Cheap Fare to Barcelona
Got in on the $275 round-trip fares on Delta from DFW to Spain. JR and I chose to fly to Barcelona and then back from Madrid. Originally we were looking at another destination to fly to during our trip, but then it hit us: Road Trip.
We picked up a car rental near our Hotel in Barcelona (Hilton Barcelona, very nice as usual) and dropped it off in Madrid. Total came to about 200 USD for the rental and approximately 150euros or so for the fuel. Not bad for a road trip to destinations that would otherwise be unseen.
Pamplona
We drove to Pamplona on the first day, arriving in time to walk around downtown before sundown. It’s a beautiful Spanish city and located in some very pretty countryside. It’s famous for the running of the bulls, so I got a selfie with the statue.
San Sebastian and Bilbao
After waking up in Pamplona, we headed north towards San Sebastian. San Sebastian is famous for their pinchoes, so we stopped there for lunch. The spread inside the restaurant (pictured below) was incredible. Weather could have been better, but not bad for October.
We walked around the outside of the Guggeinheim Museum in Bilbao, The spider outside was pretty impressive as well as the architecture in the city. We found ourselves out kind of late, and slept in the next morning.
Picos de Europa National Park and Leon
After leaving Bilbao, we headed to Monumento Natural de Ojo Guareña. This was pretty cool for a quick hike. The highlight of the trip was most definitely the Picos de Europa National Park. This was my first European National Park and one of my favorite so far overall. We headed south through Riaño as the sun set, What a beautiful scene.
Leon
We arrived into Leon to partying and a marching band. We found it a little harder to find food, but eventually we got something to eat.
Madrid
The last leg of our trip was to head to Madrid from Leon. This drive was not bad until we got to Madrid. At one point, JR had to maneuver across 4 lanes in a very short order to get into the rental return. We managed to do it and got an uber to our hotel.
We spent a couple of days in Madrid, walking around and checking out the Royal Palace as well as other sights of Madrid. Our flight home departed Madrid to the United States.
