Spain: Madrid

Our Madrid experience began at 0300 Dallas-time and our first stop was the Tourist Info kiosk where we were to pick up our pre-purchased train passes.

Spotting the Tourist Info booth was not a problem as Madrid's Barajas Airport is largely constructed of walls made of clear glass. The problem was in actually getting there. After riding the glass elevator to nowhere a few times, we eventually changed our strategy by using the escalator.

Travel tip: When in Madrid's Airport...consider using the escalators. The elevators bypass certain floors.

After an uneventful train trip from the Terminal 4 at the airport to Atocha Station, we walked a couple of blocks to our hotel and despite mind-numbing sleepiness, sucked it up and started out on our tour of Madrid...

The Rose Garden in Parque del Retiro

Parque del Retiro

A view from our hotel room

We weren't quite certain of what we ordered but we think it was ham.

Yup. 100% Iberian "Jamon"

Served on bread with a very generous drizzling (1/4 cup) of Olive Oil

Plaza Mayor

Typical Street signage

He had no choice, really

 FYI: Our tour of Madrid did not include attending a bullfight.

• Palacio Real
• Museo del Prado
• Plaza Mayor
• El Rastro
• Museo Thyssen-Bomemisza
• Parque del Retiro
• El Escorial
• San Francisco el Grande

Free Advice

When you are going someplace that you know very little about and have a limited amount of time at your disposal, pick up an "DK Eyewitness Top Ten" guide to help you navigate your trip before you go.

They're inexpensive, little handbooks that include train, city and road maps, points of interest with corresponding addresses, opening and closing times.

For example, let's say that you are going to Paris...

There are a ton of things to see in Paris, the 'Top Ten' guide gives you a list of the 'Top Ten' Paris highlights. Let's say 'The Louvre' is listed in the 'Top Ten" Paris highlights. This is where the dirt meets the road. There are tons of things to see in 'The Louvre', so the 'Top Ten' guide then gives you a suggested listed list of the 'Top Ten' works of art within 'The Louvre'.

Nice, clean and neat.

I am not being compensated  for my DK Top Ten endorsement...I just really like them. 

Spain: Trip Planning

Step 1: We began our trip planning with borrowing travel guides from the library and friends...

Step 2: Flying in and out of Madrid's Barajas Airport, we familiarized ourselves with the surrounding areas and decided exactly where we wanted to go.

The plan...

• 5 days in Madrid (including a day trip to Toledo)
• 2 days in Seville
• rent a car in Seville and drive to Cadiz then Tarifa - stay overnight
• return to Seville, stopping in Ronda (between Marbella and Seville) on the way.
• the following morning, take the train back to the Madrid airport for a 1pm departure to Dallas.

Step 3:  Logistics.

• Determining where we would stay was largely dependent on proximity to the train station and points of interest. 'Mr. Something' was in charge of that aspect of our trip. I gave him the dates and he simply got on hotels.com and took care of business.When he finds a hotel that he thinks would work for us, he checks out www.tripadvisor.com to see what others think of it. So far, his system has worked very well.

• In an effort to maintain marital harmony, determining how to get from the airport to your hotel is very important and these days is as simple as Googling... "How to get from Madrid airport to Madrid". 

Our flight from Dallas departed Nov. 8th @ 5pm and arrived in Madrid Nov. 9th @ 10am. Deciding how to get to our hotel from the airport without sleep was just an argument waiting to happen so...we dodged that bullet by purchasing a 4-day Madrid tourist pass for buses, subway and city trains in advance through neoturismo.com

With the exception of the rental car, I was in charge of the inter-Spain travel portion of our trip and our passes were picked up without a hitch at Madrid's Barajas Airport, Terminal 4 - Visitor Info. Within minutes, armed with a city map and our 'Spanish Phrasebook for Travelers', we were on the express train to the Atocha Station where we found our hotel within a couple of blocks. 

Other Advance bookings included...

• Madrid Hotel: 4 nights - Hotel Agumar (hotels.com)
• 72 hour Madrid Museum pass (neoturismo.com)
• One-day "Hop on/Hop off" Madrid Bus pass (neoturismo.com)
• One-day round trip Toledo train ticket and 24 hour museum pass. (neoturismo.com)
• 48 hour Seville Museum pass (neoturismo.com)
• Tickets to Palacio Andaluz Flamenco Show (neoturismo.com)
• 24 hour "Sixt" Car rental.(orbitz.com)
• Round trip Madrid-Seville via Renfe High Speed (AVE) train (renfe.com)
• Seville hotel: 2 nights - Hotel Cervantes (hotels.com)
• Tarifa Hotel: 1 night - Hotel La Torre (hotels.com)
• Seville Hotel:1 night - Hotel Cervantes (hotels.com)