Weather

Decided to look at info on the weather while we are there. Of course it's too early for daily forecasts, but I can look at seasonal averages.

Lisbon: Highs around 70, low in the high-50s, 11 hours of daylight, 50% chance of cloud cover, 40% chance of light rain.

Madrid: Highs in the mid- to high-60s, lows in the high-40s, 11 hours of daylight, 40% chance of cloud cover, 33% chance of light rain.

Seville: Highs in the mid-70s, lows in the mid-50s, 10.5 hours of daylight, 25% chance of light rain.

Barcelona: Highs in the mid- to high-60s, lows in the low-50s, 10.5 hours of daylight, 40% chance of cloud cover, 33% chance of light rain.

Travel Pass

It's hard to get an exact price quote, since we're still working on our itineary, but I think we will minimully travel 6 days.

We are defintely going Madrid to Seville (1) and Seville to Barcelona (2). If we do at least one day trip from Lisbon (3), Madrid (4), Seville (5), and Barcelona (6), we have 6 travel days. I assume we are traveling together at all times, so we can get a Portugal-Spain Saver travel pass (two people always traveling together) for $822. I don't think that is each. I think that's total. It's also for 1st Class. 2nd Class didn't appear to be an option.

If price is an issue, we can try combining a side trip with a travel day. For example, see Toledo on the way to Seville. See Cordova on the way to Barcelona.

We can also look at only doing a Spain pass and just paying the fare for our Lisbon side trip. Looks like we can do 5 travel days in Spain with a Saver Pass, 2nd Class for $616. First class is $740.

It also looks like we will be required to have seat reservations to travel in Spain. I need to do a little more research there.

I'm not sure there is a huge difference between 1st and 2nd class. 1st Class is a little more spacious. You don't get truly pampered unless you go Premier Class.

Seville Side Trips

I think we both want to go to Cordova.

Jerez is also on the table. We could in theory see both of those in a day. Here's how.

Seville Hotels

Non-fancy hotels need not apply.

The Plan

So, is this our plan?

Barcelona Rentals

http://www.oh-barcelona.com/

Here's the site that Jason used when getting a rental in Barcelona.  It's pretty cool.  I'm not sure we need to do a rental in Barcelona, but nice to have options.

Travel Bags

I know we talked about getting our own travel backpacks for this trip, rather than borrowing Phil and Liz's again. Long drive to Madison for travel bags.

Madrid Rentals

I haven't contacted anyone yet. We need to finalize where we want to be on which days, but here are a few options for 10/21 to 10/25. I'm assuming we want a washer/dryer

Madrid Metro

The Madrid Metro is pretty intense. Seems like it will get you every where, but there are 12 subway lines that cross-cross throughout the city and then commuter trains too. Subways are numbered 1-12 (and one called R for some reason), commuter trains are C-1, C-2, etc. I'm going to focus on the Metro, cause I haven't quite figured out the trains.

Spain Itinerary Update: The Back Up Plan

Just like when you decided to marry me....

Spain Itinerary Update: The Hub and Side Trip Plan

Based on our conversation the other night, here's where I think we are at. We are going with the "hub and side trip" plan.

Palma de Mallorca

I hate to throw more options into the mix, but we briefly discussed last night, so I thought I'd follow up with some more info today.

5 Easy Day Trips from Lisbon

Coba de Roca or Sintra seem like places we might like.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/21/lisbon-travel-day-trips_n_772113.html#s162515title=Belem

Frommers's Small Towns

Wanted to share this link from Frommer's. I don't want to bog us down with options, but in case we want to look for a smallish town that's more convenient than Caceres or Salamanca.

Spain Itinerary Proposal #1

Something to get the discussion going.

October 18-October 21: Lisbon

On Monday, October 21 we fly to Madrid. We stay in Madrid until Friday, October October 25.

On Friday, October 25 we take the train to Caceres (4 hours).

On Sunday, October 27, we take the train to Seville (5 hours). There is only one train, it leaves at 8 am.

On Tuesday, October 29, we take the train to Granada (3 hours). We could potentially do Cordoba instead (1 hour).

On Wednesday, October 30, we take the train to Barcelona. There is an 11 hour overnight train from Granada. Or it looks like you can get a high speed train from Cordoba in like 5 hours. Granda's further south, so maybe it's more tucked away in the mountains and harder to get to. I'm not sure.

So, this is just a starting point. If we can get that flight from Lisbon to Seville for cheap, maybe it make sense to do Costa Del Sol first, then Madrid & Barcelona. There is a high speed train from Seville to Madrid and Madrid to Barcelona.

We don't have to do Caceres. It seems cool, but it's kind of out of the way. Maybe there is some other non-touristy town we can visit that fits in with some of our other destinations.

Direct routes from Lisbon via train

Found this site this AM.  It lists all direct train routes from Lisbon. 

http://www.renfe.com/EN/viajeros/horarios.html