(Feedback on the Spanish portion)
The Intrepid tour was great in many ways 10 people ....6 Australians, 3 Americans and me I think I was the oldest but some were close in age and interests The other single woman was probably about 40 No problems getting along The Guide was a young Spanish girl, 30 I think, from northern Spain Very congenial, conscientious, knew her role Knew her facts and always ready to look up anything We all enjoyed her
The highlight of the whole trip was the Mesquita......there were many lesser highlights
The local guides were very good but I find they all talk incessantly on the head sets The Guide for the Alhambra spoke very very fast and didn’t take a breath for 3hours except at the washroom break I think Spanish is spoken.very fast and it is difficult for some to slow down
Remember a tapas tour was added to replace the night tour of Alhambra? It was a good time and then the evening meal became a wonderful lunch at the base of the Alhambra hill the next day before our visit
Hotels were excellent except in Granada where we were in a concrete monstrosity with a view of the expressway and a ton of large tour groups ...breakfast was a zoo!
It was a long way out of the city Centre The Guide did her best with an extra taxi There was a bus into town but the stop was a good ways from the hotel
The Madrid hotel was perfectly located for me
The meals included in the tour were excellent The Guide did a great job of ordering
To be critical, I think Intrepid should rethink the Toledo day and make the time there longer and not offer a free afternoon in Madrid We were doing this trip on National Day So there were traffic considerations etc and we didn’t get back until around 4 pm Some of the others hoped to go to the Prado etc Too much emphasis on the marzipan in Toledo We ate it standing on the street. Hardly saw the outside of the cathedral
The long driving days to Valencia and then to Barcelona need better timing The Guide got us to agree not to go to a palm grove en route but we still should have left for Valencia earlier I know there are traffic concerns, breakfast etc etc Iwas doing a 2 hour city walk having had very little to eat since breakfast We were late getting into Barcelona too Unsure why there wasn’t an earlier start Because I had extra days It didn’t affect me much but it affected the group
I found the walking very strenuous. and I wasn’t the only one feeling this way I managed to keep up but I think I lost some of the enjoyment of the walks

Marion - Waterloo, ON