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Barcelona, Costa Brava & Bordeaux

· Travel Feedback,Spain

Two client couples traveling together returned from a customized trip that includes staying in Barcelona, a day out in the Costa Brava, before heading up to Bordeaux.  They returned home a shared the following detailed feedback summary with me.

 

Wednesday:  

-We arrived to the hotel around 9am- no problems with your transportation.  Our rooms were not yet ready, so we had coffee in the lobby restaurant and about an hour later we wereled to our rooms.  The rooms were well appointed and really just perfect.We also really enjoyed the rooftop bar at the hotel and ended every evening there.   

-We met our tour guide,Carles, at 2pm in the hotel lobby for the tour of the Sagrada Familia. Our driver, Elvis, was ready and waiting.  The tour was great and truly, Carles was exceptional.  He was extremely knowledgeable about all things Gaudi and the construction of the church.  

-Our dinner that evening was at Maite Taberna.  It was just okay.  The food was good, but the atmosphere was really more "diner like”.  However, we were tired after a long day of travel!   

Thursday:   

-Carles and Elvis were ready and waiting for us at 9am.  We toured the city partially on foot and partially in the car.  It was a great way to really see all of the sightsof the city.  Again, Carles had a great way of sharing information aboutthe architecture, history and folklore of the city that was entertaining andeasy to listen to.  We can’t recommend him enough.  We ended our tourwith lunch at a tapas restaurant which was lovely.  He also gave us sometips for our drive up the Costa Brava and an EXCELLENT place for lunch the nextday.    

-We went to dinner at Fismuler which you arranged the reservation for.  It was very good and had a nice atmosphere. We liked that we could walk to the restaurant.    

Friday:  

-We slept in a little this morning and then took a cab to meet the tour guide for the “walking food tour”. There was a tiny bit of confusion, as I got a text to look for a femaletour guide and the tour guide was actually a male…who seemed to find us prettyeasily (4 Americans looking around are an easy spot).  Anyway, we enjoyedthis tour and our guide was knowledgeable.  It was a lot of food (whichwas to be expected) but also a really fun way to see the city.  We went toplaces we otherwise wouldn’t have known about.   

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Saturday:  

-We met Elvis at 9am for our drive up the Costa Brava.  We loved it, but especially LOVED Cadaques and the restaurant Carles recommended called Es Buluard (I think) which overlooked the sea.  The food was fantastic as well as the atmosphere.  We also stopped at  Port LLigat and saw the Dali home, but did not tourit.   Carles also suggested we bypass the Bay of Roses and the othercoastal town you had suggested….he felt they weren’t as nice as Cadeques. He did recommend an inland medieval town that we stopped at and toured…wedid enjoy that.   

-That evening we went to Estimar which was EXCELLENT.  This was our favorite meal.  We loved it and I’m so glad you were able to get us in.  We also liked being ableto walk there from our hotel.   

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Sunday:  

-Our transportation to the train station was timely and no issues.  All of our train travel was fine…just laborious with large suitcases and train transfers!!   Honestly…it was comical!  

-Our driver met us at the train station and was soooo nice.  He took us on a driving tour throughout the city that he was clearly very proud of.  He didn’t speak much English,but with the help of google , he was able to convey lots of historicalinformation about the city.   

-We arrived at our hotel in Bordeaux around 6pm.  The conceriege told us that a taxi might be tough to find for our dinner reservation.  We asked where close by he wouldrecommend for dinner  and he made a reservation for us at a restaurantcalled Le Clemenceau.  It was GREAT…both the food and the atmosphere.   

-The hotel was perfect and very nice.  We enjoyed our stay in Bordeaux and will definitely be back. We wished we had another night there to wander around the city.    

Monday:  

-Our driver (scheduled the day before) was ready for us in the am and got us to the station with plenty of time to spare.   

-Train travel to Mussidan was uneventful and on schedule.   

Monday- Saturday : at The Chateau   

Saturday:  

-our driver met us bright and early at 6:30 for our ride to the Paris airport.    

-there was no problem adding our friend from the Chateau in the van   

All in all, it was a fabulous trip and we are so grateful for all of your hard work planning it.  

The app was really easy to use and I loved being able to refer to it throughout the vacation.  Ialso really appreciated having the drivers. They were all SO NICE andprofessional.  They are a premium service and cost,  but really take some of the stressfulaspects of travel out of the picture.

Derek was fabulous. He was timely, attentive and really listened to our goals for the trip. He answered every question in a timely manner and went into depth with every answer. He made recommendations for activities we otherwise would not have known about. 

We highly recommend Derek Schemonitz for planning your next vacation.  He planned a fabulous trip to Barcelona for us that included a few private tours of the city as well as drive up the Costa Brava.  He recommended a few great restaurants and made the reservations for us.  Our hotel accommodations were perfect and well located.   

We will definitely use Derek again and share his name with family and friends.