Kimkim Trip Reviews

cant say enough good things about it driver guide etc very adaptable kind good people loved it all apart from the heat hotels lovely but as i say it was all about the people

WOW WOW WOW.. a trip to remember for sure. As my wife said this was the best vaction ever and will be hard to beat. Seeing different areas and aspects of S. Africa, Zimbabwie and Bostwana was so facinating in many different ways its hard to answer what our best part of the trip was. Seeing everything from Penguins to Lions and interacting with local people made everything so special. I can not thank our local specialist Anna-marie enough, from the very start of our trip planning process all the way to the end of our journey. She was always availble before and during our trip to answer quick questions and made sure that we were completely taken care of during our journey and often followed up to check in. Her contribution was far more than a travel agent, she made us feel like family and we never thought of ourself as customers. The Garden route was fabulous as well as our other activites in S Africa. Elton and his staff at the Tree House lodge in Cape Town were absolutely fabulous in welcoming us and making sure everything was in order. Pinky and her staff at One Marine Drive Boutique Hotel in Hermanus was absolutely a riot. They all started dancing and singing in the lobby for us , just because... That was a cool surprise. Our first Safari in Kruger was very nice and Abigail and her team at Umkumbe Bush lodge treated us like royalty and at the same time being friendly and smiling all the time. Our final Safari in drive at the Muchenje Safari Lodge in Botswana was a epic finish to the trip. Maria and her staff were top notch and our guide Tip was fabulous in making sure that all our needs were met. His attention to us and our needs was top notch and our interaction was alway in a fun and happy manor. And last but not least our first guide Rochelle traveled with us for 7 days to start out our trip in S Africa can not say enough she was fabulous. During our time together we grew to be like family and she was absolutely fantastic. I could keep going but i think you get the point. Already starting to think of our next trip with KimKim. Job well done!!!!!

Thanks
Larry & Julie Romero

Nacho - Alhambra: informative, engaging, enthusiastic about the history and culture, warm and welcoming
Sonia - Mijas basketweaving - informative, engaging, enthusiastic about the history and culture, warm and welcoming
Sofia - Malaga Picasso museum - informative, engaging, enthusiastic about the history and culture, warm and welcoming

The trip was amazing! Except for a few hiccups along the way, things ran pretty smoothly. Our favorite part was the food tour in Palermo with our tour guide Angelo. He was great! The next favorite was the boat ride along the Amalfi Coast. Third favorite was the gelato making experience. The weather was great and the local people so friendly and helpful!

Hotel Review

Hotel Plaza Sorrento

Sorrento

Beautiful accommodations, view and staff! Great location as well!

Authenticity & Character

Felt like Italy!

Location

Centrally located with a great view.

Staff

Carlo was exceptional.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bed was very comfy and room very clean!

Activity Review

Palermo by Night: A Local Street Food Experience

Italy

Angelo our guide was born and raised in the area of Palermo where the food tour was conducted. He did an incredible job describing not only the history of the area, but also of the different food and wine we sampled.

Quality of Experience

Food was outstanding!

Food

All of it!

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Angelo our guide was the best!

I would not hesitate to use Kimkim again for travel planning. From beginning to end of planning, Leslie from Storywalking was a great help and advisor and tailored everything to our needs, from train tickets to cooking classes. Once in Italy, Francesca was our devoted and helpful contact. All our tours and guides were excellent. Our 50th anniversary trip to Italy (with our whole family in Apulia) was a great success and will be a cherished memory.

Danielle was a great guide for our tour of Tuscan hill towns and a delightful lunch at a local farm. Danielle was outgoing, humorous and very knowledgeable.

We had a fabulous trip to Greece. I had dreamed of traveling there since I learned about Greek History in 6th grade. I had high expectations and I was not at all disappointed. First of all, our transport drivers were on time throughout the trip, and they were professional and personable. Our hotels were all comfortable and in locations where we could walk to restaurants, etc. We were especially impressed with ALL of the staff at the Melidron in Naxos. From the front desk to the young bar tender, to the women who prepared the homemade breakfast to the drivers, they were always there to help with suggestions and advice, they seemed as sad to see us leave as we were to say goodbye to them. We initially wondered if it would have been a better choice to stay in/near Naxos Town, since we ended up there at some point during each day, and didn't spend time on the beach except to walk by for pretty views a couple of times. But later we decided it was nice to stay in a more peaceful area that we got to know a bit better. The Santorini hotel view was spectacular, Wow!

We enjoyed all of our tours. A few of our guides were so impressive: Evita(I think that was her name) who led us through the Acropolis was outstanding, both with her knowledge of history and adapting our walking route for those who were having a bit of trouble with physically walking for long periods. Elizabeth in Naxos was fantastic, and George in Santorini was a very good guide as well. Our driver to Delphi, Nancy, was not a licensed guide, but we learned so much from her on the trip. She had lots of knowledge about Greece to share with us. We wanted to do a day trip outside of Athens and followed Siena's advice to go to Delphi. I don't think any of us knew anything about that place so I can't say we were excited, but it turns out we all really enjoyed learning about the history. Our guide there, Theo, was very knowledgeable and shared so much information about that city. I will mention that later we all commented that he was not so easy to understand, we all felt like we had to focus very intently to understand what he was saying. He seemed to talk very quickly and did not annunciate as clearly as our other guides. But we all really loved that day, including driving through two really cute towns up there, and the restaurant for lunch. I would love to go back there one day and explore the towns. We were a bit skeptical about how the marble carving experience in Naxos would be, it turns out that we all enjoyed a very different activity very much. We were also worried we would be very cold on the catamaran trip, after the weather report showed cool temps with lots of wind, but overall, it was sunny and quite comfortable until the sun went down.

The whole kimkim team was incredible. Siena listened to our needs and planned and a wonderful trip, willing to change things as needed. There were a few times we had questions while we were away, when we knew it was the middle of the night in the US. Each time somebody got back to us within minutes. It was truly amazing how quickly we would get a reply, even in the middle of the night on a weekend. We truly cannot hesitate to recommend kimkim to anyone, they make traveling so comfortable and easy. We would be happy to come back to any of these places again but there is also so much more of Greece to see. Can't wait to plan our next trip, the next one for us will be Croatia and Montenegro, about a year from now.

Except for unsettled weather which necessitated rescheduling or canceling of planned activities the trip exceeded my expectations.

The islands of the Azores are stunningly beautiful- each in its own way as they are physically different from each other and the Azoreans are gracious, welcoming and friendly.
The local guides were knowledgeable, pleasant and eager to share their knowledge of their islands. This was especially true of our guides Paulo Camara and Felipe Ferreira both of whom had to improvise due to weather conditions which necessitated changes to the programs. (It should be noted that at present you are not able to walk through the lava tube struts das Torres.)

Paulo who was our guide on our first full day on Sao Miguel gave us tips on how to plan our subsequent days on Sao Miguel around the unsettled weather, suggested restaurants and alerted us to activities around the local feast which was taking place in Sao Miguel during our stay.
Felipe Ferreira of Terralta(Pico) obviously cares about the Azores and their future especially Pico and Faial. He has an easy but professional demeanor and managed to impart an amazing amount of information during our tour.

Many thanks to Hector, ESPÍRITU and kim-kim for an amazing experience.

Hotel Reviews

Hotel Caravelas

Madalena

Location was great- within walking distance of the ferry terminal and town square of Madalena. The hotel was clean although a little “worn”. Free parking was a plus.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Terceira Mar Hotel

Angra do Heroismo

This hotel has stunning grounds and views of Monte Brazil. You can also access a sea walk from the property grounds. It is a 10-15 minute walk from the center of Angra do Heroismo.

Authenticity & Character

Lovely modern hotel but lacks “character”.

Location

Beautiful views of Monte Brasil. About a 15 minute walk from city center.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Marina Atlantico

Ponta Delgada

A modern hotel within walking distance of the Ponta Delgada city square. Breakfast is served in its lovely restaurant which overlooks the port.

Authenticity & Character

No improvement is necessary. It is a modern hotel like other modern hotels.

Location

It was within easy walking distance of the major attractions, restaurants and main square of Ponta Delgarda.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

The entire hotel was spotless and our room and the common areas were comfortably furnished.

Activity Reviews

Pico Island 4x4 Adventure: Lagoons, Lava Caves & Volcanic Landscapes

Pico Island

Felipe was a great guide! He appreciates the specialness of the Azores and imparted an amazing amount of information.

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Terceira Cave Experience

Terceira Island

Algae do Carvao is an experience that is not to be missed and for me was the highlight of the cave experience. Greta do Natal was interesting but overshadowed by Algae do Cavo. Our guide did not take us to either Serra do Cume or Biscoitos.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Historic Angra do Heroísmo: A Guided City Walk

Terceira Island

Our guide Francesca gave us a great introduction to the sites and history of Angra do Heroismo. She also provided suggestions for restaurants.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Whale & Dolphin Watching in the Azore with Marine Biologists

São Miguel Island

Canceled

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Furnas Valley Excursion: Crater Lake, Hot Springs & Tea Plantation

São Miguel Island

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We designed a very complicated 44 day journey through Vietnam and Cambodia with family joining us for segments of it, Hien was absolutely amazing! We have used the KimKim platform multiple times, hands down, Hien was the best local specialist we have ever used. Before during and after our journey her attention to detail and insight made our trip into a dream come true.

This trip was an A+! Valentine organized a wonderful itinerary to fit all our needs. Wine country with our guides/drivers Nicolas, Gills, Stephane, Emile, Rémy, Clementine, Charlie and Jerome were very knowledgeable and helpful. In Paris the guides were equally amazing including Mo, Karen, “G” and Ezelle.
I highly recommend this travel agency!

Activity Reviews

Private Louvre Museum Visit

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Saint-Germain-des-Prés Pastry and Chocolate Tour

Paris

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Mumm Champagne House Visit

Reims

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Half-day with driver in Champagne

Reims

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Afternoon Wine Tour Chateauneuf du Pape

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private : Monaco | Monte-Carlo | Eze | La Turbie

Switzerland

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We were paired with Sydney as our Greece specialist. It was the trip of a lifetime and I can’t stress how great Sydney was! EVERY place we stayed was in the perfect area. EVERY tour we went on was amazing! EVERY ride showed up right on time! We couldn’t have used a more knowledgeable and helpful planner. Perfect to a tee. Already thinking about what other country we will use KimKim for. Can’t wait!

We had a wonderful family vacation to Sestri Levante (Cinque Terre)and Rome. We were very thankful to have had a local specialist plan this trip with knowledge about which activities would work best for all members of our family. We enjoyed our stay in Sestri Levante, away from crowds, yet still on Ligurian sea and an easy trip to explore the 5 towns of Cinque Terre. We loved the restaurants there and we even ended up adding a local cooking experience to our stay in Sestri Levante at Trattoria da Turin. We would highly recommend the pasta experience to others. Family friendly, wonderful staff, and getting to eat our completed pastas at the end. We had to cancel our boat tour due to the changes in location (weather was windy and sea was choppy) but we very much appreciated Leslie’s help in making this happen. Sometimes we realize that things won’t work out as well on a trip and it was nice to have a knowledgeable person helping along the way. Ending our stay in Rome felt like it would be rushed, but we enjoyed all of the tours and recommendations that Leslie coordinated. The Coleseum/Roman forum tour was excellent and even our youngest was entertained by the information shared by our tour guide, Gigi. He was personable, knowledgeable, and comedic. The Vatican/Sistine chapel tour was an experience we were glad to have done but we did find that we were more tired during this time and the tour was probably a little long for the 10 year old. Our tour guide, Patricia, did her best to share info on the highlights and was helpful at end of tour in sharing recommendations. My family would probably say the bike tour to Apian
Way was the highlight of the trip. I also enjoyed the bike tour but I was slightly nervous about using e bikes in the city. Our tour guide, Alessandro was conscientious of this and helped us feel safe. He also shared interesting facts along the way. We enjoyed our stays in both hotels and how each one had a very different feel. It was great to have transportation to various locations figured out for us so we did not have to spend too much time figuring out tickets and transfers. Overall a great and memorable trip and we are happy we went with booking through KimKim.

Hotel Review

Hotel Due Mari

Sestri Levante

Enjoyed the character of the hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Colosseum & Ancient Rome Tour with Roman Forum

Rome

Excellent tour guide, Gigi!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Gigi was knowledgeable, personable and fun. He made the experience relatable for all in our group, even the 10 year old.

Transport

Appian Way & Catacombs By E-Bike

Rome

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Northern Peru. The places we visited were fascinating and the local guides/drivers selected by KimKim were top-notch. Yelsin and Carlos in Chachapoyas, Grace and Alberto in Chiclayo, and Cinthia and again Alberto in Trujillo. Our ride over the Andes was memorable but our driver Elvis got us to our destination safe and sound.

We did have some logistics challenges and overall, Anne and her team were available to help us sort them out. Our main critique is how the Keulap portion of the trip was organized. As it turns out, the cable cars up to Keulap are closed the month of May which resulted in a longer drive for us from Leymebamba. In fact, on the day we visited Keulap, we left Leymebamba in the morning, visited Keulap and then continued our drive to Cocochimba which ended up being a very, very long day. A better itinerary would have guests staying in a lodge closer to Keulap (for example one called Amazilila) and then doing Leymebamba as a day trip from there.

The lodging at Leymebamba leaves a few things to be desired. While the room and the property are lovely, and the staff very accommodating, during this time of year, the room was freezing at night and no amount of blankets helped. The property could consider adding propane heaters during the cold season. Also, the stairway between our cabin and the restaurant was steep, slippery, and dark, and there were no handrails since they are replacing them. But they could add some rope as a temporary measure and install some solar lights to operate at night to improve safety. We were honestly afraid of falling down those stairs.

We really wanted to explore the town of Cocochimba, but the town had a general strike. We decided to leave a day early but this was no reflection on the lodge we stayed in. That said, they too could benefit from some solar lighting along their pathway. When we contacted Anne's team, they didn't readily have the number of the driver assigned to us - we had received that from Yelsin ourselves.

Which is actually another suggestion is to provide guests with the directly numbers of the guides ahead of time. In case of a sudden change of plans it is important for us to be able to contact the guides/ drivers and not wait for KimKim to provide us with contact information.

During our time in Chiclayo, there was a mix-up in the sites that we visited. Our itinerary showed that we were supposed to visit the pyramids of Tucume in the morning and then right after, visit the Royal Tomb Museum of Sipan. However, what we did instead was visit the town of Sipan to see the site were the original tombs are and then we went to the museum. That is actually a better trip and we were happy to do that. However, our guide and driver had no idea of the previous itinerary and also, there was no lunch break built in to that day, which cut short our time at the museum because we were getting faint from hunger.

Everything worked great in Trujillo and we appreciated the transfer back to the airport because we had forgotten about that.

Hotel Reviews

Costa del Sol Wyndham Trujillo Centro

Trujillo

A lovely hotel right on the main square in Trujillo. Friendly staff and great facilities.

Authenticity & Character

It is a lovely old building nicely restored.

Location

Right on the main square.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Costa del Sol Whyndam Chiclayo

Chiclayo

A modern hotel with all the amenities. A nice change after staying in more rustic hotels.

Authenticity & Character

It is a corporate hotel in a bland building.

Location

Very centrally located

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything worked!

Mamaq Tambo Lodge

Cocachimba

Comfortable room in a nice location.

Authenticity & Character

Location

It is a nice location, but a bit far from town.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Rangra Wasi

Leymebamba

It's a lovely hotel, but the rooms have no heat. Depending on the time of year, it could be freezing. Also, there was no hot water in the shower. The property is lovely, but dark in places - be sure to bring a flashlight. Staff is great!

Authenticity & Character

Location

Lovely garden and nice view.

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Need to add a little heater in the room, improve hot water to the shower, add lights to the property and a handrail for the outside stairway.

Activity Reviews

Chan Chan & Huaca de la Luna

Trujillo

Fabulous visit to the ruins of Chan Chan, followed by a lovely lunch by the sea and then a visit to see the murals at Huaca de la Luna. Our guide Cinthia was great and we learned a lot about this fascinating pre-Inc site.

Journey to {{end_location}}, visiting El Brujo

Peru

Great museum and burial site that shows that there were female rulers among the Moche people. First go to the museum to learn more about the burial site and what was found there and then go visit the actual site near by

Tucume Pyramids & Tumbas Reales Museum

Chiclayo

We did not go to the Tucume Pyramids. Our itinerary was changed and we went first to the town of Sipan which is where the royal tombs were found and then to the Royal Tombs museum. This is the best way to truly appreciate the scope of of this archeological discovery.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Our local guide Grace was great!

Hummingbird Sanctuary

Cocachimba

This is a small eco-tourism project designed to protect a rare type of hummingbird. You walk down many stairs and then sit down to wait for hummingbirds to come to the feeders. They may or may not come.

Quality of Experience

Nothing - it just not what we expected

Journey to Cocachimba: Kuelap Fortress

Peru

If you've come to this isolated pat of the world, you're probably here to see Kuelap! Our guide and driver from KimKim were excellent. 4 stars instead of 5 because that day should have been planned with less driving (see suggestions).

Quality of Experience

Kuelap is incredible. The drive is HARD.

Quality of Experience

Kuelap is incredible. The drive is HARD.

Food

We didn't have any food at Kuelap.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had an excellent local guide, Yeslin.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We had an excellent local guide, Yeslin.

Transport

Carlos was a great driver

Transport

Leymebamba: Workshops & Museum

Peru

Fabulous museum in a great location. This was a highlight of the trip.

Quality of Experience

Excellent local museum

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Yelsin is a great guide who explained what we were seeing.

Transport

Our driver was Carlos - very safe and courteous.

All I can say about our trip to Greece is that it was wonderful . . . The Kim Kim Team was amazing and truly made a difference all the way through — from itinerary development, to planning and logistics, and responding to questions and issues along the way. Regardless of time — day or night — Kim Kim responded very quickly and was always helpful. All of the logistics from the US to Athens to Naxos to Santorini were flawless!! With all of the drivers and guides and passes/tickets involved in the trip it was amazing that everything worked exactly as planned. The Kim Kim app with the itinerary, contact names and phone, tickets etc along with the chat feature was tremendously useful. The hotels were great, the drivers were prompt and courteous, the guides were knowledgeable and very easy/flexible to work with. I can’t say enough good things — probably the best trip that we’ve ever taken and Kim Kim was a key contributor. Will definitely use them in the future.

From the very first interaction I had with KimKim, I was very pleased. The right questions were asked to create the perfect plan to explore Greece. Every detail discussed about the trip played out flawlessly each day. The travel team was also very responsive before and during the trip (we had to change one of our excursions) and it was cared for and our itinerary was updated in less than an hour! This was a trip of a lifetime and I am so grateful that KimKim made my dream a reality.

Activity Reviews

Morning Caldera Catamaran Cruise

Santorini

Quality of Experience

Food

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Traditional Vineyards & Wine Tasting Experience

Santorini

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

From Olive Groves to Vineyards: A Culinary Journey Through the Peloponnese

Athens

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Muchisimas gracias to Paola & Ariel for orchestrating such an awesome trip to mainland Ecuador & Islas Galápagos!!
Every day was like living our own wildlife documentary!!
The Ecuadorian Amazon, Santa Cruz & Isabela all amazing
The transport & assistance was first class, as were the local guides. Absolutely recommended!!

The staff at Ka'ana Resort were real professionals. Everyone was warm and helpful. The canoe trip in Barton Creek through the caves was an amazing experience. And everyone in our group raved about the snorkeling at Hol Chan/Shark Ray Alley during our stay in San Pedro. Thank you to Alex for arranging our trip.

Overall our trip to the Galapagos was wonderful and we enjoyed ourselves very much.

Nature and highlights:
Amazing wildlife and we really appreciated the local knowledge and enthusiasm of the guides we had across the 4 islands we visited. This knowledge helped us see so much more than if we were on our own.

Hotels:
We enjoyed all of the hotels we stayed in and the responsiveness of the hosts. The Albemarle (Isabella island) was lovely but the very loud music next door until very late on a Friday night was unhelpful. I noticed this has been remarked upon in other reviews. Overall we enjoyed the hotels very much.

Guides:
We had superb guides in Alex, Ronnie, Daniella, and others whose names I have forgotten. All of the guides were absolutely excellent and were a major positive impact on our trip, except one - Gabriel on Isabella. Gabriel was a very nice guy and was trying to be helpful, however we had a communication problem in that neither of us could understand him very well. I appreciate that he has learned English but it wasn't good enough to be very useful. This was made worse by the fact that he was speaking very quickly and I suspect was a little stressed at the situation which became confusing.

As a result of our mis-communication we missed out part of our schedule and he changed it to a snorkel event at our extra cost without us knowing what was happening. We realised afterwards that we had missed the opportunity to see giant tortoises in the wild, which was very important to us (one of our highlights), so we separately hired bikes and completed the part that had been missed. The snorkel event that he took us on turned out to be very good, but we felt very confused as to what was happening. I reiterate that he was a very nice guy and was trying hard, but it was a language problem.

The snorkelling guide we had on our trip to Kicker Rock was really excellent.

Itinerary:
Overall, it was a really good and interesting itinerary. The one suggestion I would make would be to offer an alternative to the Sierra Negra volcano hike. For many tourists the heat, humidity and distance would be too much. We realised that we were not acclimatised enough for it and had to cancel it. We also heard of other tourists who turned back as it was too much.

There was some good variety in the itinerary and we felt like we had achieved a lot in our time there.

KimKim:
Maria Jose and the team at KimKim were very responsive and we were impressed with their support. It made a big difference to the trip to have everything so well organised. We were able to focus on the adventure rather than the administration, which was very much appreciated. We would happily recommend KimKim to other travellers.

A dream trip come true. A couple minor hiccups, however did not diminish overall joy of the trip. The drivers provided were very good. The visit of distilleries were numerous and also outstanding. Most distilleries provided a keepsake. You can trust KimKIm to set up a great trip.

Hotel Review

Glenmoriston Townhouse Hotel

Inverness

Outstanding, an apartment with all amenities included. Clean spacious and wish we had more nights there.

Authenticity & Character

It was extremely useful.

Location

So close to everything.

Staff

All staff.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Super clean and very warming.

Activity Review

Ben Nevis Distillery Tour

Fort William

Wow what a great place to visit. We had a one on one tour guide that crushed it. Got to utilize the “copper dog” ourselves. Generous portions of single malt to taste.

Transport

James our driver on two (2) occasions was incredible. Use his contacts set set up a visit to our number one distillery.

Nadia and Daniela, our trip specialists, were a great team. In January, Nadia helped us plan our trip to Spain, and she and her colleagues created an itinerary that took our particular wishes and requirements into account. The trip was a good balance of guided tours and free time to explore. Logistical support through the app was excellent — chat replies were prompt and responsive, all our tickets were available on my phone, so I didn't need to carry a lot of paper, and the app updated when there were changes.
The hotels were all well chosen — good locations, comfortable and clean.
We were particularly pleased with our guides, who were knowledgeable about their cities, history, and art history, and very personable. Mario, our tuk-tuk driver in Madrid, was charming — he told us he was training to be a museum curator. He will be good at it. Although our Prado tour was cancelled for some reason, Daniela advised us to buy the three-museum Art Walk ticket, which worked out well since we didn't have to specify a time to visit. Manuel Salinero, our guide in Toledo, was terrific — and on top of a great tour, he knew the best places to take our photo, a nice bonus. In Seville, our guide Ferran was a trained archaeologist and history teacher, patient and engaging. Our Córdoba guide David was knowledgeable and thorough, and seemed as impressed and delighted by the Mezquita as we were. In Granada, Nacho took us on a fabulous tour of the magnificent Alhambra. It is hard to believe he could give the same tour ten times in a week, and still make it feel so fresh and personal. In Málaga, Gloria showed us the city she clearly loved, which was preparing for Noche en Blanco, a night of concerts and free museums.
The next day's tour of megalithic dolmens and the otherworldly landscape of El Torcal, guided by Justine, was a high point among many high points. She was passionate about prehistory and nature, charming company, and sensitive to our capabilities — the hike was fun but not exhausting. She suggested we stop for lunch at Art of Tapas in Antequera. So good.
We only had an afternoon in Barcelona, and it was raining, but Mari made it worthwhile. So many things I'd like to see again. She was the perfect guide for the Sagrada Familia — a place she clearly loves and knows deeply.
Thank you for all your good work and planning. It was an unforgettable trip.