Montjuic Castle

Castell de Montjuïc | Montjuic Castle

This majestic castle sits on the highest point in Barcelona and therefor was one of the first things we could see when drove into Barcelona on September 1st. The Castle was the site of the 1992 Summer Olympics which revitalized the city, spurring the economy and national pride. Montjuic Castle was also one of the sites that was used to measure and calculate the distance between the North Pole and Equator. Which was then used the calculate the length of the Internationally used and accepted meter.

Budget

Budget - $17,500

}Travel - $4112

}Hotels - $1474

}Transportation - $870

}Souvenirs - $150

}Food - $1650

}Entertainment - $1000

Total cost: $9256

La Paradeta Seafood Restaurant

Today was day eight and we were all a bit tired.  A great treat today was when we headed to La Paradeta for a nice long sit down lunch.  Our feet were very happy.  This cafe boasts local produce and seafood.  The neat thing is we were able to pick a variety of local fish to eat at a great price.  We walked through the line and selected out the fish we wanted, then the cook would prepare the fish right there.  It was so fresh.  then we walked over to a barista to order our drinks.  We were able to sit and talk while our food we picked out from a raw buffet was being cooked.  We all selected fresh shrimp as we were familiar with it and they sautéed in butter.  We all thought about eating crab, but we observed some other patrons struggling to open and actually eat it.  We were all just to tired.

DO! Hot Springs Tour

Pictures attributed to TripAdvisor.

We had a Wonderful day five at the local  hot springs outside of  Valencia. The scenery was gorgeous with majestic cliff sides and clear waters. The Tour guide from Do! was wonderful, he was entertaining full of knowledge about local history, and about how these hot springs had formed. The water was delightful at a very warm temperature.  We ended our visit with refreshing local fruit and fresh juices from a local road side vendor who had set up just across the entrance of the springs. The mandarin Clemenule were our favorite. We headed out for a nice relaxing lunch back toward the city.

Itinerary

Day One (26th)

• Take off Raleigh, NC 4:51p
• Arrive to Newark, NJ 6:44p
• Leave Newark, NJ 8:25p
• Arrive to Madrid, Spain at 10:44a
• Pickup the car from the car rental
• Drive to the Silken Puerta America hotel
• Crash in the hotel
• Eat dinner at the hotel's restaurant
• Buy some drinks
• Sleep

Day Two (27th)

• Eat breakfast
• Go to the Museo del Prado with audio guides ( $4.00 per adult)
• Walk the street
• Walk to the Cafe Central for lunch (13 minutes)
• Back to the hotel
• Eat dinner
• Go back to the hotel
• Pack up for tomorrow
• Sleep

Day Three (28th)

• Drive to Bunol (3 and a half hours)
• Crash in the Posada Venta Pilar hotel
• Go to the Tomatina Festival
• Go back to hotel to change clothes
• Eat lunch
• Go out for a walk 
• Buy tickets for tomorrow's match
• Eat dinner
• Sleep

Day Four (29th)

• Drive to City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain (30 mins)
• L'Hemisfèric and El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe buildings
• Go out to eat lunch at Valencia
• L'Umbracle and L'Oceanogràfic building
• Go back to the hotel in Bunol
• Eat dinner and drink some beer
• Sleep

Day Five (30th)

• Eat breakfast 
• Drive to Valencia for the Hotspring Tour
• All day Hot Springs tour with DO!
• Drive back to hotel
• Pack up for tomorrow
• Eat dinner
• Sleep

Day Six (31st)

• Eat breakfast
• Email home
• Drive to the Mestella Stadium in Valencia, Spain
• Drive to Valencia Beaches
• Go back to hotel
• Eat dinner
• Back to hotel
• Sleep

Day Seven (1st)

• Eat breakfast
• Drive to Gaudi Sagrada Familia hotel in Barcelona (3hrs 30mins)
• Look Down on the City from Tibidabo
• Eat lunch
• Go back to hotel
• Rest
• Dinner-Dos Palillos
• Sleep

Day Eight (2nd)

• Eat breakfast
• Go shopping
• Eat lunch at La Paradeta Restaurant
• Take pictures from the hotel balcony
• Celebrate Danny's and Angello's birthdays
• Sleep

Day Nine (3rd)

• Wake up and eat breakfast
• Email home pictures
• Go to the La Sagrada Familia
• Eat lunch at a local pub
• Go to hotel and take a nap
• Videogame session with hotel staff
• Eat dinner
• Go to sleep

Day Ten (4th)

• Eat breakfast
• Go to the Montjuic Castle
• Eat lunch
• Come back to the hotel
• Take a walk
• Pack up for tomorrow
• Eat dinner
• Sleep

Day Eleven (5th)

• Eat breakfast
• Drive back to Madrid (6hrs)
• Eat lunch on our way to Madrid (Zaragoza)
• Rest
• Go to El Sol night club
• Sleep

Day Twelve (6th)

• Eat breakfast
• Panoramic Tour Bus (GoMadrid)
• Eat lunch
• Back to hotel
• Email home
• Take a walk
• Go shopping (souvenirs)
• Eat dinner
• Sleep
• 
  

Day Thirteen (7th) 

• Eat breakfast
• Go to the Retiro Park
• Eat lunch
• Go back to hotel
• Pack up for tomorrow's flight
• Eat dinner
• Sleep

Day Fourteen (8th)

• Eat breakfast
• Drive to the Madrid Baraja Airport
• Return the car
• Take off Madrid, Spain (11:35 am)
• Arrive to Newark, NJ (2:30 pm)
• Eat some snacks in the airport
• Take off Newark, NJ (6:00 pm)
• Arrive to Raleigh, NC (7:54 pm)
• Get back to our homes 
• Sleep

Sports played in Spain

Soccer is the most played sport in Spain. Spain is known for "La Liga", the Spanish League. This league is considered to be one of the world's best competitions. Successful teams like FC Barcelona and Real Madrid participate in this competition.Other popular sports include basketball, tennis, cycling. We couldn't call our trip a vacation if we didn't go to a soccer match, so we did. We went to the Mestalla Stadium located in Valencia. That day, Valencia CF had to face Atletico de Madrid. Exciting match that resulted in 3-2, Atletico de Madrid won.

Mestalla Stadium

Spain is not only known for soccer. It is also known for having produced a number of tennis champions, like Rafael Nadal.

Rafael Nadal

La Tomatina Festival Aug 28

Nothing compares to Andrews enthusiasm for food fights, nothing at all.

It was like having a child on christmas morning bouncing up and down waiting for his parents to get up so that he could pounce on his christmas presents. Not all that different from Tigger.

Andrew + Tigger = His Excitement 

To put this analogy in some more context, today is La Tomatina, a Spanish holiday in which people crowed the streets of Buñol, throwing squashed tomatoes in amassed frenzy for an entire hour. Making it the biggest food fight in the world.

Palo Jabón

La Tomatina Festival

The Festival starts at ten o'clock in the morrning when the first event called "palo jabón" kicks off. How the Palo jabón event works is peculiar, a ham is placed atop a greased poll, which someone must climb and disloge the ham. At which point the starting signal for the tomato fight is to be given.

After Palo jabón has ended, the crowd is worked itself into a frenzy, and the tomato bearing trucks enter the streets.

Hotel

While in Madrid we stayed at the Silken Puerta America Hotel which is one of the finest hotel for its price. We had to pay for two rooms since they wouldn't let us have more than four people in a room. The price is relatively cheap for what it offers. The service and food was great. The place looked really nice. We conveniently chose this hotel because it was closer to the airport that other hotels. We drove to Bunol after visiting the museum. Even though the best hotels were in Valencia, we chose one close to Bunol because we knew we would need some rest after la Tomatina. Posada Venta Pilar was our choice because of its rustic rooms and warm atmosphere.

Barcelona was next on our list. We were going there because we want to visit the majestic Roman Catholic church called "Sagrada Familia". We conveniently chose a hotel near it. So close to it that you can see when you wake up. Yes, when you wake up. Gaudi Sagrada Familia gave us a fantastic view of Sagrada Familia.

Dates and Weather

We took off Raleigh on August 25th, 2013. Our flight had one stop which was Newark, New Jersey. Almost two hours flying from Raleigh to Newark. We were given one hour and forty minutes to aboard the other plane to Madrid, Spain. It currently is summer in Spain and the high temperatures hit the 90s while the low temperatures hit the lower 60s. We only took a few jackets because of the chances of rain. Thankfully, it only rained once and we didn't have to wear them much. We were back to the Madrid-Barajas airport on the September 9th. All of our flights were smooth and with little to no turbulence.

History- Spain

We arrived to Madrid in August 26, 2012. The airport was as expected. Fast-paced and crowded. We made our way to the Baggage Claim area. After we had all our belongings, we walked and got us a taxi. The hotel was one of the finest around and the service was excellent. We ate breakfast as soon as we left our luggage at our rooms. Museo del Prado was on our list for that day. This is the main Spanish national art museum. At the museum, we looked at many great paintings, like the ones from Francisco de Goya. We saw the different kind of paintings and what the painters used when they painted them. It was really cool to learn about the Spanish history. We came back to the hotel amazed by the diversity of paintings and how the painters painted so differently back then. We ate at the hotel restaurant and had some drinks. After that we were so tired, that we barely made it to the room.