BellaOnline Forums Travel and Culture Spanish Culture Are you planning or hoping to visit Spain soon?

Please tell us all where you are heading or hoping to head to in Spain or its Islands.

Yes; we plan to visit Spain this year. We will begin in Madrid. I have been trying to pick up my Spanish where I left off many years ago.

Have you been?

I was surprised to find that the dining hours are so different than here. It is my understanding that lunch is around 2:00 p.m. and Dinner is well after 7:00 p.m.

What has your experience been and do you have any advice for planning meal times while traveling?

We don't live far from the Spanish border, so we are there fairly often... mainly in the Barcelona area (mostly north of there, around Cadaques/Rosas/Figueras). Beautiful area.

I used to go at least once a year down to Javea, which is a little more than an hour south of Valencia for you who aren't familiar to the region.

We enjoyed our trip. We began in Madrid, traveled to Segovia and Avila, to Burgos, to Bilbao, Mundaka, San Sebastian, Jean de Luc (Cibourre), Picos de Europa, Altamira, Lugo, Santiago de Compostela, Salamonca, Duoro Valley in Portugal, and Porto.

I may have left out a few stops.

What a fantastic trip around this wonderful country you took.

So much to do and see, what a experience.

Angie, you're so right about the eating hours. Diners still come into the restaurants up to midnight, we leave they arrive incredible.

Rachel Webb
Andalucia for Holidays
Luxury Spain Travel

Yes, it took a few days to get acclimated to dining. We arrived at a restaurant around 8:30 and they seated us but the waiters weren't even on duty yet and around 8:50 or so they were just putting on their ties. I'm blank where we were but suckling pig was very popular here.

Of course in the summer months it's just so hot you don't actually feel hungry until it cools slightly after the sun goes down.

Rachel
Andalucia for Holidays
Luxury Spain Travel

The weather was gorgeous while we were there. We were in northern Spain. It was lovely.