I traveled through Spain with my friends Sandra Chang, Yoojin Koh and Claire-Noelle Millet. In five weeks (Actually only Yoojin travelled with me all five weeks; Sandra traveled with us in Barcelona and Claire in Pamplona, La Rioja and Segovia), we trekked through Barcelona, Pamplona for festivales sanfermines, La Rioja including Logroño and Haro,
Segovia, Madrid, Toledo, Córdoba, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia and then back through Barcelona. The best youth hostels in Spain are the ones in Toledo, which has a roof-top pool and the hostel in Gandía (Playa Piles to be specific) which is on the strand of La Costa del Azahar. You can get to the Alberg Mar i Vent (HI) (9) 6 283 17 48 by taking the La Amistad bus marked Playa Sitges. The fare is 95 pta weekdays and 105 pta weekends.
Here are some recommendations on each city we visited:
- Barcelona
- Many skip out on the Monastery Mare de Deu de Montserrat. The hike to the top of the mountain on a clear day is worth the sweat.
- Pamplona
- Buy the crappiest lightweight pair of white pants and white shirt you can, find a hotel in San Sebastián or neighboring city, buy a bus ticket into Pamplona, tape 2000 ptas to your tummy to buy your ticket home, another 5000 ptas for liquor and then party party party. This is the only sane method for living it up during the festivales sanfermines.
- San Sebastián
- Although a retired person's club, the Club Jatorra at C/ Urdaneta between C/ Easo and C/ Urbieta under the Colegio Publico serves super cheap meals which in a yuppie town such as San Sebastian are difficult to find.
- Logroño
- The ordinative word here is tapas. Try the champignones, pimientos de seta, chipirones a la sepia and patatas bravas.
- Haro
- While there is not much to do here (in fact nothing to do at all except sit and watch time pass by), the town exudes the ambience of a Spanish wine town.
- Segovia
- Despite what Let's Go says about the Residencia Juvenil "Emperador Teodosio", you cannot get in at all during the summer. Try instead the Pension Aragon at 4 Plaza Mayor. A double is 2400 pta, a triple 2800 pta and a shower is 200 pta.
- Madrid
- The three museums worth visiting include the Museo del Prado, Museo Thyssen-Bornemizsa and the Museo Reina Sophia which houses the famous by Picasso.
- Córdoba
- Sevilla
- Don't miss the flamenco show at Tablao Los Gallos.
- Granada
- Although the proprietors pretend to be nice to you, actually they're mostly on the unfriendly side if you catch them speaking Spanish (and they have not yet figured out that you can understand Spanish). However, the roof-top pool with a view of the Sierra Nevada provides a nice respite from the hot Anadaluz sun.
- Gandí
- Hostal Mar i Vent Playa de Piles period.
- Valencia
- If you must stay at the youth hostal, ask for a room away from the main road. Otherwise, plan on a sleepless night or stay out and party.
This is a picture I took at the Parc Güell in Barcelona. The Parc Güell was designed by architect Antoni Gaudí.
Tapas are the national food of Spain (oh yeah paella, too) and the best tapas at the cheapest prices can be found in Logroño. This is a picture of myself, Yoojin Koh and two Swiss-German travelers we met in Logroño while trying to beg our way into wine tours of the bodegas in La Rioja. By the way, forget wine tasting in Spain unless you're traveling with an organized group who has made arrangements ahead of time for wine tasting. We were only able to wine-taste two bodegas, one because I begged and pleaded in Spanish and the other by pure happenstance. The others turned us away.