So my plan was to visit Chantilly, Giverny, Mont St Michel etc. The plan was to go away for F’s birthday so he had final say on where we were going. He wanted to head west and south. So much for my idea…

So… First stop Chartres. This is an easy day trip from Paris and it’s been on my to do list for some time. Chartres has a huge cathedral, worth visiting if you like religious monuments. Cute city, stayed for lunch, next…

Heading west Le Mans is next. Nothing to see there. Up next, Angers. We only stopped here because I was bloody tired and it was late. Of course, all hotels in the city were fully booked except the most expensive one. No choice but to stay there. Angers actually has a few sites worth visiting including an amazing 13th century fortress.

Tuesday was F’s 40th birthday and we continued west to Nantes. Nantes is on of you typical middle sized French cities. Nice for a quick stroll, a few sites, and not much else.

La Rochelle is a small port city on the coast. I’d read that it was really pretty but I wouldn’t know as it poured with rain the entire time I was there and I couldn’t see anything.

Tried to get a hotel but everything was fully booked except the biggest dive in the city which was no doubt bug infested. I still have nightmares from the bug infested hell hole I stayed in at Republique 2 years ago, so that was out. We had a nice seafood dinner and then continued to the next town where we slept in a nice clean Ibis hotel.

I’ve been to Bordeaux a couple of times and while I’ve always liked it, I wanted to see something new so we headed to Toulouse. Toulouse looked exactly like Bordeaux except everything is in red brick. I would have loved to have spent some time there but all hotels were fully booked, except, of course, the 5 star super expensive Sofitel.

No one told me you have to book ahead when travelling in summer!

Has anyone ever been to Andorra? No, I didn’t think so. I have! It’s a PITA to get to, takes hours through the Pyrenees and then once you get there you see a pretty little village/city with happy looking, quiet, Spanish speaking people.

Thankfully Spain is only 15mins or so from Andorra. We headed to Barcelona and managed to stumble upon the same hotel we stayed at last time. Was it fully booked? No! We got the last room. Lucky at last.

So, 3 nights in Barcelona eating loads and loads of tapas, drinking unbelievable quantities of cheap Spanish wine, and shopping, shopping, shopping, and I was happy.

What I learnt from this quick trip:

1. Andorrans speak Spanish.
2. I’m a city girl and visiting small country towns is bloody boring.
3. Patate Bravas is the BEST TAPAS EVER.

However, lured by a cheap flight, I made my way to Madrid last weekend, giving the country one last chance to impress me. Thankfully, Madrid was nothing like Barcelona, it is architecturally beautiful, there are many great parks worth visiting, the food was generally good, cheap drinks were in abundance, and I had a great time.

The first night was a bit of a disaster as we arrived at the hotel after 1am. We went out to experience Madrid’s famous night life but the smokey bars and drunk people everywhere meant we didn’t stay out long.

Saturday started with a bus tour to see the major sights and get an idea of what the city has to offer. The Prado Museum, Gran Via, Royal Palace, and the many beautiful plazas were amazing.

Lunch consisted of bar hopping where we enjoyed various tapas and cheap Rioja wine. Patatas bravas, croquetas, and tortillas are popular and my favourites. I’m not much of a drinker but who can turn down a glass of wine for 1.50 euros or at the most 3 euros. I think I was drunk the entire 48 hours I was in the country!

I then had the most delicious cake of my life at an unbelievably popular cake shop at metro Sol. It was so light and creamy. Who knew the Spanish could make cakes 100 times better than the French?

An afternoon siesta was followed by more, you guessed it, tapas and Rioja, with the odd glass of Sangria thrown in for good measure. I don’t really like Sangria (does anyone) but hey, when in Rome…

Sunday saw me head back to the famous cake shop for an incredibly delicious chocolate croissant type thing. I briefly considered moving to Madrid based solely on the presence of this shop but I know that would seriously hinder any attempt I might have at losing a few kilos, so moving to Madrid is out of the question.

More sightseeing and a little shopping was followed by more eating and drinking. Lunch included a little paella and an incredible egg and potato dish, which is a local speciality. It’s surprising I can even remember what I ate as it was washed down with an entire bottle of wine, shared with my husband, of course, and then a shot of some kind of liquor. How I managed to catch my plane after all that, I’ll never know.