Hotels in Spain

Barcelona.

 

Must visit there soon. Will I have a problem with the language? I can
speak some Castellano y un poco Andaluz.

 

None at all.

It would be fun to hear a "guiri" speaking "andalú"

Let us know about your trip at es.charla.moteros and we could arrange a
beer.

 

Paul Carmichael bored us all completely to death with wittery prose
along the lines of:

Can I interrupt? IME, you'll have no problems. As people in Barcelona
will figure out that Spanish isn't your first language, you'll be okay.

SWMBO did have problems with some gits that replied in Castellano when
she spoke Spanish to them. Not too many, as they prolly figured out
that her accent isn't from Barcelona.

BTW, Barcelona is a great city and well worth the visit.
Paris-Barcelona, by Easyjet, 150 euros for two return tickets. The next
time I'm there, I may give Domènec a look up.

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

Ah. We're hoping to spend consecutive nights in San Sebastian,
Gavarnie, Andorra and Carcassonne, so we probably won't make it that
far south.

 

Proud thanks

You are welcome.

BTW, cheapo air lines do not fly to Barcelona-El Prat (only Aer Lingus
AFAIK) Ryan Air flies to Reus-Tarragona and Easyjet flies to Girona-Costa
Brava. Both Girona and Tarragona are some 100kms away, and both ancient
cities are worth a one day visit.

 

Ok, but as I see it your trip will be mainly on the northern side of the
Pyrenees.

Also keep in mind that Andorra is worth a visit for motorcycle equipment
shopping, but IMHO it is the Torremolinos of the Pyrenees, there are finer
and quieter valleys in the Pyrenees.

 

Domhnec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

You're welcome.

You sure? I'm sure that I flew to El-Prat [1] (that IS the main airport
in Barcelona, isn't it?)

[1] I'm waiting for sniggers from other ukrmers.
--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

At http://www.ryanair.com/ it shows Girona (Barcelona). But other sites
report Ryanair flights to Reus-Tarragona.

At http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/index.asp they say Barcelona (BCN) and BCN
certainly is El Prat. Me stupid, Easycar parking is 100 metres away from
where I live.

Afraid to say, that's beyond my Cambridge First Certificate level of
English.

 

Domhnec bored us all completely to death with wittery prose along the
lines of:

He, I thought I was going mad for a mo.

El-Prat would be the english equivalent of el Cabron.

Oh, and I don't belive you've only got a Cambridge First Certificate
level of English. A Cambridge first in English, maybe.

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

So where would you recommend?

 

Is "guiri" just applied to brits, or extranjeros as a whole?

Actually, I´ve learnt to understand quite a bit of andaluz, but I don't
actually speak it. I'm strange like that. I'm happy to drop g, h and t
when speaking english, but I insist on speaking correct castellano,
complete with lisp and all letters present.

Haven't been there for a while. Still subscribed. Will pop in later.

Cheers.

 

It is applied to foreigners with bizarre (according to us) behaviours and
coming frome countries with a higher level of living. A "moro" will never be
a "guiri".

Any clues on "dagos" for Spaniards?

See you there, then.

 

Heh. I don't really know where it came from, but I think it is widely
applied to all spaniards and maybe latin americans. I don't think it's
usually derogative. I think more often these days, the word "spic" is
used, which although it (in my opinion) sounds worse than "dago", is
only an abbreviation for "hispanic".

There's a guy that posts here called dog. He will have the definitive
answer.

"Did you hear about the spanish prostitute? She wouldn't let a dago by."

 

First, visiting Andorra is worth it (but may be not for your Visa card after
visiting the some 30 motorcycle shops ;-) I simply don't like staying there
because it is too massified, but they have the best services in the
Pyrenees: Department Stores, motorcycle shops, Caldea thermal centre, plenty
of hotels, etc. But you have that feeling of not abandoning civilization.
For relaxing skiing holidays, wilderness and bike trips I prefer the valley
next to the west, Pallars.

My suggestions:

Departing from Donostia/San Sebastian, if you follow the northern side of
the Pyrenees I'd head to Bagneres de Luchon and enter Spain by the Aran
Valley, and stop at Vielha for a meal (most famous place is Casa Irene,
where citizen Borbon usually eats). Then I'd take the road of Port de la
Bonaigua (2200 metres high), tarmac a bit crap on the Aran side, I must
admit, but nice landscape. At Valencia d'Aneu there is a quiet ** Hotel
Morera, some rooms with nice views to the Aneu Valley (yet in Pallars).
Suggested restaurant is Can Poldo at La guingueta d'Aneu. From there to
Andorra you must drive down to Sort and then take Coll del Canto ("200km/h
on a mountain road, officer... huh?" to Adrall and then drive up to
Andorra. A bit further to the south there is Tremp-Coll de Nargo road, I was
there this summer with fresh new tarmac and crash barriers still laying on
the floor waiting to be installed. It was *great*! (even riding on a wet
road under the rain with worn-out Supercorsas, it was great

From your site I remember you like horses, at Pallars people like Yeti
Emotions organize horse riding visits to nice places, AFAIK. Also, it is
worth a visit with authorized 4x4 vehicles and guides to the National Park
of Aigüestortes. If you like emotions on fresh and rapid waters (a
Thunderacer *should*) ask the Yeti guys for some rafting or hidrospeed at
the Noguera Pallaresa river departing from Llavorsi (and quads and all the
like).

You can take a look to our last "Volta a Catalunya" (tour of Catalonia)
here:
http://www.moteros.net/alforjas/content/volta2004/volta2004.pdf
pages 8-11

Camping La Presalla is also a nice place to stay in wooden bungalows, but
pricey for 2 people only.

Most names here can be googled. If not, drop a message to domenec at moteros
"punto" net.

 

Paul Carmichael bored us all completely to death with wittery prose
along the lines of:
I always thought that 'dago' applied to Italians.

http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/dago seems to back this up.
ish.

I wonder why 'spic' is one of those words that applies to Maltesers
(and possibly Italians) now though...

<G>

--
Cab :^) - almost as fast as G.i.n.g.e.
GSX 1400 - 'Tarts Handbag' (tm) Bike, dead 550/4 Rat
UKRMMA#10 (KoTL), IbW#015, Bob#4, POTM#3

email addy : cab_at_ukrm_dot_org

 

Thanks.

 

According to [1], this is the origin of "guiri".

El origen de la palabra guiri es la abreviatura del término vasco Guiristino
'Cristino'. Es el nombre con el que durante las guerras que se desarrollaron
en España durante el siglo XIX los carlistas designaban a los partidarios de
la reina Cristina y después, por extensión, a todos los liberales y en
especial a los soldados del gobierno. Un segundo significado se encuentra a
principios del siglo XX, en el habla de los gitanos españoles para quienes
los guiris eran los miembros de la Guardia Civil. En la actualidad en España
se designa a los extranjeros con el término guiri, aunque se debe resaltar
que este término no abarca a los que tienen al español como lengua madre y,
generalmente, se refiere a los extranjeros que vienen a España como
turistas.

Babelfish translation

"The origin of the word tourist 'Cristino' is the abbreviation of the Basque
term Guiristino;. It is the name with which during the wars that were
developed in Spain during century XIX the carlistas they designated to those
in favor of queen Cristina later and, by extension, to all liberal and in
the special one to the soldiers del government. A second meaning is at the
beginning of century XX, in the speech of the Spanish gypsys for those who
the tourists were the members of the Civil Guard. At the present time in
Spain tourist designates itself to the foreigners with the term, although he
is due to stand out that this term does not include to whom they have to the
Spanish like language mother and, generally, talks about the foreigners who
come to Spain like tourists." (sic)

[1] http://www.esespasa.com/esespasanw/esp/3/5/13_01_03.htm

 

LOL!

Is that a proof of your general mastering of the Spanish language or should
I see some incidental relationship with your nick? ;-) Please notice that
"cabron" has a very wide usage in Spanish, not always bad.

 

A bit of history... Germans invented tapas. Or helped to.

The first German tourists in Spain back in the XVI century (no EasyJet then,
rather say EasyFeet) were the troops of Austrian king Charles I, an Augsburg
family member. Those early sunbathers seemed not to tolerate the Spanish
alcoholic drinks (500 years later, the problem remains), so someone had the
happy idea of covering ("tapar") drinks with some food that had to be eaten
before in order to soften the effect of alcohol.

BTW, Paul, in the north "tapas" are paid, but are the size of half a normal
dish. Basques do "montaditos" which is food mounted on slices of bread.