Spain Vacation
[/size][/size]
Planning Hotels:
o Barcelona: W (25k SPG, suit upgrade with SPG Gold)
o Seville: Alfonzo Luxury Collection (20k SPG)
o Gibraltar: Sunborn ($443 for 2 nights, used Barclays card to get full reimbursement)
o Madrid: The Westin Palace (12k SPG, , suit upgrade with SPG Gold)
Flights
o JFK BCN 30k AA Advantage
o BCN Malaga $89/ticket (used Barclays card to get full reimbursement)
o MAD JFK 45k AA Advantage
Transportation
o BCN and MAD, Double Decker Bus (reimbursed with Barclays card), subway and cabs.
o Malaga Granada Seville GIB Malaga Car rental ($203 Rented Mercedes with Chabad corporate code, used Barclays card to get full reimbursement).
Food
o BCN Macabi
o Malaga: 2 restaurants
o GIB: several restaurants and a bakery
o Granada, Seville and MAD wraps, Haagan Daz, hard salami, tuna, salmon, and fruit.
Payment used Barclays and Chase BA card for all purchases as they have no foreign transaction fee (1USD = 1.111 EU)
Day 1 Schedule Barcelona To kick off our Spain vacation, we took "fat tire bike tour." 🚴🚴🚴 Cameron, our tour guide, gave us an excellent overview of the magnificent city of Barcelona. We stopped at all the "hot spots," including the famous Sagrada Familia. After the fabulous bike tour we took a stroll on "The Ramblas." It was hustling & bustling with tourists. We ate an early dinner by a delicious restaurant called Maccabi. We then went to the Park Guell, the colorful Gaudi-designed park overlooking the city. It was unbelievably gorgeous! We then walked back to our hotel, the W, passing through Barcelona's magnificent beach walk.
Day 2 Schedule Barcelona The jet lag definitely hit us today.. We went to sleep at 10pm (after touring from 8am-9pm) and woke up at noon, refreshed, and ready to continue seeing the magnificent city of Barcelona. We started our day visiting the Museo Picasso. (We booked tickets in advance, with a 1:30pm time slot... (Very important to book in advance so you can skip the line.) The works of Picasso were eye opening & so creative. We then took the "hop on, hop off bus" (best way to see any any new city!) to the Ramblas to eat an early dinner by Maccabi Restaurant, one again 🍴🍝🍻. We then walked through the beautiful streets of Barcelona. We went through the Barri Gothic (City's Gothic quarter, seeing remnants of Barcelona's Roman past), went to see Casa Batllo, Gaudi designed home topped with fanciful dragon-inspired roof. (It's thought that Guadi based the work on the popular legend of St. Jordi slating the dragon. We then continued walking down the Psg de Gracia, filled with all the fancy shops. Then we went toward the Placa d'Espana to see how beautiful the National Palace looks at night 🌜... (There is only a magic fountain show Thursday-Sunday). We then walked home, passing the beautiful Port Vell to our hotel. Another wonderful day...
Granada/Seville
[/i]
Day #3 - Granda/Seville Hotel: Alfaso Luxury Collection (20k SPG)
Arriving 9:15 (Flight: Vueling BCN - Malaga, I used Barclaycard Arrival Plus to get full reimbursement)
(No Known Kosher Restaurants)
We woke up bright & early ☀️ and took a flight ✈️ from Barcelona to Malaga. At Malaga airport we rented a car 🚘 and drove to Granada. We had 4pm reservations for the Alahabra. (We booked these tickets weeks in advance. They sell out at least a week, sometime months during high season, in advance. They are very strict with the time slot. We came an hour early and they wouldn't let us in. (This wasn't a problem at all because there is soooo much to see around the grounds surrounding the Alahabra.) The Alahabra, the last and great Moorish palace, highlighting the splendor of that civilization in the 13th and 14th centuries, was absolutely breathtaking! We then went to the Plaza Nueva to get a much needed Ice cream! (There are 2 Haagen Daaz shops on that block that carry ice cream with an OU). We then, drove to Seville. We took a nighttime horse & buggy 🐴 around the entire Seville. It was such an amazing overview of the city. Tomorrow we'll get to explore the city of Sevilla in detail....
Day # 4 Seville We walked to from our hotel (the Alfonso XVII.. Which was extremely centrally located.. a quick 10 minute walk to all the attractions) to the Alcazar Palace(the picture below was taken in the "Hall of Ambassadors." Here, in the throne room, Pedro received guests and caroused in luxury. The room is a cube topped with a half-dome, like many important Islamic buildings. In Islam, the cube represents the earth, and the dome is the starry heavens. In Pedro's world, the symbolism proclaimed that he controlled heaven and earth. Islamic horseshoe arches stand atop the columns with golden capitals. lattice windows are above those.) The Real Alcazar, which was built by the Moors in the 10th century, revamped in the 14th century, and still serving as royal digs. After the palace, we took a relaxing boat ride on the Guadalquivir River. (They had an adorable costume set, where we took the photo below. In the background of that picture is the Torres del Oro/Gold Tower.) We then went to the Plaza de Espana. It was absolutely gorgeous! (Felt like Central Park with people row boating🚣around the gorgeous views of the ️Stunning plaza.) We then drove to Gibraltar... Continue to the next e-mail for details about our amazing experience in Gibraltar...
Gibraltar Restaurants
Abudraham
Deli Express
Uncle Sam's Deli
Tamid
Amars
Shuls
SHAAR HASHAMAYIM - Esnoga Grande or Great Synagogue - 47/49 Engineer Lane (Box 174), Gibraltar, Tel: (350) 200 74030
ETS HAYIM - Esnoga Chica or The Little Synagogue - 91, Irish Town (P.O. Box 31), Gibraltar. Tel: (350) 200 75563
NEFUTSOT YEHUDA - Esnoga Flamenca or Flemish Synagogue - 65 Line Wall Road, Gibraltar. Tel: (350) 200 76477
ESNOGA ABUDARHAM - Abudarham Synagogue- P.O. Box 190, 19 Parliament Lane, Gibraltar. Tel: (350) 200 77789
Schedule Day 4 & 5We arrived in Gibraltar at 4:30pm. (You have to pass through border patrol to get from Spain to Gibraltar. We got very lucky because there was absolutely no line. They advice you to give yourself an extra 2 hours, just on case there is a long line to get in.) We went straight to the Rock of Gibraltar. (At first we were disappointed because the cable car was closed due to strong winds. This was definelty a blessing in disguise, because we ended up getting an amazing taxi driver/tour guide that took us to all the stops, including the "Walls of Hercules 💪" The Caves, to see the famous monkeys 🐒🐒🐒 jumping around and of course, "The top of the Rock!" We got especially lucky because it was a very clear day so we were able to see Africa & Moracco from the top!
We then went back to our hotel, The Suborn, which is yacht 🚢 that is permanently cemented into the ground, to get ready for Shabbos.
We had the most wonderful time over Shabbos. The community in Gibraltar are so friendly & warm. Gibraltar is tiny so everybody know everybody. It was a fabulous experience!
Madrid
Day #6 Schedule - Madrid We woke up bright & early 🌅 to drive to from Gibraltar to Malaga Train Station (return our rental car there) to take a high speed train 🚉 from Malaga to Madrid.
We got off the train at Madrid and walked 5 minutes to our hotel (The Place by Westin). We then went to see the Royal Palace, Spain's sumptuous, lavishly furnished national palace.
After seeing the magnificent Royal Palace, we went to pick up our tickets to the bullfight. 🐂🐂🐂🐂 Wow!!! That was an eye-opening experience!! Crazy!! Definitely an experience!
After the bullfight we went walking through the Plaza Mayor, center of town, to our hotel to rest up for our final day of touring around Spain...
Day #7 Schedule - Madrid We started our of day by taking a tour around Madrid along the "hop on, hop off bus" 🚌... After we completed route 1 (took about 1 hour & 15 minutes), we went to the Prado Museum. The Prado is one of the world's great museums, loaded with masterpieces by Diego Velazquez, Fracisco de Goya, El Greco, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Durer, and more. It was truly remarkable!
We then went back on the Mardid City Tour bus to take Route 2 around the city. We hopped off by the Puerta del Sol, Madrid's lively center square, Calle de Serrano, with all the beautiful shops and just enjoyed soaking in the city of Madrid.
We then went to Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, the modern-art museum featuring Picasso's epic masterpiece Guerica.
The day was topped off by Flamenco street performers by the Puerta del Sol.
Spain is such a beautiful county. We feel so privileged to have had the opportunity to see its magnificence!
Special thanks to Bex for an awesome tip and for contributing to this trip report!
