Spain
Barcelona
I’ve been to Barcelona many times, but my first trips, at least as an adult, to Spain were for work. In Barcelona, I was working at Airtel (Gava, Poligono Barnasud, I remember always trying to pronounce to the taxi driver, never with any success), staying at the Intercontinental on Avenue Diagonal. I did a touristy thing and went to a bullfight (Barcelona is NOT a traditional bullfighting region, so it’s a bit of a cruel joke really). One thing I learned, people don’t always cheer the underdog – I think I was the only one cheering for the bull (who never won, by the way). Oh, and it was clearly a fix, as in a few fights the toreador messed up, but held up his hand to point at the bull, and it just stopped. So not really in any particular danger. After four bull murders in the programme of six, I left.
Madrid
It took me a while to get the hang of Madrid – I recommend being shown round by a native, as it’s easy to miss the interesting stuff (at least, I did, the first once or twice I was there). I’ve never been to the Prado museum, but Madrid has (at least!) two other belters, the Reina Sofia, which is where Picasso’s Guernica is, and the Thyssen Bornemisza, which is a wonderful private collection across quite a long period of time, so it felt like you were watching history and progress as you walk around the cloister-style galleries.
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