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3 Weeks solo in Spain - A recount of my journey

Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:38 pm
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:38 pm
**Warning - this is going to be a very long post**

I just returned from 3 weeks in Spain all by my lonesome.

I planned this trip basically to not have a plan. All I booked was the flight and a rental car. Everything else was done on the spot. Most of my hotel and AirBnB stays were booked the night before or the night of.

I had a general idea of what cities I wanted to see, but the whole idea behind this trip was to not be confined to an itinerary or by other people’s wants. I didn't want to be rushed, and I wanted to be able to do things as they came.

It was a trip like I've never experienced, and I'm so glad I did it that way.

Possibly the best part about it also was the entire trip was basically funded through credit card points. At the end of the post I'll break down my total expenses. Very doable for almost anyone.

This was my entire route, roughly 1900 miles.


Madrid
My first 4 nights were in Madrid. I heard various sources and people saying “don’t spend much time in Madrid” “I didn’t like Madrid". I don’t know why, maybe people going to Europe are looking for those small “romantic” medieval cities, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to those sources. I had a blast in Madrid.

Yes it’s a big city and may not have as much charm as some of the other cities I visited, but there’s a ton to do. Whether you’re looking for museums, architecture, shopping, art and theatre, sports, food, partying, etc, there’s really something for everybody.

Bullfight - one of the coolest experiences of my life, but not for the faint of heart. It can be brutal.



Real Madrid game - first “futbol” match for me and it didn’t disappoint. Helps that I got to see one of, if not the best team in the world right now.


Other random pics




May is San Isidro in Madrid, which is a religious holiday for them. This parade was rolling one Monday, which totally caught me by surprise. Streets were jam packed.



Toledo
After Madrid I drove about an hour South and spent one night in Toledo. Toledo is that small romantic medieval town that Madrid isn’t. It’s beautiful and has a ton of interesting history. It’s known as the “City of three cultures”, because apparently Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived there harmoniously for a portion of time. The different cultural influences are seen throughout the city.

A good vantage point right outside of the city. Can get there by bus for one euro.


The gothic cathedral is a sight to see and truly awe inspiring. It’s considered by many as the shining example of Spanish Gothic cathedrals. Get the audio tour to learn about the history. It’s very interesting and magnifies the experience IMO.


*Fun fact: Toledo is also known for their sword making. They’ve made all the swords for the LOTR’s, Game of Thrones, and various other movies. They’re on sale EVERYWHERE in town.

Cordoba & Sevilla
My next stop was Sevilla, but I stopped in some random city to check out some windmills and a castle, and also stopped in Cordoba on the way. Cordoba is a very cool city with a ton of history.

Random city with windmills and castle

The main site to see in Cordoba is the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, which was originally built as a mosque in the 8th century, then converted to a catholic cathedral in the 13th century. It’s one of the most interesting mixtures of moorish and catholic architecture and decor you’ll ever see.

outside on the bell tower


original Moorish arches


Catholics added their own touch after the Reconquista


Bridge built in the first century BC during Roman rule.


The Old Town area of the city is the main area. Very cool little town to just wander and get lost in.




Sevilla
After Cordoba I spent 2 nights in Sevilla (or Seville). Awesome city with small town and big town aspects. I felt a very young vibe here, perhaps because of the 3 universities in the city.

I definitely had my funnest and latest night partying here
*Advice: make sure your phone is fully charged before you go out on an all nighter. Without Google maps I was a lost puppy.

A ton of history here also, and some very cool sights to see.



Their main Plaza

This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 4:42 pm
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:38 pm to
The Alcazar. Another Frankenstein of Moorish and Catholic influence. Each city seemed to have another awe inspiring sight to see. This is the must see in Seville.

Part of the huge outdoor garden and courtyard.



Granada

After Sevilla I drove east, about a 2 and a half hour drive, and spent 2 nights in Granada. Granada is another amazing city with small town/big town and new/old aspects to it.

Granada is known as one of the, if not the best city for Tapas. Order a drink and they’ll bring you a legit plate of food.

$3 glass of wine and you get this. Keep ordering drinks and they keep bringing more food!! It’s pretty awesome. I didn’t eat dinner in this city because I was always full just from ordering drinks.


Pic of the city from atop the Alhambra.


Met this girl randomly on an overlook and struck up a conversation even though she knew very little English and I know very little Spanish. We ended up hanging out and having a few glasses of wine together talking as best we could with alot of help from Google translate She then took me on a scooter ride around the city. Stuff like this is why I loved traveling alone.


The Alhambra is the most visited attraction in all of Spain, and for good reason. This place is amazing. It’s a castle, a palace, a fortress, pretty much a whole city in itself. Again, a mixture of Moorish and Catholic styles, it is a must see if you go to Spain IMO.


The Moorish designs and architecture is so elaborate and impressive.






Up the Coast

After Granada I hit the coast and just drove North towards Valencia, but I took the long scenic route. Driving along the coastline with the cliffs and beaches in view was amazing and much worth the longer drive. I stopped off at numerous different places that looked interesting to explore. Below are some of the pics of the drive.







I stopped in this little town along the way. They had this cool castle at the top of the town. I found a bar, had few beers, ate some paella and explored the town and castle.

View from the bar


Castle at the top


Delicious seafood paella


Ibiza

I eventually made it up to Valencia and had planned on staying there a couple of nights, but I got a wild hair and decided to jump a plane to Ibiza. It was so close, and the plane ticket was fairly cheap, I just had to check it out and live my childhood dreams of all those Wild on E! episodes .

That being said, if I had to do it again I probably wouldn’t have gone. I’m sure Ibiza can be awesome if you do it right, but I just didn’t experience it and didn’t have enough time. I probably spent as much money on these 2 nights as I did my entire week and a half prior. Although I partied hard, saw some beautiful sights, and went to some crazy clubs, it just wasn’t worth it to me. I had just as much, if not more fun in Madrid, Seville, and Granada for a fraction of the price.

Amazing sunset though


Barcelona

Upon returning to Valencia I continued my trek up North towards Barcelona, again stopping along the way. Barcelona is everything it is claimed to be. It's really a city with everything that can accommodate anyone’s needs and wants.

The architecture here is some of the most unique you’ll ever see due to Gaudi and his influence.

The Gothic Quarter is the main area of the city to see and is like no other. You can spend days or weeks just in this area and stay busy.

Gothic Cathedral


La Sagrada Familia - the most visited attraction in Barcelona


Basically how I ate the whole trip. Tapas everyday.


One bummer about my time here was I didn’t make it inside La Sagrada Familia, but it was for good reason. You need to buy tickets ahead of time because they sell out. I bought mine the Friday I arrived for Sunday, but Sunday I decided to get out of the city and drive an hour and a half North to a place called Costa Brava, to go hiking and cliff jumping. It turned out to be one of my funnest days of the trip.

I wanted to book an AirBnB excursion to go hiking and cliff jumping outside of Barca, but I waited too long and none were available, so basically I just Googled places with cliffs along the coastline and went on my own adventure. It was an awesome all around day, with some of the most beautiful coastlines and beautiful water I’ve ever seen, and I did it all for free which made it even better.







My first jump. It was literally a leap of faith. Although I tried to check it out beforehand as best I could, with nobody around I couldn't know for sure if it was safe. Quite the adrenaline rush.


Another jump. I saw some other guys doing it before me, so I knew it was safe. Probably wouldn't have tried it otherwise. If you could hear the sound you'd hear me scream "Hooooooly Shiiiiiiiiiit" the whole way down.

This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 4:46 pm
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:38 pm to
The Road Home

After Barcelona it was time to head back to Madrid to fly home. It’s a long drive, about 6-7 hours, so I broke it up into 2 days and stopped for a night in a city called Zaragoza. It was a cool little city, and pretty much exactly in the middle between Barca and Madrid making it the perfect place to stop if you make this drive. There really isn’t much else between those 2 cities unless you detour to the North to see the main wine region in Spain, which I would’ve liked to do but just ran out of time.

Zaragoza




Aljafería Palace built in the 11th century and still used by Parliament today.

This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 4:40 pm
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:38 pm to
Cost Breakdown

As I said above, I'm gonna break down my costs to show how affordable this trip was for those who think trips like this are out of their budget. Of course I traveled by myself which I understand isn't suitable for most, and I also used some credit card strategies to make the trip even cheaper.

First things first, I applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and got the 100,000 point bonus. Couple that with the 20,000 or so points I accumulated up to the trip and I had 120,000 points to use on this trip, which is roughly $1800 worth of points if booked through Chase' Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.

That alone payed for most of my hotel bookings, my flights, and my rental car.

Flight - Boston to Madrid round trip - $360 (found from Scott's Cheap Flights email list) I used my $300 travel credit from my Reserve card for that, and used Southwest miles from my Southwest Visa Card to get me from Nola to Boston for free. Total cost - $60 (CSR users yes I understand the card has a $450 annual fee, that's another argument for another day)

Rental Car - I found some ridiculous priced car on Chase' Ultimate Rewards sight with some company called Firefly. Like $60 for 3 weeks ridiculous. I used my points, but thought it was too good to be true and I'd be charged for bullshite charges afterwards, but after I turned the car in I was only charged a total of $40. It was a nice Fiat 500 with navigation and bluetooth. Total cost - $40

Room & Board - I booked almost every night, again, through Chase' Ultimate Rewards. The only tricky thing was you had to book the room by midnight the night before. A couple of nights I got too drunk and forgot , so I ended up renting AirBnb's 3 of the nights. Total cost - $161

After checking my credit and debit card statements it looks like I spent roughly $3,000 throughout the trip.That includes everything below:

Gas, Tolls, & Parking - The one drawback of having a car are the car expenses that come with it. This was probably my biggest expense besides eating and drinking.

Parking can be a bitch in many of these cities. Gas is pretty expensive and they have a shite load of toll roads. I probably spent 150 Euros on toll roads and I think I filled up 5 times for about 35 Euros a pop. Parking averaged 15-20 Euros a night, but I got free parking a few nights also.

Eating, Drinking, Bars & Clubs - I probably averaged about 30-40 euros a day eating and drinking. Honestly some days I barely ate at all because I was on the move so much. I did drink alot though . The 2 nights in Ibiza alone, with the ridiculous club fees and drink prices probably set me back a good $500.

Also included in that total are museum tickets, Real Madrid tickets (which cost about $150), my flight to Ibiza ($160), and gifts for my family and friends.

Considering that, if I would've skipped Ibiza and was stingy and didn't buy gifts for people (my family never buys me shite), I could've easily gotten away spending less than $2500.

So all in all I spent about $3,300 total on this trip. I could've definitely done it cheaper, but I really didn't hold back on my spending.

Not bad I think.
This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 7:43 pm
Posted by Aubie Spr96
lolwut?
Member since Dec 2009
41104 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 4:56 pm to
Nice.
Posted by TigerAlum1982
Member since Sep 2011
1439 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 5:16 pm to
Beautiful pictures! Sounded like a great trip.
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39577 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 5:22 pm to
Very cool. Looks like dumping your GF worked out
Posted by Parallax
Member since Feb 2016
1449 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 5:33 pm to
quote:

I planned this trip basically to not have a plan. All I booked was the flight and a rental car. Everything else was done on the spot. Most of my hotel and AirBnB stays were booked the night before or the night of.

This is my favorite way to travel, I hate planning in advance.

Looks like a great trip!
Posted by AlceeFortier
Member since Dec 2016
1795 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 5:45 pm to
wow. we did almost same itinerary last year. the alhambra was the highlight. i didnt jump off any cliffs though!!!!!'. u are right about the tapas. just drink and eat for free.
Posted by CharlesLSU
Member since Jan 2007
31892 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 5:55 pm to
Wow
Posted by drockw1
Member since Jun 2006
9106 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 6:08 pm to
Great trip!
Posted by CapperVin
Member since Apr 2013
10542 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 7:28 pm to
Awesome! So what happened between you and the random girl you met?
Posted by dallastiger55
Jennings, LA
Member since Jan 2010
27699 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 7:32 pm to
You're my hero

What do you do for a living?
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39577 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 7:42 pm to
I assume you meant that for the OP?
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 7:44 pm to
quote:

Very cool. Looks like dumping your GF worked out


What's funny is I bought the flight probably 2-3 weeks after the breakup. I guess you can call it a rebound trip.

But Spain has always been at the top of my list, so no better time than now.
Posted by Dam Guide
Member since Sep 2005
15503 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 8:03 pm to
Amazing trip, made me very jealous, miss my adventures by myself.
Posted by vilma4prez
Lafayette, LA
Member since Jan 2009
6431 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 8:09 pm to
Well done. These are the trips I recommend for everyone. Same some money. Pick a spot. Do some loose studying of the area. And enjoy.
Set plans stifle the excitement. You did this trip fantastically.
Is that a word?
Pictures look great as well.
And I also hope you got yourself a Spanish lover on the way..
Cheers
Posted by Teddy Ruxpin
Member since Oct 2006
39577 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 8:16 pm to
Ya, I wish we had more time but could only manage Barcelona and Seville.

Great post though
Posted by rintintin
Life is Life
Member since Nov 2008
16172 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 8:44 pm to
quote:

So what happened between you and the random girl you met?


Unfortunately she had to go eat dinner with her family and I was leaving the next morning. I kinda regret not getting her WhatsApp number. I definitely could've stayed another night there if I wanted.

It's alright though, I met plenty of people and messed around a taaaaad out there, but I had a little chickadee at home waiting on me. I would've felt kinda bad, as "beta" as that makes me sound, but we've been dating a little while now.
This post was edited on 6/15/17 at 8:46 pm
Posted by dallastiger55
Jennings, LA
Member since Jan 2010
27699 posts
Posted on 6/15/17 at 8:48 pm to
For the OP
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