Madrid Travel Guide: We art Spain's capital

Hola Bloggy Friends,

Our last two days in Madrid have been filled with tours, parks, good food and lots and lots of art. I've said it before, but there's no overstating what a busy city this is. The streets are full (and loud) every night and, uncannily, there's a tour group lurking around every corner. I half expect someone to be leading a tour of our hotel room when we get home at night. It's a completely different feel than the other cities we visited, but we've done our best to dodge the crowds in the attempt to discover the best parts of this hustley-bustley city. And I think we've done a great job.

On Thursday, we took a tour of the Palacio Real de Madrid (the Royal Palace of Madrid). The 2000-room palace was built in 1738 by Philip V and is still used by the royal family today for occasional ceremonious functions. The tour was restricted to a fraction of the complex, including the throne room, dining room and the bedroom where King Charles III died. The best part, though, was the connecting armory where we saw the shield of Boabdil, the Moorish sultan who surrendered his throne to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela in the late 1400s. The palace itself, though, was fairly lackluster. Sure, it was grand and decorated over-the-top with sparkly chandeliers, tapestries inspired by Raphael and plush antique furniture, but,it all felt a little obvious and uninspired. Even though all of our guidebooks call it a "must-see," we feel like it's skippable. The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.  is more impressive.

Madrid Travel Guide: A gulp of Goya

Hola Bloggy Friends,

On the walk around central Madrid

To begin our first full day in Madrid, we had breakfast at the Mercado de San Miguel, the same indoor market we visited when we first arrived in Spain. We found a great little frozen yogurt shop that sells a variety of handmade cereals soaked in fresh, organic leche (milk). I had granola infused with dried strawberries and fresh raspberries from a fruit stand around the corner. It was delicious.

Even though we were stuffed, it was hard to tear ourselves away from the aisles upon aisles of delicious foods to gawk at inside the market. Eventually, though, we did find the exit and set out on a orienting tour of Madrid that was laid out in our guidebook. It took us from the busy city block called Puerta del Sol to the regal Palacio Real de Madrid (Royal Palace). Along the way we got a taste of the history of Madrid, while making a mental note about what streets will get us where.

Walking through the city in the light of day helped verify our impressions that Madrid is a sprawling, world class city that's clean and bustling, but it doesn't quite possess the intriguing, old world charm we found in Barcelona and Granada. The one thing it does have going for it, though, is one hell of an art collection.

Madrid Travel Guide: A broke-down bus ride

Hola Bloggy Friends,

Are we there yet?

Our journey from Granada to Madrid was marred with another bout of travelers misfortune. On the recommendation of several guidebooks, we decided to take a bus to Spain's capital city. It was supposedly cheaper and quicker than the one slow-moving train that goes there. Sounds like a win-win, right?

Well, everything was going swimmingly until we stopped at a halfway point for lunch. When we loaded back onto the bus something went wrong and it wouldn't start again. Being the only English speakers among the group of travelers, we had trouble figuring out what we were supposed to do next. Our circumstances began to look rosier when someone told us that another bus was taking some of the passengers to "something, something America." Embarrassingly, our first instinct was, "Oh, it's a bus for Americans!" Come to find out, it was going to Madrid's Intercambiador de Avenida de América — a station we didn't have tickets to. I told Alan that it's just like a bunch of Americans to think a magical bus appeared across the parking lot just for us.

Granada Travel Guide: Our tales of the Alhambra

Buenos Dias Bloggy Friends,

Yesterday was one of those days when everything seemed to line up right. We awoke from a peaceful snooze, had a delicious desayuno (breakfast) in a Parisian-style cafe on Gran Via and spent the afternoon skimming markets for items to make a picnic at Alhambra — our planned full-day destination.

Alhambra, an expansive area of castles, fortresses and gardens, sits on a hill high above Granada. Moorish sultans built the complex in the fourteenth century and it's where they held court until defeated by the Christian forces of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel in the late 1400s. At that point, the victorious royal couple moved in, incorporating a few frills of their own.

To get there, most people take a bus from Granada's Old Town, but we thought we'd get more out of the experience by hiking up. Surprisingly, the trek — a path shaded by trees and flanked with shrubs — was quick and fairly simple to make. Once through the gates, we began our tour with a stroll through the lush gardens, an old Moorish bath and Alcazaba, a gutted fort with stunning lookout points. Running throughout most of the grounds is a complicated series of waterways that supply agua to Alhambra's numerous fountains. This constant sound of trickling water provides calming ambient noise as you wind your way through well-manicured hedges and lattices cloaked with fragrant flowers. It was dreamy.

Granada Travel Guide: Savoring culture shock

Hola Bloggy Friends,

Patting pussies

Our Granada arrival was tons more pleasant than the last experience. We left Caravaca early in the morning, cruised down a sleepy highway and dropped the car off near the airport so we wouldn't chance crazy city driving again. It worked like a champ.

Our first stop was Macià Basilios, our hotel located within a monastery of the same name. From there we set out to explore Granada's Old Town. Right off the bat, we could feel the city's vibrant energy. The streets were bustling with carousers, and the cafés and public plazas were alive with squatters, street performers and waiters rushing plates of tapas from one crowded table to the next. Coming from lazy Caravaca, we were practically drooling over the excitement.

On our first day was all about orienting ourselves. We perused Alcaiceria (pronounced al-kay-thay-REE-ah), a tight alley of shops that was once a Moorish silk market; popped inside the impressive Granada Cathedral; and dodged aggressive gypsy ladies trying to sell us expensive sprigs of rosemary. For me, the most intriguing thing about Granada is the city's strong Moroccan influence. If you wander only a few yards from the main thoroughfare, you can easily imagine that you've been transported to North Africa, with incense wafting through the air, locals donning flowy harem pants and eateries decorated like the inside of Genie's bottle. The culture shock is exhilarating. We celebrated with dinner at an authentic Moroccan restaurant called Arrayanes and sipped exotic teas in Tetería La Kasbah.

Road Tripping in Spain: Caravaca de la Cruz

Buenos Dias Bloggy Friends,

Getting oriented

For the next leg of our trip we wanted to experience a different side of Spain, so we jutted westward to Caravaca de la Cruz, a small mountain-hugged town located in the Murcia Region. The drive in was gorgeous — with grassy mountain ranges and orange plantations sprouting up all around us — but our arrival into Caravaca was a disaster. Like in Barcelona, I took a wrong turn that led us into an area of narrow streets full of cafés and locals walking their donkeys. There we were, bopping our big ass car over cobblestones, trying our best to squeeze around corners that would suffocate a Smart Car. I was about an inch from throwing my trembling hands up and abandoning the vehicle on the spot.

And then, when we thought it couldn’t get worse, we came to a café with tables and chairs lined up out front. Poor Alan had to walk in and beg the waitress, who didn’t speak a lick of English, to move the tables so we could get past. Thankfully, she obliged and we finally made our way to a normal street where we parked that son of a bitch in the first spot we could find.

Road Tripping in Spain: Montserrat and Peníscola

Hi Bloggy Friends,

Trying to figure out the car thing

On our last morning in Barcelona we took a train to Estació Sants to pick up our rental car: a very European Citroën Picasso. I thought the bells and whistles of vehicle operation would be similar to what it is in the U.S., but I was a wrong. Sure, you still have to push the gas and keep your hands at 10 and 2, but instead of “D” for “Drive” there’s an “A” for I have no idea what; to start the car you have to have the gearshift in neutral and press the gas; and to park you have to push a “P” button in the middle of the dashboard. It took us a minute to get all of that figured out, but the real challenge was still before us. Driving within the city limits was a mess. We missed turns, got caught in detours and were told by our GPS to turn the wrong way down a one-way street. Thankfully, though, we did make it out in once piece — unless you count my poor shattered nerves. Once we got on the interstate, though, the experience was no different than being in the States.

Barcelona Travel Guide: Feeling Gaudi

Hola Bloggy Friends,

On the roof of Casa Milà

Picasso isn't the only great artist celebrated in Barcelona. In fact, compared to architectural visionary Antoni Gaudi, his presence is minimal. Gaudi, whose name the English word "gaudy" originates from, made a name for himself designing outlandish structures throughout the city that are made up of whimsical shapes and forms that may look like tacky multicolored ice cream cones, but in fact, are scientifically thought out and shockingly ahead of his time.

To see for ourselves what all the hoopla is about, we devoted our final full day in Barcelona to a tour of some of his most famous works — most of which are situated in the busy Eixample (pronounced eye-sham-plah) neighborhood. We started at the guidebook-recommended Casa Milà, an eccentric apartment building that was built between 1905 and 1912. The tour included a peek into one of the large, tastefully decorated apartments, cave-like attic and peculiar rooftop decorated with what appears to be Stormtrooper heads on spikes and huge dollops of soft serve. What we learned along the way, though, was that Gaudi drew his inspiration from nature – particularly things from the sea like conch shells and sand dollars. It was tacky as all get out, but fascinating, nonetheless.

Barcelona Travel Guide: Absorbing the city's spirit

Hola Bloggy Amigos,

Infanta Margarita María

Today we decided to get to know our neighborhood better by sticking to the side streets that zigzag around us. Our first stop was one of my favorite experiences so far, the Museo Picasso. This modern complex within an old stone building houses an impressive collection of the artist's work from his early teens through the 1970s. There's nothing super famous here, but it's fascinating to see the talent he had as a young person living in Spain, and witness his progression to Cubism in the early part of the century. Our favorite part was his comprehensive studies of Velázquez's Las Meninas. This included around 20 mostly colorful, abstract interpretations of the famous painting. I loved seeing the characters all cubed up; he spent a lot of time on the girl in the center (pictured right), particularly.

Barcelona Travel Guide: Braving the tourist meccas

Hola Bloggy Friends,

Our Spanish window

This morning we started our day with the customary bowl of oatmeal and yogurt, and a steamy cup of coffee. We love having a kitchen to be able to avoid the cost of buying breakfast every day. Thankfully, it's equipped with all the dishes, silverware and coffee-making apparatuses we need.

With the help of our guide book, we decided to take a tour of the Barri Gòtic, or the Gothic section of Barcelona. This included the busy city square, Plaça de Catalunya, and a stroll down Avinguda Portal de el'Angel — both too touristy for my taste. The highlight, for me, was a tour of the ornate Catedral de Barcelona, which was built around the sarcophagus of Barcelona's patron saint, Eulalia, a thirteen-year-old girl who was tortured and murdered by Romans because of her Christian beliefs. This is also the site where six Native Americans were baptized when they came to Spain with Christopher Columbus.

Trip to Spain: Flying and Arriving

Buenos Noches, Bloggy Friends,

We made it to Madrid safe and sound this morning at 7 a.m. The plane ride was nice, especially considering I was woozed up on a cocktail of Adavan, three glasses of wine and Ambien. Not surprisingly, I got off the plane feeling a little off-kilter — kind of like if you had a wine hangover and decided to go for a spin on the Tilt-a-Whirl. I managed to stay on my own two feet, though, as we made the trek through  Madrid's modern airport to customs.

From MAD, we hopped on a snazzy-looking yellow bus that took us to the Atocha train station in the Barrio de las Letras area of Madrid. Once we oriented ourselves within the station and put our luggage in lockers, we went out to do some exploring before our 1:30 p.m. train to Barcelona.

Trip to Spain: The Prelude

Hola Bloggy Friends, 

Tomorrow, Alan and I are taking off for a two-week trip to Spain. Our plan is to fly into Madrid, immediately train to Barcelona, drive down the Mediterranean coast — stopping for a few days in Peñíscola, Caravaca De La Cruz and Granada, respectively — and finally make our way back to Madrid. We're super excited for this trip because we've planned several first-time experiences: 

• This is the first time we've been to Europe in March/April
• This is the first time we've rented a car and driven in Europe
• This is the first time we've kept our itinerary within one country
• And, at 16 days,  it's the longest stretch of time we've vacationed there

To get prepared, we've done online research, read guidebooks (thanks, Laurie Buler Nunez) and watched a few travel vids. In fact, we did so much planning in the beginning that we haven't thought much about it in the past few weeks — unless you count the occasional "I can't wait to eat a churros!"

But now the day is upon us, and we're chomping at the bit to take off. While we're gone I'll keep my blog updated with photos and write-ups about what we're up to, so feel free to stop by for a peep. From now on, I plan to use this space to write about the trips we take. These are the experiences that bring me some of my biggest joys, and being able to share them makes it that much more meaningful. I would also love to hear from you if you have recommendations about what we should do while we're in Spain. We've done a lot of reading, but nothing compares to getting advice from someone who's been there and done that.

Thanks for stopping by today. I'll see you in España!


Buenos días,
Señor Josh