Barcelona? Should we go?

Sinko · Dec 30, 2005

Excape Goat said:

I have never been to Valencia. I vetoed Valencia because my guidebook told me not to go there. Sorry, that was exactly rthe reason why I passed on Valencia.

If you want history in Spain, one should visit Granada in the South.
Click to expand...

I've spent some time in Valencia house-sitting for a friend. Apart from the Aquarium and paella, there's not much else to do there but drink.

Belgian guy · Dec 30, 2005

bmurphyfl said:

No. Actually, I think I should be scaring you. Everyone is telling you how cool Barcelona and Vallencia are but I haven't seen anyone mention anything that'll entertain a 2-year-old there.

Catching a train to Figueres to see the Dali museum sounds great until you are actually sitting on the train. Your daughter will be entertained for awhile until the train gets delayed on the tracks for a half-hour in the middle of nowhere for track maintenance. Then after listen to her whine about wanting to get off the train because you can't find her favorite type of applesauce ("I want the one with the red label."), you arrive at the Dali museum where after two minutes, she is ready to leave. Meanwhile your mother-in-law has misplaced her blood pressure medicine and her bunions are acting up.

I would pay top dollar to visit Spain with my wife but even the best behaved two-year-old is going to struggle with travelling to a foreign country.

Ask your mother-in-law to watch your daughter for a week while you and your wife go to Barcelona. Or take the family to a lake house in Wisconsin for a week and take the rest of the money that you were planning on spending on the trip to Spain and put it into a savings account for when your daughter is 7 or 8 years old. Then go to Barcelona.

I know I'm sounding like a curmudgeon but when you are sitting on that train to Figueres and your dealing with a tired cranky two-year-old, you'll be thinking, "Friggin' Murf. I should have listened to that b@stard."
Click to expand...

If I were him I would be more worried about the mother in law than my two year old.

Belgian guy · Dec 30, 2005

chad said:

I appreciate all the info so far.

Regarding the kid and mother-in-law: my wife works really hard and I think she doesn't want to take a week off from work and not get to spend time with the kid. At the same time, I think both of us would rather have Segroves punch us in the neck until we crap our pants than spend a week in Wisconsin.

So our plan is the not so unusual "bring a long a grandparent as nanny" plan. We're pretty good about recognizing the limits and demands of our kid, so we know not to take her to museums and expect to have anything close to the experience we would have without her. Th eupside, we perhaps quite stupidly assume, is that m-i-l and kid will be happy hanging out in a park or at the beach or in front of a dvd enough to let us go out. The adults can rotate dinners out, and so on.

Normally we would just go somewhere in the states, but since this might be our last chance to go somewhere with just one kid (thinking of going for #2 now) and she is not an infant, we are considering accepting the risk and going for it.

Valenica apparently has an amazing aquarium - our daughter goes to the Shedd nearly weekly, so she would love that.
Click to expand...

Barcelona has an aquarium as well.

Excape Goat · Dec 31, 2005

Belgian guy said:

Barcelona has an aquarium as well.
Click to expand...

The Barcelona zoo is very famous too.

dmar · Jan 2, 2006

chad said:

Valencia proponents:

What is there to do ? Good places to stay? How is the train between Madrid and Barca or Valencia?
Click to expand...

I don't know from Barcelona, but from Madrid going to Valencia is just 3 hours away in pretty decent trains. There are lots of trains each day, specially in spring and summer, have in mind that it's the place where us Madrileños go to enjoy the beach.

Valencia has that amazin science park

Anyway, I've been in Barcelona and is a beautiful city... minus the annoying natives

StrikerCW said:

Which is the best city IYHO to visit in Spain for about 4 or 5 days? We are all college students, but have a bit of money. We want to stay in hostels and figure that Spain would provide a cheaper break from the more expensive UK and northern Europe. We want to look at stuff of course-museums, etc. (well 2 of us do, the other one not so much but he can find something) do some partying, maybe hit the beach (if you guys recommend a beach destination) and I, as a loyal BSer, want to see some football stadiums.
Click to expand...

You are college students like myself, so my recommendation would be Madrid of Barcelona. Big cities with lots of culture and great nightlife. And the stadiums.

If you can't stand the heat go to Barcelona, it's cooler.

Madrid has El Prado and Reina Sofía, and they top anything Barcelona has to offer except Gaudi. Near Madrid there are some beautiful historical cities like Toledo or Segovia.

Nobody is mentioning Seville which is also a must... provided you can stand the heat.

If you want colder and quieter, go to the north of Spain as some have adviced. In Santander there are smaller beaches like Cobreces or Santillana. If you go there don't forget to visit Altamira. If you want heat, crowds and nightlife, go to the East coast. Valencia is 3 hours in train from Madrid and around there there are lots of beaches... my faorite to date is Gandía. I've heard that in Almería there are small and quiet beaches.

Sinko said:

Percebes are seafood gold.

Galicia wouldn't be a recommended destination (imho) for the first timer to Spain (and especially with the m-i-l and a young child). The culture is definitely nuanced in ways which can turn off the outsider. But the countryside/topography is beautiful, the horrios can be mystical, and the wine is underrated (reds I mean).
Click to expand...

Galicia is definitely a Mecca for gastronomic tourism, much like the basque country and in general the north of Spain. That's for quieter tastes.

nicephoras · Jan 2, 2006

Belgian guy said:

Barcelona has an aquarium as well.
Click to expand...

Yeah, although its in a crappy part of town. Only reason I went in that area was to watch a couple of EPL games I couldn't get at my hotel. (Its by the English tourist part of town, which is to be avoided.)

Excape Goat · Jan 4, 2006

dmar said:

Madrid has El Prado and Reina Sofía, and they top anything Barcelona has to offer except Gaudi. Near Madrid there are some beautiful historical cities like Toledo or Segovia.
Click to expand...

Barcelona also got Picasso and Dali (in Figueres). El Prado, however, beats everything in Barcelona. I like it better than the Louvre in Paris. It will depend on your taste. Barcelona has more modern art while Madrid got classic artists such as Goya, El Greco, etc. However, one of Picasso's master works is located in Madrid. I agreed with you that Toledo is a must-see. Barcelona does not get the out-of-town exlcusion that Madrid offered.

joshdcu · Jan 11, 2006

Excape Goat said:

Barcelona also got Picasso and Dali (in Figueres). El Prado, however, beats everything in Barcelona. I like it better than the Louvre in Paris. It will depend on your taste. Barcelona has more modern art while Madrid got classic artists such as Goya, El Greco, etc. However, one of Picasso's master works is located in Madrid. I agreed with you that Toledo is a must-see. Barcelona does not get the out-of-town exlcusion that Madrid offered.
Click to expand...

The contemporary art museum in Barcelona (in Barri Gotic) is quite good, and has some pretty good programs... definitely worth a look. The nearby Picasso museum is interesting, as are the Fundacio Miro (by Park Montjuic in the western part of town) and the Fundacio Tapies (in L'Eixample).

Reina Sofia in Madrid, though, is a really great modern art museum... maybe my favorite anywhere. For the more classic stuff, I'll agree with Excape Goat, El Prado is amazing.