I'd recommend Valencia in addition to Madrid. I can't say I enjoyed Barcelona that much, it felt too touristy. Valencia had a wonderful balance of tourism, low prices, food, and waterfront.
Honestly, they’re all great. Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and Bilbao.
I had almost no idea about Spain before I moved to Europe and soon realised that it is a friendly place with amazing reasonably priced food and some of the most amazing artwork. Every new city has these qualities and adds its own stories and beautiful architecture.
Also Spain is to gin and tonic what New York is to pizza and Australia/New Zealand are to coffee: they did not invent it, but they certainly perfected it. a giant fish bowl of gin mare and good tonic water filled with ice and maybe some rosemary for scent.
I am from Spain and your last paragraph made me chuckle.
Not that long ago gin and tonic was considered an old person's drink and there were very few brands available, but 10~15 years ago it exploded in popularity. All of sudden you could find a million brands of gin and another million of tonic water, even in small villages, and bartenders started to take its preparation quite seriously.
And of course I have several friends who brag about drinking it before it was cool xD
I had almost no idea about Spain before I moved to Europe and soon realised that it is a friendly place with amazing reasonably priced food and some of the most amazing artwork. Every new city has these qualities and adds its own stories and beautiful architecture.
Also Spain is to gin and tonic what New York is to pizza and Australia/New Zealand are to coffee: they did not invent it, but they certainly perfected it. a giant fish bowl of gin mare and good tonic water filled with ice and maybe some rosemary for scent.