Europe had always held a special place in our hearts. So we wanted to go to a European country for our honeymoon. The plan was to go in the month of February 2018, one week right after our marriage. It being winters, lot of destinations were already ruled out and the other lot were rejected because one of us has been to that country. And we did not want to repeat any country very soon. The warmth and romance in the air of Spain attracted us and we finally zeroed in on it. Looking out for offers in flights and hotels, we booked the Air India flight from Bangalore to Madrid (round trip) and the other onward flights. Also going by the higher ratings in Booking.com, we booked the hotels. So Spain was - Madrid, Barcelona and Ibiza.
We landed in Spain on 3rd Feb '18 at around 8.30 pm. By the time we reached the hotel (B & B Fuencarall), it was 11. Our hotel was right in the middle of Gran Via, which is the real city centre of Madrid. The busy streets of Gran Via kind of enlivened our spirit even after a 10 hour flight. So dropping off our bags at the hotel, we walked out to take the Saturday night feels at Madrid. The streets were quite lively at that hour (11:45 pm). Nothing could stop was from walking in those busy streets. Our love for food made us hog a large four cheese pizza at 1 am in the morning.
The next day started with complimentary hot chocolates, cookies and fruits at our hotel. It was drizzling outside. As we stepped out of the hotel with umbrellas, we could feel the temperatures dipping. And in no time, it started snowing everywhere. Snow in Madrid did surprise us initially but it could not stop us from exploring. We walked till the Hop on Hop off bus stop in Gran Via and bought our day tickets.
The main attraction of the day was Santiago Bernabéu. Being a football fanatic ( my husband- a die hard fan of Manchester United), to set foot in the grounds where Man Utd legends like C Ronaldo and Beckham played, was a dream. We purchased the stadium tickets in the bus.
Personally, I am not a great fan of football. But there is a different aura when it comes to famous European stadiums. The 3 hours tour across the stadium including the dressing room of the legends, the dug out, the museum gave me goose bumps and I realised that I had stepped inside the Holy Grail of football fans. It was indeed a great experience.
After the tour, we waited for our bus. The temperature then was -2 degree. Our next stop was Puerto Del Sol. Apparently, Puerto Del Sol is one of the busiest squares in Madrid. Our main interest there was to explore the beautiful road side tapas bars. Rain was relentless that day and the drizzle followed us wherever we went. A beautiful Irish pub, O'Brian, caught our attention and we stepped in without further delay. After spending some time here, we stepped out again. We strolled through the beautiful narrow roads and stepped into another joint, equivalent to an Indian Udupi restaurant (you have to stand and eat).
The last stop in the tourist bus route was the Madrid museum - Museo Nacional del Prado. We were so fascinated by the beautiful portraits in the museum that we started clicking pictures (looks like photography was not allowed inside).
It was 6 pm in the evening and the temperature started dipping again. On our way back to our hotel, we stepped into a beautiful cafe called "The Good Burger" and had an early dinner. And then walking hand in hand on a cold snowy evening, we headed towards our hotel.
In short Madrid was a beautiful sojourn.
Being in Spain, we could not miss having Spanish omelette. After having a great breakfast in a nearby cafe, we got one local sim card from a nearby Vodafone store (we managed the first day without a sim card). We checked out of the hotel and proceeded towards Madrid Atocha (Railway station) in a taxi (we had to catch our train to Barcelona from Atocha).
The journey to Barcelona lasted for 3 hours. As the train gained momentum, we got lost in our thoughts of what Barcelona had in store for us. The country sides of Spain on either side of us looked heavenly and we could not resist clicking beautiful pictures on our journey. As we approached Barcelona, it seemed to get warmer (even a 6 degree seemed warmer). Finally reached Barcelona at 5 pm in the evening.
We headed for the hotel (Hotel Jazz) from the station in a taxi. The Hotel was just a few metres from Placa De Catalunya, the heart of Barcelona. Thanks to Booking.com for providing genuine reviews about the location. So after checking in and freshening up, we left for exploring the happening streets of La Rambla. It was drizzling a little bit. When in Spain, you definitely cannot miss stepping into the Tapas joints. So we stepped into a local tapas bar.
The Tapas could not fulfil our hunger needs. So we took resort to some cheesy Pollo(chicken) and Tuna Pizzas in a roadside food stall.
After figuring out where to board the hop on hop off the next day, we returned to our hotel and watched a re-telecast of a Real Madrid & Barcelona match on TV and retired to bed.
It was a bright sunny day in Barcelona. After having our breakfast, we walked towards Placa De Catalunya (It was the starting point of the Hop On Hop Off bus tour) and got into a bus and bought two day passes. Plugging on the headphones and tuning into English language, we started listening to the stories behind the creation of the beautiful pieces by the great architect of the Catalan Modernism, Gaudi. The first site of attraction was Casa Mila also known as La Pedrera, last private residence designed by Gaudi.
The sky was clear. After La Pedrera, we got down at the MNAC (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya) to get a picturesque view of Barcelona. It was beautiful. We sat down for a while and relished a Spanish ice-cream and got back on our bus again.
Our next stop was the Anella Olimpica at Monjuic Hill. The main purpose here was to wander around the Olympic ring and get some pictures clicked.
That's Mirador de Colom, a monument dedicated to Christopher Columbus. Inaugurated in 1881 ( Columbus during his voyage had disembarked at Port Vell in Barcelona ), this 60 m statue stands tall at the end of the La Rambla street and facing Port Vell.
Port Vell is a part of Port of Barcelona and waterfront harbour in Barcelona. It was 3 pm in the afternoon. We took out a packet of chips from our bag and sat down relaxed admiring the breezy sea and feeding the sea gulls.
A large mall, Maremàgnum stood right there in the port. So we stepped inside to look for restaurants. And soon a restaurant serving "All you can eat" buffet for 12.99 Euros caught our eye. It had a wide spread. Two hungry souls gorged on the food until we couldn't breathe. To let our food settle down, we walked across the pedestrian walkway in the Port and then hopped onto the bus.
The last destination for the day!! The sun was setting as we headed to Barri Gotic, the Gothic quarters of Barcelona. As we walked across the narrow streets, which in turn led to squares, and surpassed the medieval remains, it gave us a wonderful feeling. The streets had a mix of residences, beautiful shops and cafes. It was a captivating sight (with the sun setting) as we walked down these roads. Apparently, it is not surprising to encounter pickpockets in these narrow streets. Holding our belongings with extra caution, we walked towards the Barri Gotic bus stop after getting hold of some souvenirs. As we walked away from the Gothic streets, the ringing of the bells faded away.
We wanted to have a glimpse of Barcelona nights (of the places we visited in the day). So we thought of taking another round in Blue line bus from Barri Gotic (without hopping off this time) until it dropped us back at Placa De Catalunya at 9pm. And that was an end to a beautiful Day 2 in Barcelona.
The third day at Barcelona was to explore the the attractions in red line (the attractions in Barcelona have been divided on the basis of two routes - the blue and red). So after having a delicious Spanish breakfast near our hotel, we walked towards Placa De Catalunya and boarded our bus for the red line
The first stop for the day was at Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's finest masterpiece that is still a work in progress. Photos do not do justice to the finest carvings on Sagrada. The intricate carvings on the walls outside to the symmetry inside the church, one could not get enough of what Gaudi had originally started (During Gaudi's death, the church was only 15-25% complete).
The second stop of the day was Gaudi's not so successful creation, Park Guell. The park is a blend of natural greenery and modernists work. The Barcelona Bus Turistic dropped us at Park Guell bus stop but we had to walk uphill for about 10 mins to actually reach the destination. The park was quite crowded. Gaudi's home in Park Guell, where he spent 20 years of his life has been turned into a museum now. One can surely say Gaudi defined Barcelona's architecture.
After Park Guell, we left for Camp Nou. Not a Barcelona fan, we decided to skip the stadium tour. To watch a football match in their home grounds (either a Real Madrid or a Barcelona) was in our bucket list but both the teams had their away matches when we were in Spain.
The last event of the day was to watch Flamenco, an elegant dance form of South Spain involving hand clapping, percussive footwork and intricate movements of arms and hands with Spanish vocals. We bought two tickets for the night show (the 10 pm show). After having two plates of Paella, a Spanish version of our Indian dish, Khichdi, we headed for the Flamenco night at Cordobes in La Rambla. We enjoyed the one hour flamenco performance over a glass of complimentary Sangria. Even though we could not understand Spanish, we could feel their emotions.
After watching the flamenco, we got back to our hotel. On our way back we packed a light dinner (2 Sub-ways :P) and talked about these beautiful days so far in Spain in our hotel room. Madrid and Barcelona - you were amazing. The memories of this trip would be etched in our heart forever.
Whoah! We're going to Ibiza
Whoah! Back to the island
Whoah! We're gonna have a party
Whoah! In the Mediterranean Sea
We boarded our flight in the morning (10.am) for Ibiza. We knew that Feb was not a good time to visit Ibiza. The journey from the airport to the resort (THB Los Molinos Class) took only 20 mins. The roads looked pretty deserted - very few shops were open. We asked the driver of our cab "Is it a public holiday". And the driver told us "Ibiza looks like this on off season :D . I mean we were prepared for this (not completely like this but something similar). But that did not dampen our spirits. We went out in the deserted streets and ate at whichever cafes were open. For us Ibiza was a relaxed stay with lot of good food at this beautiful resort.
Time to pack up - Our flight to Madrid was at 2 pm and the flight to Bangalore from Madrid was at 10 pm. We reached Ibiza airport quite early (Thank god we reached early for what followed). Our flight to Madrid was booked in Iberia Airlines. While booking this flight, we had faced a payment issue. After contacting their customer care and following up with their support, they sent us our boarding cards.
But that day in Ibiza when we stood at their counter to check in our baggage, we were told that our tickets had been suspended. The lady at the counter was so arrogant that she did not give us the reason for the suspension but just asked us to clear the line. It was 12 noon then. Without panicking, we rushed to the open counters (Iberia and Air Europa were the only open counters). We were lucky enough to get two seats in Air Europa (it was cheaper than Iberia) for the 13:30 flight. The sad part was there was no intimation from Iberia about our flight cancellation.
Advice to people - For travelling in and around Spain, never book Iberia.
We had lot of free time in Madrid airport. This time was utilised to scourge through the Duty Free stores.
Every time a trip comes to an end, it is always quite melancholic since you are going back to your monotonous lives and parting ways with a beautiful experience (until you plan your next travel). "Adventure may hurt you but monotony will kill you."
