"The transportation was perfect! All flights, trains, and transfers (nice touch, by the way) were like clockwork. We never had to wait because everything and everyone was on time. Having cars waiting to pick us up was a great de-stresser!

The hotel in Madrid was good. The rooms were smallish and our room had A/C issues, but the manager ultimately changed us out of the room after a day or two. The La Latina district was good as well. It was not the best area of Madrid, but convenient. We were able to walk to most places and we felt pretty safe! 

The hop-on/off bus was a great call! We used it as much to scope out the city as we did transportation. We got on it in the morning and stayed on it for the whole loop, talking about where we ultimately wanted to see later, then hopped as planned. This was a great way to learn a city. The high-speed train to Barcelona was a fantastic experience! Really puts Amtrak to shame. Mega-comfortable seating, flight attendants, food and drink service, internet, electricity, and super smooth 100+ mph ride. WOW!

The hotel in Barcelona was nearly perfect. It was in a supreme location, just one block off of Las Ramblas, the epicenter of life in the old city. When we checked in we were informed that they upgraded us to a full suite. When we got to the room it was a huge suite in a newly renovated section of the hotel with a private balcony. Really stunning! We ultimately decided the junior suite would better suit us, and it was perfect! A large bedroom, large bathroom with double vanity and large living room with the requisite pull-out couch. The room was on the 3rd floor and the bedroom windows faced the street. The street noise was pretty raucous but the room was fairly quiet.

We enjoyed the Hop on/off bus so much in Madrid that we did it again in Barcelona. Same way. Did both entire routes, got our bearings then set out to explore sites, among our favorites were Monjuic, Parc Guell and of course - La Sagrada Familia. There's nothing I can say about La Sagrada Familia in less than 50,000 words so I'll just have to say, "bucket list". An awesome lifetime experience for me. We also toured other Gaudi homes. As was the tour to Montserrat. Our guide, Silvia was awesome! The winery /tapas piece was very nice but we would have opted for more time at the monastery at the expense of the vino. So much so that we actually considered going back in our own the next day. Couldn't pull it off.

Other highlights of the Barcelona leg included sampling many great dishes including Fiduea (Catalan version of paella using noodles instead of rice) botirarra and tomato bread. We also had our farewell dinner at La Barra, a recently Michelin-starred restaurant in the W Hotel where we enjoyed among other things - stingray.

Thank you for your help putting this together!"
​- Chris L.

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