It's 12:37 AM in Sevilla, España (Seville, Spain for you English speakers) and already a week into our 6 month trip. Given that we hyped up this blog to all of our friends and family, we figured we better get to it and make a post. If you're new to our blog and don't know us, we're two crazy kids on a 6 month trip around the world. We left our life in Chicago and flew to Madrid, Spain on July 3, 2011. We'll be making our way east (see our map in the top right) and returning back to family in Texas just before Christmas. Expect a lot of photos (you can click on any photo to view more on our Flickr site) and a little commentary (thoughts, facts and experiences). Any questions or thoughts, feel free to comment!
First thing we noticed in Madrid - people are fashionable, fit, friendly and on the street constantly. Combined with Madrid's mixture of modern and historic architecture, restaurants, cafes and parks, Madrid had a very relaxing yet stylish vibe (note: we only visited central Madrid, not the suburbs). There were a fair share of tourists (generally not as chic as the locals, us included), but Madrid didn't feel touristy and we were never hassled.
We spent two full days in Madrid and were able to check out the major central sites. If you're into historic architecture (old palaces, churches, banks, etc.) or night life (bars, clubs, tapas, cheap beer, stumble home at 6 AM, etc.) consider spending a few more days and you'll probably find it worthwhile. For us we used Madrid primarily as a base from which we headed south to Granada in Andalucía. Next up: Driving to Granada and lessons learned regarding manual transmissions, parking on hills and stalling in roundabouts.
