasting in GIB or leave earlier and fly to CDG?

Last one: If we rent a car in SVQ it's a lot cheaper to drop it off in Spain than in GIB. (7) What's the best option with the car? Keep it over shabbos in GIB and drive it to AGP or back to SVQ on Sunday? Something else?

TIA

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #308 on: November 03, 2014, 11:14:30 PM »
1. Agree, although I don't know that "many" say the restaurant is good. The Rabbi of the regular Shul says it's good (it's under his supervision).

2. Agree, although I realize that you probably could do the Jewish tour first thing in the morning and then still have time to see Park Guell before heading to the airport.

3. I realize it's silly to just keep saying 'agree' and then adding in a point, so I'll just add in my point: there is a Jewish tour, but he's expensive and wouldn't offer a student discount (which means definitely expensive for you). Make sure to leave early Friday in order to have time in GIB for an activity.

4. Agreed that it's hard to drive/park and you'll be less stressed without a car (you definitely don't need one to move around GIB) but public transportation from SVQ may be annoying. I don't know about the Rock :( , but it sure seems like it's awesome.

5. Don't know other than just walking around, but there's isn't much to walk around. You could do the dolphin tour as that shouldn't be too physically demanding.

6. Since you'll have to go back to SVQ/AGP, then you'll be spending the morning in public transportation or driving a rental car back (which means you decided to rent a car). By the time you land in CDG, it'll be the afternoon. Not sure how much better the busy travel day will be than just chilling in GIB till the LON flights.

7. Can't really help you make the car rental decision other than saying it's doable, but a bit tough/stressful. If public transportation is crazy long, then it really could be worth dealing with driving. Drive RT if you decide to go to CDG. If you decide to go to LON, then drive one way and find a company (I don't know any) where you can return the car near the border and then taxi/bus over the border.

Good night

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #309 on: November 03, 2014, 11:36:10 PM »
Wow, thanks for your response. A OW rental from SVQ to La Linea is $71 man ($269 auto) for the few hours it takes to drive (it's $205 man/$298 auto to GIB), a OW from SVQ to AGP Fri-Sun is $38/day man ($53 auto) and a if I rent and return in SVQ it's $16/day man ($33 auto). Public transportation is long and expensive both from SVQ to GIB and GIB to AGP.

If there's not much besides the dolphins to do in GIB it might be worth it to fly to CDG or ORY from AGP and park the car in GIB over shabbos. Is street parking available there? If yes, it it like saying there's street parking near Times Square: there, but almost never available? That way we can spend a little longer in Paris and spend the next shabbos in London.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #310 on: November 03, 2014, 11:48:24 PM »
Anyone have an idea why MAD-BCN//BCN-SVQ is $69 a leg ($140 total) but MAD-BCN-SVQ is only $113?

Offline moish

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #311 on: November 04, 2014, 01:46:52 AM »
if you skip Toledo (per @Yehuda).
i dont know of anyone besides for @Yehuda that thinks its a good idea to skip toledo

Parking/driving in GIB is extremely difficult and not recommended.
im not sure where you got that info from, but i did not find that to be the case even when driving stick

Offline Mech

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #312 on: November 04, 2014, 04:22:21 AM »

Parking/driving in GIB is extremely difficult and not recommended.
im not sure where you got that info from, but i did not find that to be the case even when driving stick
The driving in Gibraltar is worse than Bais Yisroel

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #313 on: November 04, 2014, 07:29:43 AM »
i dont know of anyone besides for @Yehuda that thinks its a good idea to skip toledo
:)
1 Shul is just a big open room w/ no sign of ever once being a Shul.
The other Shul was closed the day I went #1 because it was a Monday and #2 because it was under construction. Looks like you're going on a Tuesday, so assuming they finished construction by the time you go, it'll likely be open. I wouldn't even stop by the Santa Maria La Blanca Shul if I went again, so you'd be going just for the 1 Shul. I think it's one thing to see the Great Synagogue of Rome when you're eating a restaurant a block away, and another thing to spend 1/2 a day to go see a Shul and pay for train tickets, taxis within Toledo and the Shul entrance fees (albeit small). But hey, if you're really into seeing Shuls (which I normally enjoy, but again, we had a bad experience) then go for it!

im not sure where you got that info from, but i did not find that to be the case even when driving stick
As per Mech's finding, SamKey clearly thinks so. I did too. I'm up to GIB in my TR (yeah, where is that thing??), but I'll give you a quick sneak peek. Once you cross the border into GIB, driving becomes crazy. Even though you're likely not driving more than 10 minutes to your hotel, it's pretty scary. Roundabouts here (as well as in Spain) are much more difficult to navigate than in America. One even had a traffic light in the roundabout and I almost hit an old lady crossing the street because I didn't see the light. More annoyingly, there's basically no distinction between road and sidewalk. People, cars, and the worst - scooters - all share the same travelling path and that gets quite unnerving. Add to the fact that there are no street signs, the roads are narrow and curvy and no signs indicating 1-way or 2-way traffic, made driving here NUTS. At the same time, driving out Saturday night was not so bad as it was much quieter on the streets late at night.

Wow, thanks for your response. A OW rental from SVQ to La Linea is $71 man ($269 auto) for the few hours it takes to drive (it's $205 man/$298 auto to GIB), a OW from SVQ to AGP Fri-Sun is $38/day man ($53 auto) and a if I rent and return in SVQ it's $16/day man ($33 auto). Public transportation is long and expensive both from SVQ to GIB and GIB to AGP.

If there's not much besides the dolphins to do in GIB it might be worth it to fly to CDG or ORY from AGP and park the car in GIB over shabbos. Is street parking available there? If yes, it it like saying there's street parking near Times Square: there, but almost never available? That way we can spend a little longer in Paris and spend the next shabbos in London.
My pleasure. I don't know the deal with the air travel prices or much about the car rentals. If you can deal with the driving situation, it sure looks like that will be pretty cheap (assuming you can handle stick) and more convenient.

That's a fine idea - we took trains on 17 Tammuz. It was a tough day because of the fast, rainy weather, having to do laundry, missing our chance to get to the castle in Belgium we were hoping to see, but nu, it's a fast day - it's not going to be a great day. Travelling probably won't be the worst idea. I wouldn't bank on street parking. If you stay at the Eliott, the lot outside the hotel is not theirs - it's public - but they'll give you a pass for your whole stay for 12 GBP. Not bad. SamKey mentioned a free public lot, but the hotel clerk didn't know where it was. We actually passed by it on a Shabbos walk - it was near The Rock Hotel and about a 15-20 minute walk from the Jewish community and our hotel. I'm glad we paid the 12 pounds for the close lot. Even parking was hard. There was no clear indication that you were in a lot as opposed to just parking on the street (lol, not joking. You'll understand when you see it.) and the rows were so narrow it was almost impossible to move around the lot. If the lot is full, the hotel will tell you you're out of luck, but you could probably wait around for someone to pull out as it's a public lot, so how much time can someone possibly have put in the meter?

Offline Ergel

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #314 on: November 04, 2014, 07:51:38 AM »
Can never compare touring an old Jewish area with a tour and without a tour guide, especially when there is not much physically remaining
Like going to majdenik and not knowing the story of the Holocaust
« Last Edit: November 04, 2014, 08:01:08 AM by Ergel »
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #315 on: November 04, 2014, 08:29:57 AM »
Can never compare touring an old Jewish area with a tour and without a tour guide, especially when there is not much physically remaining
Like going to majdenik and not knowing the story of the Holocaust
Although, it was the most expensive Jewish tour I found in Europe.

Offline moish

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #316 on: November 04, 2014, 09:30:52 AM »
1 Shul is just a big open room w/ no sign of ever once being a Shul.
theres a magen dovid

I think it's one thing to see the Great Synagogue of Rome when you're eating a restaurant a block away, and another thing to spend 1/2 a day to go see a Shul and pay for train tickets, taxis within Toledo and the Shul entrance fees (albeit small).
how can you compare a shul built 100 years ago to one that the rishonim likely davened in?

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #317 on: November 04, 2014, 10:06:54 AM »
theres a magen dovid
how can you compare a shul built 100 years ago to one that the rishonim likely davened in?
I didn't see the Magen David, although Ergel is right that with a tour I probably would have had it pointed out to me. (Not that I was doubting it was a Shul.)
I didn't feel the inspiration based on the assumption your saying. I dunno, it just wasn't worth the schlep for me. Maybe next time I'll do a whole Spain Jewish trip (like an older couple was doing that I met while there) and we'll be rich and hire a guide for the whole of Spain and get a lot more out of it. I'm not sure it's so worth doing alone (although IIRC you did and liked it).

Offline moish

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #318 on: November 04, 2014, 10:44:54 AM »
I didn't see the Magen David,
here it is. sorry for the quality, after all, it was an undercover shot. i knew about it not because i went on a tour, but rather because i prepared before i went. it gave me the proper context


Offline Yehoshua

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Re: Spain Master Thread
« Reply #319 on: November 04, 2014, 10:59:45 AM »
i dont know of anyone besides for @Yehuda that thinks its a good idea to skip toledo
Ok. Would you recommend going if I didn't want to shell out big bucks for a Jewish tour? Assume both shuls would be open. Also keep in mind that I'm only planning one day in MAD. If I go to Toledo that would be instead of MAD.
Quote
im not sure where you got that info from, but i did not find that to be the case even when driving stick
It looks like it's mainly flat around the Jewish community and more hilly closer to the rock. From the little Google Street View there is it looks like the side streets are incredibly narrow with very limited parking. That being said, it doesn't seem like there's another option besides driving. Is there?