Contiki Adventure Day 2: A Tale of Two Capitals

Windsor, Brittany and I saw Spain’s capitals on day two of our trip. No, that’s not a typo in my first Her Campus blog post. Spain ‘s capital was Toledo before it was moved to Madrid in 1561 and we were lucky enough to explore both of them!

With a local guide at the helm of our bus we began our first official tour with 48 members of our Contiki crew. Cruising through the center of Madrid, we saw highlights like Royal Madrid’s Football Stadium, Christopher Columbus Square, the National Library, Cibeles, National Bank of Spain and America’s omnipotent cultural contribution--McDonald’s.

Up next, the Royal Palace. It was somewhat reminiscent of walking on set to the most epic set of Cribs. With 2,000 rooms it was rebuilt in the 18th century after a devastating fire and is truly magnificent. Last used by the royal family for Prince Philip’s wedding, the palace is now 90% offices, while 10% remains open to the public. Over the course of our Contiki arranged tour we marveled at the exquisite grandeur of every inch of the palace. With mammoth hand woven tapestries from Belgium on the walls, silk hand-stitched wallpaper in the king’s dressing room and various imports, including intricately laid Italian marble floors and Chinese porcelain walls. After catching our breath and snapping some final shots in the grand courtyard that connects the Royal Palace to the opera house we boarded our bus to Toledo.

A natural fortress, Toledo is nested atop a mountain and is a perfect juxtaposition of timeless breathtaking landscape and ancient history. With a river rushing by the city, it is only accessible by bridge and offers some of the most incredible views imaginable. Lined with cobble stone roads, places of worship from the Muslim, Jewish and Catholic faiths, and small shops, many of which were stuffed with a bizarre amount of knives and armor, the ancient city did not disappoint.

After an culture clad day with our Contiki crew, we headed out to enjoy our last night in Madrid. First up, Los Galayos, where we indulged in a prix fixe menu that had something for everyone. Included amongst the seemingly never-ending options were Spanish olives, roasted red peppers, a classy version of onion rings we promptly destroyed, fillets of salmon, steak, and a heavenly raspberry puff pastry for dessert. 

After hours of chatting in between lots of bites, our Contiki tourmates followed our fearless tour guide Angie to one of her favorite salsa clubs. There we enjoyed dancing lessons from locals and sipped on mojitos before migrating to another club, where it just so happened to be -- wait for it -- “Ladies Night”. Ladies, let me tell you that “Ladies Night” is the same everywhere -- good techno beats, yummy fruit flavored drinks, and above all, unparalleled quality time with your girlies! We spent the rest of the evening talking to, dancing with, and taking LOTS of photos with our new besties, #totalhercampusmove.

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This is a partner post. All opinions are 100% ours.