I'm Going To Spain

Pdog, I'll never know - waaah! Well, maybe I'll know if Sugar and her man go in and compare notes with you.....

When I went sixteen years ago, one of the first things that impressed me was the fact that even the young people wore good shoes. They'd be in jeans wearing wing tipped oxfords.

I think American ideas of casual dress approach slovenly to the Europeans' ideas of casual dress--unless you're talking about Berlin punkers or something like that. So, when you go, err on the side of conservativeness. Generally, it's better to be overdressed than underdressed.

I met one of the most amazing persons I've ever met in my life on my trip from Dallas to Madrid, a Madrileña who, seeing as I was a wide-eyed kid traveling there, ignorant, stupid, and all alone, decided to look after me while I was there in Madrid. I could not express to her and her family how utterly indebted and beholden I was to her for her selflessness in watching out for me while I was in Madrid.

Needless to say, I came away from my trip with a very positive view of Spaniards.

¡Viva la España!

I agree entirely with infrablue...

I will never ever in my whole life no matter how much money and expertise falls on me, dress and walk with the natural grace of any italian at all. Ok, I exaggerate. Nino Manfredi in Sporco e Brutti, I could dress better, besides, I'm a woman.

What I am agreeing to is a conservative dress style underpinning, no matter what the flight of dress fancy.

ohh spain...how lovely

Sounds like it will be a fabulous trip for ya....cant wait to hear all about it

Never been there myself. Sorry, cant hep ya there.

Yes, I agree with the dressing advice. The Spanish people I saw in Malaga last week definitely dressed a lot better than the Germans or British...

In dresses or skirts, or just nicer pants and shoes or....?

I'm not too worried - I have a tendancy to dress 'over' for the occasion and prefer to wear skirts and dresses when I can (weather permitting). I just don't want to pack a month's worth of 'what-ifs' for a two week vacation.

But But Sug...you'll have that strapping young man attached to your hip---you must make him feel useful in some way!
Bring a few trunks, all will be well.

Wahhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spain is fabulous - back later today!

It's their honeymoon. quinn. Don't want the boy all worn out dragging two trunks around. Need his energy for other things.
One trunk should suffice, sugar.

Yes, I tend to dress relatively well for myself when I go to italy, and am clodwalking next to Roman women. Memories of Easter Sunday 1999 (who knew it was Easter when I made the reservation?) and the central city was filled with people promenading as the day developed. Many tourists, but also courses of vignettes, a grandmother in say a rosecolored wool suit walking the pram with the well dressed baby.. I will never be so put together... Spain must be similar in this...

Spaniards have less money than Italians, spend about 10% of their income in clothes (vs. 14% for the Italians), and do not have the same sense of fashion. Yet, they are contiental Europeans.
Spanish women (over 30) tend to dress much classier than their male counterparts or the younger generations.

This is probably an urban myth, or only true of some, but I have heard and seem to notice myself that italians will buy one good coat, for example, and keep it through tough times, rather than have less expensive ones replacing each other with time. I still remember my first subway ride, it was on the first of March, a train full of people in gorgeous overcoats.... (but then I'm from California, and overcoats in general impress me.)

They do dress well in Spain, although not as focussed on fashion and "look" as Italians. fbaezer's figures seem just about right!

If you frequent the travel sites (and I do - ever the travel tart!), the thing that comes up most as identifying Americans is "white shoes". Tennis shoes, joggers, whatever - are considered not the done thing by the travel mafioso.

This, of course, doesn't apply to me because I'm Australian, and no-one knows much about us anyway! But I tend to dress a little better in Europe now! (but still feel slovenly compared with some of the natives - Austria - yikes!) It is important to have comfortable shoes, however, so do what's best for you.

Granada, Seville, Cordoba, and Toledo are all fabulous. I don't know anything about the beaches - I don't need to go to Spain for them!

I managed without Spanish - well, not exactly...my hairdresser taught me to say "2 beers, please." Trouble was - I didn't know how to ask for one. People were generally kind and helpful, though. On my most recent trip to Spain, I found myself using my (limited) French a bit.

Have a ball - ask any questions that we might be able to help with, and most important - REPORT BACK!!!

Yes, very often it's the shoes that give the American away. I - as a European - always look at the shoes first and then think 'yup, American...'

In Spain a lot of people really wear nicer pants, nicer skirts. I just put on some jeans and a pullover... And I wear comfortable shoes. You can buy great shoes in Spain! Even at the Barcelona airport I was very, very tempted...

Oh yeah. I bought like three or four pairs of shoes over there, all Spanish made. One were a pair of black, wing-tipped oxfords with leather soles.

I was twenty years old at the time, and when I wore them over here, I got looks from people and friends like, "who the hell do you think you are?"

Margo and I have talked about all this before, haven't we, shoes and travelling. Baby Osso has tender feet, which is to say I have high arches and whapping my feet on ten miles of concrete or cobblestones, which can happen to me on a trip,
can almost kill me. My first trip to italy, I probably fit in except for the unfortunate but fortunate choice of Nike Air Max, in March. Trust me, there wasn't another pair in the whole country, and certainly not on a woman. Next trip I got some black leather Reeboks (I take one pair of shoes...) and they made it through pouring rain, squish, and shine. (Squish til dry). But, you know, ugly versus italian shoes. In the meantime I have tried out Wolkies, Born, Mephisto, Ecco, bla bla bla, and keep coming back to Dansko clogs.

So my last trip to italy I wore my black danskos with the addition of a soft pad. Though Danskos are european, I still saw no other pair, in April of 1999. They are gross of course compared to fine italian shoes. But even they don't usually do nine or ten miles in a day of urban walking.

I ended up with immense blisters, oh good, which turned out to be from the cushion thingy. I went into a shoe store, an ordinary cheapo type, in Florence, and bought some black sneakers. Well, I lie. I couldn't buy the black ones, they were too glossy. Only pair in the store that felt right. But there was a copy pair, available in .... gag, white. I bought them. They looked so bad with my black suit I can't begin to tell you. How bad did they look? Maybe I'll post a picture sometime. Totally humiliating, but my feet recovered for the next 21 days.

So this isn't a problem for people with Normal feet who don't walk around like maniacs.

Which you won't, right? It's your honeymoon...

I forgot to mention one thing which probably won't interest you, Sugar, since this is your honeymoon. But still - you can look... The Spanish men are a lot better looking than the Germans! I very much enjoyed working at the hotel during our meeting with all the handsome young men there.

Sugar, I''ve been to Europe and Spain several times.
My favorite city is Barcelona. It's a beautiful city
architecturel with public art everywhere. Gaudi's cathedral is awesome as is Guelph park. Walking on the Ramblas is unforgetable. Read about it and see if you agree.

In Madrid, be sure to take in the Tapas bars.

Adios.

We have started planning so this is where will be headed -

Madrid - only for 2 nights. It's so big and busy and we want to relax after the wedding and flight. We'll be visiting the Prado and some local sights and then travel south on the 3rd night.

Malaga - think we will spend at least 4 nights here to decompress and spend some time on the beach. We can jump off for day trips too.

Granada - probably 3 nights here. It's the boy's favorite city.

We may spend a night or 2 in or near Seville or Cordoba. Then back to Madrid for 2 nights to catch anything quick we hadn't seen or to make up for anything that got screwed up due to flight delays, etc.. Then back home.

Sounds fabulous, good to hear itll be a nice longish trip with some relaxation...he'll need it after carrying all your bags