From Madrid to Seville: My Spanish Adventure Unfolds

While, for most people, summer means island hopping, endless blue and dinner by the sea – I opted for a different scene for my summer vacations this year.

Spain in known for many things, but for a summer destination (during August no less), it is most definitely not. Nonetheless, we decided that for some reason this summer was ideal for my partner and me to take a few days off work and visit Madrid and Seville. Two very beautiful European cities with very high temperature, but lots of history and culture, special thanks to the Spanish royal family and their palaces. Their royal vibes were IT for us.
Spain, sort of, beat a lot of other destinations – most likely due to its cheap airplane tickets, which makes sense since August and Spain are not a good combination, if you ask me.

The temperature was rocket high, most days reaching boiling hot temperatures during midday that made even the streets smell with than burnt material odor. Sunscreen was a definite must everywhere we’d been, along with a jockey hat at all times.
The sun was hot over our heads.
Spanish people know this, which is why I noticed that during midday, when the stores would close because it was unbearable to walk outside – cars with hoses of water would drive around, spraying the streets with much needed water to cool down. At the same time, restaurants with outside seating would have a system that sprayed cold misty water every few minutes. The sensation when sitting around there or passing by was amazing, let me tell you.
Would I visit Spain again during the summer? Probably not, but I view it as a necessary experience to have an opinion now. I feel like I should be back in winter to truly appreciate all the magic this country has to offer.

Local Cuisine

When thinking or talking about Spain and the country’s cuisine you mostly think about tapas and paellas. Naturally, you might think. As a person who doesn’t have a lot of issues with food, provided there is no truffle involved, I must say that the cuisine was pretty average for my taste buds. I am not sure why I did not enjoy the food as much as I was hoping, although we did have some very hearty brunches and an interesting lunch. The paellas were decent to say the most, just small appetizers with a variety to choose, while paellas was pretty much rice with sea options. Good, not ideal. Since, I am from Greece this is also a food we have, but we don’t call it that.
What I did enjoy the most was their Iberico and their chorizo sausages. I was advised to also try their iberico and chorizo chips, but neither of them won my heart like the real deal. The Iberico was so nice and tasty over at Serafina’s, a nice little restaurant. It came slow cooked with some barbecue sauce and a tomato in whole, cooked and tasty as well. The sausages were a tiny bit spicy, even though I asked for non spicy and came with a side of little bread sticks, over at Mercado de San Miguel. A definite must, if you ask me.

Top Attractions

One cannot go to Spain, in Madrid especially, and not visit the Royal Palace. It’s like a blasphemy. I do have a soft spot for palaces, like the rest of the world and no it’s not because I pictured myself as a princess when I was a young girl. To be honest, I simply love learning about their lives, their daily routines, the way they used to do things the old and the new ways. Also, the architecture was magnificent inside and out. Vast rooms, specs of gold, the royal throne and valuable paintings of old monarchs. You can book a guided tour in multiple languages, or you can go on your own without a guide and move around the rooms. There are little stands with both english and spanish information about each room, so you’ll know who and what took place in each room you walk into. Maintenance is still happening, so some rooms might be unavailable to the public.
For more art and history you can visit many museums of theirs, one is located opposite their botanic garden. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow us to visit one, but I hear the are rather interesting.
For football enthusiasts, Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is open and available for tours. The ticket is a bit more expensive than other attractions, but it is worth every penny. You book your ticket from their website, which I recommend, and then you choose the time to visit. You can be at their entrance half an hour before, but be warned that if you are earlier than that they don’t let you get in. Why? Well, they are very thorough with the tour and the time available inside the stadium and they make sure not to have too many visitors at the same time. That’s very smart, since you need almost an hour to tour it all and see and learn about current and old trophies.
Jumping over to Seville, the Palace there is like a little labyrinth. The entrance is next to the cathedral, you will see he lion over the gate. You pay a decent amount for a ticket of course, also available on their website and of course, you get checked out at the entrance. The inside is spacious, with gardens, peacocks and ducks lounging around, a small fountain and a very interesting architecture. Stand on the second floor, on the sidelines, and watch the gardens. Almost, feels like you are part of the fairytale.
The Setas de Sevilla near the center is a modern day art installation, made from wood. My advice is to visit it at night when all the colors flicker as you walk around it and watch not only the lights, but also Sevilla from above. Good view, nice vibes.
Obviously, your number one goal of attraction to visit should be the park of Maria Luisa, where Plaza de Espana is located along with other numerous buildings and sightings inside. There is no fee, you just enter the park and start strolling around. You’ll see carriages if you are up for a walk or bikes to ride with your friends or partners and see the whole park like that. It was definitely a beautiful experience and a very romantic park if you ask me.

Exploring & Tips

If you want to live like a local, like we did, then you can visit your feet to walk around the area. Just make sure to choose neighborhoods closer to Gran Via on the upper side of Madrid. It’s cleaner, has much more for you to see and it felt much safer. For long distances you can choose to go via public buses, but we found Uber much cheaper, with air conditioning and just much more comfort. I guess, you can call us spoiled. Uber in my town is not available, so for me it was such an easy choice.
If you happen to speak Spanish, then great. One thing that really frustrated me throughout the entire trip is the fact that people seemed adamant not to speak in English, which I get. We are in their country, we should know a few words. But, it was that in combination with their entire hostile attitude that ticked me off. Obviously, working during summer is not ideal and tourists can be a bit tiresome at some point, but I did try to make everything easier. I was polite, tried to speak in Spanish, but let’s face it, it’s not the same.
Do not trust Google when it comes to restaurants. I mean about their business hours and days. Why? August, or rather summer in general, in Spain is a time during most people seem to shut down a few weeks or months. Restaurants that appear to be open and working are actually unavailable, so we spent some time walking around from one recommended restaurant to another, looking for one that was still open. Ask around for some good food choices, like the hotel staff or airbnb owner.
Water is rather expensive, at least it seemed like to me. I come from a country that water is available everywhere and cheap, since we are so closed to the water I guess. Spain is not the same. You will need to stay hydrated if you walk around, so grab a thermos and make sure to always have it filled. You’ll thank me.

I do not want to be biased about Spain, although I do think we made a mistake visiting during such high temperatures, but make sure to visit there from October and so on. Spain is magnificent, you just have to give it a chance I guess. The ideal thing would be to visit each city for a couple of days and change destination accordingly, traveling around will definitely fill your soul.
It did fill mine.
Starting to travel again feels like such a liberating thing to do. Our lives are complicated enough, so a few days somewhere else feels like small escapes and I plan to do it regularly.
What was your summer destination like? I am dying to know! Comment below!

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