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11 nights in Spain, 6 nights in Italy, 4 nights in the Netherlands.
Spain exceeded my expectations! It's probably among the best countries for vacation. Reasonable price, great weather, very friendly people, safe to walk everywhere, great infrastructure, delicious food...the list could go on and on. The only downside is Spain doesn't have as many historic sites/museums as Italy. But personally, I don't need endless arts/museum/UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Very few people speak English in Galicia, even hotel staff, but I managed to use Google translate to get the message across. The language barrier is minimal in very touristy places in Barcelona and Madrid.
However, I found some tourist attractions in Barcelona overrated and not worth the cost, such as Park Güell and Casa Batilo. If I could do it again, I would skip visiting the interior to avoid long lines and overpriced admission fees. The Hercule Tower in A Coruna, Galicia was surreal, and it only cost me a few euros, what a bargain! It's also a UNESCO site, by the way.
I didn't enjoy my stay in Italy that much, I guess I won't return. Italy looked like a run down country in general with tons of tourist traps. Maybe I'm not worldly and sophisticated enough to appreciate the greatness of Florence. The dining experience in Italy was mostly neutral to negative, food was usually pretty good but the long wait, slow service, cramped seating area, tiny restroom and high noise levels in restaurants all made eating out less pleasant.
The Netherlands is a great country! I have nothing negative to say about this beautiful country. But I doubt I will return either for a few reasons. It seems to be a great place to live, but it doesn't have that much to offer to tourists. On the plus side, everyone speaks English so the language barrier was minimal, but Amsterdam is too Americanized for my taste. I was shocked to find local people eat American food everywhere(burger, pizza, a lot of unhealthy food). I went out of my way to try local food, it was actually pretty decent but not quite impressive. I would rather go back to Spain because the food is way better there!
FAs were quite friendly on KLM flights. Other than that, it doesn't look much better than U.S airlines in terms of service quality.
Vueling was affordable for flights within EU. But the seat pitch was a disaster for tall people. I spent extra money to get exit seats, worth every penny!
If you eat in tourist restaurants, you get a tourist restaurant experience anywhere in the world. With a bit of research, you can eat at restaurants where locals eat and avoid the tourist places. Italy is the worst for that. You have to get out of the tourist areas to find good restaurants. I usually eat rijstafel when I’m in Amsterdam. Dutch East Indies food. It’s really good.
With my limited 500 word Spanish vocabulary, I’ve never had a problem in Galecia. I was last in Sanxenxo about 20 months ago. Often, Portuguese works better there since the local dialect is closer to Portuguese than Spanish. I have my 500 word survival Portuguese vocabulary, too. Don’t people spend a few days learning the key vocabulary words before going to a country?
Did you get to Madrid? Am asking because of your comment about the lack of museums in Spain. The city has a ton of them: The Prado, the Thyssen Bournemisza Museum, the Reina Sofia, the Museo Sorollo, Goya’s tomb, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the National Archaeological Museum (just counting those I’ve been to) and the Museo Romantico, Museo Lazaro Galdiano, and the Decorative Arts Museum (which I haven’t). And that doesn’t count those in nearby towns like El Escorial and Toledo.
Re subpar restaurant experiences, I’ve found the best way to avoid them when traveling is to do some research first. I normally get a good travel book or two (Fodor’s or the like), narrow down the choices, then research further online. It’s not foolproof (as long as guidebooks continue to list Union Oyster House in Boston and Mother’s in New Orleans as chow-worthy choices, anyway), but I haven’t had that many disappointments, either.
Fascinating how everyone experiences things differently.
We loved our month in Italy. Yes, we went to the tourist sites because we wanted to see the famous historical places and I'm glad we did. I wouldn't do that again if we travel, but I wanted to this time. I don't recommend the Vatican under any circumstances. Other museums limit the amount of people so you can enjoy the experience, but not the greedy Vatican. Pay extra for "skip the line" and still wait over an hour.
We don't travel for the food, so we thoroughly enjoyed the plentiful outdoor cafes with their "pretty good" food (WAY better than American cafes) with reasonable prices and wonderful people-watching and architecture-marveling.
The narrow cobblestone streets, ancient buildings, fluttering laundry, flower-boxes in all the windows, tuxedoed waiters....it was just like the movies, LOL.
But Spain sounds good too! Maybe next time....but after this trip, I think we'd go to one place and stay there!
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