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25 Days in Spain
September 2007
"If there is only one reason to go to Spain, it is the tapas" (Julia Child)
Best things about the trip
The people were genuinely warm and friendly, each hotel we stayed at was a great
place at a great price, and the food and sights were fantastic.
Worst things about the trip
Definitely the worst thing were mosquitoes in the Costa del Sol condo.
The exchange rate - when we started out, the dollar was $1.36 to the Euro. When
we finished it was $1.42 :(
Spain
highlights photos
Madrid
Our flight was in and out of Madrid and we planned on 5 nights there to get over
jet lag and revisit that city. We stayed at the
Espahotel Amador de Los Rios, near
Plaza Colon which is up the avenue from the Prado. If you want to feel secure
you can count on it staying here - there are government offices and consulates
all around this area so we had a guard at each end of the quiet street making
sure all was well. We were lucky to be able to check into our room the morning
we arrived to freshen up from the 7+ hour trip from Miami.
The Royal Palace
Click thumbnails to view full image
After walking a bit, jet-lag got us so we opted for the hop-on, hop-off
MadridVision bus tour.
This turned out to be a great first day option, you can get a one day ticket for
€15,30 and drive by all the most famous sites with your orange earbuds plugged
in to the channel of your language and get a good orientation of the city.
It was about 2 pm and hot so we hopped off at the Palacio Real.
Eventually we ended up at Meson del Champinon, which serves the best garlic
sauteed mushrooms in Madrid and Meson Rincon de la Cava for Jamon Iberico
Bellota Extra, the very best jamon and worth it. These atmospheric cellar bars
are on Cava de San Miguel which is under Plaza Mayor.
Fuente de Cibeles with the main post office in the background
Beautiful tree-lined Paseo de Recoletos
Most of our time in Madrid was spent at the Prado, Thyseen-Bornemisza, walking
tours and tapas of course. I think there may be only 2 other people we know who
can spend 6 or 7 hours in art museums - hola Sally and Jerry :) After a full day
of museums we stopped at Rico Letos on Paseo Recoletos for gazpacho
and a little vino. This was not an expensive place and the ambiance was great.
On Monday most of the museums and places we wanted to visit in Madrid are closed
so we took the high speed train and in 30 minutes were in Toledo where we spent
time in that cathedral and other sites until the last train back to Madrid. The
next day we were back on a high speed train for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Sevilla.
Tip: We found the Toledo ATM's restrict you to about $100 per day--so get
any cash you need in Madrid.
Madrid photos
Excursion to Toledo
photos
Sevilla
I loved Sevilla, there is so much energy in the bars and cafes at night, and the
area we tourists want to see is compact and walkable.
We stayed 4 nights in Sevilla at the Hotel Alminar
near the cathedral. This was a great place to stay... it is a boutique hotel
with only 12 rooms. The rooms were great, quiet, and the hotel couldn't be
in a better location.
The Giralda (Cathedral Tower) in Seville
Bonnie arranged the flamenco show for us the first evening at
Tablao Flamenco Los Gallos and Steve actually enjoyed it :) The next
day was spent in the in the cathedral with the audioguide and even more time in
the Real Alcazar, which is a fascinating place.
Contessa Lebrija's Palace
Click to view full image
On a walking tour we were lucky to stroll by the
Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija in one of the few hours it was open. The
Condesa saved many ancient Roman mosaics from nearby Italica and redesigned her
palace to accommodate these priceless artifacts.
We also toured the Casa de Pilatos, the Hospital de los Venerables, and the
Museo de Bellas Artes. Unfortunately, room V (the star attraction) in the museo
was closed. Spent lots of time in many mesons trying different tapas. One that
comes to mind was when we were lost on a walking tour. This was a block or so
from Casa de Pilatos on the corner of Calle Virgenes where Steve had the best
Pate de Pato (duck pate) served on tiny toasts with orange marmalade on the
side. The tapas bar at Casa Robles down the street from Hotel Alminar had
interesting tapas also - my favorite there was gazpacho served with breaded and
grilled eggplant sticks, yum.
For a change of pace on our last night we went to La Carboneria which is a
drop-in locals place with flamenco for about 15 minutes followed by about a 10
minute break where everyone mills about getting new drinks or goes out to the
patio for fresh air.
Just when we got to know our way around the intricate twisting streets in the
Barrio de Santa Cruz, it was time to pick up our rental car and head south.
Seville photos
Costa del Sol
It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Seville to the timeshare unit we had at
Club Bena Vista near
Estepona. This was our base for the next 6 nights. Our first day in the Costa
del Sol was spent in Puerto Banus, then Marbella. Coming from California with
lots of time spent on the boat in Newport Beach, the port just wasn't
impressive. Likewise with Marbella.
Gibraltar - the Rock
We spent most of one day in Gibraltar, which was fascinating for the history of
the place. Tip: If you opt for the gondola to the top of the rock instead
of a taxi tour, don't get a round-trip ticket. All the things you will want to
see are on the walk down to the bottom which takes about 2 1/2 hours.
Our longest sight-seeing drive was to Nerja to see the caves. Even though you
can't view the prehistoric cave drawings found here, the caves themselves are
very impressive. The trip back was close to Malaga so we stopped in at the
Picasso museum. The traffic was terrible out of Malaga and was the most taxing
event of the trip.
Another day was spent wine tasting in Ojen, then enjoying the views in Mijas.
Friends had told us about the
Wine Museum at Ojen and when we went to the place we were not disappointed.
Luis had us taste wines from Cordoba (one of our favorites), and the local
Malaga wines. We left with 4 bottles of our favorites. Mijas also
surprised us - despite the guide book reviews promising over-tourism, it was a
great place to hang out for awhile. The next day the weather didn't cooperate to
have a relaxing beach day but we went to Fueringola to see that place anyway.
Costa del Sol
photos
Granada
The Alhambra
Patio de los Leones in the Nazrid palace
You don't want to drive in Granada on a weekday! We parked near the Cathedral
and checked in to the Hotel Los Tilos.
The hotel has an arrangement with a different parking structure but it wasn't
worth it to make the change. This hotel was the perfect location for our 2
nights in Granada - the bus stop is in front of the cathedral and the hotel is
in Plaza Bib-Rambla, a short walk on pedestrian streets behind it.
The Alcazaba - the old part of the Alhambra complex
The Alhambra is the reason we were in Granada and our entry time to the Nazrid
Palace was for 11:30 on Saturday, the next day. We had purchased the
Granada City
Pass (called Bono Turistico Granada) on the internet months before which was
the only way to get advance tickets. The pass was great though, we got the entry
time we wanted, 9 bus trips, the double-decker hop-on, hop-off bus tour, and
entry to the Cathedral and Capilla Real. We didn't have time to visit the other
sites included with the pass. We were at the Alhambra from 10 until 4 which was
plenty of time to see everything. Surprisingly, the only cafe was outside the
main entrance so we had to be buoyed up with a candy bar.
Tapas tip - Bodegas Casteneda across from the Cathedral. It was packed both
times we went there and great fun, plus inexpensive..
Granada photos
Ronda
The Tajo (The Ravine)
We got a late start leaving the Granada parking garage to drive to Ronda via
Olvera. Tip:
Be prepared with 5's and 10's to pay the €20 per day parking machine in Granada.
The 12C Olvera castle closes from 2 to 4 so we just missed it and had to be
content with a picture. The route took us through the interesting town of
Setenil where the homes are built right into the rock.
The Tajo (The Ravine) of Ronda
I wanted to stay in the Hotel San
Gabriel and arranged our trip around the hotel's availability. This is a
delightful place, great location, wonderfully decorated, and we enjoyed our 2
nights here. Ronda is a neat place to visit, we spent a day doing the walking
tour from the Michelin Andalucia guide. All the sites on this tour were
interesting. We clambered down to the bottom of the ravine via the moorish
staircase La Mina, carved inside the rock itself and accessed from the gardins
of the decrepit Casa del Rey Moro. The Moorish baths were open (both guidebooks
said they would be closed Monday) and although access to some areas was
restricted the excellent animated video that looped through the history of the
baths in English and then Spanish certainly made up for it. The Palacio de
Mondragon was interesting, and then we hiked down to the 18C Arco de Cristo to
get a view of the ravine from that angle. The last stop on our walk was the
oldest bullring in Spain, and is certainly not to be missed if you are in Ronda.
Both nights in Ronda we ate at the same Chinese restaurant.
Ronda photos
Jerez de la Frontera
Sherry and Andalusian horses
The drive from Ronda to Jerez via Grazelema is about 2 hours (if you don't stop)
and goes through some beautiful scenery. In Jerez, TripAdvisor was spot on again
- the 2 nights we spent at the
Hotel Casa Grande lived up to its great reviews. After checking in we toured
the Alcazar including the Camera Obscura, which is well worth the nominal
additional fee. Heading back through Plaza Arenal we hopped on a Tio Pepe
tourist "train" for an 90 minute spin around the city sites and a 90 minute tour
of the bodega for €9 each. The train was really a hoot, a bunch of tiny open
cars filled with tourists bouncing over the city streets being pulled by a
gas-powered locomotive.
Magnificent dancing Andalusian horses in Jerez
The bodega tour wasn't so interesting to us due to being entirely in Spanish,
like when everyone laughs at some joke we didn't get. The signature drink of the
bodega is Tio Pepe, and IMHO good only for cooking. We did get a sample of Croft
which was quite nice.
The horses were the reason I wanted to come to Jerez. We had tickets to
the Wednesday training session, but when we arrived at the
Real Escuela Andaluza de Arte Ecuestre
this session was canceled. This disappointment was quickly turned around (and
that Spain SIM card in the phone paid off again) with a phone call to Monika at
the hotel who was able to get us front row tickets to the sold out exhibition
the next day. We spent plenty of time in the fantastic museums at the School
plus went to the show.
We went to La Taberna Flamenca
next to Iglesia Santiago and enjoyed what is described as the "most authentic"
show. Monika's tip was to order Rioja Crianza and we ended up with an entire
bottle and high spirits on the walk back to the hotel. Wandering around the maze
of streets before the show we went into the courtyard of a beautiful palace that
now was home to the Tablao del Bereber
flamenco show.
Jerez seems like a very livable town.
Jerez photos
Horse photos
Cordoba
Mesquita-Catedral
It's great when you can be flexible. Our itinerary didn't originally include
Cordoba, but we decided in Seville that we could make some adjustments and spend
2 nights in Cordoba on the way back to Madrid.
We stayed at Hotel Maimonides
directly across from the Mesquita-Catedral. This couldn't have been a better
location, the room was big, modern, and quiet. Couldn't beat the view either as
our room looked out to the Cathedral Tower.
The Mesquita-Catedral is quite an amazing building - the guidebooks describe the
Christianization of the original mosque as a "harmony of distinct yet equally
magnificent parts." Harmony is about the opposite of the word we would choose
but this building is definitely extraordinary.
Salmorejo (a type of Gazpacho) in Cordoba
Cordoba is very quiet at night. We wandered around the old section, had an
expensive beer in a plaza... and landed at
La Abaceria near the Mesquita-Catedral for tapas. We had tapas here both
nights in Cordoba. This place is directly opposite of the corner of the Mesquita
from the Hotel Maimonides and has some interesting tapas. I finally had the
chance to try Salmorejo, which is a different version of gazpacho, very creamy
and includes egg and ham sprinkled over the top. Steve had the Rabo de Toro con
Chocolate but we both liked the Timbal de Cordero al Pedro Ximenez con Cuscus
better, so it was a good thing that this dish arrived without our ordering it :)
Cordoba photos
Madrid
2 more nights in Madrid before our flight
back home, this time staying at the
Hesperia
Hermosilla near Plaza Colon. On the way to the Conde Duque museum we got
lost and stopped into a local bar "El Retonar" on Calle San Bernardo #87 where
Alberto (one of the owners) couldn't have been more delightful. We had great
tapas here and were comfortable asking what some oddities we didn't have
actually were :) This communication was a bit of a challenge with our little
Spanish but great fun as usual.
La Noche en Blanco (White Night) with everyone out and about
La Noche en Blanco "White Night" Saturday September 22 -- this is an annual all
night cultural event, museums are free of charge and open until various wee
hours of the morning, Concerts are held in dozens of areas throughout the city,
and there are all types of venues everywhere. We headed out at 9:00 pm and the
streets around Plaza Colon and Paseo Ricoletos were jammed with people.
Unfortunately the rain put a damper on the festivities for a lot of people who
took refuge under trees (like us) and in the Metro (no way). It didn't look like
it would let up so our White Night ended about midnight.
Back to the Rastro on Sunday for shirts for Dos Euros; then a visit to Museo
Lazaro Cardenas. The Thyseen is the only other museum open all day on Sunday so
we went again for just a couple of hours.
Last time in Madrid
photos
Spain was Great! If you have any questions about this or any of our other trips,
please contact me by e-mail and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
Cheers!
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