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Lisbon, Madrid, Barcelona recommendations?

ddownddown 65 Posts
edited February 2014 in Strut Central
I've been away from Soul Strut too long, but it's good to be back.


Anyway, I'll be going on a trip to Portugal and Spain in March. I plan to spend about 5 days each in/around Lisbon, Madrid, and Barcelona. Any recommendations? What are the must see/do things?

- Sightseeing,
- restaurants,
- cool neighborhoods, and
- record stores?

I've seen some old posts on some of these cities, but I'm not sure if the info is still accurate. Any info you can offer would be really helpful.

Thanks.


d.

BTW, I've been living in northeast China for over a year. Not one record around here. I found a couple places in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but nothing up here in the northeast.

  Comments

  • ppadilhappadilha 2,236 Posts
    The one time I went to Madrid I only spent a few days and had a local friend take me around, which was obviously better than doing it as a tourist, except it means I don't remember where the nice bars and restaurants I went to were. The Prado and Reina Sofia museums are quite excellent, I highly recommend those if you're into art. We also went for a stroll around some historic district or another that had lots of plazas and a place enticingly named El Museo del Jamon, which I didn't go into but I can't see how you could go wrong there. Didn't do anything special food-wise, but I do remember the basic neighborhood restaurants serving pretty good grub at a good price.

    I've been to Barcelona twice, both times as a tourist with no one local to take me around, so I know I never got the best experience of the city, basically limiting myself to the things on the guide books. Parc Guell is pretty cool, Montjuic is ok, stay the fuck away from Las Ramblas, and maybe wait for them to finish La Sagrada Familia before spending half your day in line to get in. I didn't research record stores, but I stumbled onto one somewhere in the Barri Gotic/Born area where I picked up two Fruko y sus Tesos LPs. For food, pa amb tomaquet with jamon was my staple during the day, any basic cafe serves it. I can recommend Cal Pep for really good fresh seafood, it's one of those restaurants that's on all the guide books but it really is quite good, you have to wait for a seat but my waits weren't very long, although I think I got there early. I also did the catalan molecular cuisine thing at Comer?? 24, I liked it but it's up to you if you're willing to drop a big chunk of change on a single meal. From what I understand there are better restaurants for that, but this one is pretty good and I think they have opened a less pricey gastropub type place now. Both my stays were limited to the central part of town, the Barri Gotic/Born/Barceloneta/close to the beach part is nice to walk around, but I think there are other nice neighborhoods not so close to the center.

    I've also been to games at the Bernab??u in Madrid and the Camp Nou in Barcelona. The Camp Nou has reasonably priced nose-bleed tickets, but if you're interested in catching a game I would actually try going to an Atletico de Madrid game at the Calder??n, I think there's a livelier atmosphere there than at those other stadiums. I also found the people in Madrid to be much more friendly and open (and the nightlife/bars much livelier) than in Barcelona, but don't say that to a Catalan.

    I've heard nothing but good things about Lisbon, btw. Apparently there's lots of great food and wine to be had at very cheap prices, and people seem to develop an addiction to pastel de bel??m, the local custard pastry.
  • ddownddown 65 Posts
    ppadilha,

    Sounds like you have a good memory. All your recommendations sound great. I look forward to trying them.

    Thanks!
  • mickalphabetmickalphabet deep inna majestic segue 374 Posts
    Lisbon is nice and small you will find your way around no problem, there are one or two record stores that are ok in bairro alto. Nice day trip is the train along coast to fishing town of Cascais, can't recommend any specific food spots but in general the standard of food is as good as barcelona with the BBQ'd fish dishes being particularly memorable. Also on a a fish tip, the essential tourist to do thing is the Aquarium, its friggin amazing, leafy sea dragons!

    madrid has surprisingly few record stores, the one good one militirate (or something, logo is an AK47) is tricky to find too, its in a passageway of an underground car park with a miniscule stair from a small but confusing plaza. you'll find address on internet and just persevere when you get there. great latin 45 selections. Barrio Chueca has a few stores as well, but they are expensive, its a mostly gay area, with shed loads of good bars and it goes crazy at night. drink is so cheap in madrid.


    barce has a lot better selection of stores, wah wah stands out, but havent been in years, club moog is still a good spot for midweek electronic stuff apparently, studio mate is playin there in few weeks he was saying since it opened a decade or two ago has had a gig every single night, 365 nights a year.
  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    I was in Madrid and Barcelona years ago. You probably saw my recommendations in the other threads.

    To recap - Madrid - Guernica at the Sofia.

    Barcelona - once you have your fill of Gaudi go the Barcelona Pavilion. Also known as Mies van der Rohe's German Pavilion.
    I don't think there is a bad restaurant in Barcelona.
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