keano

This was a fast paced trip to see as much as we can from Barcelona, Granada, Ronda, Sevilla, Cordoba and Madrid. Prior to traveling to Spain, I would encourage everybody to learn at least a bit of Spanish (at least the numbers, and simple phrases such as want, have, hot, cold). Listening about 10 lessons of Pimsleur Spanish 1 was very helpful, especially in many small spots around Andalucia.

Our itinerary was:
Day 1 – Barcelona Arrive in Barcelona from Airport
Day 2 – Barcelona
Day 3 – Air travel to Granada, visit to the city and Al hambra
Day 4 – Drive from Granada to Ronda then south to Marbella, Gibraltar, Tarifa, and then up north to Cadiz and Sevilla
Day 5 - Sevilla
Day 6 - Train from Sevilla to Cordoba for a 3 hour stop over and then continue on AVE to Madrid
Day 7 – Morning in Madrid, fly back home

<b>
Day 1 –Barcelona – Palau de Musica, Old town, Barcelonetta, Las Ramblas</b>

We arrived at Barcelona airport around 10 am. We took the Airbus as which dropped us off right at plaza Catalunya. Our hotel Constanza was three blocks from here. Our room was not yet available, but the hotel allowed us to drop of the bags. The hotel gave us direction for a small grocery shop that might be open on a Sunday afternoon where we can buy a SIM card to use in our phone. We fund the small store and bought one for 7 Euros (YAYA Movil). I believe the rate was 30 cents per connection and then 4 cents a minute. We talked to our kids often so we burned this credit in 2 days and bought another one in Granada.

We started walking toward the old town and our first stop was Palau de Musica. Since there was a matinee performance, the guided tours were not available until 2:30, so we purchased the tickets and then continued strolling around the old town, Cathedral, etc. The tour of Palau de Musica was great and worth seeing. In the first part of the tour they provide a brief history of the site and present you with a video of the building of the site and what world renown artists think of performing there. While photography is not allowed in that place (really?) if you stay behind your group you may have a chance to snap a shot to help you remember the delicate decorations.

Afterwards, we headed up to Las Ramblas, strolled briefly there and then continued toward Christopher Columbo’s monument by the water. Be alert about your belongings as you walk around Las Ramblas. Throughout the trip I kept my wallet in my front pocket and as extra precaution in places like these I would put my hand in that pocket. I carried a DLSR Camera all the time with me and did not feel threatened that somebody may take it away from me.

From the monument we continued walking along the pier into Barcelonetta. It was great to see this area as there were many local folks strolling around. Maybe it was too early, but we felt Barcelonetta was bit quiet (it was around 7 pm) . In retrospect I would have skipped the walk along the pier and into Barcelonetta. We decided to walk toward the Old Town and eat In the Born district. The restaurant we chose was Taller de Tapas on Argenteria street. This street has several plazas with restaurants, so I am sure you will find one that you like. Taller had good menu selection, the food and service was great. I noticed good bit of locals in our restaurant which is always a good sign. The tapas were great, the service was ok.

We got a taxi to the hotel. If you ever stay in Hotel Constanza (C/bruc 33) make sure you specify which one you are going to, since there are two in the town. I had to tell our taxi driver that he was headed in the wrong direction once he passed our street. He apologized and only charged us what would have cost to our hotel originally (5 euro). I should note that the AC in the hotel was not working, so the temperatures was unusually high in the room.

<b>
Day 2-Barcelona Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, Camp Nou, HOHO but tour</b>

I had booked in advance the Sagrada Familia tickets from reading how there are huge lines for buying tickets on the spot. I can tell you that in November on a Monday morning, there were no lines. So if you want to use your Barcelona Tour Bus discount then you can plan on simply buying the tickets in person at this time of the year. Make sure you get the audio guide when visiting Sagrada Familia. It is worth its price, and provides so much detailed information about Gaudi, the building of the church, the details of the facades, etc. And you can pace yourself and skip items that are of no interest to you. It is nice that the audio guide has good quality headphones, instead of those white handles that you use as a phone on one ear, which makes it difficult to clear the narrative. Sagrada Familia is simply stunning and is by far the must see site in Barcelona.

After spending about 2 hours there, we decided to walk toward La Pedrera, but on our way we had quick lunch in a restaurant named MarBola, right at Plaça de Mossèn Jacint Verdaguer. During lunch we were debating whether we should get the Barcelona tour bus tickets or not. Certainly, the public transportation in Barcelona is relatively cheap and well coordinated, but we decided to get the HOHO bus so that we can see the city from up top. A quick tip, if your hotel can sell you the tickets, then buy them there for a 2 euro discount. The hotel will hand you the discount book and the paperwork, so you can use the discounts prior to actually buying the bus ticket. You pay 4 euros when picking up the bus tour material in your hotel and then the remaining balance of 17 euros in the bus.

We saw Casa Battlo only from outside and then headed to Casa Milla (La Pedrera) where we used the discount coupon from the HOHO to purchase the tickets. The audio guide was informative but not essential. The roof top provides good photo opportunities, and the attic of La Pedrera is pretty much a Gaudi museum where you can learn the history not only of La Pedrera but also about Gaudi’s work on other sites such as Park Guel, the church in Malaga, etc. It is interesting to see one of the apartments that is furnished in a retro 1900’s style.

At this point we hopped on the blue line of the bus and headed to Camp Nou for a tour of the stadium. On the way there we saw some of Barcelona’s neighborhoods like Gracia, which is another plus of the HOHO buses, which enables you to see places that you may have not wondered if you used the metro. The tour of the stadium was a great treat if you are a soccer fan. Having the chance to see the visitor’s changing rooms, see and hold the CL trophy and come on to the pitch through the same tunnel as Mesi and company do was truly amazing.

After this tour, the time was close to 6 pm, so we only had a chance to get on the red line and tour the Monjuc area. I wish we had more time to see this area during daytime. We hopped off at the MNAC bus stop for some great panoramic shots of the city then continued the bus tour along the Olympic village, the port, grand casino, and got off near the old city where we had dinner.

<b>
Day 3 – Travel to Granada and visit of Alhambra, Albycin </b>

At 7 am we had a flight from Barcelona to Granada on Vueling. We took the 5:30 am Aerobus from Plaza Catalunya in the morning, which was very easy and cheap (3 euros per person). Having checked in on-line from the hotel and only having carry on with us, made things much easier. Although they indicated that my 22 incher is too big and will have to be put with the checked in luggage. While they announced that they will charge 20 euros to anybody whose luggage is too big for carry on, they did not charge me anything since I did not had any checked bags. Vueling is a cheap discount airline (we got our tickets for $50 per person including taxes) so expect to pay even for water on board. The transportation from the Granada airport to town is well organized by the city. There is an airbus that apparently follows the flight schedules, so you will have plenty of time after arrival to board the bus and head into town for 2 euro’s a person. Make sure you know where to get off to get to your hotel, because the stops are not well explained online. We took an earlier stop on Gran Via (there are three stops on this street) so we had to walk bit more to our hotel, although the walk was pleasant since the facades of the buildings in downtown are wonderful.

We stayed in a small boutique hotel called Puerta Las Granadas and would strongly recommended it. It is right off Plaza Nueva, on a quiet street and it is on the walking path toward Alhambra. The staff is super helpful, speaks English and will give you plenty of information on the town, the public bus transportation if you want to use it to go to the train station, Albycin, Al Hambra, etc. Good recommendations on food places etc. We booked the Alhambra view room, which was worth the extra money. The view is not as spectacular as the view from the Albycin districts, but it has a nice view of the Alcazaba.

Given our tired legs, we took a bus to Alhambra (Bus number 30 or 32) (1.50 Euros a person) which had a stop in town right behind the monument of Isabel in the center of the city. <b> Also, right by that monument (intersection of Catolicos and Gran Via) there is an Al Hambra store where you can pick up your tickets</b>. The bus can drop you off in the main entrance, or you can get off at the next stop which is nearer the Alcazaba if you plan to start your visit there. I strongly discourage you to NOT take the 6 euro per person audio guides, which is one of those white phone handles that makes it difficult to hear. A English speaking tour guide was not available when where we there. The narrative information was nothing more than you can learn from a quick read on-line on Alhambra. It did help that I had a friend lend me a book on Al-Hambra which I re-red few times to understand the layout of the place and the significance of each building/room. We toured the Alcazaba first, where there are some nice photo opportunities. But as you may know, the most attractive visual appearance is the Nasrid palace, so please plan accordingly to be at the entrance within your 30 minute scheduled slot. The Nasrid palace is truly amazing, so take your time and explore it.

After the Nasrid palace, we quickly visited the Charles V building, but did not make it to the Generalife area because we were tired and hungry. We wanted to walk from Al Hambra to the Albycin, but somehow we could not find the path to take us there. Instead, we took the bus (either 30, 31 or 32 not sure, please check at the bus stop, each bus number has its route clearly marked). From the Saint Nicholas square you have an amazing photo opportunity of Alhambra. While hungry, we were not impressed with the menu offered by few of the restaurants there and instead headed back into town. Since the time was around 6pm, not many restaurants are open/full due to the siesta. We ended up eating at La Cueva de 1900 on the main street in town (Reyes Catolicos). Great place if you like cured ham, sausages, cheeses, etc. You can recognize the place by the hundreds of smoked legs hanging from the ceiling. I saw another one of these restaurants in a different location in the city so it may be a chain.

The downtown of Granada is great. Many restaurants, shops, and the city was very vibrant in the evening. I am sure you can pick other tapa place and still be very happy with it. I regret not visiting the Cathedral, which is stunning from outside, and appears to be even more stunning inside, but our legs were giving up on us so we headed back to the hotel for some late night coffee and nice views of the Alhambra.

<b>
Day 4 – Drive from Granada to Ronda, Marbella, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Cadiz, and arrive to Sevilla </b>

This is a drive intensive day so buckle your seats. We drove 600km from Granada to Ronda, Marbella, Gibraltar, Tarifa, Cadiz and arrived in Sevilla that nights. I would only recommend such an adventure to somebody who enjoys driving and does not mind being exhausted at the end of the day. While the driving was exhaustive, it provided much needed break for our legs, and we really enjoyed seeing so much of Andalucia. I had an existing reservation with EuropCar to pick up the car from the Granada train station to drop it off at the Sevilla train station. The hotel staff was helpful to tell us the numbers of the buses that will drop us off near the train station, but please ask the bus driver to indicate to you which one is the train station because you cannot see it from the bus stop. We included the GPS in our rental although we found it was not very helpful in some instances.

The drive between Granada and Ronda is fairly easy and straightforward. We entered Ronda not knowing our way around and parked in the downtown area. We took some photo’s from the park by the bull ring, and then had some coffee in the main square. There is a nice cathedral there, and you can see that Ronda is a vibrant place with plenty of tapas and coffee shops. I wish we had time to spend a night in Ronda because it appeared it had plenty to offer. The tourist information office by the bull ring gave us a map and informed us that in order to take pictures from the famous bridge, we need to go to the old town, park by the cathedral and then walk about 5-7 minutes back toward the bridge. There are some staircases around the Puerta de los Molinos where you can start climbing down to get a great shot of the bridge. About halfway down this wide stone pathway you can see how you can verve off and reach a point by a large rock from which you can take great shots from the gorge/bridge. You are about halfway down on the gorge so you can see plenty of the bridge.

On a funny note, while driving in the old town I did make a wrong turn and ended up into the super tight streets where you doubt that a car can go through, but was able to pass through with bit of caution. A local behind me was bit upset with me and kept telling me that in the old town district you can only drive with a tarjeta (card) but I did not understand what he was saying at the moment. While he kept raising his hands and being upset about it, he eventually saw the funny side of the moment and helped us get out of there. I think it helped that I was speaking to him in Spanish and apologized several times.
We were leaving Ronda around 2 pm and heading south toward Marbella on Route 397. This is a spectacular drive, as you descend from the mountains on a curvy road and see the Mediterranean coast ahead of you. This was one of the highlights of our trip for me. When we got into Marbella we had some coffee by the sea and the tourist office indicated that the old town is nice to see. We missed our turns few times to get to the old town, so in interest of time we decided to instead continue our drive toward Gibraltar. Driving along the coast provided nice scenic views of the sea and the mountains. We did not enter Gibraltar, but did see the rock from the Spanish side (Linea de Conception).

On to Tarifa, to see the southernmost point of the European continent. We arrived here around 7 pm, and the actual sign of this spot is a bit of a non event, since it is located on a dark pier. We had to get creative with the lights from the car to be able to take some pictures. For some reason, I did not feel very safe around that area in Tarifa, but that is just a feeling I got and is not based on facts. From here we took E-5 north, which has about 30 minutes of a two lane highway before turning into a 4 land separated highway to Cadiz. We debated whether we should enter Cadiz or not, but decided to make a quick stop. When we arrived in Cadiz around 8:30 or so, the city appeared to be asleep. Not much was going on in the main city square around the cathedral and the town offices. We took some pictures from these spots and got back driving toward Sevilla. We dropped the car off at the train station and got a taxi (7 euros) to our Hotel Adriano in Seville’s Arenal districts, which is near the bull ring. Right away you can see the liveliness of Seville since many of the tapas restaurants were still open at 11:30 at night.

I like the location of our hotel since it is not in the Santa Cruz area, which makes you wonder around a bit (5-7 min walk) through other parts of old Seville and mingle with the locals. I did not like the fact that our room was on the first floor, because there is the potential that in the morning you will hear all the activity from the lobby and the coffee shop that is located inside the hotel. However, given that life in Spain does not get moving until 9 am, noise was not an issue for us in the mornings.

<b>
Day 5 – Sevilla Cathedral, Alcazar, Plaza De Espana, Casa De La Memoria </b>

Sevilla was the city I was looking forward visiting the most in this trip, and it did not disappoint. In the morning we made our way to the Cathedral which is truly magnificent, being the third largest in the world. We walked inside and admired the craftsmanship, and the decorations. A service was being held so we could not walk around the entire area of the Cathedral, and somehow I missed the tomb of Christopher Columbus.

As we walked out of the Cathedral, we made our way to the Alcazar, which was a very pleasant surprise. Organized tours with a guide in English were available, and I would encourage you to take one if available when you visit (5 euros a person).
Having somebody knowledgeable narrating specific details was very valuable. The palace reminds a lot like Alhambra with its Arabic/mudehar style decorations, but what was truly amazing was to learn that in fact the Christians built the palaces using Arabic artisans. One could easily think that they are located inside the Nasrid palace because the decorations are very very similar. The garden was meticulously kept clean and provided a great photo opportunity with its water fountain and Giralda in the background. My observation is that much more money is spent revitalizing and maintaining the Alcazar in Seville then Al hambra. Wonder if that is because the Alcazar was built by the Spanish rulers, or maybe cause the palace is still sometimes used by the Royal Family?

Afterward we had lunch in one of the tapas bars (La Moderna) right along Calle Mateos Gago, which is the main street that leads from La Giralda square to Santa Cruz. Once finished with lunch we made our way to the Casa De La Memoria to pick up the tickets for that night’s flamenco performance. When we got there, we discovered that they were closed between 14 and 18:00 so we had to come back later on that evening (by 20:15) to pick up the tickets that our hotel made the reservation for.

At this time we walked along the parks on Av Menendez toward Plaza De Espana, the site of the Spanish-American expo in 1928. Plaza De Espana site was everything you have seen in pictures and more. Truly majestic site where one can admire the grandeur that this building displayed during the fair a century ago. Afterwards we took a stroll along the river, saw Torre Del Oro, another city landmark as we headed to the hotel for some rest. I regret not having the energy to visit the eclectic Triana district, which was right across the river from our hotel.

In the evening, we had a quick pick me up coffee and pastry in a bakery near our hotel, before picking up the flamenco tickets. For dinner we decided on eating tapas again on Calle Mateos Gago in the Bodega La Sacristia. The tapas were very good, but in case you are looking for an authentic neighborhood feel, be aware that on this street there will be had plenty of tourists like you. As we finished dinner we headed to the flamenco show.

Throughout the day I kept seeing many advertisements for other flamenco shows, but nowhere did I see any ads for Casa De La Memoria so I wondered what that means. As we got there around 8:50 I realized why there were no adds, the place was packed. The show lasted only around 1 hour, but it was excellent. Only great flamenco artist perform there and it was truly a joy to watch Asunción Pérez "Choni" and listen to Javier Rivera and Manuel de la Luz perform. Thank you fellow fodor’s for continuing to recommend this place. As we walked home, we came across La Bulla, a tapas restaurant near the bull ring. This hip/modern tapas bar offered great evening atmosphere with locals. The food, wine and service were excellent. No wonder it is rated No4 on trip advisor.

<b>
Day 6 – Train to Cordoba, then onto Madrid </b>

The entire trip so far had gone without glitch in terms of transportation and hotel reservations, but this morning things looked bleak for a moment. I used EuroRail to buy train tickets because the Renfe site was just too much of a PIA. As we got to the train station, we tried using one of the machines to retrieve the tickets but did not have any luck so we went inside to seek help. The folks at the counter did not know much English, and my limited Spanish was not very helpful. They directed me to talk to the customer service lady, <b> which explained to me in English that I should have had the EuroRail tickets printed already when I purchased them, because EuroRail is not connected to Renfe.</b> She was kind enough to let me log in to my e-mail account so that I can download the tickets and print them, otherwise we would have been out of luck since the train was leaving in 5 minutes.

The train ride between Seville and Cordoba took 45 minutes on the AVANT train (17 euros per person) and we arrived at 8:45. Our AVE train to Madrid was at 11:56 so we did not have much time to waste so we hauled a cab right away to Mezquita. A side note, we were not able to leave the suitcase in the train station because they do not have lockers. They suggested we go across the street and see if the bus station has any, but in interest of time we opted not to. This proved to be a bad decision because they did not allow us to go with luggage inside Mezquita. The taxi ride to Mezquita was about 10 minutes, and entry is free until 10 am. The inside of Mezquita is truly fascinating, seeing so many arches as you make your way from a more darker area of the cathedral to a very bright spot where the altar is. Inside you see the mix of two cultures interwoven through centuries of diverse rulers. Afterwards, we walked around the walls of the cathedral and toward the roman bridge, monument and gate which provide a great view back to the cathedral. The street with flowers is right nearby the cathedral, which is another popular spot in this area. As the clock approached 11:15 we decided it was time to head back to the train station for our continuation of our trip to Madrid.

I had purchased tickets in the preferred class since they were on discount and this proved be a good decision. We were served light snack and drinks on board, which made the trip of bit less than two hours very enjoyable. Traveling on these super fast, super quiet, super comfortable trains was very enjoyable. It is funny how when in an airplane you cannot wait to get there, while on the train I felt I could travel on board for another 10 hours. As we arrived to the Atocha train station in Madrid, we were pointed to the direction where we can catch the metro inside the station to our way to the Gran Via metro stop. Our hotel Gran Via Catalyna was right on Gran via, and only 5 minute walk from the metro station. The hotel had a good location, but I felt it was non-personable, and by being very large, the noise carried around the hotel a lot. My wife was up till 1 am with all the noise in the hotel. Our room had no view.

Given that we were in Madrid for only about 20 hours, we opted to take the bus tour so that we can get a quick overview. In retrospect this was not a good decision because, compared to the Barcelona tour where you get access for 24 hours and busses run up until 8 pm, you only get to ride until the end of day when you purchase tickets, which is 6 pm. Hindsight is always 20/20, because thanks to the tour I now know where to walk around on foot. Anyway, it was nice to let the bus tour us around the city, since Madrid is a big, spread out city. The bus provides a nice vantage point of the many spectacular fountains, roundabouts, monuments, and buildings that Madrid offers. What I also liked was the fact that with Route 2 of the bus (which takes you outside of the main touristy downtown area of Madrid), you can view other neighborhoods, (i.e., near the Santiago Bernabeu stadium).

We also discovered that <b>Prado had free entry on Fridays between 6 and 8</b>, which worked well for us because after we were done with the bus tour we headed to the museum. The museum truly has a great collection of Velasquez and Goya paintings and provides a nice visual closure of some of the historical figures we heard on this trip such as Isabel and Ferdinand. I am so glad that we visited Prado and would encourage everyone to fit it in their schedule. You can just hit the must see spots and be out of there in 2 hours. Near Prado we had great tapas in a Taberna de La Daniela – Medinaceli in Plaza de Jesús. This place was full with locals who had an afternoon diner, and atmosphere was buzzing, the service was great, the food was outstanding. The evening we strolled in the streets around Plaza Del Sol and then headed to the hotel. Plaza del Sol to me was very similar to Times Square. Fun place, lots of action, but there are pickpocketers etc.

<b>
Day 7 – Morning stroll around Madrid, fly home
</b>
Our flight was not till 1:40 pm so we had the morning to walk and enjoy Madrid. We headed south from Gran Via, through Sol, toward plaza Mayor. As you may notice, life in Madrid does not get moving till 9 -10 am in the morning, especially on a Saturday morning, so not may nplaces were open around Plaza Mayor at this time. We continued walking south through old Madrid to Puerta Del Toledo. We debated about going to the Retiro flee market to pick up some cheap luggage bag for our return trip since I was not sure we will fit everything in the one 22 incher carry on, but we found out that the flee market only works on Sundays. From Puerta Del Toledo we walked up north to the San Francisco basilica, Cathedral Le Almudena, Sabatini Gardens and the Royal Palace. We debated doing the visit of the Royal Palaces which starts at 10 am, but decided to walk outside some more and head to the Debed Temple. This is an Egyptian temple that the Egypt government donated to the Spanish government as gratitude for helping them save the Abu Simbel temples. It is a very nice site to visit and would recommend. As time approached 11 am, we decided to head back to the hotel pack and catch the airport bus. There is a yellow bus that will take you for 2 euros to the airport right from the Cibeles fountain, however, you have to keep asking around to find the right place where the actual bus station is, given that many streets converge at Cibeles. The trip to the airport is about 20-30 minutes on a Saturday morning. Also, know which terminal you are going because there is no labeling which airlines are on which terminal. Most likely you will be at terminal 4.
<i>
This wraps our visit to Spain. It was fast paced, but we saw so much such as the modernism in Barcelona, the history in Andalucia and the grandeur of Madrid. Barcelona is one of those cities that you can see the main sites in 2 days, while Madrid requires 4-5 days at least to see all the sites and enjoy the city. But for me, Andalucia was the best part. Beautiful weather, great food, warm people, and wonderful historical sites. Would love to go back to some of these spots again. Would be glad to answer any questions you might have. </i>

ozgirl

Thank you keano, we will be heading on a similar route in June 2012 and will save your report for more detailed reference when the time comes, I'm sure it will be very helpful! Sounds like a great trip.

annhig

t was fast paced, but we saw so much>>

you certainly did pack it in. the 600km day sounds gruelling, but at last you only did it one day - and it clearly worked for you.

thanks for posting such a detailed and helpful TR.

CathyM

Glad it worked out for you and you enjoyed Spain. I don't know how you had the energy to do so much on your first day.

Not sure I agree that you can see the main sites in Barcelona in 2 days - you may be able to pass by and have a cursory look but I don't think you can really experience all the main sites in Barcelona in 2 days.

Sevilla is magical! Sorry to hear about the confusion with the luggage in Cordoba. We've had several posts on the forum explaining you need to walk across the street to the bus station for the luggage lockers.

Have you started thinking of a return trip yet?

danon

Agree with Cathy re Barcelona. It is a big city , with numerous attractions,

josele

I have never heard of a card for driving in the old town in Ronda.

keano

@CathyM - I guess I did not pay attention on the Cordoba baggage item, also, even if we knew we might have decided to carry it with us so that we are not wasting time. Not a trip back planned yet, but we will certainly be back soon .


@josele - Maybe the card is to park in the old town because he showed it to me.

aliced

Loved this trip report! We are going over in April and taking 19 days for Barcelona, Madrid, Cordoba, Seville, Jerez, Ronda, Granada & Marbella, only driving the last week from Seville in the south and 'training' all the other segments. Thanks for all your tips.