Useful website when you travel through Spain

qdq.com

General yellow pages, and a callejero (think mapquest/google maps).

Via Michelin

For longer trips, this seems to be more accurate to plot itineraries. Also useful for other countries.

E-Dreams

This is where I found my plane ticket, for a little over €80 , with a 2-week advance notice. Only downside: they charge an extra fee (supposedly refundable within a month). They claim it's completely normal and travel agencies always do that... Still, this was better than easyjet.com: although the site seems more reputable, it originally gave me the same quote, but after inputting my credit card info and finishing the order, told me the ticket was actually going to cost €120, and did I want to confirm that.

Renfe

The local train system.

Spain has several transportation systems:

- Metro: subway system. About 12 lines, they go by color, and you have to figure out direction by the name of the last stop (not a simple "uptown/downtown like in Manhattan :P )
- Renfe Cercanias: goes next to the metro through most of Madrid, but goes out further, towards the suburban areas. One stop to avoid: Pitis. Apparently there's heavy-duty druggies there, they get on the train and bother passengers...
- Renfe: I think this is the regional network, goes to other cities.
- Bus system: there's red buses and green buses and blue ones. I've always used the red ones, which seem to be more local. I got on a green one once, and they didn't accept my regular metrobus ticket. I think those are for longer trips to suburbia, but not sure. No clue about the blue ones.
- AVE: Alta Velocidad E(something). High speed trains that go to other cities or countries. I had looked up this option to go to Paris. It would have cost €120, an overnight train, I think about 12 hours total trip time. Maybe a little more. This was the cheapest option. No bed or anything, just a reclinable seat, airline-style. Imagine 12 hours on that? And I think the luggage just sits next to you. For heavy sleepers, not a safe option.

Other random trivia:

- You can walk into a bar and just ask for "beer". They will serve you anything they got either on tap or the most popular bottle. I've seen served anything from Mahou, Cruzcampo, to Heineken. In a club, we got a Budweiser! First and last time I saw that in Madrid...

- Can you tell I hang out with drinkers? (No comment on how much *I*'ve drank this past month. But I kept it decent.) ;) Another interesting cultural difference: Most bars will serve beer with lemon in it. This seems to be usually 1/5 lemon fanta and the rest beer. It seems to be a common way to drink beer. I didn't try it, so can't tell ya how it tastes. Another common drink is sweet, fizzy water with wine (I had a sip but didn't care for it.)