If you would want to go to Spain I recommend you going to Madrid instead of going to Barcelona. It is overall a more interesting town as Barcelona's museums are far less interesting and you can easily go to the beach one day cheaply by taking the train to Valenia from Madrid (Around three hours time). And the Sagrada Familia is not as interesting as it may seem (I found it dissapointing) and probably you'll find it full of cranes and support strcutures since it is still being built. Note that this is my opinion and if you really like Gaudí go ahead but Velazquez and Picasso beat him every day.
Finding acomodation in Madrid should be easy, I recommend a package that includes either Breakfast-dinner or Breakfast-lunch because you'll want to go to restaurants since going to Spain and not eating it's food is a crime. The localitation of the hotel is meangiless. There are very few things that all the
madrileños agree on and one of them is that the metro transport is excellent. It has the best ratio Population/Stations of all the world so that basically sums up. And it has been rebuild and new trains are being used so I can guaranteee an extraordinary service (Except for the really, really old stations that are still narrow but nothing can be done)
I bet you'll never need to take a Taxi or a private car to go where you need. After landing just take the metro. If you want to go to Toledo or Alcalá de Henares take the train. If it is not well comunicated it was not a good place to go in the first place.
So after your 14 hours flight the first thing you should do is take the metro (Barajas) and go to your hotel. Be sure to buy a tourist ticket for one week that allows you to use it as many times as you choose. There are combos for bus too but just stick to the metro as you'll probably not need it.
If you arrived during the morning and you are not tired you'll probably eat at the hotel and have all the afternoon free. You would not want to be sat for any more time so a walk for the center of Madrid would be a wiz choice. I recommend going by metro to the famous Plaza del Sol (Sol), in the very middle of Madrid. Go down La calle Mayor. This part of the town is known as El Madrid de los Austrias (Austrias' Madrid, the Austrias were a very important monarchy that reigned in the Spanish Empire and in Austria, hence the name (They were also known as the Habsburg)). This part of Madrid has a Barroque/Neoclassical stile and is perhaps one of the most beautiful parts of the town. Be careful so you don’t miss the Plaza Mayor, ask a pedestrian if you want to be sure.
Down the same street you’ll find the Almudena Chatedral. It has gothic style and is the biggest chatredal in Madrid and between the biggest of Spain. A must see for sure.
Next to it you can see the Royal Palace. You have to be blind to fail to see it because it is HUGE (The biggest palace in western europe) and you can visit almost all of it.. It isn’t only an incredible building but it contins a great number of pictures from famous artists like Velázquez and El Greco, antique armours hand-made carpets, etc. Here are some pics:
Around the palace there are two enormous gardens that are an ideal place to eat and to visit with a friend (Read: A person of the oposite sex which you are atracted to and you want to go steady with ;-) ). At this point you would be exhausted because of the long flight and the walking so unless you are not tired return to the hotel and sleep. If you do not fain returning yet to the hotel try walking around. The metro sytem closes at 2AM and you should get it before the one o’clock if you want to be sure.
Day Two:
There are three important museums in Madrid. The Thyseen has an high quality private collection of all epochs, the Reina Sofía (Reina=Queen, BTW) is a modern art museum and then there is the Prado. El Prado is big, and good. Some experts even say that it's importance as a museum is only below of the Hermitage in Rusia and even is amply superior to others as the Louvre.
Go first to the Prado. Probably it could be a good idea to visit the Prado on Day two and Reina Sofía and Thysen in day three and if you don't plan to go to Valencia leave the Thysen for day four . If you can wake up at seven and half sharp and get there at eight you will only have to wait an hour to enter or maybe even less (In a short way, be in front of the museum an hour before it opens or you'll face the joy of being in the same place waiting for 3 or more hours). Go right to Atocha by either train or Metro (Atocha the metro station is in front the Station and Atocha Renfe is
inside it so don't get lost). Looking from teh Station to the left you can see the Reina Sofía where you should go later. Go up the Street (Paseo del Prado) and soon you'll see the Botanic Museum and crossing the Street you'll see the Prado. It is a really beautiful building of the XVIII century plus other anexes used to hold all the pictures and art that the old building couldn't contain. Walk a bit more and you'll see the Thyseen (At the oterh side of the roundabout).
This zone is full of important building such as the Congress, the National Bank, the Stock Market, almost all the gubernative offices, etc .I cannot explain it well enough so just come to this site and look around.
http://www.hot-maps.de/europe/spain/...id/homees.html.
Those three museums ahave full explanations and guides in Spanish, English and Japanese for Sure and I bet there are German and French guides too.
After going out from the museum, perhaps at around one or two o'clock try to go to a restaurant and eat authentic Spanish cuisine. The restaurants around Prado are going to steal all your money so maybe you should go down the street again and go to a less Tourist directed Restaurant, Unfortunatedly I don't know this area well enough to recomend a certain restaurant without sky-high prices and tourist-raping methods but probably going down Ronda de Valencia you'll see somee. Try asking to a pedestrian, the older the better, and follow his advice. If you find a group of old people you can surely find really good advice, trust me. Don't ask young people as they will direct you to the first place they can think of.
Some thoughts about dishes:
*Entremés (Random cheese and chorizo or similar to eat while your food is being cooked)
*Primer Plato (First dish) Soups, salads, and otehr light dishes
*Segundo Plato (Second dish) Fish and Meat. Normally wine is drink with those. All Spanish wine is going to be good but if you want for something really good ask for a Rioja though it could be expensive (And I mean REALLY,REALLY, expensive)
*Postre (Dessert)
*Café (Coffee)
Typical dishes:
-Cocido Madrileño
-Paella (Note: It doesn't costs 60 Euros or something similar. Hell, Paella is composed of rice and random ingredients like some meat or fish. Anything a countryman of the XV century could have around)
-Gazpacho
-Jamón (This is like wine, there are a lot of variety from the cheap one to the astronomical high price)
more to come....