8 days to travel from Dublin to Barcelona- suggestions -route, what to see?

[Dhelihiker]

The wife and I are going to a buddies wedding in Dublin in mid SEPT and we have our return flight booked out of Barcelona and a few nights booked there.

We are going to travel light and we want to hit a couple or few spots along the way. The super rough plan is Lisbon-Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona based on city names basically??

Id love any advice for specific adventures along the way or alternate suggestions all together.

woot

[Benny Profane]

So, you'te flying to Lisbon to start, basically doing Portugal/Spain?

Last year I did Madrid, Seville, and Granada. Madrid because of direct flights over, hate connecting flights to Europe. Not an interesting town, visually, because it's so relatively new compared to the other major Euro capitols. Worth going to just for the Prado, which has a stunning collection, if you like art. Food was pretty awesome, too, I'm guessing because there is enough money in that town to support good restaraunts. We did Toledo as a day trip by train out of Madrid, worth it, if just for the Toledo cathedral, which shot to #1 on my list of favorite Euro churches. Toledo was the old Madrid before the royals made up a whole new city up the road. Seville is worth a few days, awesome outdoor tapas scene, a few good sites, especially the Alcazar. Amazing history, Columbus's tomb, etc.. Took a day trip to Cordoba to see the Mezquita, worth it. Great example of Moorish and Catholic culture melding. Then we rented a car and drove to Ronda, because we wanted to see a white town, and that did not dissapoint for a day and night. On to Granada, which was our primary destination for the trip, because, Alhambra. Must see. Spectacular. Great food, cool euro hippie vibe (great music in the air), and, if you really have time to kill, from what I could see and heard, awesome hiking and MTB very close to town in the Sierras. Got talked into seeing a flamenco show. Um, interesting.

That's all I got. Have fun!

[doebedoe]

Following with interest. Got 10 days between Madrid and Barcelona in December. Kinda odd scheduling, but total ticket cost was $31 for the two of us.

Priorities: Architecture, wine, food.

[Benny Profane]

Bourdain did an episode from Andalucia (Granada and Seville) which is great, also did one from San Sebastian and another from the Asturias region. The last is way off the beaten track, but pretty. You should have them on cable on demand. Rick Steves is always great helping with the gritty details.

Trains are modern and fast.

[XXX-er]

the Douro river valley north of Lisbon is pretty cool

the free walking tours are always worthy IME

used waze and moovit to find our way around

[Benny Profane]

HERE WeGo is an awesome navigation app for both driving and city walking, uses no data, when the phone is offline. Just download the countries of Portugal and Spain maps, and have at it.

[old goat]

What do you like to do when you travel? Eat, drink, hang out with other Americans, museums, churches, outdoors, beach? How will you be traveling between stops. Are you renting a car somewhere? Taking trains, planes? Need more info.
With regard to Spain specifically--Madrid if you like museums, otherwise could skip. Sevilla is the place to see flamenco, and Benny--if you don't like serious flamenco you have no soul. Granada of course for the Alhambra but you need to book ahead of time. In Barcelona Sagrada Familia is mandatory, whether you like churches or not. The inside, not just looking at the outside. Figure out how you can avoid the line. It's been a few years but with a chip and pin card you could get a combo ticket to Sagrada Familia and a couple of other Gaudi sites that let you skip the line. Maybe that still works. The Basque tapas place in Barcelona was the best tapas we had in Spain--you can probably find the name in a good travel book.

[iceman]

Any interest in seeing any of Ireland or are you set on getting out of there immediately after the wedding?

[Benny Profane]

What do you like to do when you travel? Eat, drink, hang out with other Americans, museums, churches, outdoors, beach? How will you be traveling between stops. Are you renting a car somewhere? Taking trains, planes? Need more info.
With regard to Spain specifically--Madrid if you like museums, otherwise could skip. Sevilla is the place to see flamenco, and Benny--if you don't like serious flamenco you have no soul. Granada of course for the Alhambra but you need to book ahead of time. In Barcelona Sagrada Familia is mandatory, whether you like churches or not. The inside, not just looking at the outside. Figure out how you can avoid the line. It's been a few years but with a chip and pin card you could get a combo ticket to Sagrada Familia and a couple of other Gaudi sites that let you skip the line. Maybe that still works. The Basque tapas place in Barcelona was the best tapas we had in Spain--you can probably find the name in a good travel book.

I said that flamenco was.....interesting. I don't get it, but, yeah, man, there was a ton of passion displayed. I'll be back.

[Benny Profane]

Tapas in Granada.

[Benny Profane]

Mezquita

[Benny Profane]

X

[Benny Profane]

X

[Benny Profane]

X

[XXX-er]

What do you like to do when you travel? Eat, drink, hang out with other Americans, museums, churches, outdoors, beach? How will you be traveling between stops. Are you renting a car somewhere? Taking trains, planes? Need more info.
With regard to Spain specifically--Madrid if you like museums, otherwise could skip. Sevilla is the place to see flamenco, and Benny--if you don't like serious flamenco you have no soul. Granada of course for the Alhambra but you need to book ahead of time. In Barcelona Sagrada Familia is mandatory, whether you like churches or not. The inside, not just looking at the outside. Figure out how you can avoid the line. It's been a few years but with a chip and pin card you could get a combo ticket to Sagrada Familia and a couple of other Gaudi sites that let you skip the line. Maybe that still works. The Basque tapas place in Barcelona was the best tapas we had in Spain--you can probably find the name in a good travel book.

I was there last year and you gotta book a res on line in advance or you don't get in the Sagrada Familia

in Lisbon go to a restaurant or bar with a Fado singer

[Benny Profane]

Ronda

[iceman]

Help me.

[Dhelihiker]

I think the few days in Ireland to should do it. I'll def come back for a longer trip.

We like food, culture, natural beauty over man made but still love a good church. We would prefer trains but they seem slow AF. Actually I would prefer a Ferrari

Benny those pics look epic, thanks for the beta

[Benny Profane]

Downtowns to downtowns, trains are great in Europe. Nothing like here. Fast, clean, affordable. Try the high speeds.

You need a car for the country, though.

[XXX-er]

Ryanair is the cheapest, but its utilitarian ... I have taken nicer buses

[old goat]

I was there last year and you gotta book a res on line in advance or you don't get in the Sagrada Familia

good to know, thanks.
if you do make it to Madrid--Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham)--hint--it's not a museum.
for travel within Spain we used cheap air, bus, and train. which was best depended on where we going from/to.
for air Iberia and its cut rate subsidiary--can't remember the name--had wildly different fares on the same website. again this is a while back.