We took a weeklong trip to Spain from June 10-18 with our two youngest kids, aged 10 and 12.  This was their first time in Europe, so I was really motivated to show them some cool stuff.  Madrid was the easy jumping off point, due to so many flights going there directly from O’Hare Airport, so that’s where we began our adventure.  I had been to Madrid once before, so a lot of what we did I had already done or seen before, but it had been over 15 years, and we stayed in a completely different area of the city, so it seemed new to me.  My recollections of the last time I was in Madrid was that the people were not super friendly, almost haughty, and I felt the city was very polished and pristine to the point that it had lost a bit of its character.  After this trip, though, my attitude about Madrid has changed quite a bit.  Staying in the literary quarter, we were surrounded by younger people as well as about a zillion tapas restaurants and bars.  The purveyors of these places are jovial and welcoming, and really want you to enjoy their food and wine.  The area has a lot of character and is fun and lively.  It is also in a very central location, about a 5 minute walk to the art museums, Plaza Mayor and the Gran Via, and about a 15-20 minute walk to the Palacio Real.  

We stayed at the Catalonia Las Cortes Hotel, and you can read my review about it here.  It was great to have two rooms for the four of us so we could spread out and relax after long days of touring around.  

As for touring, we did mainly the obligatory things because we were only in Madrid for two days.  We went to the Palacio Real (read my review and tips here!) and the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza museums.  We walked along the Gran Via to check out the more polished part of town with beautiful buildings and gobs of tourists and actually found a place to have a delicious lunch!  We visited the Plaza Mayor and ate tapas everywhere.  We also did a tapas tour organized by Gourmet Madrid.  It was a comprehensive tour around the area where we were staying.  We went to 4 different places, and had multiple tapas at each place, as well as drink of our choice – either beer, wine, or something non-alcoholic.  I think the tour was really excellent, a good value, and we got to taste everything from the basics to the weird – from jamon iberico and garlic prawns to sweetbreads and shark meat croquettes.  Read more about the tour here!  

Of course, we saw the three Caravaggio paintings available for viewing in Madrid – one each at the Palacio Real, The Prado, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza (T-B) museum.  Our favorite was St. Catherine of Alexandria which was at the T-B museum.  The colors and use of light and dark in this painting were exquisite, and the symbolism was titillating.  The painting was so interesting that, not knowing anything about St. Catherine, we had to search her up right then and there just to get the full context and meaning of the painting.  A true gem. 

Speaking of art museums, I would highly recommend getting the “Art Walk” pass which allows you to visit the Prado, the T-B and the Reina Sofia museums all in one day.  It is a good value and, if you are limited in time but want to maximize your art viewing, this is definitely the way to go.  My favorite was the T-B museum due to the more wide range of styles and types of art on display.  Read more about my thoughts on the Madrid art museums here!

I found a new appreciation for Madrid after staying here this last time for a few days, and would love to come back and spend more time exploring the streets of our neighborhood, shopping and definitely eating way more tapas!  

Next, we took the high speed train to Barcelona.  It only took 2.5 hours and with minimal security lines and quick boarding, this was definitely the way to go.  The Madrid train station is also really beautiful, and worth getting there a bit early to snap a few photos and check out the shops.  

We arrived in Barcelona around 3:30pm and took a cab to our hotel which was in the Gothic Quarter. Our hotel was Hotel Neri, which is a Relais and Chateau hotel in a pedestrian-only area where cars couldn’t go, so we did have to walk our luggage for about 1/4 of a mile.  We stayed at Casa Neri which was an apartment building across the street from the main hotel because I booked a large apartment room so the four of us could stay together for this leg of the trip.  It was a cute and comfy place with a full kitchen, and enough room for the 4 of us to spread out, although we didn’t have a ton of time to relax here because there is so much to do in Barcelona that we were out and about quite a bit. We did take advantage of the rooftop pool, though, after a few long days of sight-seeing, and it was a welcome respite for sure since it was so super hot when we were there.  Read my review of Hotel Neri here! 

I loved the vibe of the Gothic Quarter, which was similar to the area where we stayed in Madrid. It is super old and full of character, with cute shops, cafes and bars around every winding corner.  The only drawback is that the streets are so narrow that there is zero breeze through here, so it can get really stinky and sweltering on hot days. That said, I absolutely loved the variety of shops in the gothic quarter! They were all tiny and super cute, and all completely unique. I am not usually a huge shopper while on vacation, but this time we bought all sorts of random things, from rubber duckies and fun socks, to hand-woven wicker purses, to the weird and cute Caganer shop (little defecating ceramic figurines that are used in Catalan nativity scenes) where we bought a pooping Freddie Mercury. Again, I wish i had more time to explore the area. Honestly, we were in Barcelona for a total of 3 full days, and I think you need 5-6 days to really have the time to see the important sites, but also have some time to explore and relax too.

The highlight of Barcelona, even for the kids, was La Sagrada Familia.  Words and photos do not do this place justice.  It is an incredible space, full of neon color, religious grandeur, naturalism, and spirituality. You absolutely cannot miss this place if you come to Barcelona. Plus, as our guide joked, since it is still being built, you have a reason to return many times, as it will still be changing for the next 10+ years! Read more about my thoughts and check out some photos of the interior of Sagrada Familia here.  After spending the morning at Sagrada Familia and a very long walk to lunch, we went to Parc Guell, which was very hot at 3pm, and was a bit underwhelming for me, though still an interesting place to check out, especially if you are into Gaudi’s architectural style.  The large curvilinear bench was extremely cool, and we got some nice views of the city, but there is just not that much else there.  Perhaps we were just tired and hot after a long day, and I hope to go back and revisit it sometime. I also wrote a little something on Parc Guell which you can read here.  We also checked out the Picasso Museum, which, to me, was underwhelming.  It had some of his very early works, which you would never think are Picasso as they are more impressionist in style.  There were only a few blue period paintings, and zero cubist paintings.  We spent less than an hour here.

We spent a day on a tour through Castle Experiences in Montserrat, where we were able to visit the beautiful and haunting Basilica and walk around the area with stunning views of weirdly shaped mountains.  We ticked our fourth Caravaggio box here as well, being able to view St. Jerome in Meditation at the Museum of Montserrat which was small and charming. Afterwards, we went to a winery to taste three wines and have some tapas.  It was an enjoyable trip, and I highly recommend getting out to Montserrat if you have the time. Read about our trip to Montserrat here!

Again, we ate a ton of Tapas in Barcelona, and even had some super yummy “Michelin starred” gelato at Rocambolesc right on La Rambla (from the folks of the consistently top-rated, three Michelin starred, El Celler de Can Roca – maybe we’ll make it here next time), but the food highlight of Barcelona was our dinner at Cocina Hermanos Torres, a two star Michelin restaurant.  I am of the opinion that Spain has the best food in Europe, and this restaurant definitely lived up to that standard.  It was an incredible experience, and the kids enjoyed the choreographed service and weird-looking food.  Read more about this incredible dinner here! 

Apart from this experience, our table service in Spain overall was horrendous.  At Can Cisa, our server completely ditched us for a table of 15 people and we barely saw him again.  He had promised to bring a bottle of wine, and when that failed, promised free dessert drinks, but those never came either.  At La Cabana Argentina in Madrid, I ordered a second bottle of wine after we finished the first, and they didn’t bring it out until we were almost through with our desserts.  Now, I fully understand that service in Europe is much different than it is here in the USA, and I am fine with slow service, and even sometimes erratic service, but more often than not, we got absolute crap service! There is no tipping culture in Europe like there is here, though, and I honestly think the lack of tipping is the direct cause of the terrible service you get in Europe. This is, truly, my only complaint from this entire trip, and it is relatively minor, considering that the food at each place that I mentioned was extremely good. I am preparing more detailed reviews of both restaurants and a few others for this site and will publish them shortly. Please subscribe if you would like to get all of my updates!

The main tip that I want to alert folks to about Barcelona is how spread out it is and you will most definitely not be able to walk everywhere you want to go, especially if you are short on time. I mean, if you are staying in the Gothic Quarter with the main goal of shopping, eating and partying, it’s cozy and fine and completely walkable.  However, if you want to get out to the Gaudi stuff – the Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, the other homes, you are either going to be taking cabs or putting in a lot of steps.  Google maps estimated that if we were to walk from our hotel to Sagrada Familia, it would be 40 minutes.  This would be completely fine in nice weather, but not when it’s in the 90s like it was for our trip. 

Overall, I still think Spain has the best food in Europe, but apart from a few stand-outs, some of the worst actual service in Europe, and thus, the world.  Come here, though, for the fun atmosphere, amazing food (and try to overlook the service mishaps!), and for the incredible architecture.  There is a ton to do, and I know we will be back for more.