Most famous and the biggest cities of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona are on top of the most visited cities of the country. The first one is perfect for a city break and to discover more in depth the Spanish history and the second one is more for a week vacation allowing you to discover Spain’s culture with your feet under water!
Madrid
The capital city of Spain is situated just in the middle of the country. With its central location, it makes other big cities in the surroundings very easy to access. But there are plenty of things to do inside of the city, like going to the best museums or enjoy a nice walk in the park. It’s a dynamic city where you will be so busy! You’ll see, times flies so quickly here!
Top 3 cultural places
Madrid will let you discover Spain’s culture and history through its most famous museum, the Prado, but there are cultural places all around the city and even in the park, you will be surprised!
The Prado Museum
The Prado National Museum welcomes a wide art collection from the 14th until the 19th century. You will get through its 3 floors, surrounded by paintings, sculptures and statues from incredible artists such as Goya or Velazquez. This place allows you to discover Spain’s history sometime very dark with paintings of Goya representing atrocities such as the Saturn god eating his own son, afraid that his progeny will dethrone him. This huge and old building is full of amazing painters and sculptors but not only spanish ones, it exposes european art too. In order not to be lost and truly understand every meaning of each painting, I will advise you to book a private guided tour. (https://madrid-discovery.com/)
Royal Palace
This palace was initially build to welcome the king and its family but nowadays, they do not live here anymore. That is why this place is know dedicated to a museum allowing tourists to discover monarch daily life. The most famous and not-to-be-missed rooms are obviously the throne room, or the huge staircases but also its chapel and its armoury room with an incredible collection of weapons. This building also welcomes an incredible collection of paintings and sculptures, but also instruments especially Stradivarius violins and decorative art or furniture of the ancient time. Outside, you will find two beautiful gardens and at the main entrance, every Wednesdays and Saturdays, you can see the royal guard mounting.
Madrid’s Park
This huge park is like the lungs of the city, which allows inhabitants and tourists to go for a walk, surrounded by beautiful sculptures, museums and palaces. The most famous monument is the Alfonso XII sculpture located right next to the lake representing the former king dominating the park and surrounded by huge columns and statues, each one symbolising one of Spain’s major pillars such a the Agriculture, the Navy or the Mining industry. Other places you can’t miss are the Crystal and the Velazquez Palaces, these two were originally constructed in the early 19th century to welcome exhibitions and were transformed into museums to welcome temporary exhibit from the Reina Sofia museum, another place you should definitely visit in the city. But its treasures don’t stop here so if you want to discover this place a little more, I will advise you to read this nice article. (https://madrid-discovery.com/the-retiro-park/)
Barcelona (https://catalonia-discovery.com/)
This city allows you to have everything you need at one place, you can swim on the water in the morning and sunbath but still visit and enrich yourself by visiting incredible monuments made by the famous architect Gaudi in the afternoon. From the park, to the church, you will find his work all over the city.
Cultural places
Major cultural places of the city where all designed by one of Spain’s notable figure: Antoni Gaudi. This men was raised surrounded by nature and learned very early how to transform materials, he is known to be a genius in architecture by taking its inspiration from mother nature.
Sagrada Familia
One of his memorable work is the Cathedral called the Sagrada Familia which was constructed at the end of the 19th century. This monument was built following Gaudi’s typical architectural style which makes it original and even more incredible! But because of its thin and fragile structure, whenever you come, it will always be in reconstruction. By going inside of the building, you will be able to ressource yourself and pray or you can choose to climb the stairs and benefit of an amazing view over the whole city and its surroundings.
Güell park
The Guell Park was also designed by Gaudi and its name come from the catalan businessmen Eusebi Guell who was one of Gaudi’s best friend. As it is a very touristic place, you need to buy your tickets to enter the park, they will give you a time slot when you will be able to enter. The entrance is strictly limited to 400 persons every half an hour in order to conserve the beauty of this place. Inside, you will find little houses designed by Gaudi and a central place. Everything is decorated with colorful ceramics which really represents the city’s spirit and spain’s culture, rich and full of colors! Also, it will allow you have a panoramic view over the city and if you’re lucky enough even watch the sunset from this spot.
Casa Mila & Casa Batllo
These houses were constructed by the well-known artist Gaudi just like numerous other monuments in the city. The Casa Mila is now used as an hotel and is constructed only with white stones in order to represent a rock shaped by the waves of the Mediterranean sea. Gaudi always finds inspiration in nature, and because he lives near the sea, a lot of his work is linked to this. Then, the Casa Batllo which is also inspired by the sea, is known to have one of the most beautiful facade of the city. Decorated in blue and green shades, with metallic ornaments and all designed in rounded shapes reminds us of the sea and some of them will say to a sea dragon. They are both very touristic places because of their original facade.
———————————————————————————-
About the Author:
Juliette Smith: Passionate about travelling. I’ve already been pretty everywhere in Europe and experienced different travelling types from backpacks to luxury ones, from a leisure and relaxing trip to more adventurous ones. But Spain is where my heart is!
