ESPANA

I noticed I had this post in draft status only. Not sure why I never posted it. It's really old from 5 years ago but it's about Spain which was a great trip so I thought why not post it now.

I went to Spain in September 2006. I had gone there before but only to the Southern Coast. This time I went to Madrid, Sevilla and Barcelona. We flew into Madrid and took trains to get to the other cities.

Our first stop when we landed in Madrid on Saturday, was the Atocha train station, and we went direct to Seville. We took a bus into town and easily found our hotel. We actually stayed at a Best Western of all places, and we stayed in the new wing of the hotel so it may have been the cleanest hotel I've ever stayed at. We thought they ate late in Spain, but when we headed out at 10:30pm, we could only find one place that would serve us some food. So it looks like late nights do not apply to Seville. Seville seemed very old world to me. It's a beautiful city. We stayed for only one night. Since we were short on time, we visited this amazing Palace and then went on a bus tour so we could take in all the "main" sites of the town. Below is a photo of the palace that we saw.
We then left for Madrid on Sunday. We were originally just supposed to overnight it in Madrid and head out to Barcelona on Monday. But we found out all the tickets were sold out for the trains we needed for Sept 11 so we had to stay an extra day in Madrid. Atleast we were able to see more of Madrid. Our hotel was in the heart of the city. Very modern. With a free lap top and internet access included. When we first arrived in Madrid, I actually found it a bit daunting. It reminded me very much of New York City, but with a language barrier. Our hotel was just above the main Plaza. There were hookers around the corner and apparentlymy friends saw a man running for a gun when they went out for a smoke. But aside from the initial scare, Madrid is a beautiful cosmoplitan city. The restaurants were open late here. We actually ate dinner at this Italian restaurant near by. Food was really good.

We saw another amazing palace while in Madrid and walked around town. We found this cute neighborhood that felt sort of like the Village. We took in the traditional Flamenco show and ofcourse went to the museum which they have plenty of...ok now it's hard to write a recap of the trip because it's been like 7 months already and I never finished writing this blog..yikes.

Basically after Madrid we went to Barcelona for like 3-4 days...very artsy beautiful city. Gaudi abounds and is amazing. It was cold and rainy during our time in Barcelona unfortunately. Our the apartment we rented was right on the main tourist strip around the corner from a Plaza. Lots of students and tourists. There's a beach at the end of the strip. The beach is dirty and since it was kind of cold still not somewhere where we spent much time. Actually the strip is kind of gritty in some parts but it gives it more flavor that way. I felt I could not appreciate the city as much because of the weather. We did go to the harbor and check out the shopping mall. Long lines at the Picasso Museum led us only to walk in the entrance way and use the bathroom. We made it to Sagrada Familia and Guell Park all in one day - that was a lot of trecking - but totally worth it. It was a sight to behold. We ended up in a ritzy part of Barcelona and had tapas. Barcelona is a diverse city with lots to offer. Little passageways along the main strip - you never know what you'll find.