bertcol

Hello All - today is the " eve" of the 3 kings - so guess what - today is a Fiesta in Madrid! There is a schedule of events happening in the city this evening - a parade, choirs, childrens choir and a fireworks extravaganza to welcome the kings into the city. This afternoon we headed over to Calle Gran Via from end to end and made a stop at an Artisans market that was set up for the holidays. I loved all the homemade items and wish we had room in our luggage to be able to shop! Today, we are also doing our usual with the late lunch - but an actual lunch today - no more tapas :) We went to a delicious restaurant called El Rincon on Calle Prado and shared a ... read more

This morning we are off to cover the top 3 sites that are recommended for Madrid. The Royal Palace, The Prado Museum and the Jacinto Benvenuto Botanical gardens. Walking from the hotel we are about 20 minutes from the Royal Palace. It is the 3rd largest palace in Europe - and it is a beauty. The difference here in Madrid - everything has more of a modern look - apartment buildings and the squares appear older but the Cathedral and Palace are clean and modern. I loooove the fact that this is a working palace - the royal family still comes here for special occasions, weddings, holidays, funerals or to host national guests. There are only about 2000 rooms here in the palace - lol. It's gorgeous without being gawdy and tacky. From the palace - ... read more

Happy New Year Everyone! Today is a very uneventful day of "reporting". I booked this extra day in Barcelona as a total "chill out" day.. and that we did! We ordered a late breakfast to the room , watched TV and I anxiously awaited my spa appointment for 7:15pm.. We went out for our last stroll on Barceloneta, shared a paella and called it a night! We have a 7am train to Madrid for tomorrow AM. We really enjoyed Barcelona. There really is no comparison for Spain to Italy so it's hard to say whether you like one more than the other. The vibe is totally different here. There are a lot of museums to visit - a few main attractions but I think most people could see everything in 3 days. I am glad we ... read more

Good Morning Everyone! Can I tell you what a relaxing pace we are able to do with this much time in the schedule to bounce around from city to city! There are no alarm clocks and whatever we don't see today gets moved to the list tomorrow. I was so worried about the " aggressive" itinerary of 2 countries but I really can't begin to tell you that we are more relaxed than any other Euro trip we have had :) The only difference is that we are starting later in the day so we don't come back for naps and unfortunately - these Catalans start their evening LATE - restaurants don't open for dinner until 8-9pm.. and more commonly 10:00pm seems to be the time that everyone starts eating dinner. 11pm these restaurants are overflowing.. ... read more

So today we are going to Laundry at the self serve laundromat - YIPPEE, HOORAY - obviously NOT my idea ;) 29 euros or..$38.50 to do 3 loads of laundry - not kidding.. so anyway, I am on mission for us to get this done quickly. I want to head to the Borghese Gallery and over to Travestere for a late lunch early dinner! Mission accomplished!! And it was a mission to learn that "system" - lol! We finalized our city touring and headed over to Travestere about 3pm. Ooohh it's so cool over here - very unlike the area we are staying. It is super laid back, very artsy- cute shops and tons os restaurants down every alley. We ended up having a divine white, shredded zucchini and cheese pie at Dar Poeta pizzeria - ... read more