Going to Greece!

Just dropped a freaking fortune now to get tickets for Greece! This awesome girl is getting married in Poros Island in September, and I've been debating a lot whether to spend money (that I don't have) on tickets that are over a grand.

Of course, having the excuse that it is my birthday week, and that other great friends like her and her will be there as well, today I shed the money for the tickets. Ouch.

It will likely be my most uneventful birthday celebration, as I wouldn't dare to take the spotlight off the bride (though thankfully it's not the same day of the wedding, so I guess I'm still allowed to mention it?), but spending a birthday in Athens sounds perfect, regardless of what I'll be doing then!

Because of the ridiculous moolah I have to spend for the flight, and because the cheapest flight had a layover in Spain, I decided to do some creative juggling with my itinerary, and am now going from DC to Barcelona for 3 days, then Greece for the wedding, then stopping for a couple of days in Madrid on the way back. Sure, I ended up dropping another $150 for this route (and can't even imagine the hotel charges...), but somehow I feel better spending a grand to go to Barcelona, Madrid and Athens then a grand just to fly to Athens.

Now anyone has any tips on a good (& cheap) place to stay in Barcelona and Madrid? Hostels are out of the question, since I assume I'll be bringing pretty stuff for the wedding and having both a Brazilian and an EU passport, I don't necessarily like having to leave with all my documents and prefer to stay at a place where is ok to leave those things behind without the fear of it getting stolen from my room...

Recommendations are highly appreciated!

I just don't know if I can wait until September to finally have a vacation -- my last vacation was a year ago!!!