Gaudí or Goya? Modernista or monumental? Trendy or classic? Messi or Ronaldo? Pitching Barcelona against Madrid may be a national sport, but for anyone yet to visit either, picking one over the other is like choosing between jamón and queso. Happily, however, you can easily visit both in one trip, as the AVE train covers the 621 kilometres between the two cities in two-and-a-half hours.
I started in Barcelona, taking the cable car that runs between Barceloneta and Montjuïc mountain. From here, you can see the new-look seafront - from the new Olympic marina via the (man-made) beaches to the Rambla del Mar bridge over the redeveloped Port Vell. Looking inland, you can also spot the curious towers of La Sagrada Família, now 70 per cent complete. Gaudí's cathedral is an extraordinary sight; visit as the setting sun pours in through the red panes of its Passion façade. The hope is to finish it by the centenary of the architect's death in 2026. Gaudí created six other World Heritage buildings in Barcelona, including the fantastical Casa Batlló, which Salvador Dalí described as 'a house of sea shapes, representing the waves on a stormy day'.
Casa Batlló is on Passeig de Gràcia, almost opposite the seven-year-old Mandarin Oriental - a glamorous combination of Patricia Urquiola design, rooftop pool, suites with butler service and restaurants by the Michelin-starred Carme Ruscalleda and Ángel León, nicknamed the 'Chef of the Sea'.
From here, it's a 15-minute taxi ride to Barcelona Sants and the train to Madrid, the landscape growing flatter as you climb to the Spanish Meseta, 650 metres above sea level. Madrid's new Atocha station is only a hop from the Hotel Ritz, which is set for a €90 million revamp under its new owners, Mandarin Oriental. For now it is firmly old school, with impeccable staff overseeing afternoon tea and superb Spanish food at the Goya restaurant.
The hotel overlooks the Museo del Prado, which started life as the collection of the Spanish royal family. So it is fitting that its centrepiece should be Velázquez's Las Meninas, or 'The Maids of Honour' (1656), which depicts Velázquez to the side, and a faint reflection of the King and Queen, whose portrait Velázquez is evidently painting, at the back. It is an intriguing composition recalled in Goya's Family of Charles IV (1800), in which the painter includes a shadowy image of himself. But you could devote an entire Prado visit to the paintings of Goya, and there are more in the gargantuan Royal Palace. Between the palace and the Prado, the Azotea bar on the seventh floor of the Círculo de Bellas Artes - a dynamic cultural centre in a fantastic art-deco building - offers spectacular views over a series of monumental buildings and streets, all the way to the snowy Sierra de Guadarrama.
Gaudí's imagination is always astonishing, but I would never pass on an opportunity to review Goya's paintings. So I am sitting on the fence on this one, as with the football question. It's best not to even get started on that.
Ways and means
Lisa Johnson travelled as a guest of EasyJet, Voyages SNCF and Mandarin Oriental.
A 'From Goya to Gaudí' package costs from €3,400 for two, including two nights, B&B, at Mandarin Oriental, Barcelona and two nights, B&B, at Hotel Ritz, Madrid. It also includes station transfers, a video tour of Casa Batlló and entry to the Prado. Flights and train fares are excluded.
AVE train tickets cost from £43.50 for a single from Voyages SNCF.
