Madrid (or Spain:The end)

Madrid is very different from Barcelona.  I thought Barcelona was younger and much more laid back.  Madrid was a little stuffier, older, but definitely a beautiful city.  You really felt like you were in a big city in Madrid.  

We were in Spain for 8 days (plus 2 for travel).  It was the longest vacation we had ever taken and our first time to travel while I was pregnant.  I definitely think our timing for such a long trip could have been better.  I was tired and ready to go home after our first day in Madrid and it didn't help that it was so cold.  I was packed for weather in the 70s or 80s.  It was in the 50s.  I was fairly miserable.

I did try to make the most of our time in Madrid but I think I may need a repeat visit to fairly assess the city.  Here are some pictures from our time there.

The Parque del Retiro was across the street from our hotel

The madrilenos know how to do a park

The bubble man

Boats for rent

Plaza del Sol before the Real Madrid/Bayern Munich soccer game

Churros and chocolate at San Gines

Architecture around the city

Real Madrid's stadium

My favorite statue in Madrid

There are lots of parks in Madrid

Plaza de la Independencia

The national library

The Palacio Real de Madrid

The royal palace again

And one more time

The fanciest post office building in the world

Fountain of Neptune where Atletico Madrid fans celebrate victories

The Prado (my favorite place we visited in Madrid)

Like I said, I was very homesick by the end of the trip.  We pride ourselves by being adventurous travelers and really wanting to try things while on vacation.  This means that I am usually fairly anti-Hard Rock Cafe.  But when you are pregnant sometimes all you want is fajitas and a little of this...

Real iced tea!  With Sweet N Low!  Heaven in a glass.

Pistachio macarons can always snap me out of a funk

I am officially done with blogs about Spain!  Yay!  It only took five months but I hope it was worth the wait.  We really did like Spain and would love to go back a) when it is warmer, b) when I am not pregnant and c) to Southern Spain.  I am still super sad we missed Sevilla.

Wine and dine

When we decided to go to Spain I had no idea that I would be 10 weeks pregnant.  I did most of the trip planning before we learned that we were expecting.  So when we were planning and learned that there was a large number of vineyards around Madrid, a wine tour sounded like the perfect activity.  And then we found out I was pregnant.

The tour was already booked so I decided to stick it out.  Daniel was looking forward to it and I wanted to be a good wife.

All of the vineyards were within an hour of Madrid but a little higher in elevation, which meant it was cold (of course).  The first town we went to was Colmenar de Oreja.  The town center is built around a circle so an arena can be set up for bull fights.

Town center

A local church

The first winery we visited was Jesus Diaz.  It has been in operation for over 100 years and they still use a lot of the traditional techniques to make wine.  We learned that making wine used to be a little dangerous if you did not allow the gas that builds in fermentation to escape.  

We also learned that I am really good at fake drinking.  We sampled wine at every vineyard and I really did not feel like explaining that I was pregnant so I fake drank.  It made it a little awkward when our guide asked my opinion since I had no clue what anything tasted like but I learned to say everything was oaky.  

The original earthenware vats that still get used

All the bottles waiting to be filled

Vineyard

The scale where they weigh the trucks that bring in grapes

Outside the tasting room

One of the local towns was preparing for a festival and bull fight so we walked around the arena.  I;m not sure if we were allowed to, but we did.

Arena and stands ready for the bull fight

Behind the walls

The second vineyard we went to was Solera Bodegas.  It was also in Colmenar de Orejas.  I liked this vineyard a lot because they also made olive oil, which we got to taste.  I was pretty excited to see something I could actually try. 

The sign for the vineyard's tasting room

The final winery we visited was Bodegas Orusco in Valdilecha.  It was much larger than the other two vineyards.  It is a family-operated company so we got to meet the whole crew.  When we were leaving a truck was being loaded to take their wine to China.  Who knew?

Daniel really enjoyed the tour/drinking so I was glad I stuck it out.  I can fake drink with the best of them.  The one lowlight was when we went to lunch after the tour.  We ate traditional Spanish dishes and everything was delicious except for one particular dish.  It was made with fish was processed to look like baby eels (or worms) and it had eggs on top.   I try to be open-minded but it was where I drew the line that day.  I may have offended the tour guide but who wants to eat anything that looks like worms?  Not me.  

Barcelona a Madrid

We travelled from Barcelona to Madrid by train.  It probably would have been cheaper to fly, but Daniel loves a train.  We took the AVE which takes about three hours.  Apparently no one speaks English at the Sants train station which made finding where we needed to go very interesting.  Thankfully we got there early because I think we tried to go through every security point we could.  

Once we actually found the train, it was pretty easy.  The car was super nice and the food was actually really good.  We also got to watch the first twenty minutes of Tangled in Spanish about fifteen times, which was exciting.

Our train car

The Biebs

I'm happy because I was ignorant of how cold I would soon be

When we got to Madrid, we took a cab to our hotel.  Let me be honest, I did not like Madrid as much as Barcelona.  Maybe it was because being pregnant was catching up with me or that it was incredibly cold.  Our hotel was pretty centrally located but it seemed like we had to walk miles to get anywhere and I was not so impressed by the restaurant selection.

Our room

It was very much open concept

The sitting area

A cute garden

Our view

I think I may actually wrap up the Spain blogs very soon.  Madrid was cold and I was tired so we didn't do as much as we probably should have.  We may have to go back so I can give Madrid a chance to redeem itself.

Costa Brava and Girona

While we were in Barcelona, I thought it would be nice to get out of the city and explore the area.  We decided to go on a day trip to Costa Brava and Girona.  My parents had been to Costa Brava before and really liked it.

Our tour guide was a little nuts.  Supposedly Gisele Bundchen had hit on him in front of her husband, who he insisted was not Tom Brady.  Uh, I knows my celebrity gossip and I know for a fact that the only husband she has ever had is Tom Brady.  He also met Shakira and had lots of other interesting stories.  Oh and he smoked pot.  In front of us.  I don't have a problem with people smoking pot but I do have a little issue when they are driving the car I am riding in.

Thankfully there was an older couple on the tour with us and they were super nice.  They had been everywhere.  They had been on safari.  Last year they went to Thailand.  They had been to a place in Morocco where the goats climb trees (which was promptly added to my trip list because that I have to see).  I hope one day Daniel and I are as well traveled as they were.

Our first stop was a beach in Costa Brava.  It was beautiful but so cold.  I was thanking my lucky stars that I had purchased a winter coat at Zara earlier in the week.  There is no way I would have survived that trip without it.

After getting some food at a cafe, we went to Pals.  Pals is a very well preserved medieval town and is definitely full of tourists.  There were amazing views of the countryside from the church, so it was worth the stop. 

The beach

The hill we hiked.  Tory Burch flats are not meant for hiking.

The view from the top of the hill

Looking back at the town

A cute little beach town

It was as cold as it looks

Sailboat races

All the sails

A courtyard in Pals

Another courtyard

I love how well the town was preserved

Cobblestone streets

The view from Pals

The countryside and the beach

Our last stop was Girona.  We ate lunch at a traditional restaurant.  I'm not going to lie, I have not loved meat this pregnancy and I most certainly wasn't loving it at 10 weeks.  The restaurant served a lot of meat.  The one highlight was a salad with warm goat cheese which was from heaven.  Daniel totally wasted his, which was devastating.

After lunch, we explored the city.  Girona has a Jewish ghetto which has been preserved.  We got to experience a leery, drunk homeless man, which was super exciting.  He was just a little creepy.  We walked around for a while, but to be honest by this point I was cold and tired and wanted to go back to Barcelona.  Traveling while pregnant is kind of like being on a roller coaster.  

Bridge in Girona

In the Jewish ghetto

Where there are lots of stairs

The cathedral in Girona

A mix of architecture

The view from the church

The old city walls

I will say that even though I froze, I was glad we got out of Barcelona and explored a little more of Spain.  I can see why so many people love that area so much and why it is so popular for holidays.