Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report Spain trip report and reviews (Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia)

Returned from our trip on the 26th and just finished posting my last post on my blog about our trip in case anyone would like to see (http://bloggingsouls.wordpress.com/).

Onto the trip report and reviews!

Madrid:
I definitely recommend buying the Paseo de Arte if you intend on seeing the museums it covers. Not only does it allow you to bypass any lines but you save money as well. We stayed at the Hostal Alaska which is in a very central location but on a noisy street. We actually stayed here twice--when we first arrived in Spain and when we returned to Madrid for our flight back to NY. The first time, we were given a room facing the street and between the thin walls and all the street noise, I had a lot of trouble sleeping. The second time, we were given a very spacious and pleasant room facing the interior of the building, which was loads better. Also, if you're flying out of Madrid, I recommend finding out which terminal you need to go to in advance--we didn't know to do this and didn't have time to pick up some of Spain's excellent wines and other goodies at the duty free shop before we left which made me very sad.

As far as restaurants go, I recommend La Finca de Susana, Taberna Tempranillo, and Ginger, which was near our hotel. I also highly recommend the tuna burger at Taberna Matritum, the best I've ever had, as well as Txirimiri where I had one of the best seafood dishes I've ever had--a black lasagna stuffed with monkfish and topped with a creamy sauce and shrimp--it was truly sublime. The latter three restaurants are located in Old Madrid where there are a lot of tapas bars--I actually recommend going to these places as they open (8-8:30)--that way you get a seat and you can slip out before each gets super crowded.

If you like cooking or buying nice housewares, I highly recommend going to Hazlopro which is actually very close to La Finca de Susana. Augusto Figueroa is a good street for shoes, particularly at discount prices.

I was actually disappointed by Toledo--you can read more on my take on Toledo on my blog.

Sevilla:

I enjoyed Sevilla and think it's a nice city to visit but, as a foodie, I did find Sevilla's food disappointing though we weren't able to try the two tapas bars that were high on my list since they're closed Sundays and Mondays. We stayed at Hostal Monet which is located in a very central and nice neighborhood but the rooms are tiny (though otherwise nice). I recommend going to the cathedral and the Alcazar early and I highly recommend going to Aires de Sevilla, a spa housed inside an old Arab bathhouse, for their thermal baths. Make sure to make a reservation in advance though! Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Cordoba as the one day we could have gone (Monday), several of the main attractions I wanted to go to were closed so we decided just to stay in Sevilla where there was plenty to keep us occupied.

Granada:

The hotel we stayed in, Pension Alcabaza, was ok--the room was fairly spacious but quite dark, the hotel owner seemed pretty nice. It was, however, located on a street with a vegetarian eatery which I liked. I recommend going to Calle de Elvira for the Middle Eastern stores as well as Albaicin for the views of Granada (Maribel's Albaicin walking tour was a good one to follow). I also recommend booking your tickets for the Alhambra in advance and getting the 8:30 tickets if you don't mind waking up early!

Barcelona:

This was definitely my favorite city--very cosmopolitan, great architecture, great food (and great shopping!) Like the Paseo de Arte, I recommend buying the articketBCN if you intend on seeing most of the museums it covers (keeping in mind again that it allows you to bypass any lines!) We stayed at Ana's Guest House, which was lovely and in a very good location. Parc Guell and basically anything created by Gaudi can be a madhouse. I recommend going to the Palau de Musica Catalana and going there early or before you want to see it as the building interior can only be seen through a tour and tickets for the tours were sold out for the day the first time we went there so we had to buy tickets for the following morning. Casa Batllo is, in my opinion, outrageously expensive (17.50E) to visit. I highly recommend going to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya which was an excellent museum--also make sure to give yourself several hours to see it since it also a very expansive one! As far as restaurants, tapas bars, and other eateries go, I recommend El Xampanyet which is really close to the Picasso museum, pastries at Bubo Bar (also close to the Picasso museum) and Mauri, Taller de Tapas (they have several branches), and Ceveceria Catalana.

I loved Spain--between the great food and all the different sights we definitely had a fantastic time!