Honey, Let’s Do a Podcast!
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Honey, Let’s Do a Podcast!
Vibrant Spain: Exploring Architectural Gems and Overcoming Travel Hurdles
Did you ever think losing a phone could turn into an unforgettable adventure? Our recent journey through Spain is filled with such unexpected twists and turns. From the moment we landed in Barcelona, we were swept away by the vibrant energy and architectural marvels like Casa Batlló and Casa Pedrera. Thanks to Enrique's family, especially his helpful cousin, what could have been frustrating mishaps became heartwarming stories of support and connection. Listen in as we recount our tour through the city's breathtaking sites, including the majestic Sagrada Familia, and share tips that made our visit truly special.
Next, we navigate both the beauty and chaos of Barcelona, giving you a front-row seat to the stunning Park Güell and its Gaudí masterpieces. We also dive into the nitty-gritty of travel challenges, from transportation dilemmas to moments of anxiety. Despite these hurdles, our experiences were enriched by family reunions and the warm hospitality of locals. Whether it's finding a picturesque museum that resembles a castle or managing the stress of lost items, our tales offer a candid look into the highs and lows of our vibrant adventure.
Our adventure continues in Madrid, where the seamless train ride from Barcelona set the tone for more memorable experiences. We explore historic landmarks like the Royal Palace and savor churros at Chocolatería San Ginés when museum lines proved too long. From the serene boat ride at Parque del Retiro to the medieval charm of Toledo, our stories capture both the cultural richness and personal moments that defined our trip. Join us for a heartfelt reflection on the beauty, challenges, and unforgettable memories from our Spanish escapade.
Hello everyone. My name is Enrique and this is Linda, and today we're going to be talking about our trip to Spain.
Linda:But first, honey let's do a podcast.
Enrique:Hello everybody and welcome back to honey. Let's do a podcast. I am your host, enrique, and this is my lovely co-host, linda. Today we're going to be talking about our trip to Spain, which happened quite a while ago. It was in April. I think it was April 2nd or 3rd. I think we left on the 2nd or 3rd to the 15th. There's a couple of things that happens from then to now, which is why we've had like a big hiatus from doing podcasting, even though we really like to do this. But, uh, we'll explain a little bit in detail on that. Linda, over here to my left, has a little bit of a cold, so she'll probably be a little bit her throat, you know, having a little bit of issues, maybe some talking, you'll. You'll notice her in her voice, but she'll do her best, okay, and I don't know if you want to say something I'm actually very happy to come to be back, honestly, because it has been a while.
Linda:We went through a couple hard moments, but it's always good to be back and start doing the things, things that we truly enjoy.
Enrique:And yeah, that's pretty much it yep, so we'll touch a little bit on that throughout the video and specifically more at the end, because, uh, that'll lead up into our next subject, which will be for the upcoming for the other podcast, right, but let's talk about the one today, which is about our trip to spain. Um, again, let's say we. Again, it was around april 2nd that we took the trip. I think we actually landed in spain and barcelona on april 3rd. Because of the time delay and you know it was a connecting flight and all that stuff. Um, I think it was. You know, we, we really want to talk about our experience, what we did. It kind of like this could also serve as a travel guide for some people out there and things you might want to go see our experiences, what we did and how it worked out. So our trip, our itinerary, was Barcelona, then Madrid.
Linda:And just to pause a little bit and give you a little bit of the background, enrique is Spanish. He has a Spanish citizenship as well as American citizenship, but I have never been to Spain, so I have been many times to Spain. I have never been to Spain, so we have very different perspectives here. And he's obviously background. Background and on top of that that he has lots of family in spain was very well rounded in at least my experience into enjoying pretty much the most and the best of spain yeah, so my, my dad's from Spain.
Enrique:He's from Madrid. I didn't actually grow up there or I wasn't born there, but you know you can say half of my line is from there. So all the family from my dad's side is there. So I have cousins, you know, I have uncle, I have an aunt and other people you know. But so most of that, most of that family is over there, which is helpful, obviously because they can. You know, they make the experience a lot easier, Also for Linda. They're going to, they help us.
Linda:It was a game changer for us, to be honest.
Enrique:Yeah, because they help us to go different places.
Enrique:You know, they, they, they serve as guides specifically for her. You know I've been there before but still, you know you got somebody with a car, you got people who can. You know you need, oh I need. I don't know how to do this, I don't know how to get to this point. You know they live there. So whenever you know somebody who lives in the in the city you're visiting and, or a friend or somebody, that's always really good yeah, you always can get some, some of the insights which is kind of difficult to get when you're a tourist, to be honest yeah, and lucky for us.
Enrique:Uh, I actually had a cousin who one of the cousin lives in bar, so we had one person actually in Barcelona. The rest live in Madrid, but one of them actually lives in Barcelona right now, so they were able to meet us. He was able to meet with us with his girlfriend and we were able to spend a couple of days. We actually he helped us find a lost phone from Linda. She lost her phone on the last day in Barcelona and we were able to get it back in a taxi. We thought it was gone for sure, but we got lucky with that one.
Enrique:But he actually helped us find it. We wouldn't be able to find it if not. So that was actually kind of clutch. But anyway, let's go back to our experiences. So when we were in barcelona, we were there for like three days, april 3rd. We left april 6th, so around three days. The first day, you know, basically got to the hotel, um, pretty much just went out and I think we went there's two or three places. We saw that day not a lot. We went to what's that called casa, what casa bad law.
Enrique:I think it's pedrera is one, I think casa pedrera is one of them.
Linda:Which is the other one?
Enrique:yeah, and also we walked a little bit around the streets and stuff, uh, but mainly we went to see those two, uh, you know, a couple of the other gaudi structures uh, which is, uh, linda's an architect. So she was really looking forward to watching uh, to know, to seeing some of the stuff he's done and some of the stuff in barcelona, uh, but that was pretty much day one.
Enrique:I mean, it wasn't. That was just basically trying to get our feet there. Big day was day two, which, uh, we went to sagrada familia with. That was one of, like, linda's top priorities yeah, top priorities in the trip to see specifically in barcelona, for sure, and I don't know if she wants to talk a little bit about that, but yeah, that was a the main thing of day two yes, yes.
Linda:So Barcelona, um, I always say that that's. The highlight of Barcelona is the um.
Linda:Sagrada Familia and I love it. To honest, there was so much detail involved that I'm still wrapping my head, because these construction documents were drawn very, very long time ago. This person is not even alive and they are still building this cathedral with all the level of details that these buildings require. I have no idea and I'm an architect on how the construction documents were detailed to the level of showing all of the different details, because every little thing in that cathedral is custom everything, every component, every door, every window, every tile that is on the ceiling or on the floor, every column. Everything is very detailed and for a regular person to understand it's hard. For me, it's even harder because I know all the things that happens on the back end and it's quite impressive.
Linda:I'm very impressed. Um, I'm very fortunate that I was able to to look at it and, yeah, I definitely had a blast. We went on the outside, we saw the details on the outside, but we also went on the inside because they were doing tours on the inside and we didn't went to the top one of the towers because they had the towers open no well, we didn't went to the towers because uh it was a different ticket no, it's not just that we could have bought the ticket.
Enrique:The problem was that we were with victoria victoria was literally not two. Still she was was a two-year-old. So we didn't want to go to the tower because I think, I don't know, there was an elevator. I don't even know how you got there, but still it was like too tiny just to do it with her. I don't even know if they allowed it a two-year-old. So that's the reason.
Linda:That's probably the reason why our trip was so complicated. I'm not saying we wouldn't leave her behind, obviously, but that came with a big amount of challenges. Uh, to to travel from the united states Texas, which is in the middle of the United States to Spain. It was definitely challenging For me. It was very, very challenging as a mom and I'm sure for Enrique it was very challenging. He can talk about that later. But that comes with a set of challenges.
Enrique:So I think we did a podcast about traveling with toddlers yeah take that in consideration, because you will need it specifically for I told linda for for trips this long and yes to europe and stuff. I think in the future we probably would not do something like this.
Enrique:Uh unless it's extremely necessary, yeah, but I think I think we would try to avoid it, specifically with with this age. Right, I think that it was pretty difficult from the plane on the plane ride to the you know, to getting there, to then getting the kid to get used to the time difference and all that. So, uh, we probably wouldn't do it again unless, like you said, it's like extreme thing yeah but anyway, so good afternoon was the main highlight of day two.
Enrique:We also that day after that we we had this, uh, this tour bus. It's called, uh, barcelona touristic, which actually I highly recommend. Uh, you buy the bus ticket. They have multiple bus stops, uh, which is tourist attraction, so basically everywhere it stops is somewhere a tourist would probably want to go see, so they stop in all places. So with one ticket, if you get for like one, two, three days, depending on how many days are there the buses go around pretty quickly and they take you anywhere you want to go. Pretty much there's two different routes you can take, so that is actually highly recommended.
Enrique:If you guys are planning to do that and you want to rent a car, obviously they have. They have metro, they have a subway and stuff, so you can use that as well. But uh, the bubs, just you know, just sleeps you right there. The only place they really didn't leave us we had still had to walk quite a bit was in in the park. Well, we probably would have preferred to do a taxi there or some other way, but for everything else, the, the bus was really good, but basically the what we, what, the rest we did on day two was we went to monjuic, which was beautiful uh, she went to the house.
Linda:What's that pavilion de?
Linda:barcelona, which, and again was another good thing, important thing for her yeah, like I can, like I was so excited I I feel like I was like a kid because this, in in the world of architecture, that pavilion is a big representation because it's well above and beyond the era from the time it was signed. Like for now it will be like a normal building, but this was post-war war, so it's very advanced for the for the era back then. So taking a look at it and and being there present it was, it was very fascinating, at least for me, for Enrique probably he was like oh, this looks like a normal building what was your?
Enrique:experience well for me. I mean, I didn't. When I saw that I, I remember I asked you what, what the point is here? Because, uh, it just looks like a house, you know, like a, like a house that I go see, I don't know, like a modern house, but small.
Linda:Yeah.
Enrique:You know, so I, you, then you, you explain it to me based on when it was built and stuff, and then I understood. But at the beginning I, you know, I was like I don't know, like cause it just looked like a modern house.
Linda:Yes, but because of when it was created that's what makes it special. Yeah, that's what made sense after you explained that it's like if somebody built a spaceship right now as a house. It's something way above from this era. Now, maybe in 50 years there's hundreds, but right now there's nothing like it. So it's just new, innovative and dynamic. So that's what makes that house a world, that probably a special yeah, so we went.
Enrique:That was when we were in monjuic. Then we went to the, you know the. The views there were pretty, were really amazing and they were beautiful. So that's another area I would highly recommend people go see. I think there is a museum there or something I forgot a library I forgot, but I know a lot of people were there and it was really pretty. We didn't go in there.
Linda:It was a museum.
Enrique:It was a museum or something, but I just don't remember what it was. I don't remember.
Linda:Maybe it was at was a museum or something, but I just don't remember what it was.
Enrique:I don't remember, maybe it was at the art museum or something.
Linda:The.
Enrique:Barcelona Art Museum. I don't know, but there was a big museum there that was really pretty Like. It looked like a castle. So I would recommend that there was another place we couldn't do and that I really wanted to do, which was the Tele telephéricos, or these are basically like those what's it called in english. Uh, it's like that things you take when you go ski. You go to colorado and you take these, uh, these like little, what I call.
Enrique:I don't even know the name I don't anyway, it's you, you get on it to go to the mountain to ski, uh, but it's not the, it's not the, not the, not the one that's like it's not the one open it's not the open one, it's like it's closed, right. So it's like a I don't know how you say it. You sit there, but you're in. Yeah, but that's basically what it is, and there are cables hearing you?
Linda:I I'm sure they have the name.
Enrique:There's a name, paul actually told me the other day but I just forgot the name. But anyway, that one we wanted to do but uh, we couldn't do it again because the time and stuff and then we're going to meet our cousin our at night. So we ended up meeting our cousin at night. Then we went to the hotel. First two nights were really problematic. Nobody could sleep, the baby couldn't sleep. The second night is actually that night after we met with my cousin is. Uh, actually that was our first. No, that was our second night. You're right, you're in the second night and that's the night that my thing happened, which I'll explain later. But again, just so you guys know, that's when it started I had a. I had like an anxiety episode which lasted the whole trip. And after the trip and we'll get into, I'll get into that a little bit at the end, but just this is when it started. Anyway, third day we had park. Well, that basically took up the whole day.
Linda:It was beautiful, it was gorgeous, the weather was perfect yes I think the only, the only thing that was not nice was the transportation yeah, because, like I said, the bus leaves you, but then you have to walk a lot and then there was a lot of steps and it was it.
Enrique:Probably we would have done it. If we do it again, let's say you guys are traveling there, you're gonna go do parkwell. I would suggest, if you're doing the bus touristic to for that day in particular, do a taxi. Yep, because it's the bus doesn't let. It leaves you pretty far out. You gotta walk a lot. And if you're traveling a backpack or like baby gear, like we were, uh, we had, we had a stroller and everything, I mean it was rough, so uh, yeah, but the park was beautiful like I said, I've been there before again.
Enrique:It's another. It's got a gaudy, it's another. You know gaudy structure it's a masterpiece.
Enrique:It's not just a structure, it's just so beautiful linda was really, you know, hyped about it and really ecstatic, uh, and again, that one basically lasted the whole.
Enrique:We were, we were really tired after parkwell because it was a lot of walking, victoria was tired, so really, after that we just we kind of went to the, to the how to cut to the hotel, and then we would just stay there until we, a little bit, until we then met with, uh, our my cousin and his girlfriend, and that's when the whole phone thing happened, when we were going to meet up with him. And then in the taxi, you know, linda's with the baby and stuff and I think she used her phone for to put cocomelon or something, I don't know what she was doing. And then she left the phone on the taxi. We get over there and then she's like like, where's my phone? And then we met up with my cousin and then he helped us, uh, you know he helped us with that, with finding it back. But again, that that night was really simple. Uh, we, how do you call it? We just went with my cousin, his girlfriend, which was the first time we saw her.
Enrique:Her name's Miriam. She's a really nice, really good person. I think Linda and her hit it off pretty quickly.
Linda:Yes, she's amazing.
Enrique:And you know we were in kind of like downtown Barcelona. There were some performances going on. Yes, we ate.
Linda:It's such a different type of lifestyle.
Enrique:Yeah, there's like. There's like always energy and people everywhere. People are outside of the streets, like over here alive and so much music. And the people are the only the only place that I would say it's similar or it could be similar in the us probably would be new york, maybe, and la not at the same scale and maybe la, but I'm talking about people. I'm talking about people on the streets the whole time walking yeah eating out I might agree with that.
Enrique:I don't know about la, because I think la is similar, but obviously houston for sure no no, and a lot of cities in the us, not because it's not, that's not the, the vibe, but normally in europe, and specifically in spain. I'm pretty sure it's the same in other cities in the in europe, but uh, there's always like a lot of people, there's a lot of walking around, people in the streets, people eating out, people staying late.
Linda:Lots of places to eat. The streets are crowded.
Enrique:There's a lot of movement everywhere and you don't see that a lot, obviously, in the US. There are certain places you do, but most of the times you don't. But anyway, that night we stayed with our cousin. I mean, we went out with him, we ate, and then we went back to the hotel we slept. The next day we were taking a train to Madrid, so we took one of these fast trains. I think ours was Avalon. There's also another company called Ave ave, but we took the avalon one and it took us around three hours and 20 minutes. We did all the stops. We could have taken one that was two hours and 40 minutes and it would have only done one or two stops but we didn't know we didn't know that and I think also the time we wanted that was the only one available, but we took the the train to madrid.
Enrique:So, again, if you need to hop in from madrid to barcelona or a lot of other cities like sevilla or someros. We would highly recommend you take the train instead of maybe buying a play ticket like or driving or driving like five hours or something a little bit.
Linda:There's a lot.
Enrique:There's like six, probably six hours driving or something for barth, but again, like the train's really comfortable it's fast spacious and you know you get there pretty quick.
Linda:Uh, so the shares were actually more comfortable than I was expecting, and it has like a little table as well. At least the more comfortable than I was expecting, and it has like a little table as well, at least the one that we were.
Enrique:We said and it's really way cheaper, like. It's like I think it's like 50 to 60 euros for a ride in the in the train. So a lot of times, I don't care how cheap it is, a plane ticket will be like 100 200 euros, so, uh, so that's going cheap. So I mean the train's a great option, okay. So then we get to madrid. That's when most of our family is.
Enrique:We had up, we met up with our parents, but maybe our parents, my parents, uh, which were already there because they were already in Europe and they had already gotten to Madrid. So they were in the Airbnb before us. So we met up with them over there in Madrid. They met up with us in the station which was Atocha, one of the main stations in Madrid for trains and buses and all that stuff. So we met up with them there and basically that day was a simple day. I think we went out to at night, we went out to walk a little bit through the streets, we went to the royal palace and stuff like that. We ate, but nothing too crazy that day, I know he says everything is like oh, chill, relax.
Linda:And for me it was a completely different story. I was like oh my God. And then the next thing oh my God. I was like oh my God.
Enrique:But what I'm saying is we didn't have really a plan on that, I know.
Linda:I know, but even just walking on the streets it was so different and I don't know. It was a very enjoyable place, I really enjoy it.
Enrique:to be honest, it was like oh chill and relax, I was like bye I mean. I'm not saying chill, but I'm saying we went out and we just did a little walking in the evening. We went to eat, like I said, we went through the Royal Palaces and we saw a couple of structures, but again, it was all mostly walking. We weren't, it wasn't like a planned thing, we were going to go somewhere, and I actually they.
Enrique:So then you know we obviously we were staying in Airbnb with my parents for that one, which I would, I say I would, if I were to do it again, I would recommend it because the hotel that we were on was really nice. But I'm talking about the barcelona hotel was really nice, but the beds were really not comfortable and this space.
Linda:It was so the space was little.
Enrique:I mean, I don't think the space was that, but it was just. Mostly the beds was uncomfortable. But the next, the, the airbnb, that was pretty good, uh, and it was pretty spacious too for the price. So I would probably recommend doing an airbnb, unless you're saying like like a really good hotel or like a fancy hotel or something. But for the most part I would probably recommend Airbnb as well. But anyway, day two I'm struggling to remember what was it that we did in day two. In Madrid Was day two, the one we went to Casa de Campo.
Linda:Yeah, we met them the next day.
Enrique:Yeah, so that's the day we went to Casa de Campo, which that's one of my favorite places. It's a park, like a really big park in Spain, not the Retiro Park. This is a different one. Casa de Campo, I think it's bigger, it's it's more open. You know, there's like there's like tennis courts there and there's like like there's a like biking rides and stuff. It's a little more open than the retiro. I think it's a little more how do you call it? More private, if you would say.
Enrique:I think my dad said that the retiro was the one that the kings would have their own personal like the monarchy uses their own personal park and then it got open to the public. But so we went with, we met with my cousin, my cousins, the other two, my aunt and my cousin's kids in Casa de Campo on the next day, which was a Sunday, and again it was a great day, beautiful. We went to eat at this lovely place that was next to the river, was next to the river, I'm sorry, next to the lake and, uh, everything was really nice that day, uh, the food uh, obviously the company that was.
Enrique:That was a really nice day it was a beautiful day.
Linda:The weather was amazing as well yeah, and the the lake was beautiful and obviously the people meeting everybody, because I I mean just to think about I have been with you for more than 12 years and I have not met that side of the family. Most of I knew them, but not in person some of them, so it was very, very enjoyable to finally meet them and for them to meet Victoria as well, and for also Enrique's parents to be there. It was just the perfect compilation of everything everybody was there, so a lot of happy faces and again, that was a.
Enrique:That was a really pretty day. You know. We spent most of the day with the, with the family. Then we, we left, we went back to the Airbnb. I think we probably went out at night, but it was a more chill night. I don't think we did a lot of stuff that night. I think we just went to that restaurant that my parents liked and then we ate there.
Enrique:Yeah, and then we probably just you. And then we ate there. Yeah, and then we probably just you know, we went to the supermarket, grabbed some stuff from victoria and then um, that's another thing I really like.
Linda:There is a supermarket literally in every corner, and I'm not joking when I say in every corner yeah, and a pharmacy.
Linda:You just go down. You know the building because usually they are multiple stories and you just go down. Probably it's in the same block that you, that you leave and you just walk to the pharmacy. It's pretty much like going to the neighborhood to get your medication or to get your grocery. That, for me, was just like mind-blowing because I have never seen that before. I think the only place that that I have been that has it is old san juan yeah it's the only place and for victoria, because I know we're talking a lot about us and stuff.
Enrique:But I think victoria was really enjoyable. I think she enjoyed being with the, with the cousins, the, the younger cousins yeah, the kids and with my cousins, the older ones. Uh, she enjoyed the whole, you know, I think the whole the whole trip. In general, I think victoria had fun, even though she's little so she probably won't remember almost anything, probably not anything, but uh, she had a lot of fun in the trip so it was a fun experience for her as well, and she got along very well with the little cousins.
Linda:Um she hit up like got hit it up extremely well with one of them that, considering the fact they have never seen themselves in their life, it was just mind-blowing the connection so close that they developed in such a small amount of time, because this was like 10 days that's it and in 10 days they created a very strong bond. So it was just amazing.
Enrique:Now, on the day after the Casa de campo, this is where I'm thinking. I I don't remember if we did the tuk tuk, or we did the retiro.
Linda:I think we did the tuk tuk so this is tuk tuk.
Enrique:So my dad rented a tuk tuk which was basically it's like a, which was basically it's like a guided tour in a small car. It's almost almost feels like a go-kart and it's like open and stuff and you're, you're like open and there's a bunch of these over there, madrid that are doing this service. But uh, my dad rented one which literally takes you it's like three hours or something. It literally takes you through almost every important place in madrid. It's like the bus to a stick in barcelona, but more personalized because you you got somebody who's like your driver and stuff and he takes you places and he talks to you about the places and he gives you information.
Enrique:So in that one I remember we went to the Prado Museum, we went to Cibeles, we went to Puerto Azul, I mean we went through everything.
Enrique:We went through the Royal Palace, we went to the right what's that called La Ventas, which is where they would do the bull fighting, right. So, basically, again, highly recommend it. We recommend you guys. If you guys are going to madrid, it is as good because it takes you over and it's it's with a guide, and then the guide explains to you, drops you off, it lets you take pictures, it lets you, like, walk a little bit in in places where you tell them, hey, I want to stop here and stuff. So again, this is really good, good experience for uh, for people visiting for the first time or people who want a little more in-depth about uh, about the trip and about what they're seeing. So that was really good. Yeah, and that was really the highlight of day two, uh I do remember um.
Linda:I know you mentioned that your father is from madrid yes but I do remember he mentioning that that, uh, the tuk-tuk was so in detail that he even went to places that they or he discovered some information that he didn't even know about, or he went to places that they have never known that they existed there. So it was even for a person that was, you know, born and raised in Madrid, to take the tuk-tuk and to find more information about his own heritage. It was just great and that was more for me, because I have never been there.
Linda:You know they took the tuk-tuk just for me, which I'm very grateful for it, and it was very, very pleasant. It was just nice. I get to know a lot more than. I was expecting to know.
Enrique:We couldn't go to Inside El Prado Museum.
Linda:It was too full.
Enrique:Or Reina Sofia, but they were too full. But again, if you're really into art and stuff, obviously that should be in one of your go-to lists. I think it's like the guy from the Tuk Tuk said you have to do like it's better to do it online and to rent out a day for your tickets so that you can do the, because now you got to do a wait line for the tickets and then a wait line to enter yeah, I think they could do better on the whole organization to get, I don't know, it's a lot of people trying to enter a.
Enrique:It's really popular, so it's like it's like trying to go to the roof. I don't know how it is, but pretty sure it's.
Linda:The line's got to be long too, yeah maybe there is a special ticket that you need to get to get fast or something, I don't know, and there's like a limited amount of it but anyway, that afternoon or that evening, after the, after we done with the tuk-tuk, we went to the.
Enrique:I think we went to that place where the chocolate is famous, right.
Linda:Yes, I forgot the name of it.
Enrique:The San Ginés, san Ginés, san Ginés, chocolatería. Yeah, it sounds familiar, I think so and we went to get a chocolate there. It was chocolate there, it was so good with churros.
Linda:They really liked it. I'm not into the churro, I like the chocolate. This is the thing. This is the thing. So I typically don't like chocolate, but I do like that chocolate and I think that you like the combination with the churro too. Yeah that is just like the perfect combination. But again, again, I'm not a chocolate person. It's just that particular chocolate and it has to be that Spanish you know thick, rich, flavor-y one. It's not the American version, hot chocolate. It's nothing like it. It's completely different. It's amazing.
Enrique:So then the next day and I think I'm going to start kind of grouping up a couple of the events, important events, together, because I don't want to just go day by day, by day, right, because we really want to just talk about the best things, best places to go but this happens to be on the next day, which was Parque del Retiro, which I already talked a little bit about. It happens to be on the next day, which was Parque del Retiro, which I already talked a little bit about it, which used to be a park that only monarchs, like the kings, could go there and the queen and obviously the family, the royals, but then it was open to the public and we went there, we met up with my aunt and, again, beautiful park.
Enrique:I think this is parked, even though de campo is also beautiful. But I think parque retina is a little more. It's a little more like kept, you know, it's more like a central park. I think a good type of feeling like in new york central park.
Linda:It looks it kind of has that vibe right where I think a good, a good um way to explain it. If, if you have seen bridgeton, you know where the people go to the park and do the promenade, that will be pretty much el retiro. I'm not sure if enrique have seen bridgeton, but that first one, that whole vibe about the promenade and where the royals meet and do the walk and there was a lake and stuff like that. That's pretty much el rechiro um back in the days.
Enrique:Now it's open to the public, which is great and then we went in the theater, we went to the, we did the, the boat, the, what's it called, the paddle yeah, it's not a row the we were rowing in the boat. Victoria loved it. There was ducks all over the place and she was like duck here, duck there.
Linda:And then she fell asleep.
Enrique:And then she fell asleep. Yeah, but it was really pretty. That's one thing I wanted Linda to do. That's one thing I always remembered me doing with my dad when I was little and he took me to Madrid.
Linda:We would do the rowing whether it was in the Retiro or it was in Casa de Campo, because you could do it in both places.
Enrique:But uh, I think it was a great decision to make it in the Retiro, but Retiro was was really beautiful. Then we walked a little bit around it. We had lunch over there again excellent. The food was great. Food everywhere we went was great, so it was really delicious. And again, that was another beautiful place to see. If you're visiting Madrid, I would highly recommend you go to that park as well, again, parque del Retiro. And there's another place that was closed, but that was like a crystal house or something that was inside the.
Enrique:Retiro too. So, that's another place that was closed, but that was like a it's a crystal house or something that was inside the retiro too, so that's another place you guys can go see. Uh, I honestly don't remember that night or that evening, but what I do remember is what we went to see the fourth day in madrid, which that was the highlight for me, for linda to go see, which was we went to visit the old city of toledo, or toledo oh yes, that was gorgeous too.
Linda:Honestly, that trip was great, it's. You know, except to the exception of a few things, it was, it was a great trip yeah, and that was super.
Enrique:I mean, toledo is like going into a medieval like the old city because there's the new city but the old city of toledo. It's like going into a movie in a like a medieval city, castle, vibe, stuff like the old cities with the walls surrounded by water.
Enrique:Then you got to go through a bridge to enter it and you know it's got all that vibe like like you're in the and obviously the city is old. Literally all the construction, everything is from back in the day, from probably we're talking around 1500, 1600s. The cathedral is is something that's out of this world.
Enrique:The cathedral over there in toledo, it's yeah, I mean, I love go there I know sagrada familia for linda architectural wise, she it was a, it was awesome and a marvel for her. But that cathedral in toledo, I mean that's something incredible, because you got to think about this that was probably built in the 15 to 1400s or something. That was like you go in, there you go, your jaw goes down like what how they did this everything in gold, everything like like there's gold everywhere, there's like that.
Enrique:I mean, that place has to be like that. The ceiling is so high, the, the color, like it was just, like, it was incredible, like just, and it's old, like you see it from the outside and everything, and it's. You know. You know it's an old, it's an old building, it's an old piece, but it's just, it's. You know. You know it's an old, it's an old building, it's an old piece, but it's just, it's just so so impressive when you enter. So I would definitely go to the Cathedral in Toledo. That's a must, I would say. But the whole city itself it's beautiful. Again, we ate in there. Again, there's beautiful views. If you want to go outside of the city with like we were we, we met up with some cousins of my dad, or what was it a?
Enrique:cousin or cousins of your dad cousins of my dad and they took us on their other car. They took us to the outside of the city and there are some beautiful views of the whole city beautiful is short word like. Well, you know, the whole city surrounded by the water and all that I think those pictures are one of the best I have ever seen.
Linda:It's just like I don't, it's just impressive yeah, we took pictures.
Enrique:We'll probably put. But as we're talking about all these uh different places, I'm gonna probably put some pictures on the youtube and the youtube for people watching it on youtube or hearing it on youtube.
Enrique:Maybe you, you guys, can watch as well. Uh, we'll put some pictures and some stuff. I don't know about videos, but I'll probably I'll put some pictures around what we were in these different locations, right, uh? But yeah, again, we took the train to toledo. We took the train in and out. Again we took the ave or the avalon. So highly recommended, was really fast, way faster than if you go by car. I think it was like 25 to 30 minutes to get there. So highly recommend that too. Go see the the city, you will not be disappointed. A lot of history, a lot of great buildings, a lot of old buildings, a lot of, like, the narrow streets. It literally feels like you're in a different time zone or a different place in time. You know like you turn back time and stuff.
Linda:I think the next day was shopping and, uh, we went to the new section of uh, madrid all right, we, yeah, so we went shopping. You went to sarah yeah around the I don't know how it was that main street again.
Enrique:It was like around Cibeles or Puerta, so you know one of those main streets.
Linda:Yeah, but we were that's kind of like the old area, right, but we also went to the newer area.
Enrique:I know that's where we went with my cousins and they did the slides of the tobogans, yeah, which that was really fun.
Linda:I don't remember.
Enrique:Those are the most beautiful toboggan I have ever seen in my life I'll probably put, because I'll probably research this when I'm uh, when I'm putting it on youtube and I'll probably try to put in the name. Right now we don't remember what the new place was, but I'll probably remember and research it and I'll put it. When you're seeing, right now, when I'm talking to you, I'll probably have a how do you call it? A text down which says the, the place that linda's referring to, or the actual name, because that right now I don't remember no, we're saying toboggan, but they are in english is slide it's like a slide, but in spanish is they call it toboggan.
Enrique:And they were again. They were awesome. Victoria was having a blast. We took her she couldn't stop, she went down with my, with linda a couple times, then with my cousin, and she just wanted to keep on going and going and going and going and she didn't want to stop it was, and we have that dinner at that place. That was really cool. Uh, again outside yep so.
Enrique:So that day was just like a chill, relax, shopping, that we met up with the family and stuff. The next day is when we did the Sierra, and again that was another highlight for me. I don't know if you want to talk about the Sierra for a little bit.
Linda:No, because it was actually not a highlight for me.
Enrique:No, but I mean we'll get to that part. But about the, you know, about the views and all that.
Linda:Well, the views, like everything, honestly, like everything. For me, everything, from start to finish, to the exceptions of few details, everything was insanely crazy good. The food was insanely crazy good. Honestly, Puerto Ricans cook very, very good, but Spanish also cook very, very good. But Spanish also cook very, very good, like really good, and lots of fresh food, very healthy, lots of flavor. So good, so good.
Linda:The town, the city, the old city, the new city, so city. So much life. The people I see so many people happy. They were living. It was not like in the united states. Everything is so workaholic, oriented, like you just work, drive, you know huge traffic to go home and then do deal with the kids and then it's just very hectic. But I, I saw life. I saw people hanging and eating and enjoying life and that was for me, very impressive. I saw lots of old, very old people. They feel, and they look on the outside, quite old. I'm talking about 80, 90 years old. But you were, they were just moving, they were very active, they did. You can tell that they don't feel that age.
Linda:The buildings, every little detail about architecture it was, it was there, old and new, everything was there. And the design you know designing clothing. I personally enjoy that style as well, a lot more. It was just a lot too many new things so it was a little bit overwhelmed for me, but on the good end, most of it. So I did enjoy it. And also the greenery. When we went to the Sierra it was just beautiful, and that accompanied to the perfect weather, because it was not too hot, not too cold, it was just the perfect weather. And then you have the lake overlooking to the valley.
Enrique:You're talking about the Sierra right now. Yeah, yeah, so I don't know. I didn't know if you were talking about everything in general.
Linda:Well, everything in general was great, but I really enjoy everything. I cannot specify one thing, because every day was like wow, and then the next day, wow, and then the next day, wow and the sierra it was is the sierra de madrid, another place I would recommend you guys go see and look it up.
Enrique:A beautiful place, open, uh, in the mountains. Uh, we went to eat on the again a great place. We went to have lunch, then we went to the, where the lake is. It's like there's like a little waterfall and then there's like a big lake again surrounded by mountains. There's people ski there when it's winter time, but obviously when we went there snow is already melting and stuff. So, uh, no, you can't ski. But uh, overall, I, I, I I really enjoy it. I know Linda enjoyed it too, but I really enjoy it because I like nature.
Enrique:And and that was.
Enrique:It's like when I went to Breckenridge, colorado.
Enrique:I was really in love with it and I've really really, really personally in love, really enjoy going to La Sierra, and if we went there during wintertime I would probably enjoy it more because I like snow too, so that would have been like a double hit home run there.
Enrique:Now there's a little sad story in all this, which is why Linda said it was in a great there for her because, uh, at the, at the moment of the of of that of the the sierra, it was when we celebrated victoria's second birthday with the family, uh, which, because she was turning to a little like a two or three days after we came back or like something like that, was really fast after we came back, or like something like that. It was really fast after we came back from the trip. So we decided to celebrate it over there. So Linda announced, while we were celebrating her second birthday, she announced that you know we were expecting a second baby. And then, the same day after announcing, when we were doing a little bit of hiking going up the, Sierra the sierra and the mountain and stuff, you know, she started to spot bleeding and stuff like that.
Enrique:So we were like oh you know, so we went to the. We went to a hospital over there in spain, uh, which again was impressive because everything was covered, but which is completely the opposite for the us we just keep getting bills and bills. But anyway, we went to a hospital in spain, they did say you know, we, we didn't know if something was, was wrong. Uh, they, they checked her. They said they could look, they could see the, the sack, but not the small like the embryo or whatever. They told her to keep some bleeding, that she has to come back to see them and then, if she doesn't, she might have to stay there, we might have to stay there an extra week, whatever you know, this.
Enrique:The point is that that night, you know, she had more, more bleeding. So we went there back then next day at the hospital and they gave us the tough news, which was that she had lost a baby. So I don't want to go through much through this, but that's why she was saying it was not a great day in the Sierra, even though everything was perfect. But it kind of ended really not in a good, not not in a good way, and uh I'm not talking about this portion.
Enrique:Yeah, she doesn't want to talk about this portion, but, uh, I think she handled it pretty well, I think we handled it pretty well, but I can I think that's one of the things that we said. A couple things happened from the trip to now that has derailed us from making podcasts. That was another one of the things that occurred during the trip that made it tough. And basically after that I think we didn't mention that we went to the Templo de Debo.
Linda:Oh no, we forgot about that, we forgot about that.
Enrique:We forgot about that. We went there as well. I think that's the same day we did the shopping. Yes, we just did it the first thing in the morning with my aunt, so that's another place you guys can visit. That's a quick one. You just go there. It's like a like a Egyptian or something right like Egyptian or Arab Egyptian building.
Linda:I think it's an Arab building. It's not Egyptian. No, it's Egyptian. They did mention it was Egyptian. I do remember that perfectly well. So it was like a gift from the Egyptian empires.
Enrique:You sure? Yeah, I thought it was Arab. No, anyway, if we're saying something.
Enrique:The name and the building looks very egyptian yeah, but if we're saying something wrong, sorry, we're not, uh, experts here, we're just giving you guys our opinion, uh. But anyway, that's a quick one. You go in, you see the building, you can go in a little bit. You walk around it. It's not really that big, but it is pretty and it's really close to the, to the main. You know where the main places are in madrid. Everything in madrid is really easy to go because you have the metro and the metro can take you anywhere. But uh, so it's not really, you're not really getting out of your way to go see it a lot. So it's, it's a definitely a good place to go see.
Linda:It's pretty, it's beautiful and uh I will say a quick tip on the metro what don't stay close to the exit, go far from the exit. Uh, because there's less people on those areas and I personally I don't like to be crowd, so I was having issues at the beginning, but then, once we figure out, you know that little trick it it was, it was a lot better yeah, that's actually a pretty good trip, a good tip yeah, that's a very good tip, especially for people that don't like crowds like me well, anyway, that's pretty much the whole trip, uh, because after that the last day was just we didn't really do anything and also we had the whole situation as well as another tip
Linda:what if you a kid, don't bring a big stroller, bring a very tiny small stroller, because everything is small, and bring a pad for the bathroom, because there's no changing table for the kids.
Enrique:You have to change them pretty much on the floor.
Linda:Yeah, linda wasn't too happy about it, I was not happy about changing my daughter on the floor, but literally there was no other place to change her.
Enrique:Yep.
Linda:So those were on the other note, but most of it was amazing.
Enrique:Yes, so now you know. But anyway, like I said, that was pretty much our whole trip. That was pretty much the places we would recommend you guys visiting. Obviously there's other places, but those were the ones we went to and the ones we think would be enjoyable for you guys to go see, go visit, go experience on your own terms.
Enrique:Now let's talk a little bit about what's going to be our next subject for our upcoming video, and I just want to give you a quick recap on why I'm doing this subject for the next video and why this happened. And this is another reason of why it's taken us so long to do another podcast. But again, I don't want to go too much into it now because that's part of what's going to be the next video. But anyway, like I said at the beginning or when we were talking about Barcelona, I had an anxiety episode in the second night Maybe couldn't sleep till 3 am. Linda was getting mad because we hadn't sleep in a while, uh, and then I couldn't sleep on the bed. The bed was uncomfortable, I don't know it. Just I ended up having, you know, having this, the stress or whatever, and then the way it manifests on me with the symptoms is that I need to go urinate a lot. So that's one of the symptoms I get when I get really anxious or when I get into this anxiety episode.
Enrique:And there was more to it. And you know the flights. There was a delay. There was, uh, the d-plane doesn't want to the flight. The second flight, they made us wait five hours before we take the next flight. Uh, there was obviously connecting flights. We're traveling with the baby. She didn't want to sleep or didn't want to eat during the plane. You know it's a mess. So all that, I think, obviously combined into a ticking time bomb that exploded and it got worse when we got to houston.
Enrique:It got progressively worse I had to actually get help and stuff, and this is again I'm going to talk about this on the next video and we're going to talk about how to manage, how to deal with these type of situations and what I've learned from all this time that I've been on and my experience. But I think that'll be a, obviously what linda said, what we talked about a minute ago also affected, which was the, the loss of the expected, the expecting a baby, that that also has to, you know, it's, it's like, uh, it all goes into the same sack, you know it was a combination of too many things together at the same small little town time, and the fact that we are so far away from home, without the commodities that we have in our home, so it was just too much happening at the same time.
Linda:But at the same time we didn't want to at least I was trying not to not enjoy that time, because we were. We planned for years to get this trip and it was my first thing and I was not sure if I was going to go back. So I was trying, even though we experienced difficult things, at least on my end, I was trying to enjoy as much as possible of that little time that I was there, because I was not sure what if I was going to be able to experience this again. So, um, but yeah it was. It was tough, I'm not gonna lie to you. Uh, traveling with a kid and I think that portion on its own took the, took the majority of it. Um, obviously on top of it, because that's why it was so hard at the very beginning, for for him, for enrique, and and then the difference in time zone. I was like, how many hours?
Enrique:seven hours yes, it was a lot.
Linda:So just think about you're just going to sleep in one place and you're waking up at the other place.
Enrique:It was, it was a big difference well, anyway, that was, uh, that's pretty much because, like I said, we're going to talk about the subject of the next one, so I don't want to keep diving into it too much right now. It's just like a little sneak preview of what the next one we're going to be, which is going to be about the anxiety, how to deal with it, and what we, what I've learned and obviously in general not just my situation as in general, not just my situation as a general what we learned on how to deal with it and what steps you can do and what methods you can take to kind of cope with it. And I think this can really help a lot of people, because I think this is something that affects millions and millions of people all over the world. And, uh, it's really going to be a really good, uh good one as a source of knowledge and information. I think we'll obviously give you a little more detail. We're going to research and we're going to give you some facts and stuff like that. So we're going to try to do our work in our end to not just give us our experience but, in general, give you good information based on that subject and on that term.
Enrique:But anyway, I really hope you guys enjoyed today our recap of our trip to Spain. It was an amazing time for us. Uh, it was amazing time for us. It's amazing time for linda, linda's first time over there. Uh, you know, we probably we will go again. We just not right now with victoria at two years old, and I don't know if we're gonna have a second one. Well, we might have to wait even a little longer, but we will be going again to spain, for sure, right?
Linda:yeah. Yeah, it might take a lot more time that what I was anticipating, but I'm hoping to go back.
Enrique:That's the goal remember guys to uh, follow us on the Instagram, listen to us wherever you prefer to listen to your podcast. We're, like I always say we're in Apple music, we're in Spotify. I think we're on Google too, you know. If you're watching us on YouTube, that's another way you can listen to us or watch visually. If you're in the YouTube, might as well like and subscribe, you know, for engagement and stuff it'll help us you know, help make, keep making this for fun.
Enrique:I mean, we we love, we enjoy this and we like to do it for ourselves. But you know, if, uh, the more of you guys, the more reaches, the more of you guys follow us, the more it'll help us and the more it'll push us to keep going and keep doing better. I hope you guys have a great rest of your day, rest of your night.
Enrique:I hope you guys have a good 4th of July because it's coming up and we will see you guys next Wednesday with our next topic. So, from me and Rike and Linda, we hope to see you guys soon and we hope to hear from you guys soon. Take care and peace. Bye, bye-bye, bye-bye, thank you.
