I’ve been there a few times, and it has been generally great. One of the best european countries for food. Along Spain and France. There are bad places everywhere.
Honestly, they’re all great. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Bilbao.
I had almost no idea about Spain before I moved to Europe and soon realised that it is a friendly place with amazing reasonably priced food and some of the most amazing artwork. Every new city has these qualities and adds its own stories and beautiful architecture.
Also Spain is to gin and tonic what New York is to pizza and Australia/New Zealand are to coffee: they did not invent it, but they certainly perfected it. a giant fish bowl of gin mare and good tonic water filled with ice and maybe some rosemary for scent.
For anyone planning a visit to Spain, I can't recommend Madrid highly enough. I wasn't sure what to expect from the city, but it might be my favorite I've ever been to. Madrid is beautiful, clean, walkable, and very welcoming. The food was all amazing and it seemed like we never had to wait for a table. I had a great time in Barcelona, but I'd recommend Madrid over Barcelona in a heartbeat.
Lisbon is absolutely fantastic. I would happily move there.
Walkable, very diverse, awesome beaches, great food, beautiful scenery, 1h or 2h by plane to rest of Europe. Amazing nightlife, best parties I've ever had :D
I recommend Madrid as well. I still haven't made it to Barcelona but I did visit the Spanish Riviera also known as the Costa del Sol. I stayed in Torremolinos where a lot of English winter and there were a lot of American sailors in the bars as well. Its a short distance to Malaga which was interesting.
Also went West and caught a boat to Tangiers in Morocco for a day trip. It was my first time experiencing culture shock. Tangiers was so different from either America or Europe. I made friends with two Danish soldiers and the three of us explored the Casbah together. It was also the first (and last!) time that I ate a sheep's eyeball! Little kids everywhere were begging for money. I understood perfectly why they spoke to me in English. But when they found out my friends were from Denmark they switched to speaking perfect Danish! These kids knew a smattering of a dozen languages or more.
Start on the south coast in the east, make your way across Antalya, go up to Urfa, where everything is between 2000 and 17,000 years old. Go to Lake Van and Mount Nimrut, watch out for the heads. Do Capadocia (fairy chimneys) and look out for the old christian hideout caves where it was first preached and used to hide from the romans. Head across to Ankara to see the Ataturk mauseleum then down to Konya. Onwards to Bodrum, up through Ephesus, Troy and get the boat from Bursa to Istanbul. Spend a few days in Istanbul and take the train or bus to Thessaloniki.
From Thessaloniki go to Volos then on to Athens. From Port Piraeus you can go on to Crete after which you can head back to Athens then on to Patra to try some wine. From Patra get a ferry to Ancona in Italy.
From Ancona go on to Rome, then up to Florence. Don't forget the galleries. From there on to Milan and Turin. Here you can go on to Cannes, Monaco (if you fancy but it is expensive) and Nice. From Nice head west to Cerbere to connect on to Barcelona.
After some time in Barcelona, head to Madrid and if you fancy it on to the Douro valley in Portugal, then Lisbon and over towards Cadiz. If you don't fancy Portugal and want to save it for when you're back from Morocco then you can go from Madrid down to Cadiz via Seville. If you time this right you should get there for the Fiesta de Savilla. Go on to Cordoba and do some Flamenco then on to Tarifa to get the ferry to Tangiers.
From Tangiers take the train to Rabat - if you go overnight get a Couchette, then on to Casablanca (although there's not a great deal there). You can go on to Marrakech from there. Try to stay in the Medina if you can, the Riyads aren't that expensive and are worth it. From there you can head to Fez or the Atlas mountains - there's some waterfalls near Marrakech that are also worth a visit. Then you can head up to Tangiers or down towards West Africa. I'd suggest back up to Tangiers, then do Lisbon, Douro and northern Spain. When you get back to France you should be able to go from there up the west coast through the north and either get a Eurostar or Ferry to the UK (at which point drop me an email and I'll buy you a beer) or you can keep going north and east to Belgium, Holland and beyond.
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