The first time I ever traveled internationally was in the 6th grade for a class trip. Growing up in central Maine meant we were only a few hours from the Canadian border, so we loaded up two CYR buses (one got nicknamed the “Vomit Comet”, thankfully not the one I was on) with kids and chaperones and off we went to Quebec City. We were only gone for one day, so while I did technically go to a new country, it didn’t feel too different than the United States.
In 2017, I got the opportunity to travel internationally again – transatlantic this time! My cousin Patricia and her husband Steve were living in Madrid, Spain at the time and had been asking Jarrett and I to come visit. To be honest, not much planning went into the trip. Patricia had lived in Madrid for a few years by the point, so she had plenty of suggestions and plans for us.
Our first activity of the trip was a free walking tour through the city. Our tour guide Jovan was a lot of fun and very knowledgable. A few highlights of the tour were Plaza Mayor, seeing Restaurante Botín (the oldest restaurant in the world) and Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Almudena. After the tour we felt comfortable walking around the city on our own to get lunch. We both felt very safe navigating the city on our own. We were also very impressed with how clean it was!
After spending a few days in Madrid, Jarrett and I took the high speed train to Valencia for two days and a night. It was fun to explore on our own in a new city but we definitely should’ve done more research before we went…we got lost walking through downtown (but met a cute dog in the process, which is always a positive). We definitely walked a lot more than we needed to before we found our way back to the hotel for the night. Our hotel restaurant made amazing seafood paella though, which was one of the highlights of the trip.
Once we arrived back in Madrid, we did a tapas tour on Cava Baja, went to Mercado de San Miguel and ate churros. On our last full day in Spain we went to Museo del Ferrocarril de Madrid flea Market. We bought a few fun things – I got a vintage city map of Madrid and Steve found an antique typewriter. Afterwards, we went to Parque del Buen Retiro and I got to see Palacio de Cristal which I’ve been wanting to see since I took an Architecture class my first year of college. I also got to see Picasso’s Guernica at Museo Reina Sofia. I’ve seen Picasso’s work in person before, but seeing such a famous piece in his home country of Spain was extra special.
Later in the evening we watched a spectacular sunset (with hundreds of other people) at Temple of Debod, located within Parque del Oeste. The view really was quite beautiful and was an excellent way for us to end our stay in Madrid. The temple was actually gifted to Madrid from Egypt in the 1960s, which I thought was a neat fact!
Instead of flying straight home to Boston, we spent a day and night in Lisbon, Portugal. Jarrett and I both love Dave Matthews Band. Dave Matthews, the lead singer, and guitarist, Tim Reynolds, were doing a European tour together and we luckily got tickets to see them play in Lisbon. The venue we saw the concert at, Coliseu de Recreios, was old and intimate, which made for an incredible experience. I wish we had more time in Lisbon though, it was a whirlwind trip. We only had about 6 hours to explore the city before we went to the concert so we didn’t get to see as much as I would’ve liked.
It was a awesome trip and I’m so thankful Patricia and Steve let us stay with them so we didn’t have to worry about the cost for lodging while in Madrid. I loved my visit there (especially the food!) and can’t wait to go back again someday.
Have you been to either of these cities? Let me know in the comments below.
The Adventures of Suze 
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