I went to Spain with zero itinerary. I don’t like doing this because it typically is the trigger for some arguments. But for some reason, I just could not get my head wrapped around planning this trip and figured we’d wing it off recs of people who had recently been to Madrid. I truly do not know what I made such a rookie move, but despite some hiccups, we did enjoy our time in Spain.

We took the late RyanAir flight out of Dublin and arrived in Madrid around 1 a.m. We assumed we would be able to grab a taxi from the airport to our house swap. But a word to the wise…at 1 a.m. in a foreign country, where you don’t speak the language, never make assumptions. None of the taxis would take a group of 5. In hindsight, we could have grabbed two taxis. However, I remembered reading something about the train taking you directly into the city. So, we walked about a half mile, maybe more, through the airport,to the train station. I bought tickets, and went to go ask a man for help locating the train, but shocker, he only spoke Spanish. With the help of another woman working, who had a little bit of English, they began screaming, “Rapido! Rapido!” and pointing towards a flight of stairs. We grabbed all of of our luggage and RAN as fast as we could, only to find the train with the doors closing. In order to avoid having to wait, we threw myself in between the closing doors, pried them open, and piled all the Fritzes and luggage inside. Phew! We made it. About 45 minutes later, we were dumped on a dark street, google maps in hand, and found out apartment by 2 am.

The apartment was one I found on homeexchange.com. I cannot say enough wonderful things about this site for saving money while traveling. We used points to stay here and Virginia, the owner, could not have been more welcoming. She left pastries for breakfast and was constantly in touch, making sure everything was ok. We even had their housekeeper Sylvia come daily, which was amazing. The only thing Laurence was not thrilled with was their cat we had to take care of. However, the children and I loved that and did not mind having to take care of Iniesta!

Needless to say, we got a very late start the next morning! With no plan in mind, we decided eating was first on the agenda. We love a food hall, and I think I say this every time I post. We took the metro to Mercado de Paz, which was recommended by a friend. The metro WAS extremely easy to navigate with Google Maps in Madrid. Now eating out was a different story. Again, with language as a barrier, we ate at a place that had the best looking food in front of the diners. We were lucky to score a fantastic waiter who spoke great English, and made the dining experience the first day great! He recommended an ice cream shop for after lunch, which we gladly took him up on, given the heat of Madrid. (Note to self and reader…July in Spain is not the most ideal time to visit.) After our ice cream, we walked around Retiro Park, which resulted in lots of complaints because of the heat and the exhaustion from the travel the day before. So, we ended back at the apartment where we grabbed some snacks on the way in and rested before heading out to dinner.

The second day was much better, and in hindsight, what we should have done the first day. I have traveled to many cities and I KNOW this tidbit of info, but somehow never seem to follow my own advice. We started the day at another food hall (Mercado de San Miguel) and took a tuk-tuk tour through the city. The best way to start any city break is to do a tour because it gives you an idea of where you are and what you want to see. We should have done this the first day, but could’ve would’ve, should’ve, right? The tuk-tuk tour was fantastic, giving us a better grasp of the city and what all we wanted to see. We walked around Plaza Mayor afterwards, got churros at Chocolateria San Gines, did a little shopping, and headed home to rest. That night, we ate an AMAZING dinner at La Taqueria De Birra, got ice cream and drinks at a little bodega in our neighborhood, and headed home.

If I did it all over again, I would spend a longer time in Seville than I did in Madrid. The third day was our departure day for Seville. Once again, I have traveled enough to know to leave wiggle room for mistakes and hiccups, but I still never learn. Our train was to depart from Atocha stations at 10am. We knew where the station was…less than a mile walk from our apartment. Instead of taking a cab, (which we seemed to have a lot of trouble finding) we opted to walk. Again, massive suitcases, three kids, in the Madrid heat, are nothing short of not fun. The train station was huge, and we had no clue where to go. We went through one scan point, that took our tickets, only to realize we were in the wrong terminal. We had about 10 minutes until our train departed to figure out where the heck to go, which was a bit unnerving to say the least. We found someone to point us in the right direction and BOOKED it as fast as we could, sweat pouring out from everything it could pour from. We literally made it on the train right before they closed the doors and I have never been as thankful to Jesus for getting us on that train, on time, because honestly, I don’t know what we would have done.

The train from Madrid to Seville was a little under 3 hours. I absolutely love train travel. I think it may be the easiest way to go. We arrived in Seville a little before 1:00. Once again, we ran into the same problem of the taxis only taking 4 people, so Laurence opted to walk the mile to the airbnb, while the children and I look a taxi. Our airbnb hostess met us and got us settled into the most amazing apartment. She was wonderful and the airbnb was the most perfect location! We had a quick lunch at an empanada place and immediately dove into Seville, with a tour of Real Alcazar. This place was gorgeous, and I highly recommend this as a first day activity. It was only about an hour. We went back to the apartment to rest before heading to dinner. We ate at La Azote for tapas the first night, and it was good, but there were a million other similar ones in the area that would probably be just as good. That night, we went to see a Flamenco show and this may have been the highlight of my trip! I knew I wanted to see a Flamenco show, but was not sure I wanted to spend the money on one of the bigger productions. I found a great blog where a girl recommended a hole in the wall place called La Carboneria. It was PERFECT and exactly what I needed to fill my need to see Flamenco. It is a bar and there is no fee to get in…you just have to order a beer and get a seat. They have two shows, one at 9:30 and one at 11. We made it for the 9:30 and it was totally fine to have our children in there. The show lasted about 30 minutes and that was exactly enough for all of us. We had an ice cream at Maria Limones on the way home, and tucked it in for the night.

The next day we had another lazy morning, getting out the door by 11, where we had a quick breakfast before touring the Cathedral. Our reservation was at 12:20. If you do the cathedral, plan to spend about 1.5-2 hours. It was unbelieve and there was SO much information to listen to and to see. But, as usual with children, they don’t stay still for long (at one point Laurence and Louise got fussed at for trying to climb the cathedral walls) so I am sure I missed a lot of info. But we had an ample amount of time to see it all. After the Cathedral, we walked to Plaza de Espana and it was beautiful. We went on a Sunday, and it seemed like the restaurants were all closed. I think it would have been a lot more lively on another day. The boys were not very impressed, so they headed back to the apartment, which gave the girls and me some one on one time.

We were pretty tired of tapas at this point, so the girls and I found the most exquisite Italian restaurant called L’oca Guiliva for lunch. I had two glasses of Vino de tinto and ordered a magnificent pizza, while the girls shared a pasta dish. After lunch, we wanted to go shopping, but again, it was Sunday and a lot of the stores were closed. I wish I had paid more attention and shopped the day before. We found a beautiful dress shop, called Fin and Gizz, which I was able to pop back by before we left on Monday. That night, the boys, also tuckered out on tapas, we opted for another delicious Italian dinner at San Marco, followed by another ice cream cone at Maria Simones on the way home.

Sadly, the next day was our departure day. We ate a yummy breakfast at Confiteria la Campana, which was right outside the door of our airbnb. We did not realize you could sit inside and there was more to eat than just pastries. But we stood around and ordered an assortment of pastries. I’d love to go back here again! We packed up everything from our airbnb, made it to a few shops that we had not been able to make it into that Sunday, and left with an ample amount of time to catch our 1:37 train back to Madrid.

Back in Madrid, we found a rolling sushi bar for dinner. It was so cool! Basically, it was an all you can eat sushi bar. You paid one price per person and had an hour to eat. The sushi rolled by your table and you picked it up off this conveyor belt ype thing! The kids LOVED it and thought it was a really neat experience.

Our last day in Madrid, we wanted to make sure we did something really fun with the children. Our tuk-tuk tour guide told us about an amusement park to take them to. This place was incredible, and we spent most of the day here. That night, Spain was playing in the Eurocup, which we thought would be great to watch while in Spain. The apartment where we stayed had a housekeeper named Silvia, who also babysat. We lined Sylvia up to babysit. Sylvia’s English was just as good as my spanish, so I was a wee bit nervous about leaving them all. However, Eliza had her computer, which she can text and if needed, google translate from. Sylvia turned out to be an angel, taking them to get pizza from a neighborhood pizza parlor, and had Laurence asleep by the time we came in. We were able to go out to eat together and watch the game at the same local Bodega we went to earlier in the week. This was the perfect ending to our time in Spain.

Overall, I loved Spain. The one thing I did not really plan for was the difficulty of the language barrier. And maybe the heat…the heat in Madrid made it not so fun to wander like you normally might do in a city. However, I cannot wait to travel back to Spain next summer (on another home exchange) and this time, will make sure to create a detailed itinerary ahead of time to avoid any family hiccups along the way! 🙂

Itinerary in a Nutshell

Day 1
-Lunch at Mercado de la Paz.(take the metro)
-Ice cream at Maison Glade
-Walk around Retiro Park
-Home to rest
-Dinner at La Fraguade de Vulcano

Day 2
-Breakfast at Mercado de San Miguel (take the metro)
-Tuk Tuk tour of the city- Booked 1 hour, but ended up longer, which was great
-Walk around Plaza Mayor
-Churros at Chocolateria San Gines
-Hit a few shops on the way back to the Metro
-Home to rest
-Dinner at La Taqueria De Birra
-Drinks and ice cream on the way home

Day 3
-Train to Seville at 10 am. Leave from Atocha station (next time arrive 30 minute ahead of time.)
-Check in to air bnb at 1 pm
-Lunch- quick lunch at empanada place
-Tour Real Alcazar
-Back to apartment to rest
-Dinner at La Azote
-Drinks and watched quick Flamenco show at La Carboneria. Show started at 9:30 and lasted about 25- 30 minutes.
-Ice cream on the way home at Maria Limones

Day 4
-Breakfast at 11
-Tour the Seville Cathedral at 12:20- plan to spend about 1.5-2 hours
-Walked to Plaza Espana.
-Boys back to apartment to rest. Girls lunch at L’Oca Giuliva
-Girls shop
-Back to apartment to rest
-Dinner at San Marco
-Ice cream on the way home at Maria Simone’s
*Note-LOTS of shops were closed on Sunday. I would have done more shopping the day before if I had known this.

Day 5
-Breakfast at Confiteria la Campana. Right by the apartment. We didn’t realize you could sit and they had some other items beside the pastries.
-Pack up and depart air bnb at 11
-A little more shopping before heading to train
-Train-depart Seville at 1:37 and dinner at Running Sushi

Day 6
-Breakfast
-Parque de Atraciones de Madrid
-Dinner at
-Watch the game at the neighborhood Bodega