A country that lived up to expectations
I planned a trip in the summer, but in September it was difficult to find a tour operator with the required route. Travel agency La Costa. All the negativity associated with the trip, fortunately, turned out to be associated only with La Costa. There was everything: the difference in price by 40% from the one declared at the beginning of the tour and the last amount billed on the day of calculation, and the requirement to pay both the overnight stay in Madrid and the transfer back to Barcelona on the same night, they even managed to calculate the initial euro exchange rate at 13.30, when throughout Ukraine it was no higher than 12.65, and they tried to take 1000 hryvnia more for an air ticket - they refused their services and prioritized plane tickets for themselves. In the end, I flew out, however, La Costa forgot to inform Barcelona of the time of my arrival and the transfer was not provided, quite by accident she herself found representatives of the host country in Spain TERRAMAR who were meeting other tourists at the airport and everything was settled right away. I really liked the work of the Spanish side, everything was at the highest level - both excursions, and transfers, and response to any additional requests, up to the fact that money was returned for unused transfers! In the process of communicating with a representative of Terramara, it turned out that it was quite realistic to make any changes to the itinerary and terms of stay in Spain, but La Costa refused to do anything, arguing that a group was traveling and I should be with the group. Already in Barcelona, I realized that the group consists of me alone! It was a shame to stay in Spain for only 8 days when the visa was open for a month! Now about the pleasant - Barcelona is a city of celebration, bright, loud, memorable. Lots of museums and interesting places. Even in a short time - three full days - I managed to visit the Picasso Museum, Dali, the National Museum of Catalonia, go to Montserrat, see the aquarium, just sit on the embankment, see Gaudi's houses. Immediately I want to advise you to go to Montserrat yourself, in the morning by 9-10 o'clock - then they bring a lot of tourists, the groups are shown the main. I myself climbed even higher into the mountains and looked more, especially since there is a very interesting art museum. A trip to Montserrat cost me 19 euros with all entrance tickets, dear (a group tour costs 45 euros). The hotel in Barcelona was very decent, ****, food, breakfasts are excellent, the room is spacious, the location is convenient - near the metro and shopping center. Moving to Madrid - at night, in a sleeping car, quite tolerable and calm, the impression that you are driving a car - there is no such shaking as on our railways. In Madrid, in three full days, I managed to see all the main large museums, go to Toledo (also by myself), where I also visited the El Greco Museum, went to the homeland of Cervantes - 30 km from Madrid. Of course, a few days were not enough, but now I clearly know that I will definitely come to Madrid again, because I simply did not have time to see a lot. Yes, for those who will be in Madrid - both the Prado Museum and the Princess Sofia Museum from 18.00 to 21.00 daily on weekdays - admission is free. The hotel in Madrid was *** not bad either. The impressions of the trip were excellent. But I don’t advise anyone to deal with the La Costa agency - they scam our tourist brother out of the blue. The Spanish host company Terramar-tuor explained that you can contact them directly, order any route, any time frame, and by the way, it will be cheaper. All pleasant travels.