Nicole and I travelled to Spain from 05/17/2004 to 05/27/2004. We spent four days in Madrid, then a day travelling to Barcelona, then three days in Barcelona, and finally a day travelling back to Madrid so we could fly out of Barajas airport the following morning. We had a decent time, but the enjoyable experiences were somewhat marred by some of the more annoying aspects.

Positive Points

In the spirit of optimism, I'll start with the high points. First, scenery in Madrid and Barcelona was fantastic. In Madrid near the Prado and El Parque Del Retiro there are plenty of old stone buildings, huge fountains with sculptures, etc. In Barcelona we explored the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter), where narrow windy streets are framed by ancient cathedrals and other tall stone buildings - it was quite cool.

As far as the sights themselves, we took in the Prado in Madrid, the royal palace in Madrid, La Segrada Familia in Barcelona, El Poble Espanol in Barcelona, Barcelona's aquarium, and plenty of street wandering in both places. The Prado was quite nice, and we definitely enjoyed walking through the Poble Espanol, a Spanish village designed to demonstrate architecture from various periods in Europe and lined with artisan shops. We stopped at a number of bars and restaurants along the way.

We took one organized day trip, which was a bus trip to Toledo (about 40 miles outside of Madrid). Toledo is a very cool city on a hill, built as a natural fortress with a river protecting three sides of the city. It featured narrow, hilly streets with more amazing buildings and spires. Local artisans are reknowned for their ceramics and, more interestingly, their steelwork. There were shops selling swords and knives everywhere. Sadly, the biggest drawback to our tour was that we didn't have a chance to stop and check these places out! Nevertheless, we found a place in Madrid that sold Toledo-made blades, and I picked up a pretty cool cuchillo deportivo (sport knife). Fortunately, I only had one issue with getting it through security on the train trip to Barcelona.

Finally, a note on prices. Since this is the positive section, I'll just say that beer and wine were reasonably priced in many places (sometimes cheaper than soda).

Negative Points

Now here are some of the annoying things that detracted from our enjoyment. Let's start with the food. Everything in Spain is made from ham or shellfish, two foods which Nicole doesn't eat since they are not kosher and which I happen to not be very fond of either. This made every meal an ordeal; trying to find authentic restaurants but order food that didn't have one of these two ingredients proved rather difficult. The food was also swimming in grease most of the time. I read a lot of benevolent blather about the famed "Mediterranean diet" before this trip and I'm here to report that, at least as far as the major cities in Spain are concerned, it's a load of crap. That was about the least healthy ten-day period I've had in a LONG time where food is concerned. To underscore this point, let me just say that towards the end of our trip we were in Barcelona and I was trying to find something reasonably healthy to eat. We went to McDonalds and I got a grilled chicken sandwich. Oh, the irony. I guess if you love ham you might have a very different experience.

Everyone in Spain smokes. Furthermore, even in places where smoking is technically prohibited, no one cares. I can understand having to deal with smoke in a bar or perhaps a restaurant, but inhaling other people's smoke in the metro (subway), train station, airport, and just about everywhere else got old really fast. There was just no escaping it.

Hotel rooms in Spain are miniscule and the amenities provided (or not provided) make your average sleazy local motel in the US look like the freaking Ritz. Our hotel room in Madrid barely fit the smaller-than-queen-sized bed. There was just enough room around the edges of the bed to walk around it, and we had a real issue of trying to place our suitcases somewhere where they were not constantly in the way. The Barcelona room was slightly larger. Don't expect to be able to get an extra pillow, a towel, shampoo, or just about anything else from the hotel desk. You'll get a tiny bar of soap (dwarfed by my palm) and some TP and that's about it. No tissues either. In Madrid, the A/C does not get turned on until July. So we had to either leave our window shut and suffer a hot room, or open it and suffer the noise and diesel fumes of the Paseo Del Prado. In Barcelona we did not have an exterior window, and they did have A/C, but it worked erratically. For about $80-$100 per night US, I expected more. Perhaps this is standard in Europe, but I found it ridiculous. The beds were tiny, the pillows also very thin, and my sleep (and mood) was degraded as a result.

Finally, I'd just like to make a point about the general reception we received in our interactions with people. While there were plenty of people who were nice and genuinely helpful, there were also plenty who seemed rude and obnoxious. While this may have something to do with the political climate of late, I will point out that both Nicole and I speak some Spanish and made a constant effort to adjust to their culture, rather than acting like the stereotypical "dumb American tourist" who expects everyone to change to suit him. I will simply say that I was not often made to feel welcome and that, in general, customer service in places like bars and restaurants is pretty lacking. Again, this could have been the norm or it could have been anti-American bias. Either way, I wasn't too pleased.

Final Note

We were pretty damned happy to set foot on US soil when the trip ended. Of course it wasn't all bad, but with the drawbacks we had to contend with I didn't feel like the vacation was money well spent. I doubt I'll be returning to Europe anytime soon, and when I do I'm thinking a country like Ireland sounds a lot more intriguing.