Spain and Portugal have been pretty high on my European bucket list because it is supposed to be two of the cheapest Countries on the Western side of Europe. Cheap is all relative, I guess, as I did not see it being any cheaper overall.
I flew to Madrid, Spain at the last minute as I found a return ticket on my all-you-can-fly pass. The flight had me getting to Madrid late on a Wednesday night and flying back to Rome on Saturday night. That was not nearly enough time, but I got a pretty good idea, Spain is NOT cheap!
As I blogged about in my Spain football blog, I was able to visit both Madrid and Spain.
I whipped back and forth on the high-speed train, which was an unreal experience. I had taken the Chunnel between London and Paris, but somehow, this felt faster. We topped out at almost 300 KM/H.
There were two different companies to choose from, which was nice as it kept the prices down. I paid $40 from Madrid to Barcelona and then $63 to get back on a Saturday night.
Barcelona was very nice with the cobblestoned narrow roads in the city center area.
I stayed two days in Barcelona, which barely scratched the surface. I guess the main advantage of Barcelona is that you are located on the sea, so you get the best of both worlds. I toured 30 miles of the cost on the bus tour and couldn’t imagine how amazing it would be in the summertime.
I just rode the metro around the city for most of the day.
I only spent a few hours in Madrid before bolting to Barcelona, so I made sure I had a full to wrap up Spain. I arrived back in Madrid at an amazing hostel on 04/04/25 and had one night booked.
When you stay in a hostel, you can store your bags including a towel and shower later in the day. That was perfect as my flight did not leave Madrid until 9 PM on 04/05/25.
There were only a few things that I needed to see in Madrid:
