Spain Tour - From Madrid to Barcelona

Arrival in Madrid

At 7:00 we're at Malpensa and right on schedule we depart for Madrid with Easyjet. Everything goes smoothly, only we can't find a bus to the city at the airport so we take a taxi that takes us to the hotel for 25€. We're right in the centre, so after dropping off our luggage we go to lunch and then start wandering around the streets around Plaza Mayor. Afterwards we head to the Prado Museum, truly very interesting. When we come out it starts raining: good thing it was supposed to be very hot here... Back at the hotel we get ready and go out to dinner at a restaurant right next door where we eat an exceptional paella, the best of the trip, then we take a stroll around the centre, which is packed with people, bars and stalls.

Visiting Madrid

After breakfast we head to the Cathedral S.Maria la Real de la Almudena, a church completed just a few years ago and therefore very beautiful, where there's practically no one, so we visit it thoroughly, even going up to the top with the guide. Then we head to the Royal Palace right next door: it's truly enormous; obviously the royals aren't there but you can partly visit it, so we join a group of Italians with the guide to understand more about it. Continuing our tour we head to Plaza de España, a simple park with a statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the centre, and here we stop to eat a jambon sandwich. Then we walk along Gran Via, full of shops, bars and hotels, up to Puerta del Sol, then heading to the Buen Retiro Park where we stop for a nap on a bench since the heat had worn us out.

This park is very nice; besides an artificial lake where tourists rent rowing boats, there's also an old glass greenhouse, now unused, with a pond in front. From there we took the metro to see the Plaza de Toros; since it wasn't open we just walked around it and then returned to the hotel. In the evening we had dinner in Plaza Mayor and attended an open-air concert.

El Escorial

This morning we headed to the bus station and took the bus that brought us to El Escorial. This small town is known for the Monastery of S.Lorenzo, built by Philip II as the pantheon of the kings of Spain. It's such an imposing construction that from a distance it seems to be the only thing existing on that hill. Back in Madrid in the afternoon we went to see the famous Santiago Bernabeu stadium, managing to admire the interior from the balcony of the bar accessed from the entrance. Finally we ended the day wandering around some shops and having dinner in a nice little place.

Toledo

In the morning we went to pick up the car at the rental place near the station, but unfortunately we had the booking for the afternoon and there was no way to get it earlier. So to pass the time we went to visit the Reina Sofia Museum which is right nearby and I'd say it was a good thing because I hadn't done enough research and so I didn't know that it was incredibly rich in works by Dalì, Mirò and Picasso; in particular, the Guernica is exhibited here, a mammoth work, one of Picasso's most famous paintings. Back at the station they finally handed us our Clio and we set off in the direction of Toledo. This town is about an hour from Madrid and is truly very beautiful. Surrounded by ancient walls, we climbed up passing through the Puerta del Sol until we reached Plaza Zocodover; from there we went to visit the Gothic Cathedral, truly very, very beautiful, the Synagogue and the Alcazar.

Since it was quite late we had dinner there and then returned to Madrid.

Avilia and Segovia

After breakfast, we picked up the car from the parking lot (be careful because in central Madrid there are only paid parking lots and they are very expensive, we paid €25 a night!!!) and headed to Segovia, and unlike the day before we had some difficulty because we couldn't find the correct exit from Madrid's ring road. Segovia is famous above all for the Roman Aqueduct that is still working, a structure of arches that welcomes you at the entrance to the city. We visited the Cathedral and the Alcazar, the latter very distinctive, it looked like a Disney castle. After a quick sandwich we set off for Avila. Here too we visited the Cathedral and did some shopping, but the thing that struck us most was admiring its ring of walls from the viewpoint because this little town is famous for being the only one in the world to still have a perfectly preserved ring of walls.

In the late afternoon we returned to Madrid where we had dinner in one of the many places in the centre.

Zaragoza

Today, a little disappointed, we left Madrid for the Costa del Sol, however to avoid a long journey we decided to make a stop in Zaragoza. The trip was very peaceful, the landscape is rather desert-like and you don't realise you're at high altitude, only the rather low temperature makes you realise. Arriving in Zaragoza and dropping off our luggage at the hotel, we went to visit Plaza del Pilar where, after a quick forgettable lunch, we visited the enormous Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar. At one end of the square is Zaragoza's other cathedral, the Catedral de la Seo, which has Mudejar-style elements and is also famous for the Tapestry Museum. We then took a stroll through the old town visiting the Picasso Museum and then headed to the fortress, the Palacio de la Aljaferia where you can admire the Synagogue and the splendid inner gardens.

Back at the hotel we freshened up, then went out again for dinner and headed to the modern part of the city where there are modern buildings and several restaurants. Here we finally found an Italian restaurant where we ate divinely — fresh pasta and pizza: just what we needed!

Lloret de Mar

After leaving Zaragoza we headed to Lloret de Mar to enjoy a few days of rest by the sea. Unfortunately we ended up in an enormous complex where it took 2 hours to get the room keys and park the car. I'll let you just imagine what was there — people of all ages and all races, kids knocking on the door even at night, buffet dinner where you had to fight to grab some food... in short, a mess! The town isn't really that bad, during the day it's practically deserted while in the evening it fills up with drunk kids and it's better to avoid certain streets.

Tossa de Mar

Unfortunately, having booked late, we had to make do because in other nicer and quieter places there was no room left, but today we had a great idea: we took a boat and went to Tossa de Mar, located a few kilometres from Lloret, and here guys it was a whole other world. A very quiet little town full of narrow streets packed with shops and restaurants at affordable prices where we ate very well. There's also a lovely beach and even a castle to visit. So for 2 days we went there in the morning and came back in the evening.

Tossa de Mar

Like yesterday

Barcelona

After finishing our 3 days at the sea we headed to Barcelona. After some difficulty finding the hotel we unloaded our luggage and then went to drop off the car nearby. Unfortunately we made the mistake of not keeping the car until the last day because Barcelona is enormous and we got very tired walking... maybe next time. Anyway, first of all we headed to Las Ramblas starting from Plaça de Catalunya and walked along it for a while, admiring street artists and stalls. Around the middle of the street we grabbed something to eat and headed to the old Barrio Gotico quarter to visit the Cathedral of St. Eulalia and then did some shopping. In the evening we took the metro and went to the Citadel to a place that had been recommended to us at the hotel, where however we ate really badly.

Barcelona

This morning, first of all we took a stroll around the port, from there we went up to Montjuic on the funicular and visited the Military Museum, admiring the city from above, then on foot we headed to the Olympic City which however disappointed us a bit as it's rather poorly maintained. We visited the Miró Foundation, that is the museum dedicated to this artist, then going down we headed to the MNAC, the Museum of Catalan Art, which however we found closed as it was August 15th. Thrown off, we went down to Plaça d'Espanya and from there we headed to the centre where we visited the Pedrera. This house, whose real name is Casa Milà, is one of Gaudì's works, we queued a bit to get in but it was worth it because it lets you understand how great this architect's genius was.

Nearby there is also Casa Batllò which is probably even more beautiful but which we didn't visit as the entrance was really very expensive. So we did some shopping and then went back to the hotel exhausted from the long walk. Despite the tiredness we went out for dinner and returned to the Citadel, going however to one of the places along the beach. This time we ate well, though it was a bit expensive.

Barcelona

Last day in Barcelona and still loads of things to see, so first of all we headed to the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral commissioned by Gaudì and still under construction. It's a mammoth work, too bad there was an endless queue to go up the towers and so we limited ourselves to visiting the interior and the museum. After a pizza at the Pizza Hut nearby we headed to the MNAC and finally managed to get in. Of this museum the thing that struck us most was the reconstruction of some paintings removed from the walls of the original churches and rebuilt there as in the original settings. In the afternoon we headed to Parc Guell, the park built by Gaudì and where we also visited his house. Unfortunately getting to the park was difficult due to problems with the metro, we got off at the wrong stop and then at the right one we had to walk a long stretch on foot because of some construction work.

However despite the time and the tiredness we tried to go up Barcelona's other hill, Tibidabo, famous for its church and its amusement park, but unfortunately when we got below the climb to catch the tram we missed the last ride and, exhausted, decided to go back to the hotel. Although our energy was by now running out, after a shower we went out again and went to dinner at the first restaurant we found, a Greek restaurant.

Return

After packing our bags and having breakfast we realised that today it's raining, so we went to buy an umbrella from the Chinese shop and then headed to a square near the hotel where we caught the coach that took us to the airport and we went back home.