Spain. Portugal. The Jurassic Coast. Stonehenge. Salisbury. Part 1- Madrid and Ibiza

I feel like the best way to tell you about my trip is to show you what happened through pictures.

So lets start with Madrid, the first city in Spain. I'd like to share an anecdote before the pictures. Tapas were created in Madrid due to the low work output after lunches. Workers would drink and be too drunk to work efficiently. So a law was created that bars had to serve food with alcohol. Its no longer a law, but we went to a traditional tapas bar where we got plates of food for ordering a 5 euro stein of sangria. Anyone going to Madrid? Do this at El Tigre, its a lot of fun:
 Plaza Mayor, a big open square where they used to do public killings, just down the road from the center of Madrid- Puerta del Sol.

 We saw Flamenco the first night in Madrid. It was an interpretation of the opera Carmen. And was so cool

 Our first chocolate con churros of the trip. It is a much loved food of Madrid, and a much loved food of me.

 The photo above is of Plaza Oriente, a beautiful area nearby the Royal Palace.

 One of the many fountains in the middle of the round-abouts

 Museo del Prado!!! Excellent museum.

 The pond in Buen Retiro park. Loved this park!

Crystal Palace in Buen Retiro.

 This is the center point of Spain- in Puerta del Sol.

 The inside of the cathedral dome across from the Royal Palace.

 The statues outside of the cathedral, on the roof.

 Another cathedral roof top view.

 The organ inside the cathedral.

Pictured below is a picture of some of the ornate decorations inside the cathedral. The churches were SO embellished and gorgeous in Spain and Portugal.

Pictured above is the ham stall in a big market. They love ham here, ever since the Spanish Inquisition, where they were expelling Jews and Muslims. Both religions don't eat pork.

 Sangria!!!!!!!!!!!!

Basilica de San Francisco

 Basically what I ate the whole time in Spain- bread with some form of pork. Although I did have some good paella while there!

 More sangria!!!!

All of us at Templo de Debod, which was brought over from the Nile. At sunset, it is beautiful. This was one of my favorite parts of Madrid, because it encompassed the feel of the city. There were people hanging out, listening to music, just enjoying their nights.

Ibiza was the second Spanish city we went to.
I didn't really know anything about Ibiza, except that the flight from Madrid was cheap. So we went off, only to discover that Ibiza is well known in England as a party island in the Mediterranean. During the day, we went swimming in the Mediterranean. But at night, it was Britain Gone Wild; which was entertaining, but in a slightly obnoxious way.

 I loved all of the boats in the harbor. Being near the water was absolutely amazing!!!

 Hello, Mediterranean!

 We went swimming in this... Be jealous.

And then this happened at night.
When we were leaving, we saw the city Ibiza (we were staying in San Antoni) and discovered that we stayed on the wrong side of the island. Ibiza was more cultural and San Antoni was more party.

 The old city of Ibiza that we didn't really get to see.

 Beautiful on this island.

Ibiza>San Antoni
On the way from Ibiza, we were taking the dreaded RyanAir. On the way to board the plane, a very rude RyanAir man made me check the size of my bag. I was able to punch it into the tiny shape, so I totally defeated RyanAir!!!! And the worker was obviously upset that I didn't have to pay to check the bag.

That's it for this post. I'll continue the travel posts soon!!!