5 Games In 5 Days In Spain

[Plato]

So, I just got back from my trip.
Will post some pictures and some impressions from a first time visitor to each of these grounds.

The Itinerary
Saturday: Real Madrid-Barcelona
Sunday: Alcorcon-Real Zaragoza
Monday: Getafe-Rayo Vallecano
Tuesday: Barcelona-Roma
Wednesday: Atletico Madrid-Galatasaray

Real Madrid-Barcelona
The following includes pics from the stadium tour as well:










Intro:

Isco being sent off to a standing ovation:


Tour:




Alcorcon-Real Zaragoza




Zaragoza Visiting Fans:


Getafe-Rayo Vallecano





Rayo Goal:


Barcelona-Roma










Player Intro:

Pre-Game:

Adriano Goal:


Atletico Madrid-Galatasaray







Atletico Intro:

Intro 2:

Griezmann Goal:

Fans:

Fans 2:

Random Match Footage:



Would post more pictures but apparently this forum has a maximum number of images allowed.

Impressions:
-Went away from each game incredibly satisfied. Not a single "dud" amongst the bunch.
-There were chants for Isco's name from the first Barcelona goal. Crowd went wild when he came one and cheered for him at every touch of the ball. Standing ovation when he was sent off as well by the entire crowd.
-Real fans also gave a standing ovation for Iniesta when he was taken off and there were many fans who stood up and hailed Messi as he took the pitch.
-Tons of Real fans waving the white papers from the pre-match display as surrender flags.
-Great atmosphere outside the ground before the Clasico.
-Genuinely surprised the fans didn't rush the pitch to kill Danilo.
-Happy to be able to say that I saw this Barcelona team play live and that I managed to see 10 goals in 2 matches.
-Had I seen Barcelona for the first time in these two games, I'd be quite comfortable in saying that this is clearly "Neymar's Team"
-Bit dissapointed with the fans at the Camp Nou however. Very touristy and you could almost swear the selfie sticks outnumbered the true Barca/Football fans in the ground.
-Best atmosphere/ground for me was Atletico. Absolutely amazing in every respect. Definitely fell in love with the club on the very last day of the road trip. ****ing brilliant in every way.

Also, not a single person in Madrid spoke any English whatsoever. My bootleg Spanish was enough to get me by but I couldn't believe none of the 200 people I tried to speak to spoke any English. Barcelona was way more English-friendly.

A bit tired to go on further but what I'll say for now is that if you ever have the opportunity to do something like this, go for it. Absolutely incredible experience. Especially if you live in the US/Canada.

More than happy to answer any questions.

Click to read more...

 

[Plato]

And here is my merchandise haul...
Giving most of this away but keeping one of each club.
Griezmann kit in the upper right.
Also got an Alcorcon scarf but it didn't fit in on the hotel bed so...

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

This is amazing Plato. Thank you for sharing with us

 

[Halladay]

Plato, this is awesome. Ive been to some electric crowds, but Spain and Germany are places I want to go to watch matches at.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Nice. Should have gotten a Rayo jersey tho

 

[Bakayoko Ono]

The Bernabeu is massive. Love those steep stands.

Seems like quite a trip. Thanks for the photos and comments.

 

[xavi4life]

You rock Plato, thanks for sharing!

 

[YNWA14]

Incredible. Jealous. Must have been the trip of a lifetime. Congrats.

 

[Evilo]

Amazing !

 

[Edo]

Bernabeau looks stunning.

 

[Buda]

Looks amazing, thanks for the share!

 

[mmk786]

Awesome

 

[Plato]

Nice. Should have gotten a Rayo jersey tho

Ha, I actually saw the black one with the rainbow stripes in a store on my last day but convinced myself I'd already spent too much money. Regretting it a bit in retrospect.

 

[Ceremony]

How much did it cost to sit there in a Champions League game at the Nou Camp?

 

[Plato]

How much did it cost to sit there in a Champions League game at the Nou Camp?

Bought mine for about 80 Euros.
Add another 10 for some nonsense booking fee from the vendor.
Still cheaper than a Knicks game...

 

[TheLeastOfTheBunch]

Good stuff, amazing seats and views

Bought mine for about 80 Euros.
Add another 10 for some nonsense booking fee from the vendor.
Still cheaper than a Knicks game...

Wow, incredible.
Hoping to do a similar trip soon, have family in the Barcelona area so it should be just a little bit easy on my wallet

 

[Burner Account]

Were the matches the main purpose of your trip?

Did you track your expenses? Just curious as to how much it all cost.

 

[theaub]

That's fantastic.

 

[S E P H]

Great stuff Plato!

Curious, how hard was it to buy tickets with the lack of the English language? I remember hearing from my friend who travelled all around Europe when she went to medical school in Poland, that Spain and Portugal have easily the least English speakers in each respective country.

Also, how were those seats for the Camp Nou? From the first few pics, it looks like its too close to the ground level to view consistent action of the entire game, but you got some insane details and just close vicinity on those celebrations pictures. Camp Nou looks like that stadium, which decided to put as many seats as humanly possible (perhaps also overloaded on the amount needed), which results in a ton of just Godawful viewing angles.

 

[Plato]

Were the matches the main purpose of your trip?

Did you track your expenses? Just curious as to how much it all cost.

The matches were the only purpose of my trip. (Insert Bill Shankly quote)
Did a similar trip to England last year. Attended Newcastle-QPR, Aston Villa-Southampton and Manchester City-Bayern Munich while also visiting Stamford Bridge, Emirates and St. Andrews.

As far as expenses are concerned...

Flights:
NY-MAD roundtrip: $730
MAD-BAR roundtrip: $150
Total: $880

Accommodations:
7 day AirBnB booking in Madrid: $210 (My share of it)
Single night hotel stay in Barcelona: $45 (My share of it)
Total: $255

Match tickets (Includes booking fees + shipping where applicable):
Real Madrid-Barcelona: $440
Alcocron-Real Zaragoza: $30
Getafe-Rayo Vallecano: $40
Barcelona-Roma: $100
Atletico Madrid-Galatasaray: $110
Total: $720

Day-to-day spending:
This is definitely something that will vary greatly between each person.
Have to admit I didn't take advantage of public transport at all, either walking or taking a cab everywhere I had to go. Thankfully I had somebody with me to split the cab fares. Also spent a significant amount on souvenirs and stuff as well as stuff for myself (some clothes, Griezmann kit, scarves etc...) and food is also costly as well.

All in all I brought exactly 1,000 Euros with me to Spain and came back with about 180.

So in summation:
"Hard costs": $1,825
The rest: ~$850 in USD
Total: $2,675

 

[Plato]

Curious, how hard was it to buy tickets with the lack of the English language? I remember hearing from my friend who travelled all around Europe when she went to medical school in Poland, that Spain and Portugal have easily the least English speakers in each respective country.

I didn't run into a single person in Madrid that spoke English. I'm not saying they couldn't carry out conversations or whatever, but they had literally zero vocabulary. This goes for occupations where you'd expect at least some English too like airport staff, taxi drivers, pharmacists, waitresses, bartenders, Bernabeu ticket booth workers etc...
I had already purchased the tickets for every game except for the Alcorcon-Zaragoza game in advance of getting to Spain. It's easy enough to buy them there though. If you have a basic understanding of Spanish, you shouldn't have much of a problem.

Also, how were those seats for the Camp Nou? From the first few pics, it looks like its too close to the ground level to view consistent action of the entire game, but you got some insane details and just close vicinity on those celebrations pictures. Camp Nou looks like that stadium, which decided to put as many seats as humanly possible (perhaps also overloaded on the amount needed), which results in a ton of just Godawful viewing angles.

Exactly right.
Was awesome to be that close, especially when Barcelona was attacking at that end and seeing those goals super close but the rest of it was kind of sub-par, particularly in the first half for me although it really let you feel Szczesny's pain.

The seat I had in the Bernabeu was in roughly the same position but obviously much higher up and I vastly preferred that. Really lets you see everything going on on the pitch.

My favorite by far was my seat at the Calderon though. Best of all worlds.

 

[Epictetus]

Sounds like an incredible trip. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

Just curious, what made you fall in love with Atletico, compared to some of the other teams like Barca and Madrid that you saw?

 

[Luigi Habs]

You lucky mofo

 

[Panteras]

congratulations looks amazing

 

[Plato]

Just curious, what made you fall in love with Atletico, compared to some of the other teams like Barca and Madrid that you saw?

Bit tough to say for certain. I just sort of knew it as soon as I walked into the ground.
As incredibly impressive as both the Bernabeu and Camp Nou are, their sheer size alone made the football itself seem as a bit of a distraction from everything else in and around the ground where as the Calderon felt perfect.

It was by far my favorite and most passionate crowd as well. To try put it into perspective, there was more of a "roar" and passion from the crowd in either booing Real's goals v. Shakhtar as they were displayed on the screens and when celebrating Shakhtar's attempt at a comeback than there was at any point in the Bernabeu or Camp Nou. It just felt like a perfect place to be.

The other two felt a bit cold and somewhat pretentious although I supposed they both have the right to be as pretentious as they want. They've certainly earned that right. On a somewhat related note, the main trophy room during the Bernabeu tour was officially named the "Best Club in the World Room."

I'd still say all three are must visits.