Madrid
Our next stop on the trip was Madrid, Spain. We stayed for 3 nights and got a chance to experience some of the unique Spanish culture. We spent our days walking about the central touristy areas including Gran Via (busy downtown street packed with pedestrians, stores and restaurants), Plaza Mayor, the royal palace and gardens as well as a day trip to Toledo. Our first night we spent in a nice hotel and received a free upgrade to a junior suite which was a nice change from our usual hostels. We then went for dinner at an Italian restaurant that specialized in gluten free dishes, allowing Holly to have a pizza and a beer for dinner. The most interesting thing about going out to eat in Madrid is the normal hours that people go out. For example, the Italian restaurant didn't open its doors for dinner until 8:30 pm and nobody was in a rush to get in except us. We were the first ones in and it didn't start to fill up until well past 9. We had heard that typical lunch hours were between 2 and 4 as well.
Our next stop on the trip was Madrid, Spain. We stayed for 3 nights and got a chance to experience some of the unique Spanish culture. We spent our days walking about the central touristy areas including Gran Via (busy downtown street packed with pedestrians, stores and restaurants), Plaza Mayor, the royal palace and gardens as well as a day trip to Toledo. Our first night we spent in a nice hotel and received a free upgrade to a junior suite which was a nice change from our usual hostels. We then went for dinner at an Italian restaurant that specialized in gluten free dishes, allowing Holly to have a pizza and a beer for dinner. The most interesting thing about going out to eat in Madrid is the normal hours that people go out. For example, the Italian restaurant didn't open its doors for dinner until 8:30 pm and nobody was in a rush to get in except us. We were the first ones in and it didn't start to fill up until well past 9. We had heard that typical lunch hours were between 2 and 4 as well.
Our day trip to Toledo was a very neat experience as we got to see all the steel swords and armor that is made there. This is where The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, etc. gets all of their gear from. The town itself was gorgeous as well.
Barcelona was the next stop. We ended up staying for 3 nights and spent our time during the days walking around La Rambla (the happening place) and the surroundings area mostly. It was full of street performers, markets, "hungry hustlas" (sketchy salesmen selling illegal goods) and a lot of interesting people. We saw the end of La Merce festival on our second night which was a collection of bands performing and people partying in the streets. The highlight of Barcelona for us was definitely the football match of Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad. We sat in the top level of the 100,000 seat Camp Nou stadium and watched Barcelona run them over 4-1. Lionel Messi on Barcelona is said to be the best player in the world right now (maybe some bias from the sources) and had a nice header goal against Real Sociedad that we got to see.
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