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Trip to Spain

We went to Spain from 12/26/13 to 1/19/14, visiting Madrid, Sevilla, Tangiers, Granada, Córdoba, and Barcelona in that order. I decided it was time to start using my United miles given that they continue to change the rules.We also used Marriott points for some of the hotels (AC Hotels), which were excellent. In Barcelona, we rented an apartment for 4 nights, which worked out great because we were ready for having our "own" place.
Overall, this trip was perfect. We called it the "Planes, Trains, Automobiles, Buses, Trolleys, Trams, Ferries" vacation because we used all of them. We also averaged about 10 miles walking per day, which we like to do as we explore. Anyway, the trip was perfect, as we ate and drank our way across Spain, met some wonderful people, learned a lot of history, and made notes on what to see on our next trip. It would be hard to pick a favorite city, but the tapas in Madrid were the best, Sevilla had the friendliest people and best music, Barcelona was the most cosmopolitan, and Granada and Córdoba were sort of trips back in time in some ways. Tangiers/Morocco was special, and we highly recommend taking the ferry and spending the day there. We followed Rick's advice and hired a guide (Aziz), who provided undivided attention all day, and a tour customized to our wants. We did not use guides anywhere else (Rick's book was our main guide). It definitely helped that Spanish is my native language, but my wife does not speak it, and she managed very well by herself. Anyway, I will add some more details on the individual cities as time permits, but we highly recommend Spain, and can's wait to go back. I also agree with Brad on the availability of clean bathrooms (and wifi too).

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So one thing about Madrid that we did not see anywhere is that it is potato chip heaven (besides being ham heaven). My wife is a potato chip "snob" and on the walk from the Atocha train station to the hotel we passed 2 potato chip "factories" where they were made fresh every day. Besides that we found them at most plazas (again, fresh) and anywhere lots of people gathered. We made sure to have a fresh bag for the train ride to Sevilla.