Because it's my blog, you know we're going to talk about trains! The trip to Madrid is about 2.5 hours, on one of the nicest trains I've been on. It has very low lighting and a common area, and honestly looks like a hotel lounge more than a train. It has an upper and lower deck, and we opted for the upper. Most of the trip we had a view pretty similar to what you'd see in the US southwest. I had no idea Spain was so arid, so that was an interesting surprise.

So we arrive at Madrid, and at the time of writing, Europe is going through a heat wave. It is hotter than Barcelona, but honestly it's not terrible. Like, Thailand is normally far worse. Anyway, we had some issues with the metro since the line that serves the train station is under maintenance. I only mention this because we had to walk a few minutes to catch another line. The worker could clearly understand we were from out of town, and was just the most patient, kindest person ever to help us get a ticket. He even did some sort of voodoo magic to get us a 5-day pass for much cheaper than normal.

And then, the positive impressions of Madrid kept rolling in.

So, I'll just say it - Madrid is cool. Why yes, that is a trans person rocking a beard and dress at the same time, while riding a skateboard. Yes, there is a bar devoted entirely to mozzarella, and no, I don't know why or how. Our hostel is unlike any hostel I've seen before. It looks (and is, on the first floor) a brewpub in a hip neighborhood. When we walked in, a waitress with an iPad asked if we were checking in, what with all our bags. You don't get a room key, instead, it's just a QR code on your phone. Also they have comedy nights, karaoke, and pub crawls. Top 5 hostels I've ever stayed at for sure. That night we went to a building that is basically an indoor night market, a 3 floor building full of food stalls selling a bit of everything. We got to eat Peruvian food, which was essentially stir fried beef and onion with rice - I think Peru needs to expand to Asia, because it tastes different enough but is not a huge leap. Top it off with a 3 euro sangria, and exploring a car-free shopping street just outside, my impressions of Madrid continue to be high.

Let's start by running down the museums in Madrid, cause you know I like me a museum. I guess the big cat in town is The Prado, AKA that super famous art museum that's not The Louvre. So. I saw it. It has art in it. But unfortunately, I have been completely overwhelmed with art on this trip. I am thoroughly, completely, art-ed out. My brain cannot absorb more art. It is at art capacity. So while I could look at a painting and go, "Wow. That's impressive", I did it with the enthusiasm of pulling the exact correct amount of dental floss. That being said, if you just arrived in Madrid, it is absolutely worth it, but I have to really knock them for not allowing photos inside. Listen, guys. You're good, but even The Louvre allows photos, so you gotta loosen up. You can't call spoilers on something that's 500 years old. Despite that, later we went to another art museum, because it also has some famous things and is free on Sundays. Ella loved it. I sat and used up the data on my SIM.

For more interesting (to me) museums, a surprise hit was the Romanticism Museum. I don't know why it's called that, but it's a very nice looking old home that I was strangely impressed with. Also the 3 euro entry fee, because they should charge more. It's really good. Right around the corner from that is The Madrid City History Museum. Learned a bit, although I wish it didn't stop at around 1900. Still, pretty interesting, and for the price of free, it's definitely worth a look. Even just for the sparkly clean bathrooms. And finally, I have to mention the Cerralbo Museum. It's similar to the Romanticism Museum I suppose, it was a count's home back in the day, and they kept it exactly as is. That was my favorite, because while The Romanticism Museum looked like "Pride and Prejudice", this one looked like "Haunted Mansion". Compete with suits of armor in the hallways, this place is cool. Also a whopping 3 euros to get in, but we stumbled into its free day as well.

But looking back, it doesn't seem like we did too much in Madrid. But at the same time, I feel like we've done a lot. I mean, some of these museums did take the better part of a day, and we had 3 full days here. But I also feel in Madrid we were not in a hurry to go to a place, because the city itself is a destination. We even went to a park for the better part of a day, which is usually something I don't do unless there's something notable about it. In fact, I think half the time we just wandered around alleys to find random shops and coffee, which normally I like, but in Madrid I loved it. The vibe here is really comfortable to me, and it feels like a place I could easily live in. I have a lot of pins marked on my map, and we honestly didn't visit a lot of them. But I guess that's excuse enough to come back.

Even though Madrid was the last stop on our European Tour, I had to fit in one more train trip - to Toledo, about 30 minutes south. Toledo, Spain is a bit more interesting than its Ohio counterpart, I imagine, although I've not been. It's a walled fort city, that honestly looks like if the Romans invade, they'd be ready. We didn't do too much there, mostly wander around the alleys and try the signature dish, carcamusas. Essentially a tomato stewed pork, goes great with bread and a beer. Of course, we also looked at Toledo Cathedral. I was initially a bit put off by the 10 euro entry fee, but I'm glad we did it. This is one of the coolest looking churches I've ever seen, and honestly may top The Sagrada Familia in some ways. There wasn't anything too notable I guess, but imagine you had a dial for "churchiness". Toledo's Cathedral turned it up to 11, and was uncharacteristically huge, given the small alleyways that connect the rest of the city. Definitely worth the trip, it's a very pretty place.

I didn't really know what to expect from Spain. And I guess that's why it surprised me the most. I don't know why, but I felt really at home there, more so than the other countries we visited. It felt like a very young city with lots going on. I guess if you expanded Cincinnati's OTR to be much larger and connected with a metro, that would be Madrid. It was unapologetically weird, in a good way. It also had an incredibly diverse food scene, and sure, food from Spanish speaking countries was most represented. But on the same street you could find Greek, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, and who knows what in-between. It reminded me of the good things about the US, namely how diverse the food scene is in comparison to many other countries. And not to mention the diversity of the people, it feels sort of like Bangkok or New York, being a mecca for immigrants from different parts of the world. While we only scratched the surface of all the places we visited, I'm especially curious about the rest of Madrid and Spain. If it can live up to the cool factor of here, it's definitely something I want to see more of.

And now, sitting here on a plane, it's hard to believe our European adventure is over. I gotta say - big fan. I guess I'm not exactly blazing a new path by saying "Hey dudes, Europe is great", but I'm certainly glad I saw it. It understandably has a different vibe than Asia, and there's some things I prefer there, other things I prefer in Europe. But after visiting almost every country in Eastern Asia, I wouldn't mind posting up on this side of the world to see the other things on offer.

Amazingly, the last day in Europe happened to be Ella's birthday, which was a great way to end a great holiday. But for now, it's time to visit yet one more country - back to the US, for the first time in... well, many years.

I really like the vibe of Barcelona. It kind of reminds me of Pattaya, but the good parts. Meaning it's full of restaurants and bars near the beach, while being super laid back. It just makes me slow down and enjoy things, and I am enjoying it.

Plus the shops in Spanish (or Catalan?) are called "super mercat", which makes me imagine a cat mermaid superhero. That's always worth a chuckle.

We started not doing anything too notable in Barcelona. Having embraced the laid-back vibe, we wandered around the city, seeing buildings, drinking coffee, and eating things. Fortunately things are about 30% cheaper than Paris, which is much appreciated. Speaking of buildings, a lot of Barcelona's attractions are based on this fellow named Gaudi, although maybe some prefer to call him "Gaudy". He has about half a dozen buildings around Barcelona, and they all have a weird, organic style to them. To me, it almost feels like you asked insects to make a building. They look cool from the outside, but all the pictures we've been seen of the inside seem pretty normal and not worth the price of entry. Who knows, maybe next time we'll take a look - certainly there were people lined up for them, so I guess something is interesting in there. Then again, people lined up for that cable car in Paris that goes 50 meters, so I learned that people will line up for pretty dumb things.

But one of Gaudi's projects is worth the line, and you've probably heard of it. The Sagrada Familia is a big church that has been under construction for like 100 years, and won't be finished for many more. It's the top tourist attraction in the city, and here I go seeing a church after spending the last few weeks seeing dozens. But this one is definitely worth it. Sitting here, writing this, it has such an odd style. Ella said it looked like it was from Star Wars, and it does almost have an alien look to it. There's a lot of sharp angles, which look out of place for a church. But other parts have an almost organic, plant-like appearance, yet still symmetrical. Of course I'm going to add a lot of photos, but I really think this is one place you need to see for yourself. Looking at individual photos makes it appear odd, yet normal enough. But when seeing it in person, the contrast between the different parts sort of breaks my brain, like I'm having a holiday on Coruscant or something.

But most of Barcelona's other attractions are located in its Gothic Quarter, which is honestly an attraction itself. It's a very unique looking part of town, and I can't help but to compare it to Florence. They are different though, as Florence looks like a castle courtyard. Whereas Barcelona looks like a church courtyard. See? Totally different. But it's pretty neat, because like Florence there are few cars, and it's full of little shops and bars to find. We spent the entire morning just kind of wandering around, dodging the sun while drinking coffee and sangria. We also stumbled on the Barcelona History Museum, which I was initially pretty unimpressed with. However as it goes on, you go down into the basement, which have the remains of the streets and walls back when Barcelona was a Roman city. I remember wandering how old some of these things are, so I looked at a sign to see they were built in 10. Like, 10 as in 10 AD . So, that's pretty cool. It's a bit of a labyrinth down there, and definitely worth it. But you can skip the city museum upstairs, bit of a snoozefest.

But Barcelona is also near the coast, so we of course need to see the ocean. Well, I guess the sea would be more accurate. Still, it seems like a nice enough beach, although certainly a bit crowded. I guess that makes sense since it's practically downtown, but I had found more rural and probably nicer beaches online. Still, we walked along the beach for a bit, which is actually in another very cool neighborhood. It's got a nice square in the middle that had some nice outdoor restaurants and a lot of kids playing by themselves, so it seems like a safe place, despite it looking pretty inner-city. Actually according to the previously mentioned Barcelona museum, the Barcelonetta neighborhood actually has one of the cheapest rents in the city, and I cannot understand why. Maybe the buildings are too old and need renovated? But a walkable neighborhood, with little car access, full of bars, and next to the beach? I mean, sign me up.

 

Also, cool rocks.

 

Overall, I have a pretty positive impression of Barcelona. It has a fair amount to do for a city of its size, and is pretty affordable. It also has a bit of its own thing going on, with lots of locals out in squares chilling, and a pretty great food scene. Plus everyone seems to be bilingual in English, I guess due to the all the tourists. Nice for us, but I've tried my best to speak Spanish. I'm actually not terrible at it, although I hear the locals prefer Catalan. But that won't be a problem for the next destination on our European tour, Madrid. I really don't know what to expect there, but hopefully tapas and cheap coffee will continue to make an appearance.