When you think about Spain, what do you think about? I think about tapas, the architect Gaudi and sunshine! Nicholas thinks about bullfights, ethnic food and bright colors! We experienced (almost) all of these things and more during our week in Spain. (We decided to skip the bull fight.)
Traveling to Spain from Italy was one of our longer trips. We took a train from Malcesine to Marseille, France (10 hours), stayed in Marseille for the night and, finally, flew to Barcelona the next evening. We were able to find a flight that was considerably cheaper than taking a train or bus. We made it to our hostel by midnight and quickly headed to bed. Unfortunately, we had some pretty terrible roommates, so we didn't sleep exceedingly well, but, such is life in a dorm room.
On May 26th, our first full day in Barcelona, we started our day by heading to La Sagrada Familia! I had visited Spain and the cathedral during my European trip in high school and was excited for Nicholas to see it! Sadly, when we arrived, tickets were sold out for that day and the following three (we were planning to be in Madrid by that point) so we were unable to visit. We snapped some pictures of the outside of the cathedral and decided to find some lunch. I had been looking forward to some tapas, so we found a good, local spot and had a yummy lunch. After that we took the metro and walked to Parc Guell. By the time we had finished exploring the park it was time for dinner, so we headed to the San Fernando Market. This was probably our favorite part of the day! Both Nicholas and I love markets; the bright colors and smells are always interesting. We bought a vegetarian burrito "bowl" for dinner. It was delicious! Even beat out the tapas we had eaten earlier in the day.
Our second day in Barcelona we slept in a little, did some housekeeping (organizing pictures and whatnot) and then checked into our AirBnB. Afterwards we headed to Montjuic, an old fortress, and then Font Magica. The light and music show at the fountain was a lot of fun! We were surprised at how bright the lights were and how well the fountain moved with the music. If you ever find yourself in Spain, this is a must see show…and arrive early to get a good seat.
May 28th we boarded a train for Madrid. Little did we know how exciting our day would become! 1.5 hours into our trip the train slowed to a stop. It sat on the tracks for a bit, reversed, pulled forward, reversed and stopped completely; our train had broken down. We sat on the tracks for 3 hours at an old abandoned station; finally a second train met us on the tracks to transfer the goods and passengers to continue our journey. However, the people from the train that met us had to get off their working train and board our non-working train and wait to be rescued themselves (we were told this is how they do it in Spain). Surprisingly, those individuals had no complaints and just did what they were told. It was unfortunate that neither Nicholas or I spoke the language as we would have loved to know what everyone was saying. The second train took us 20 min down the tracks and again slowed and stopped, this time, in the middle of no where. Everyone on board moaned and grumbled and as the conductor ran back and forth, we all assumed the worst; our second train had broken down as well. Eventually it was confirmed, and we sat for another 1 and 1/2 hours waiting for a third train. This time, there was talk of busses coming to pick us up, which would have led to a hike to the road 1km away, through a farmers field. However, they told us another train would be coming to meet us on the track again. Amusingly, we all had to jump off, walk down the tracks and board the new train. Our first stop was at a little town with a bunch of angry people waiting at it…with the malfunctioning of the train, there was no way for them to get to their destination since there is only 1 train that goes each direction. Here the ticket master got off and brought back some sandwiches and waters for all the passengers, which was nice. We were off again and this 3rd train took us about 400km out of Madrid and dropped at another station, where they rushed us through security and onto a 4th high speed train. Luckily, for our troubles we got 1st class seating! I was able to email the train company and we got our entire trip refunded, which was about $100, so that was nice! One of our fellow passengers said she had been riding the route for seven years and only once had a train broken down. Two in one day was unheard of! It was an adventure though, and that's what's great about traveling! Our AirBnB host, Marissa, was incredibly sweet to us when we arrived (late), which we were so grateful for.
Our next day--Monday--we had planned a day trip to Toledo. One of the reasons we wanted to visit Toledo was so that we could spend some time with new friends! While in Vietnam we went on a cruise to Halong Bay and met a Spanish couple, Cruz and José. They both are history teachers and have lived in Toledo the last two years. They kindly offered to show us around the city when we came to Spain. The high speed train ride was only 30 minutes and Cruz picked us up from the station. We stopped for some breakfast and then began our walking tour! Cruz showed us all of the old walled city, from the square where the Spanish Inquisition burned people to the beautiful old cathedral, she was very knowledgeable of the town, due to history being her expertise. We had beers and tapas for lunch, and José met us for dinner at one of their local favorites. Dinner was amazing! For 11€ a person we got: a drink, tapas, appetizer, entree and dessert! It was so much food and incredibly delicious. More special was the company though; we truly enjoyed getting to see our new friends again. It is always a blessing to see familiar faces and experience sweet hospitality from those we meet again on our travels. It was sad to say goodbye, but it was a fun day trip and we were so thankful to José and Cruz for the time. We headed back to Madrid around 6:30 pm, watched half of a movie, and crashed for the night. Traveling is hard work, guys!
The next day we predominately rested; we did venture out to visit a market (which was completely closed) and a park. We decided to wander the botanical garden in the park, which was fun and filled with beautiful flowers!
May 31st was our last full day in Madrid, so we went out to sightsee and explore. Our first stop was the Royal Palace. Probably the most interesting part was the royal armory, which boasts one of the largest collections of armor and weapons in the world! Nicholas was pretty excited about that. On the way back from the palace we randomly ran into a movie premier for The Mummy, so decided to stick around to see Tom Cruise! We waited for about 30 minutes and he arrived. I was too short to actually see him, but Nicholas did, and we got pictures and videos! Who knew...go to Spain, see Tom Cruise! For dinner our AirBnB host took us to one of her favorite Cuban restaurants (she was originally from Cuba, had lived in the U.S. for 20 years, and then moved to Madrid). We then walked through some of the city center together, which was great because we had gone to places we had not been to yet. Marissa was very sweet and very helpful to us and we enjoying the time we had to spend with her.
June 1 we had a late flight to Geneva, Switzerland, so slept in and did some window shopping in the afternoon. Nicholas wasn't feeling well that day, and one thing we've learned is that if you don't feel well, don't push it; you'll only end up feeling worse. Thankfully, it was a short-lived bug.
Well, friends, that concludes our time in Spain! It was too fast and we felt like we barely saw any of the country. I think we say that in every blog post though!
Hope you're still enjoying following our adventures!
XOXO
N & K
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