Una Siesta En Espana

Anna’s parents dropped us off at the bus station on their way to the airport; we found our bus easily enough, and 8 hours later we said hello to Spain again. Specifically, Madrid. Finding our way to our hostel was a little challenging because of the fact that the metro line we needed wasn’t yet finished. But we got some exercise in, found our centrally located room, and then the first thing we did was go around the corner to the Museo de Jamon. This is a must for anyone visiting Madrid, especially those on a budget. It’s basically a bar that serves up tasty bocadillos (little sandwiches) and tapas, and many of their items cost only 1 euro! – including beer and glasses of wine. Our taste buds and our wallets both agreed with this place, so we visited a few more times.

Madrid was just the right size for walking around, so our next four days were spent exploring the city and visiting many of the top sites. We visited the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace), where displays in the royal armory of old weaponry and full body armor (horses included) was the highlight:

The well-known Prado Museum has free-entrance times, so we took advantage, viewing works by Goya, Velasquez, and the impressive The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch, to name a couple. One night at dinner, the beer tap was built right into our table! A screen on the wall displays the amount you’ve drank, because it’s easy to overdo it when you’re bartending for yourself! And we ate a huge pan of good paella. It wasn’t cheap though, so we limited the amount of our imbibing.

And we made a major decision – our big Europe splurge was going to be football game, so who better to watch than Real Madrid? Considering the team has two of the best players – Ronaldo and Kaka – it was easily justifiable. Unbeknownst to us at the time of buying our tickets, Usain Bolt was scheduled to make an appearance before kick-off, which he did, ending his field time with his signature “bolt.”

That surprise made our evening that much more exciting! The game was great, the fans fun, and Real Madrid ended up beating Deportiva 3-2.

Markets seem to be the place where cities show their colors most, and we went to Madrid’s street market on Sunday morning, and were fairly impressed. The stalls seemed never-ending, snaking along side streets, and selling everything from souvenirs to any type/size of rubber band you could think of!

The city’s modern art museum, Museo Reina Sofia, also had free entrance hours (a few other attractions do this as well which makes sightseeing in Madrid fairly cheap) so we strolled over to examine the unique and often strange works of Pablo Picasso (his huge Guernica is a stunner) and Salvador Dali.

We liked Madrid a lot, as it seemed to cater to every kind of tourist – luxury jetsetters or budget travelers like us. But it was time to keep moving northward to Barcelona. Another eight-hour bus ride later, we arrived in the city. Our reserved room tipped us off that Barcelona was going to be more expensive: we were paying almost 50% more than we did in Madrid for one of the smallest rooms we’ve stayed in. There was even a fridge and microwave crammed in with us! The owners of Barcelona 294 were extremely nice (they owned a little hamster!) and breakfast was included, so these things somewhat made up for the lack of space.

Everyone told us that the first thing on our sightseeing list should be La Sagrada Familia, to which we said “the what?” La Sagrada Familia is a massive mid-construction church. Plans were developed and started in 1882, and the projected year of completion is not until 2030! The mastermind behind the building is Antoni Gaudi, a remarkable architect who unfortunately passed away early during its construction. Gaudi took his designs from nature; for example, the photo below shows how the columns inside mimic trees. Seeing the actual building of a structure of such proportions and precision was astounding! Workers these days have the advantage of modern cranes and equipment, too.

Next on our tour of Gaudi, we hiked up to Parc Guell, where a house where Gaudi and friends spent time was located, along with another magnificent creation – tile mosaics underneath a main terrace seemed to come alive.

Classical musicians taking advantage of the acoustics in the pavilion

The view from Parc Guell; notice La Sagrada Familia towering over the city on the left!

The artist’s other two popular buildings, Casa Batllo and La Pedera, were a little too pricey to visit inside, but we did wander by to see them from the outside, taking careful notice of “the most photographed chimneys in the world:"

We strolled (along with every other tourist in Barcelona) along Las Ramblas, the main drag that attracts all kinds of street performers decked out in crazy creature costumes. It’s also the city’s informal pet warehouse, selling animals such as rabbits, lizards, and even squirrels (no dogs or cats, however); what a crazy place! Our favorite find was a tapas bar named El Xampanyet, where a delicious house Cava (a type of sparkling wine from Spain) was served alongside excellent tapas.

It wasn’t too hard to leave Barcelona for a few reasons – 1. It was just a little too expensive for our budget, which limited sightseeing; 2. We were feeling a bit cramped in our room after 3 days; and 3. We were looking forward to our next stop: the beach of the Costa Brava. We decided, since we had a flight to Rome from Girona, Spain (about an hour north of Barcelona) to stay in a coastal town just east of Girona called Llafranc, for 5 nights.

We took a chance and bussed up the coast without accommodation reservations, but since it was toward the end of their summer vacation we got an incredible deal at a rental agency we stopped into. For less than what we paid for our closet in Barcelona, we got an entire 2-bedroom 2-story apartment that was 200m from the beach!

If ever we imagined a Spanish beach paradise, this was it. Llafranc was small enough that we could walk across it in 10 minutes, passing a perfect crescent-shaped beach looking out on a picturesque bay of crystal clear Mediterranean water.

When we got tired of lying on the beach, there was a peaceful coastal path that reached the next small town in 15 minutes. But we didn’t get tired of the beach much; it was the most perfect beach weather you can get, with refreshing ocean a few feet away. Heaven!

Our break from city sightseeing was just what we needed, as these beach bums are going to do some serious touring in the next 2 weeks! Next up: the Kloch family + Matt!