at12am01

I am back from Madrid/Barcelona a week ago. I want to post my experience of the trip. Hope it will give others some info about Spain as I have gathered many useful tips from reading the posts on this forum
(I will post the entire review in parts)

Impression: I like Bcn more than Mad. In Bcn, people are relatively more friendly and helpful, the city has more historic charm. I am surprised that there are less people in Mad who understand English than in Bcn. I was in a McDonald?s on Gran Via(very touristy), the young server did not attempt to try to understand me or offer any help like pointing to overhead menu.
In general, people in Spain are no non-sense, unpretentious. Do not expect great customer service when shopping even if you buy 100-euro items. When queuing in line (for bus/taxi/cashier), you have to be vigilant in maintaining your spot, otherwise it will be taken. At the tourist office, you have to have all your questions ready because the staff does not offer extra info or tips (like best time to go, bus route, price, etc).
I find it useful to have a pen to write down the dish or things that you want to order or buy to show it to the server or store clerk for people who do not speak Spanish or Catalan at all.

Guides: Tips from Karen and the Maribel?s files are very useful about restaurants, closing times of attractions. I feel more at ease after reading their tips as I only know the words ?yes? and ?no? in Spanish. I would like to thank them for it. I like the Spiral guide from AAA (maps and restaurants/café/bars/shopping suggestions in each city area) better than the condensed Lonely Planet book (less detailed map). Unfortunately, I lost the spiral guide on my last day (I think it was at Palau de la Musica). I missed that book and my wife was having separation anxiety.

Weather: Some rain on the last week of March. I think the better time to travel would be mid April but before May (tourist season).

Safety: I felt safe walking at night and did not use a money belt. No terrorist gloominess. People were just more acute of unattended bags or clusters in the airport or subway.

Transport: Taxi (airport$18 to 25) and Metro. I did not use the hop on/off turistic bus in Bcn because I did not have enough time. I would say 2 days on the turistic bus is needed to see and get into all attractions leisurely(timing for siesta 1-4pm closing can be stressful). In Mad, I traveled on foot a lot because the city center attractions are all very close together.(palacio real, San Francisco basilica, Carrer de la Cava Baja area, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de la Puerta del Sol)

Hotels: Hostal Central Barcelona (54E + 7% tax for double with private full bath) is one block from Metro Tetuan. Safe, very basic (no tv, safe, soap, shampoo). They change sheets and towels and toilet paper daily. Tryp Rex hotel on Gran Via 43 (between Metro Callao and Santo Domingo). The cost is 74 euro plus 7%. It is a borderline 3 star. It has a fridge and 1-euro per opening in-room safe. It can be noisy if you plan to sleep in past 9am, otherwise it is very convenient (walk to Sol and Mayor). It has a convenience store (VIPS) right next to it.

Next part will be day excursion and food.

MN

Lesli

So far, so good!

May I suggest that you post the further installments as replies on this thread? It is really so much easier to follow a report when it is all in one place.

at12am01

PART II - Review of recent Bcn/Mad trip

Day excursions: Montserrat (Bcn) ? start early in the morning so you can get back for lunch at 2pm. Unless you want to ride the two funiculars to the two peaks, then it may take a full day. It was worth the trip to see the mountain and the church. The boys choir was OK. Be careful what ticket you buy at the Espanya Station ticket machine. I bought the round trip ticket with the tram. I should have bought the ones with the cable car. So, we toke the tram up and bought separate cable car tickets down (about 3.85 each). That worked out fine except for a few euro extra.
Toledo (Mad) ? start early (8:30 or 9am) too because the bus ride and local bus ride can be congested due to traffic. It took us two hours to get there. Once you reach metro Mendex Alvar, go upstairs to buy tickets at the Continental Galiano counter, ask for express bus (it was bus #2 for me, $4 and 1 hour bus ride). Go down stairs to the bus platform. Once you reach the end station at Toledo, go to the platform for bus 5 and 11 (behind the elevator, don?t have to go up the elevator). You will see the route map on the post. Take bus 5 to Zocodover pl (bus route also on the front of the bus). Tickets are bought on the bus for 0.80E. Spend half day or full day there. Staying overnight may be a good idea because of the medieval atmosphere.

Food:
Dinner- don?t hesitate to make reservation (even on the day of or two hours before dinner) because even if you have to wait, you get the table faster than people without reservation even though they arrived earlier.
BCN-
Salamanca - (close to Barceloneta, www.gulliver.es/salamanca, 932215033, Almirante Cervera 34), very fresh seafood(fish, red prawn) but too expensive for value.
Txapela ? good intro to tapa (placemate has pictures, so you don?t have to fight for a bar seat to point and order)
CalPep ? Good seafood(clams and fish). One server speaks English. A little on the expensive side but worth it.
Ciudad Condol ? need to fight for a seat at the bar (no reservation, no line). You literally have to stand behind the person and grab the seat once he leaves before another person snatches it. Good food. Reservation accepted for table seats.
Can Culleretes (C/Quintana 5, 933173022)? the second oldest restaurant in Spain. Ok food but great friendly service(the server lady was ever so patient as I was explaining that I did not want goat cheese by exchanging cow and goat calls with her). It was dead closed at 850p and slowly but surely a crowd started to gather in front of it. I was vigilant to maintain the first place spot as another lady tried to edge in front of me. I was tempted to press the doorbell as the time was 5 after 9 and I was squashed on the front door. Luckily, all commotion was resolved when the door opened at 910pm.
4 Gats (933024140, 4gats.com)? Food was unimpressive especially for their costs. I went there for the name (Picasso was a regular there). It does have a good atmosphere (the piano could use some classic/jazz pieces instead of the cheesy touristy American tunes). Reserve a table on the second level.
MAD-
Botin ? the oldest restaurant in the world (also in Spain of course). It was a little difficult to find because the map in Lonely Planet did not have complete side street names. The pig was good (a large party can ask for the whole pig). If I have to eat it again, I would ask for the ribs portion instead of the leg. I did not like the stewed partridge. Stew was good but not the bird. The artichoke dish was very good (fresh and large portion). The garlic soup was unimpressive. Reserve a table in the down stairs cave (a must to justify the cost of the meal). A band came to sing when we were about to finish. It was a very memorable experience.
La Barraca - The paella was a little disappointing. The rice was good but too little seafood. For 20E per person, I think they can do better. The service was not good. I do not recommend it.
La Bolla ? We went there for the cocido (all in one stew Madrid style). It was tasty but very large. Only order one per table of two. The apple fritter was not impressive. I think it used to be a busy place but not so much now. Service was nice. If you want to try the Madrid stew, have it a go. Or if you find other place that serves the stew, you can skip this one.

Lunch/snack:
BCN-
Pinoxo (pinocho) ? in the Boquería food market and it was good. Tortilla with meat (potato and meat stew). Great coffee. May be next time I should order scrambled eggs (huevos revueltos)
La Valenciana (c/ d?Aribau 1)) ? for the traditional drink orxata (tiger nuts). It is a café/diner that sells nougats. It was delicious. If you can find the drink elsewhere, you don?t have to go to this place.
A Chocolateria (don?t know the name) that sells great fresh churros and thicker version of churros(delicious), dipping chocolate, coffee. Cheap (1.50 for two plates). It is located on La Laietana. Two blocks going south from Palau de la Musica, on the left hand side (before the Cappuccino caf&eacute.
Cervantes ? c/ Cervantes 7. It goes by another name. It is the only café on the street. I went there to try the Escudella (stew BCN style). It was not what I expected (there was no meat). I think the experience could have been better if we order the menu of the day with paella and roasted chicken ($8.50).
MAD ?
Palacio del Jamon ? c/Arenal 6, next to Puerta del Sol. Great ham (Jabugo). We were lured in by a nice lady who gave us a sample and business cards the night before. Sandwich or full plates were good. The problem with not knowing Spanish was that we got something unexpected. When the server pointed towards the tomato and made an universal cut sign, we thought it would be the usual tomato on bread. After giving a ?si? and a nod, we got a huge plate of cut tomato and olives. The consequence was a full belly.
Choclateria de San Gines ? nice outdoor sittings in an alley. The café opens at 6pm till early in the morning. Fast service. Grab a table and the server will come to you.

Next Part will be Attractions.

MN

at12am01

PART III(final) - review of recent Bcn/Mad trip

Please ignore all the questions marks. They are supposed to be hyphens. The posting does funny stuff to symbols.

Attractions highlights
BCN -
Casa Batllo - $17 per person, expensive but well worth it.
Casa Mila (Le Pedrera) ? Wished they show more apartments but still worth it.
Port Olimpic, Barceloneta, Sardana dance ? nothing special
La Rambla ? nothing special but you will pass thru it many, many times.
Picasso Museum ? not a big fan, OK
Palau Guell, Parc Guell, Gothic quarters, Catedral, Santa Maria del Mar basilica, Palau de la Muscia ? are all good
La Vinia ? was a great wine merchant, good service.
MAD ?
Palacio Real ? a little disappointing, too few rooms. Not very extravagant but can?t complain about history
Prado, San Francisco basilica, Iglesia catedral de San Isidro ? are good
El Rastro flea market ? very, very crowded. Mostly tourists, some local. It IS a flea market. Got some ceramics there.
Real Jardin Botanico, Jardines de Sabatini, Retiro Park ? did not see, partly because of tiredness and flowers were not in bloom.
La Solea ? Flamenco place (Calle de la Cava Baja 34). I did not go because it was closed on Sunday night and we were too tired on Sat. Mon was not good because we had to catch an 8am flight Tue. Definitely will go next time.


We had a great time. My wife is still dreaming about Spain every night since we got back. I never had so much wine in so little time (a bottle every night). In retrospect, we should have planned to stay longer there. Three and ? days in BCN and 2 and ? days in MAD including day excursions were not enough. Hope everyone who will be traveling to Spain will enjoy the trip like we did.

MN

at12am01

Extra info:

1) The bullfight in Madrid was interesting. It is held on Sundays at about 6pm. Tickets can be bought on site.

2) Buy tour tickets early for Palau de la Musica in Bcn. I went there on Tues and tickets were sold out till Friday. It is the same for Palau Guell. Buy tickets early in the day. Tickets for afternoon tours sold out quickly.

3) Bring a binocular, for street signs (so you don't have to walk all the way up to it to find out it is the wrong street) and for church/building sight seeing.

MN

kaudrey

Hi MN,

Thanks for posting your report! And thanks for the kind words. I am glad you thought my report helped you!

I am glad you both had a nice trip - I still relive mine and it was 2 months ago now (time flies)!

Karen

morensa

Great review of the trip. I'm heading to BCN at the end of May for 8 days and am soaking up as much info as I can. Thx for all the helpful tips (binoculars...good idea!!)