Madrid is the finale of my route

From Valencia, I went to Madrid, and here the mood of the trip changed again. After the more relaxed Valencia, Madrid seemed to me huge, energetic and very lively, and in a good way: people are going somewhere, cafes are full, some kind of life is constantly happening on the streets, and in the evening the city seems to decide that no one is going to sleep tonight.

The Royal Palace

I started exploring Madrid by walking through the center and gradually reached the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and the Royal Palace. I liked that many places here can be combined into one big walk, so I didn't feel like a person who runs all day between points on the map. Although, of course, the kilometers imperceptibly turned into kilometers again, and by evening my legs clearly wanted to apply for dismissal.

I left a separate day for museums, because it would be strange to come to Madrid and not get to know its artistic side at least a little. After a few hours in the museum, I realized that the human brain also has a certain limit to art perception, so I decided to just walk around the streets and look for a place to have dinner.

Catalan cream

And here Madrid proved to be very convincing again. In the evening, I sat in a small cafe and ate Catalan cream. I liked the delicate Spanish dessert. People were talking around, someone was laughing, someone was having dinner with friends, tourists were passing by, and at that moment I didn't want to rush anywhere at all. I found myself thinking that it was for the sake of such evenings that we carry suitcases through train stations, look for the right platforms, get confused in maps and sometimes completely do not understand where the navigator has led us once again.

Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid – three different moods

After this trip, I especially liked how different the three cities turned out to be. Barcelona has remained for me a city of architecture, the sea, walking and a constant feeling that there will be something interesting around the next corner. Valencia is remembered for its quieter rhythm, old center, orange trees and the feeling that there is no need to rush somewhere.

Madrid turned out to be completely different – big, energetic, noisy and very evening, when after sunset the city seems to be just beginning to really wake up. And that's why I liked putting it at the last point of the route: after the sea and the more relaxed Valencia, I ended the trip on a maximum urban note.

How many days should I set aside for this route?

If I were planning this trip again, I would have planned for about 9-10 days: four days for Barcelona, two or three for Valencia and three days for Madrid. Of course, you can do everything faster, especially if you just want to tick the boxes in front of the main attractions, but I don't really like this format anymore, because at some point the journey turns into running with a camera.

Puerta del Sol

It's much more pleasant for me to leave some free time between required places. That's when you can accidentally turn onto a beautiful street, linger in a cafe, go to a small store, buy something completely unnecessary, and then spend half the evening explaining to yourself why I definitely couldn't return home without this thing.

What I took away from Spain

This trip turned out exactly the way I like to remember traveling: with beautiful places, delicious food, long walks, small everyday failures and periodic moments of "so, where am I anyway?". RouteBarcelona – Valencia – Madrid is good because it allows you to see completely different Spain in one trip and not get stuck in the same mood for the whole week.

And I also once again became convinced that there is no such thing as an ideal trip, and there is no need. You can forget to charge, confuse the exit from the subway, get tired after another walk, accidentally order a huge portion of food and discover that the navigator sent you to the wrong place, but it is from such little things that the real memory of the trip develops. And if, after a few months, you remember not only Sagrada Familia, the City of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Palace, but also that very evening when you were sitting in a cafe and thinking "how nice it is here," then the trip definitely turned out.