Spain with friends

We started the trip in Madrid, flying in to Barajas Airport; when we got to the city, we took the subway straight to the hotel, the H10 Puerta de Alcalá; a standard hotel with nice rooms and great location, being just a walk away from Puerta de Alcalá, park El Retiro and many other places. There is a lot to do in Madrid, from visiting museums to enjoy art and history, walk around to look for monuments or amazing parks, eat great food and just have a lot of fun. For me, the best thing to eat was any typical place with tapas and some wine, as well as jamon serrano, a great place for this is El Museo Del Jamon. We chose to go to a couple of museums, including the Museo del Prado, which holds a wonderful collection of art, especially if you’re into a more classical style of paintings and sculpture; here you can find some of Velazquez most important work as well as other wonderful artists. If you’re a sports fan, you should go to the Real Madrid stadium, el Santiago Bernabéu, where you can tour around, shop at the huge store and even check for upcoming matches, you may be lucky to be there for one. One of the adventures we had while in the city was when we chose to go to Las Rozas Village, an outlet near the city. We planned and took the subway to this place, changing station around three times and practically crossing the whole city. The problem was, when we got there, apparently, we went to “Las Rosas”, with an s, not a z; which meant we went the opposite way and were now lost. In the end we found that by taking a couple more subway rides and a long bus ride, we would get there in about an hour. It was a nice place and had great stores; but if I’d known how far away it was, I would have chosen to shop inside the city.

One day we took a bus ride to Toledo, a medieval historical city just an hour drive away from Madrid. This place makes you feel completely immersed in a history book or movie, not only is it beautiful, filled with amazing architecture, picture perfect views, but it also has a lot of stuff to see on a day. There are a lot of pretty, little shops that range from modern stores to more classical gift shops. You can walk around the city and visit the beautiful Alcázar museum, museo del Greco, the monastery or the famous cathedral. There’s a lot to do depending on your tastes and the time you want to spend there.

A few days later, we traveled to Barcelona where we stayed at the H10 Casa Mimosa hotel, near Casa Milà. Barcelona is a beautiful city, filled with great buildings, plazas and just overall beautiful; which is topped by the magical building by Gaudi popping up here and there. For me, one of the greatest things was being able to enjoy the architecture, from the Sagrada Familia, to Parc Güell and so many other incredible landmarks. Gaudi is one of the world’s most famous architects and artist, and Barcelona was one of his biggest canvases. You can walk around the city and just stumble into Casa Milà, or go to the Sagrada Familia, the timeless and infinitely unfinished cathedral. One of my favorite places was Parc Güell, where you can marvel at the whole colorful structures, his houses and the view of the city. We also enjoyed other types of art, going to a couple museums, including the Pablo Picasso museum. In Barcelona you also have the chance to visit the famous stadium Camp Nou if you’re a fan, as well as check out any available matches. One of the great things about Barcelona is the beach where you can just take a walk and enjoy the sun for a while. For shopping and just walking around there are two places that caught my attention, Las Ramblas, a street filled with lights and street market like shops, and Pueblo Español, a replica of an old town with beautiful streets, shops and places to eat. If you’re into partying, there are some amazing places near the beach in the city, a must for weekend nights. There is a bit of everything in this beautiful city.