Lisbon, Portugual - Atlantic Coastal Run at the Oldest City in Europe

Praça do Comércio (Commerce Sq). Surrounded by government custom and naval offices

Bull fights, Ronaldo, Booze, Red Meat and a total lack of motivation to run at Madrid made the unfit runners, totally not prepared to take on the hilly slopes of Lisbon. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and is one of the oldest cities in the world. Another nick name for Lisbon is "City of 7 Hills".

We had a sense of forbidding when we had to challenge the steep stairwells of Lisbon, along with our 10KG luggage (pretty light by any standards!) to our apartment in the old district of Alfama . Our arms were dead tired by the time we collapsed at our apartment and we decided to take a few hours nap in order to recover from our hill-climbing-with-luggage ordeal.

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Madrid Spain - Sorry, We rather Eat than Run in Madrid!

Puerta del Sol - The Heart of Madrid @ 1am

Rather than go for an evening run at Madrid, we decided to go for a leisurely evening walk instead.

Why?

Madrid is simply crazy when it comes to weekends. The streets are literally full of people and everybody are partying till 5am in the morning. On top of that, our hotel is right in the commercial heart of Madrid at Puerta del Sol . So rather than trying to jog through the thick evening pedestrian traffic, we swapped our running shoes for walking shoes instead.

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Granada, Spain - A Vibrant Historical Southern City Which We feel like Immigrating to

Spain, Granada: The Tomb of Queen Isabella I and King Ferdinand II

The ancient Moorish city of Granada, home to 3 UNSECO world heritage sites: The Alhambra, The General Life and the historical district of Albayzín. When I planned our itinerary to Granada, I imagined it to be a small city, with narrow winding  roads and charming buildings. There are no direct connecting train or plane routes to Madrid, making it a not so accessible city. The best way in and out of the city is by bus or by car.  I was impressed by the broad straight roads, the bustling shopping & diners and lots of young energetic university students. We were surprised by the amount of young people at Granada as most of historic tourist cities are made up of mostly elderly tourists and bored folks running the souveniers and eating establishments.

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