• Week at Spanish resort earned by chatting in English

Russ Allen/Special (ENLARGE)
A painter makes a remarkably accurate copy of Los Borrachos o El Triunfo de Baco by Diego Velaquez at The Prado in Madrid, Spain. Credit: Russ Allen
Hermitage of San Antonoio de la Florida. (ENLARGE)
Francisco De Goya is buried beneath this marvolous fresco at the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida.
TRbudgetSpainCost_C.jpg/Hermitage of San Antonoio de la Florida (ENLARGE)
Francisco De Goya frescos on the ceiling of the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida were restored in 2003.
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For 12 days in Spain, we spent about $2,300, including airfare, for two people. Here's a breakdown:

Airline tickets

We paid $1,332.20, or $666.10 each round trip from Atlanta to Madrid on Delta, including taxes and fees. You can do better off season than we did by booking earlier or taking advantage of British Airways deals in the spring and fall to London and taking a discount European airline to Madrid. A spring deal on British Airways that we were too slow to get was $537.65 per person for round-trip airfare plus three nights in a four-star London hotel. Maddeningly, after we booked, Delta released more seats on the same flights we booked, for $649.05 each.

Transportation

We took the Metro in Madrid, no need for a taxi. Unlike MARTA in Atlanta, the Metro trains go everywhere and cheaply. Metro tickets are 1 euro each ($1.23, which is the basis for the other conversions that follow), or 6.15 euros (about $7.50) for 10 rides. A word of caution: Trains are packed during rush hour and sometimes crowded at other times, and people who look like well-to-do tourists are easy targets for pickpockets; leave your expensive clothes and jewelry at home, wear a money belt and don't carry a lot of cash. www.metromadrid.es.

We took a train from Cazorla to Granada, about 2 1/2 hours south, intent on visiting the Alhambra, since we were so close. That cost 19.37 euros each (about $47 total). A friend from the Pueblo Inglés program gave us a ride to Linares station, which is about 40 minutes from the Hotel Villa Turística de Cazorla resort.

We also took a train from Granada to Madrid, about 5 hours, for 23.16 euros each (about $56 total), to catch our flight back to Atlanta. www.renfe.com.

The guided tour of the Alhambra palace and grounds, the last Moorish stronghold before Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand drove the Moors from Spain in 1492, cost 79 euros (about $97) for two. In retrospect, though the tour guide was knowledgeable, we would opt for a self-guided tour; tickets are 10 euros each (about $12) and should be reserved in advance at www.alhambratickets.com.

Hotels

Except for the Hotel Villa Turística de Cazorla, which was paid for by Pueblo Inglés, we stayed in budget lodging.

The first three nights in Madrid were at Hotel Excelsior, Gran Via 50, near the Callao Metro station. It's family-run, and our room was quiet and clean, with an in-room bath, but spartan; a television is in a common room near the front desk. The staff speaks English. Other hotels in this price range might be a little nicer, but this one was fine and well-located. Cost: 48 euros a night including taxes, or 144 euros total (about $177). Phone: 011 34 91 547 34 00.

In Granada, we stayed one night at Hostal La Ninfa, at Campo del Principe, a much more upscale boutique hotel, nicely decorated, with English spoken by a well-trained and helpful staff, for 52 euros including taxes (about $63). www.hostallaninfa.net, 011 34 958 227 985.

On our last night in Madrid, Hotel Excelsior — and, it seemed, everywhere else — was full. A booked hotel we called suggested Hostal Miralva, Valverde 32, on a side street near Gran Via Metro station. For 40 euros including taxes (about $49), it was a find: family-run, English spoken, clean, quiet, TV in room, but shared bathroom across the hall (some rooms have private bath). www.hostalmiralva.com, 011 34 91 521 15 46.

Meals

We didn't eat in white-table-cloth restaurants except at Cazorla, where we were served a wonderful sampling of Spanish cuisine. A typical meal there might be a choice of pasta salad with tomatoes, peppers and onions in olive oil or gazpacho soup, followed by a choice of hake in a delicate sauce with potatoes or a leg of lamb with potatoes, and topped by a dessert such as vanilla parfait or cinnamon toast with a scoop of ice cream. No dishes were repeated during our eight-day stay. And did I mention wine? A generous pitcher of a light Spanish table wine, Conde de Picardo Cosecha 2003, was set at each table for four.

In Madrid, we ate breakfast (coffee and scone) at Starbucks, where we expected to find other tourists and rarely did — the chain has caught on with Spaniards. Though we wanted to stick to Spanish cafes, strong Spanish coffee is served in tiny cups, and it was never enough for our morning caffeine craving. Lunch was a sandwich somewhere, once in the Prado cafeteria during our daylong tour of the art museum, once at Cafe Rúa off Plaza Mayor, where delicious bocadillos de calamares (fried squid sandwiches) cost 1.80 euros (about $2.20) each. Dinner was usually a glass of wine and tapas at an inexpensive tapas restaurant or bar, plentiful in Madrid and Granada. Our splurge meal, seated outdoors on a warm evening in Granada at Restaurante La Ninfa, cost about $80 including a bottle of cava, a sparkling wine produced in Catalonia.

Museums and palaces

We crammed in quite a few in three days in Madrid.

El Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Stunning collection of modern art, including Pablo Picasso's "Guernica." 3 euros per person (about $3.60). www.museoreinasofia.es.

The Prado. Room after room after room of Spanish, French, Flemish, German, Italian and Dutch masters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Francisco de Goya. 6 euros per person (around $7.25). www.museoprado.es.

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Almost 1,000 paintings by European masters from the 13th to 20th centuries; also a collection of 19th-century American art. 6 euros per person (around $7.25). www.museothyssen.org.

A Paseo del Arte combined ticket allows visits to the big three museums, Reina Sofía, Prado and Thyssen, and will save 3 euros.

Two others to see

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)'s many rooms of ornate and lavish furnishings and tapestries dating to the mid-1700s seemed repetitive after a while, but the Royal Armoury with its suits of armor for humans and horses dating to the 13th century was worth the price of admission. 8 euros per person ($9.70). www.patrimonionacional.es/en/preal/preal.htm.

Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida. Don't miss this monument, where Goya is buried. The ceiling is a Goya masterpiece; the restoration was completed in 2005. Free admission. www.munimadrid.es/ermita.

Parking

We parked at MARTA's Dunwoody Station for $4 a day, total $56, and took MARTA to and from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, $3.50 each or $7.