OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:46 am Not an incredibly popular destination, but Querétaro, Mexico, for a week around Thanksgiving. Have been there once before.

Would love recommendations for an excellent barbacoa place. And good regional Mexican restaurants, post-pandemic, in general. Plus any day trips that are less crowded than Bernal or San Miguel, but still worthwhile. Thanks.

We went to both San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato last November. I don’t remember San Miguel being very crowded at all with the exception of the night there was a big jazz festival. Maybe it was the time of year though. We stayed in an amazing small hotel (Casa Blanca 7) there and would recommend that place 100% without hesitation. It’s true that most of the tourists were European and American though (mostly Santa Fe retirees). Guanajuato seemed more like where Mexicans went for vacation.

I’ll dig up and add specific Guanajuato recos if you think you might end up there at any point.

tommy wrote:

OrthodoxEaster wrote: Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:46 am Not an incredibly popular destination, but Querétaro, Mexico, for a week around Thanksgiving. Have been there once before.

Would love recommendations for an excellent barbacoa place. And good regional Mexican restaurants, post-pandemic, in general. Plus any day trips that are less crowded than Bernal or San Miguel, but still worthwhile. Thanks.

We went to both San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato last November. I don’t remember San Miguel being very crowded at all with the exception of the night there was a big jazz festival. Maybe it was the time of year though. We stayed in an amazing small hotel (Casa Blanca 7) there and would recommend that place 100% without hesitation. It’s true that most of the tourists were European and American though (mostly Santa Fe retirees). Guanajuato seemed more like where Mexicans went for vacation.

I’ll dig up and add specific Guanajuato recos if you think you might end up there at any point.

Supposedly San Miguel can get pretty mobbed on weekends in nice weather. And yeah, it does boast a fair number of American retirees. Although I've never actually been there, I'm just basing this on what people from Querétaro have remarked. It possibly only seems "crowded" by comparison.

Speaking of which, I'd fucking love to get to Guanajuato. But we won't be driving and we're visiting family, so there likely won't be any time to go that far via bus and come back the same day. Appreciate the offer, though.

You haven't been to Mineral de Pozos, though, have you? I'm curious.

My lady and I will be flying into Barcelona next month and puttering around the Iberian Peninsula for a couple of weeks, along with 3 or 4 days in Morocco. We have no itinerary whatsoever. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Dave N. wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 3:36 pm My lady and I will be flying into Barcelona next month and puttering around the Iberian Peninsula for a couple of weeks, along with 3 or 4 days in Morocco. We have no itinerary whatsoever. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I've been to Barcelona, though it was some 18 years ago now and for a business trip, so I didn't get to see much. Just have the obvious suggestions: drink lots of wine (if you indulge), eat lots of paella, and definitely take time to walk around and check out the architecture (La Sagrada Familia in particular).

If you have time, try to make it up to the Pyrenees, perhaps even up as far as Andorra, and hang out in some of the smaller cities. I was in Ripoll for two days. Very beautiful.

For a long time, I've wanted to see Gibraltar and it's still high on my list. Not sure if that's in your agenda but I implied it might be since it's a convenient place to head over to Morocco (or so I've heard).

Dave N. wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 3:36 pm My lady and I will be flying into Barcelona next month and puttering around the Iberian Peninsula for a couple of weeks, along with 3 or 4 days in Morocco. We have no itinerary whatsoever. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Bar Pastis is the oldest anarchist bar in Spain, and my own little paradise. Please say hello to it from me. It's opposite El Bosc de les Fades at the sea end of Las Ramblas.

Morocco - try to see Chefchaouen if possible. Also, eat all the food.

Dave N. wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 3:36 pm My lady and I will be flying into Barcelona next month and puttering around the Iberian Peninsula for a couple of weeks, along with 3 or 4 days in Morocco. We have no itinerary whatsoever. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

There's too much to write re: Spain, so in brief: trains are cheap and you can city hop easily, check reddit for itinerary suggestions, and a week in southern Spain (Granada, Cordoba, Seville) would be an amazing mini-trip in itself on the absolute wonders of Islamic architecture.

For Barcelona, go see the gothic quarter, but maybe don't stay in it; Gracia is a lovely residential district you can walk in from, with nice bars and restaurants. You can do plenty of lovely day trips by train - Montserrat in the mountains above it is a stunning hike and has a black madonna in a church up there.
Spain's also the fucking worst for price gouging - the museums and Gaudi houses are like €30 each. Do the Sagrada Familia, the free part of Park Güell (the public park he designed), and maybe just do one or two of the guy's houses and just look at the rest from the outside.

Eat seafood.

Madrid's also a very underrated city worth your time. Underrated as in Barcelona gets all the press and instagram snaps, but Madrid has a world of cool shit all its own too.

I usually glance at wikitravel to get a 1000-mile overview of a city - different districts, famous dishes, restaurants, what public transport is on offer, etc. It can be outdated, but good for orienting yourself.


Morocco is lovely but.... aggressive in parts. Be on your toes.

If you're covering some ground, Bilbao up north is cool. You can get some of the Basque vibe and the Guggenheim is very cool, especially if you're into Frank Gehry architecture. It would be interesting to compare to the Gaudi stuff in Barcelona.

Dave N. wrote: Thu Feb 15, 2024 3:36 pm My lady and I will be flying into Barcelona next month and puttering around the Iberian Peninsula for a couple of weeks, along with 3 or 4 days in Morocco. We have no itinerary whatsoever. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Oh man, my wife and I did that trip a few years ago. Drove down to Cadiz, stopping in Tarragona, Valencia, Seville. Cadiz is awesome, could live there easily. Then parked the car at the ferry and took it to Tangiers, picked up another car and drove to Casablanca (could easily live there too), Safi (here too), Marrakech (not so much). Best pizza I have ever had, to this day, was in Cadiz. See a flamenco show in Seville, eat Paella and see a pelota (pilota valenciana) match if you can, in Valencia. There is a restaurant that is also a club, can't recall the name. See the Sagrada Familia church, designed by Antoni Gaudi.

Got pulled over for speeding in Morocco, near Marrakesh. Was asked to get out of the car at gunpoint. Paid $105 cash for a hand-written ticket. Got pulled over again for speeding coming back into Tangiers. I said yes I know I was speeding and explained we had a ferry to catch, had to return the rental car, and they let us go. In Morocco everyone thought I was local, which was nice. Took the bus around the Casablanca. Great food.

Good record shops in Barcelona, I bought a bunch. Very walkable city.

Madrid is pretty incredible. Easier to get lost in the rhythm of local life compared to Barcelona. Walk everywhere. Check out the art museums, you don't need me to tell you which ones. Go to Lavapiés and drink Spanish natural wine at Bendito in the Mercado de San Fernando. Get a big fried squid sandwich for lunch at La Campana. Drink sherry at La Venencia, which looks like a tourist trap but is not. Order tripe (callos) and cocido at a homestyle place or go old-school at La Bola. Eat slightly fancy, more modern stuff and get cocktails at Angelita. Definitely head someplace like Los Caracoles for an aperitif, maybe vermouth, snails, and some potato chips.

It's been too long since I've been to Barcelona, so... Crowded and touristy, yes, but it's an awfully big city, so once you've seen it, be sure to go beyond Las Ramblas and the Gaudí-centric areas and explore. That can be very rewarding.

Galicia is a wonderful, underrated part of Spain. Not very obvious for most foreigners, and quite inconvenient to Morocco. But... amazing wine and cider, the best seafood in the country, and green, rocky, almost Celtic scenery. Santiago gets the hype but Cambados and A Guarda are both very agreeable and smaller places to eat, drink, and get some sea spray on your face. Weather can suck, depending on when.

The Costa de La Luz, between Algeciras and Cadiz is also worth exploring. Wide, windy beaches, Moorish vibes, sherry towns.

As noted above, Northern Morocco can be a pain in the ass. But it's worth it. Usually. It's been decades, but I have it on good authority that Asilah is still uncharacteristically chilled-out. I van vouch for how pretty it is. Walled white medina on the sea. Convenient to the ferry from Algeciras. Would be more relaxing than Tangier and less Instagram-famous than Chefchaouen if you've only got a few days.

The Café Zurich in Barcelona - in the Placa Catalunya - is great if you're into people-watching.

The zoo is okay, the aquarium is pretty good, the architecture is amazing.

I'd also recommend the cable car (Telerific de Montjuic)