quote:1) How safe is Madrid? I had a "inccident" in Barcelona (so did everyone else I know who went there) and so it freaked me out a little as far as traveling alone in Spain goes. I am a female and I’d like to spend a couple days in Madrid by myself, should I be worried?

I think Madrid is safer (from pickpockets & petty thieves) than Barcelona; although I have personally witnessed incidents on MetroMadrid: purse snatchers, pickpockets and one guy who grabbed a lady’s gold neck chain and bolted out the door. I like to think I can spot members of a team of thieves who try to look like they are not traveling together – and when they have selected their ‘mark,’ they position themselves at strategic points in the Metro Carriage: a ‘distractor,’ commanding attention by looking gross, a ‘blocker,’ to get in the way of anyone who attempts to grab or chase the thief, and the ‘snatch man’ (or woman). They always seem to favor the Metro line that goes to Atocha.

Translate ‘worried’ to ‘cautious,’ and you should be all right.

quote:2) plane or train from Madrid to Seville? Taking into account time, money, and safety? I want to get as much out of my 10 days or so as possible.

AVE only takes 2.5 hours Mardid-Sevilla but it is quite expensive. Secorbus/Socibus runs from Madrid’s Estación Sur de Autobus to Sevilla’s Plaza de Armas in a little over 6-hours. I’ve taken an overnighter that departed Madrid at 00:30 but I’m not a female traveling solo. Bus costs about 2/3 what AVE (Turista) costs.

quote:3) I’ll be staying with a friend in Seville, but I think I’m gonna be on my own sometimes during the day while she’s in class, how safe is it to travel in and around Seville by myself?

Your friend should be able to fill you in on that. For the most part, during the day you shouldn’t have any problem.

Finally, you say you are thinking of visiting Sevilla in the Spring: March 20-27 is Semana Santa and Sevilla will be very crowded as will trains and buses (mostly 3/24 and 3/25). Make your travel reservations as soon as you arrive in Madrid!

What incident did you have in Barcelona? Most of the incidents I hear about are petty crime like pickpocketing or having your gold chain snatched. Typical big city stuff. A single woman should have no problems since Spain is after all one of the safest countries in Europe when it comes to violent crime. Exercise the same caution you would at home, and be financially and logistically prepared should a theft happen. Most important, have fun. Spain is awesome. And very very safe. (but unfortunately the brunt of hypocritical Northern European / North American paranoia)

I’ve witnessed pickpockets and purse snatchings in Paris, had my apartment broken into in Paris, as well friends’ homes being burglarized in Chicago…Same old same old everywhere.

quote:
I’ve witnessed pickpockets and purse snatchings in Paris, had my apartment broken into in Paris, as well friends’ homes being burglarized in Chicago…Same old same old everywhere.

luv_the_beach, normally yes, I would agree with you , accept that I’m a life long Manhattanite, spent a year living in Paris, traveled all over Europe, and somehow, the only time anything has ever happened to me, as far as petty crime goes, happened in Barcelona, so that is the only reason why I’m a little concerned. It won’t stop me from going of course and I will err on the side of caution, etc. I just wanted to get a feel from those who’ve been there, what the situation is.

Adeelie writes

quote::… I’m a life long Manhattanite, spent a year living in Paris, traveled all over Europe, and somehow, the only time anything has ever happened to me, as far as petty crime goes, happened in Barcelona, so that is the only reason why I’m a little concerned. It won’t stop me from going of course and I will err on the side of caution, etc. I just wanted to get a feel from those who’ve been there, what the situation is.

I, also am a native New Yorker: if you ride the NY Subways, you should know what to expect. I had an incident in Barcelona when two gypsies tried to jostle me in the Plaza Maria Cristina Metro station (where the big Corté Inglés Department store is). I gave one of them a ‘hand chop’ to the throat and they beat a hasty retreat. I had never been ‘hit on’ with that very old approach in Madrid. I think the Barcelona pickpockets are much less sophisticated than those in Madrid.

Just act as you would on the Lexington Ave. subway and you should be fine.

Adeelie,

Exactly. You’re letting one incident ruin your fun. I’ve backpacked all over Spain without single incident…and I looked for trouble sleeping outside (when I suggest to other posters not to do this), and so on…The only "bad" things that have happened to me have been in Chicago and Paris. Yes, it’s absolutely true that pickpockets and petty crime have been on the rise. But Spain is statistically one of the safest countries in Europe and in the world. Many skeptics claim that perhaps not all of it is reported. However, the European statistical research bureau (Eurostat) does not solely rely on official information in order to compose its reports. It carries its own research, much of it field or lab research, and knowing a quite bit about southern European cultures, I can tell you that southern Europeans tend to exaggerate misery and report virtually everything (which also explains why they don’t score well on the corruption perceptions index, and thus produce results that are not exactly indicative of reality…Americans tend to do the opposite by being overly optimist…cultural differences). Despite this, Spain still comes out as safe. Unfortunately, Northern European and North American superioprity complexes feed into Southern Europeans’ inferiority complexes. PLUS, most violent crime never goes unreported. One major problem conerning tourists in any country is that the person who is caught is not prosecuted because the victimized tourist doesn’t stay in the country long enough to press charges and/or testify. It’s a process just like it is back home. But again, violent crime is rare. The larger issue is petty theft, which you should always be prepared for (And of course, no matter where you are in the world, be aware of your surroundings). Stastically, southern European countries are extremely safe, safer than gasp Scandinavia (according to Eurostat, and countless other studies). In western Europe, the highest murder rates are in Britain and Germany. Pickpockets and pety crime have become a major problem in Barcelona, no one’s denying that. But don’t expect rampant crime just because of one incident. Quite the opposite. Many Northern Europeans and North Americans when encountering a problem in Southern Europe, jump to inaccurate conclusions based on an outdated view of Southern Europe as poor, rural, etc. Fortunately, when Southern Europe industrialized and urbanized, it also became a lot more prosperous…so, we don’t see the same problems as we do in, say, Brazil which industrialized and urbanized without becoming prosperous. Those are the types of places where crime rates tend to be very high.

Don’t know about anyuone else, but I’d be more worried about traveling alone on the NY subway than being alone in Spain.

I always felt perfectly safe on the NY subway. Maybe I’m being naive, but I found it even friendlier than the Metro is here in Montreal.

Travelling in Spain should be just fine. Don’t let one incident ruin your perceptions. I was nearly pickpocketed on the Paris metro, but I don’t think Paris is a particularly dangeorous city… I just think it was a fluke that could have happened anywhere. Take reasonable precautions and you’ll be fine.

Thanks for the morale boost guys, it does make me feel a little better. It was just a shock to me that I became a target having never been one before in my own home town. In Barcelona, my friend and I (both life long NY-ers) got jumped by three teens who unsuccessfully tried to take my bag. It just made me realize, somewhat sadly, that if it could happen to us two hardened city kinds, it could happen to anyone.

Sorry to sound so ignorant but I’m from a small country town in Australia and have done minimal independent travel. When you say to take the normal precautions, exactly what are they?

I am cautious by nature but have never really been in a situation where I’ve been at risk of being robbed or anything.

Regardless I can’t wait to get to Spain but if there is something I should be doing (ie money belt under the clothing) to make myself safer, then I’d love for somebody to give me some pointers.

Maybe I’m not the best one to give this advice, since I neglected to follow it myself, but I will say that the one time I did not take the following procautions, I almost got mugged. The goal is not to make yourself a target, i.e. to make it difficult for the thieves, and therefore rule you out and pick someone easier as their victim. Here are some tips:

1. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself. Don’t walk around with a camera on your neck. Take your picture, then just put it away. Same goes for a map, if you need to consult your map, do so, then put it away, don’t walk around with it in your hand.

2. Always look like you know where you are going, i.e. walk with purpose. This I guess comes naturally to me because everyone in nyc walks fast, whether or not you have somewhere to get to. This really does work though, especially if you are lost and/or feel uncomfortable in a place. Walk at a good pace (but not like you’re going to break into a run or anything) and look straight ahead of you, like you know where you are, and you’ve got some place to be. This works so well that often times when I’m visiting a foreign city other tourists will stop me and ask me for directions. Of course, I have no idea where I’m going, so I can’t help them.

3. Use a money belt under your clothes. It may be uncomfortable, but take comfort in the fact that if per chance someone does take your wallet, at least they’re not gonna reach down in your pants and take your money belt (most likely). I like to keep only small bills and change in my wallet when I’m abroad, so that if it gets stolen or I loose it or something, it won’t be a great loss. I keep all my credit cards, my passport, and any large amounts of cash (which I don’t like to carry around anyway) in my money belt underneath all my clothes. I also carry a photocopy of my passport and a copy of my credit card numbers and emergency credit card phone numbers in a separate place, as a just in case, so that I won’t be totally screwed if my money belt somehow is misplaced.

4. Just be aware of the people around you, if you don’t like the look of someone, calmly move away.

5. Do not put your bag down at anytime/anyplace. This is how a bunch of people I know got their bags and backpacks stolen. They were sitting down at a restaurant, or cafe, or internet cafe, and put their bag on a seat next to them, or behind them on their chair, and someone just walked right up and took it, and they didn’t even notice until they got up to leave. Put the bag on your lap where you can feel it, or on the ground between your feet (sometimes if I do this with a backpack I put one foot through the shoulder strap so that I can feel it if anyone tugs at it).

All this sounds more daunting than it really is, but it should become second nature after a while. My little incident occurred late one night when I was very tired and not really thinking too clearly. My friend and I were speaking really loudly in English, carrying a map, looking for the hostel, and I had a huge hiking backpack on; talk about being a target. Plus, we both saw the bratty kids as we walked down this darkened street (we both thought about how suspicious they looked, huddled together and looking at us) and we continued to walk. So it wasn’t a surprise when they crowded around us and one of them hit me on the back of the leg as another grabbed at the bag I was holding. So the whole thing could have been easily avoided. So don’t do what I did, and you should be fine.

P.S.
Shouting profanities at the top of your lungs really does works. That’s what we did, and they let go of my bag and bolted as fast as they could. Most petty thieves may not speak English but “Fuck off fuckers!!” screamed loudly and projected strongly from the diaphragm really is international.

quote:“Fuck off fuckers!!” screamed loudly and projected strongly from the diaphragm really is international.

Agreed. Though this could spark another interesting topic on how to translate that (or the equivalent) into a dozen European languages. I’m pretty fluent at swearing in French, but I’m sure there are some colourful ephithets in German, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Spanish, etc.

Good advice about the basic precautions, Adeelie. One thing I found worked really well, in addition to that, was getting a metal chain to attach my wallet to my small daybag. It prevented it from being stolen that time in the Metro, but more importantly, it prevented it from getting lost when, for example, I’d take out my wallet and then try to put it back in my bag but miss slightly. Kinda hard to forget your wallet when it’s hanging from your bag with a metal chain.

And the money belt under the clothes doesn’t have to be uncomfortable. I splurged on an Eagle Creek one that I wear around my waist at the small of my back. After a day or two I stop even noticing it’s there, and after a week, if I’m not wearing it I start to panic.

Excellent edvice from Adeelie.

Thanks guys!

Oh, and scowling just a bit works too.

I don’t think I could imagine myself screaming ‘f@#$# off F@#$#$ers’ at the top of my lungs and scowling at the world but I guess if I want to come home in one piece… might make for an interesting post card to the folks back home.

You should really try it. It’s basic survival skills.