Originally Posted by
gilpin
Well of course it goes without saying that your "answer" is the only answer, and that your "point" is the only point.
What you actually posted was:
...I've been to Madrid quite a few times...for Madrid...Madrid is quite easy to get around in ..don't miss out on Madrid's main highlight...Madrid is a social city...The ATMs aren't 100% reliable though.
Mallorca? No idea, never been there.
No it wasn't!!! You're completely misquoting me to make an erroneous 'point'.
There were THREE questions and I answered all three separately.
Regarding Euros my answer was:
Euros? It's up to you what you feel comfortable taking around with you - you should think of Madrid in the same way as you do New York and take exactly the same precautions against theft etc..
You may want to exchange some Euros before you go, just to be on the safe side. I personally use ATMs to get money out and use a bank card for most of my purchases (you'll need to have ID on you to use it at many stores - keep a copy of your passport elsewhere if you are going to take it around with you as ID). The ATMs aren't 100% reliable though.
Nowhere does it say this advice is confined to the ATMs of Madrid.
Perhaps I've had the misfortune to return on countless ocassions with a plane full of Britons who completely missed the 'point' of being in Spain (as far as they were concerned they were at a sunnier Southend or Skegness where the locals had the unfortunate habit of cooking their eggs, sausages and bacon in olive oil) to feel much in the way of indulgence towards tourists who blinkerdly and blindly home in on pre-conceived notions of what to find in 'my' country and shield themselves away from what the locality means to the people who live there.
Sure - recommend that people go to Spain and
just look at museums, I'm sure they'll have a wonderful time - of course they will, the museums are splendid. But these visitors will have visited the 'museums in Madrid', not Madriz itself. There aren't many tour guides who can give you this experience of what REALLY makes Madrid different to most of the other European capitals. My answer was relevant to the OPs question about whether to get a tour guide and tried to address it.