Land of the Setting Sun
We spent 18 days in Spain, March 29th to April 15th. Many people were excited when we said we were going to Spain and we were a bit weary… could it really be as good as every says? Well, yes, yes it can. It had everything we want in a travel destination: good food, good walking, and good weather. On top of that there are some really great things to see. We definitely need to go back soon. Spain was our first non-asian country in over five months, so we were a bit concerned about our transition. It was much easier than we anticipated. If we had come straight back to the States, it would have been harder, but since we were still traveling and still didn’t speak the language it was similar enough to our recent destinations. We pushed our itinerary a bit in Spain since it was our last destination. As a result we were pretty worn out by the end. We just wanted to see as much as possible because it was so great.
1. Go
Transportation in Spain was SO easy. We would have been better off if we had booked train tickets many weeks before traveling, but bus tickets were still affordable. The high speed train from Barcelona to Madrid was fantastic and the buses were some of the best we’ve taken anywhere.
Spain – Madrid – Views from the Train
Total traveling distances:
- Plane – 21,275 km
- Bus – 640 km
- Train – 600 km
- Taxi – 20 km
- Metro – 75 km
- Foot – 265,000 steps
2. See
Favorite Cities:
- Barcelona – So many people say that this place is amazing, and boy are they right. It has a great old city, great walking, great architecture (hello Gaudi), and great food.
Spain – Barcelona
Favorite Museums:
- Prado, Madrid – Although it was a bit overwhelming, looking back, it was impressive.
- Museo de El Greco, Toledo – We love small quirky museums, so this was right up our alley.
Favorite Cathedral:
- Sagrada Familia, Barcelona – Bizarre, chaotic, organic, systematic… this place is beyond description. The morning light pouring in through the windows made the pale stone light up like a rainbow.
3. Eat
Eating in Spain is an event that is taken very seriously. People are always out eating at all time of day. There’s delicious pastries and coffee in the morning, chocolate and churros for second breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch, tapas for a afternoon snack, paella and wine for dinner, and delicious cakes for dessert. Yep, we gained some pounds…
Favorite Foods:
- Iberco Ham – This is not the ham we get at the deli back home. This stuff is soft, super thin, salty, and so good.
- Tapas – Little bites of anything you want. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon.
- Tortilla – Not tortillas like in Mexican food. These are potato and egg baked and served as tapas.
- Merlitones – These eggy muffins were a great surprise in Segovia.
4. Drink
Like eating, drinking is also an event in Spain. There’s no drip coffee, only espresso because you should sit and enjoy it. Same goes with wine, and there’s lots of it.
Favorite Drinks:
- Coffee – Having espresso every morning has definitely cured us of our instant coffee habit in Asia.
- Chocolate con Churros – How have we never had this before? Super thick hot chocolate with churros for dipping. Wow.
- Wine – We may have overdone it a little on the wine, but how could you not. It’s Spain!
5. Sleep
We were really impressed with our accommodation in Spain. We decided not to do dorms because the price just wasn’t worth it for us. We did hostals (not hostels) and always have a private bathroom. We were pleased with what we could find in our price range.
Favorite Sleeps:
- Hotel BestPrice, Barcelona – This was the perfect place to get over jet lag. We could close the storm shutters and sleep all day.
- Hostal Granada, Salamanca – Perfect location, just outside the old town area and the nicest staff.
- Hotel Conde de Castilla – We really loved the view from our room.
Spain – Segovia – Room with a view
6. Move
We completely fell off the wagon with any kind of actual exercise, but we won in the strolling department. We walked everywhere. We spent entire days just strolling around cities.
Favorite walking spots:
- Parc Guelle – Great in the sunshine and still pretty magical in the rain.
- Toledo – This hilltop top is mostly closed off from cars making it a walking gem.
- Segovia – Another hilltop town with great places to wander.
7. Etcetera
As we’ve mentioned before, our rough budget for this trip is $100 a day (for two people). Our daily average in Spain was $135.25. We felt like we were living it up in Spain and not trying to stay on budget. This average is a lot lower than we expected. Transportation and accommodation weren’t cheap and we really splurged on food and wine. We were really impressed how far we could stretch our dollar without really trying.
Check out all our photos from Spain on Flickr and our post, Colors of Spain.
Also, check out our weekly posts from Spain:
Nomadic Cadence 