So I just returned from my vacation to Spain and the Netherlands and I figured I would write my own review here,
Just for some background as to what our budget was as someone with no budget is very likely to have a different time than someone on a budget.
We spent 11 nights 13 days (2 of those were 1/2 days)in Spain. We brought $1200 Euro cash for the Spanish budget and paid for hotels and apartment rentals and anything over 200E with credit card. Our hotel budget was about 75Euro a night =/= 125CAD.
We spent 4 nights in Barcelona
1 Night in a converted castle in Tortosa
2 nights in Sagunto (30min drive to Valencia)\
1 night in Alicante
1 night in Cartagena
2 nights in Taragona
Barcelona - if you are there to go to sleep at 4am and not see much durring the day then this is the place for you. If you are interested in going to museums and other palces i would recommend at max spending 2 days here. It was for the most part a real let down and easily the worst part of our 14 night European adventure.
The amazing: Sagratta Familia, Palace of Calitan music - 2 places you cannot mis IMO if going to Barcelona
The good: The science museum - every place that has a science museum I always go, not as good as Prague, Valencia, or Amsterdam but worth the admission once. The transit passes - you can buy a 10 pass ticket for 10 Euro and use it for as many people as you want. We bought 2 of those and never needed
The unexpected: If you have conversational South American Spanish and have been able to get by fine in places like Chile and Costa Rica - be prepared for a shock because apparently you are speaking gibberish to people in Spain. Seeing a guy about 25m in front of us get his DSLR stolen and trying to tell a police officer in my Spanish and English on Las Romblas about it and failing - whats most funny is a girl at the tourist office less than 5 hours earlier told us Japanese are the most targeted and then seeing one have their camera stolen was just humerous. The amount people in Barcelona eat out and the time they eat - eatery opens at 830pm
The disappointing: The food - for anything reasonably priced 20CAD or under blah boring bland and just overall disappointing. You had to get to 30-40 Euro for something nice but spending close to 50CAD for me has to be amazing food and this isnt it and we werent willing to spend more than 40 Euro just on the food. Guell park - omg dont waste your time with this pile of garbage. Everything you read and hear make it sound like is something amazing and its a waste of time and was a colossal commercial failure.
The bad: The obsession with all things Gaudi. The segratta familia was truly amazing and probably one of only 3 churches of the 30+ or more in Europe that I have been to that is actually worth it. While most of Gaudi's building are interesting for the most they are down right creepy. And then you read a bit more about him and it sounds like the only reason he flourished was because he had rich benefactors but he was a commercial disaster. The smell of the City was I guess expected given its a coastal hot climate but the overall is just nasty. Also I have experienced European expressionism before but the amount of grafitti everywhere is offputting.
The ugly: The Catalonian independence arrogance theme throughout alot of the province (at least from Barcelona and then travelling south). I guess maybe because we have Quebec that its more meaningfull but the overall disgust of their need for tourism and anti Spanish is really off-putting.
We took a day trip to Monseratt Monestary and that was a very cool place to see and hike around. We met to American ladies on the train ride up and they are were staying the night and we were instantly disappointed we didnt book the same. Very special place.
Outside of Barcelona we rented a car - was supposed to be a Fod Fusion but instead we got a Fiat Panda - the rental car scam job is alive and well in spain - Rental was 35 Euros for 6 days. Plus 60 Euro for the full tank of gas (in Spain you return it with as little fuel as possible so we the orange light was turning on when we got there so we spent another 40 minutes or so killing the environment and their car by going around in circles by the airport in 3rd gear. Then the insurance came - we each have CIBC Aerogold but wernt confident what might happen if something did happen - good thing we got as at some point in the parking garage in Valencia someone ran into the passenger side.
On the way to Tortosa we took a side trip to Siurana - we went there for the views and the historical significance - very nice - easy to get lost though and the mountain roads were very interesting to drive on.
Tortosa The spanish gov has converted alot of old castles into hotels and Tortosa was the closest one so we decided to spend the night. Not much to do in Tortosa - we had an unforgetable evening at a restraunt in town (not because of the food but the perv owner we was hitting on my wife in Spanish - he didnt think either of us spoke any). His arrogance was so funny that I didnt say anything until the end when I told him in Spanish that I dont think a 5'6" 300Lb ball of lard had a chance with her - who knows if he understood or not but the look on his face was priceless when I spoke to him.
Other than the eatery perv everyone in Torosa was very friendly - much more so than Barcelona. That evening I got food poisoning we think from our Breakfast in Barcelona - it only lasted for 12 hours and then we left for parts unknown.
After Tortosa we handt booked anything so we decided on staying in the quaint beach town of Sagunto. On the Expressway the price is about 1E/10KM so we decided on taking the regional road which only extended our journey about 45 minutes. At the time we didnt think much but everything in Spain closes at 2pm - even the tourist offices so we had to kill some time in Sagunto until the tourist office opened to get a map.
Sagunto - very rich and interesting history and a place I wanted to see more than Barcelona even before booking due to its incredible Roman Empire historical significance. The first day in Sagunto we did the beach thing at 29C - sand was very soft (better than hawaii) water was a bit cold but who cares. After we went to the tourist office and ended up staying at Hotel Vent de Mar (winds of the sea) - about a 5 minute walk to the beach.
2nd day we went to the beach in the morning and then decided to see the historical stuff after lunch. Just amazing - the whole setup and the way they have items labelled in English (for the most part). Sagunto has a very interesting history - I was a very rich and important merchant town and was allied with the Romans and the invasion and siege of Sagunto was the catalyst of the start of the second Punic war. They have a roman Apitheatre there and a Roman castle/forum. In the 1900s it became an extremely important and vital iron ore processing and smelting plant which people there are very prideful about and very interesting to see.
We then left Sagunto and headed to Valencia for a day trip - we initially planned to spend a night in Valencia and we should have but alas we didnt. Without a doubt IMO Valencia is head and shoulders above Barcelona in terms of bang for your buck, what to see, what to eat, friendliness. The food again was very average but at least you only paid 15E instead of 30E.
We then stayed 1 night in Alicante. Very interesting and nice city with a great beach - we spent 1/2 day at the beach near Alicante - it was a relatively brisk 27C out - brrrr
.
We then left Alicante and headed for Cartagena. Before we left for Spain we planned on driving alot more and getting down to Malaga but decided that Cartagena was the farthest south we wanted to travel. Good beach in Cartagena again, and amazing history from many different cultures that have existed - great maritime port (was home of the Spanish Navy).
The next day we decided to go straight shot to Tarragona, its alot of driving but we heard everything there closed at 3 so we wanted to get at least a few of the things in - there is alot of history in Tarragona - aqueduct, roman theatre, coliseum, circus and Aurelian Way. We left afer a hearty complimentary breakfast at around 715am and go to Tarragona at 1030. Got to the tourist office and yes everything closed at 3 and the next day (Monday) everything was closed) so we hit up the Coliseum, ampitheatre, and circus. At the Coliseum we go there at 215 and a guy tried to tell us they were closing - the pamphlet from the tourist office clearly stated it was open until 3 but the ticket window closes 30 minutes prior. He kept saying 5 minutes 5 minutes to 2 American girls - I got tired of this game as I had been played by this Southern European mentality in Greece before so I just pushed through him and bought 2 tickets. It wasnt worth the money has they only had written information plaques and all were in Spanish but we got some good pictures and while walking out at 2.58 pm I told the guy 5 minutes 5 minutes my ass in Spanish. I love being able to someonwhat speak a language when they dont think you can - the look on their faces are priceless.
Monday we spent the morning going to see the Aqueduct and the Aurelian way and in the afternoon it had cleared up and we went to the beach - again the temperature was a frosty 28C so the only people on the beach were us, an older American couple and some Russians (more on Russians later in my Netherlands recap).
The next day we headed to BCN for our flight to Amsterdam. We left early not really knowing how long it would take us to get there - the drive on the C32/C31 was well worth it. We didnt expect the tolls as we had avoided the AP7 but at least here the tolls were well worth it. Travelling through tunnels for what seemed like eternity was cool unto itself to see and the toll afterwards was well worth the price IMO.
Overall, I would say unless you are into nigtlife you can see anything worth seeing in BCN in 1.5 days. Dont spend more than 2 nights there. The breakfasts at the hotels outside of Barcelona were easily the best meals of the day for us and for the rest we kept trying to find good spanish food and kept finding mediocre food. Pallela in Valencia was a good example, - it was tasty and well priced but it wasnt anything special.
Would I go back to Spain - Yes. It wouldnt be my first choice (I would like to see Croatia, Italy, Switzerland again, Turkey, Scandanavia, Scottland/Ireland/England but I would go back. I went back I would fly into Valencia and then travel from there.
A couple of things to note: the european beverage screwjob is alive and well in spain - 4 CAD for a 200ml bottle of pop, no tap water - similar price for bottled water. Unlike the Czech republic alcohol inst less expensive so you cant supplement your palet with beer. After the first time I had no problem just bringing in a bottle of Water into the eatery. I would always order pop but then once done wouldnt order more but instead would just drink the water I had brought. Something I would never even consider in Calgary - but then again I can get tap water in Calgary.
Females: I was fairly disappointed with the hottie quotient in Spain. Alot of women there wear designer clothes (the one thing the warn you about at BCN is not bringing in or out knock off handbags
) but for the most part are fairly plain looking. Compared to Athens, Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Costa Rica, Chile, Honolulu the number of hotties is low.
Friendliness: not good not bad. I would say on par with Greece, Italy, CZ Rep, and Switzerland - not as friendly as The Netherlands or Germany, more friendly than France or Italy.
Weather: hot, humid and sweaty as balls - 24-29C as the high. Never seen any rain - worst weather we saw was some cloudiness but that would burn off by 1pm.
English - I would say about on the same level as the Czech republic. Not as good as Germany, Swizterland, Netherlands. Probably on par with France and Italy - a bit better than Greece.
So its not all anti Spain/Barcelona - the transit in Barcelona is very convenient - and driving in Spain is a breeze - not a death trap like Greece
Spain and Netherlands - looking for vacation ideas, experiences, etc
