Sorry this is so delayed, I just noticed!
I was in Spain for two weeks last summer. We visited Madrid and went south to Seville then back to Madrid with various cities along the way.
Madrid is cool, natch, but among some other cool sites people have mentioned- Segovia does make a nice little day trip, Cordoba is amazing, as is Granada. I spent most of my trip in the southwest, which doesn't seem to be where you're going though.
Advice... If you're looking for flamenco, I saw a good show at a place called Casa Patas in Madrid (recommended to me by my flamenco teacher). To get tickets email them, just google them. I still have too few posts to post a link.
Driving was an insane experience. Parking ramps are evil and tiny. Rent the smallest car possible. Driving in the "old city" in various towns can be extremely difficult due to narrow, one way streets, and tall buildings on all sides. For example, in Seville we entered the old city, drove around helplessly for an hour, and finally popped out a block away from where we started. Turns out there was only one path through the entire city you could take to get to the hotel. The lady at the desk told us some people hire a taxi to drive to the hotel so they can follow behind. Nevertheless, we somehow managed to get through without a scratch to the car and with some very good stories.
Bring a Spanish-English dictionary and a phrase book. Alas, I took French in high school, so I was pretty helpless in Spain. The people in touristy jobs like working the front desk of a hotel spoke fairly good English, but not necessarily people in other jobs you'll talk to (waiters, ticket people in the metro, store owners, random guy on street you need to ask directions...). Not a problem though, as everyone was extremely friendly and helpful despite my pitiful attempts at Spanish, so just do your best!
You will eat jamón. You will eat a lot of jamón. You will get really sick of jamón.
Tapas bar hopping is fun, check your guidebook for good places to go or even better ask someone at your hotel.
Only loser tourists eat before 9:00 at night. Show up around 10:30 or later for a proper meal time
. Also be prepared for a nice, leisurely dinner. I think we had one that lasted a little over 3 hours.
All in all, Spain is awesome! Enjoy your trip!
(Email me at
petitevete@hotmail.com if you want any more info, restaurant recommendations, stuff to see, and so forth. I'll do my best to remember some more.)
