What a great detailed report with beautiful photos. Looking forward to more. Our trip was almost exactly the same as yours except we also stayed three days in Ronda between Granada and Seville and only visited Cordoba for a day on our way to Madrid. We liked Spain more than we thought we would. When doing our research we knew we were going to enjoy every place we visited but it was a nice surprise to have our expectations exceeded in almost every way.

Thanks for such a kind comment about the photos. I wish that I knew more about photography than “rule of thirds” and “look for natural frames.” I do some photo editing, primarily to improve lighting and increase saturation, and occasionally do some cropping to improve composition or remove extraneous details.

Some of the photos were taken with my Samsung Note 9 phone, which sometimes takes better photos than the camera when I take the same photo with both. When I need more zoom, I use a Sony a6000 mirrorless camera, which also takes excellent photos. I’m looking for a point-and-shoot camera with a really long zoom range that takes good photos in low light as I damaged the lens on my old Canon, which I loved.

Thanks so much. We really enjoyed the gardens, which would be really special in spring and summer.

We bought tickets online almost two months ahead - on September 9th for admission on November 4th. We had hoped to visit Spain a little earlier but when I tried to book tickets for the Alhambra, November 4th was the earliest we could get them, so we planned the rest of the trip around that date. I imagine one might need to book even farther ahead in high season. I respect the Alhambra for limiting the number of people who were allowed in at any one time as it meant there weren't huge crowds and it was easier to look around and to take photos.

john 183 - I hear many people say that they liked Spain better than they expected. We've had it on on our bucket list for several years but it wasn't at the top of places we wanted to see. Now that we've been, I've encouraged friends to go, and we hope to visit Portugal, which people seem to like a lot. We had originally hoped to visit Ronda but decided to make this trip shorter after a 24 day trip and cruise in May and June that included Italy, Greece, and Turkey. In hindsight, we wish we'd had another day in Madrid and more time in southern Spain. But we loved what we did see.

In the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


Looking into the Lion Court in the Nasrid Palaces


Ceiling detail in the Nasrid Palaces

Looking into the Lion Court in the Nasrid Palaces


Lion Fountain in the Lion Court of the Nasrid Palaces


Detail of the Lion Fountain in the Lion Court of the Nasrid Palaces

Ceiling detail in the Nasrid Palaces


Ceiling detail in the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


In the Nasrid Palaces


Lion Fountain in the Lion Court of the Nasrid Palaces

It was on my bucket list, too. Then my travel dates better suited Switzerland and Italy, so if I get a future May break, it’ll jump back to the top of my wishlist. Meanwhile, I enjoy vicarious trips to Spain. Enjoying yours very much.

After touring the Nasrid Palaces, we walked through the Partal Gardens, which had some pretty autumn color but would probably be really beautiful in the spring and summer. We found our way to the Justice Gate, where we exited and caught the minibus back to central Granada.


Partal Gardens in the Alhambra


Partal Gardens in the Alhambra


Looking out over Granada from the Partal Gardens


The Justice Gate, Alhambra


A fountain near the Justice Gate in the Alhambra

After finishing our tour of the Alhambra in the late afternoon of our second day in Granada, we again passed by the statue of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus (erected to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America) and continued on to the Granada Cathedral. We had decided to skip the Royal Chapel but inadvertently paid our admission fee, thinking that we were entering the Cathedral. Seeing the tombs of Isabel and Ferdinand and the altarpiece of the chapel was interesting but not worth the 10 Euro admission for the two of us, especially as photos were not allowed. More impressive – on the inside, at least (the exterior was rather plain) - was the Granada Cathedral (5 Euro per person admission), with its beautiful chapels, silver reliquary, and impressive organ. While lacking the “wow” factor of many of the other cathedrals we visited, the light and bright interior is worth seeing.


Christopher Columbus accepting the charter from Queen Isabella


Royal Chapel at the Granada Cathedral


Royal Chapel at the Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral


Granada Cathedral

We scurried back to the hotel in time for afternoon tea and some rest before our night time exploration of the old town. Places that looked plain in the daylight come alive at night and we enjoyed seeing the humorous Fountain of Neptune in Bib Rambla and wandering through the shops in the Alcaiceria bazaar on our way to Bodegas Castaneda, where we enjoyed a delicious meal of homemade croquettes, Spanish omelette, grilled pork loin, bacon, broad beans with ham, salmon, and cheese (and a complimentary tapa of ham, cheese, and olives) with drinks for 28 Euros. I am not a big fan of beans and was surprised at how much I enjoyed the wonderful flavor of the broad beans with ham. The server was very personable, and we had a fun chat with the honeymooning couple at the table next to ours. We were glad we came early as we were able to get a table, which allowed us to relax and enjoy our meal more than if we had been standing at the bar. We enjoyed our evening walk back to the hotel and packed for the next leg of our trip – Sevilla!

Miles walked today - 5.84 miles

Hotel - 125 Euros (breakfast included)

Food – 28 Euros

Admissions – 79 Euros (Alhambra - 59 Euros for 2 people, senior rate with included audio tour; Royal Chapel and Cathedral – 20 Euros for 2 people)

Bus - 5.60 Euros for 2 people, senior rate


We passed through Plaza Nueva each time we left from and returned to the hotel.


Fountain of Neptune in Bib Rambla


Detail from Fountain of Neptune in Bib Rambla


Entrance to Alcaiceria shops


Free tapas at Bodegas Casteneda


Inside Bodega Castaneda...yes, that's 72 Euros for a kilogram of jamon - and this wasn't the most expensive jamon we saw!


Inside Bodegas Castaneda


Our delicious dinner at Bodegas Casteneda

Are you waiting for a May break because of the weather? Of course weather is unpredictable but we had great weather in late October and early November - only a few light sprinkles and never too warm or too cold. Our son went in late May several years ago and had days of downpour in Barcelona. There'a actually a saying about the weather in Spain, that you shouldn't take your coat off until June 9th . But whenever you go, you'll love it!
Glad you're along for the ride...Stay tuned for Sevilla!

We spent the month of March in Spain in 2015. We had wonderful weather except for one wet day in Rhonda and half a wet day in Toledo. Although it was a bit cool in Barcelona, it was actually a perfect time to go as Seville was 26 degrees during the day and I got quite sweaty walking around outside. I would think summer in Seville would be unbearable for sightseeing and even May might be too warm.

After another delicious breakfast at Hotel Casa 1800 we took a taxi (10 Euros) to the Alsa bus station and caught a bus at about 9 am. It was a pleasant ride that delivered us to Sevilla by noon, and after another taxi (10 Euros), we were settling into our delightful apartment in Casa Palacio San Jose at Calle San Jose 7 (325 Euros total for three nights), where we stayed in the delightful first floor apartment. The location was perfect, as all of the major sights and many restaurants and grocery stores were within easy walking distance (Cathedral of Seville 3/10 of a mile, Royal Alcazar 4/10 of a mile).

We booked through booking.com and were met by a member of the homeathomes team, who provided a thorough and helpful orientation, provided a list of restaurants, made a reservation for a flamenco show, and was available to answer questions throughout our stay and to order a taxi for us at check-out. She also left orange juice, milk, water, coffee, and tea, and other housekeeping supplies as well as laundry pods and other items needed during our stay.

The property felt very secure and was entered through a locked wooden door, then a locked ironwork gate leading to the central courtyard, and then the locked door to the apartment. Our apartment was off of the central courtyard, which was beautifully decorated, and the apartment itself gave us room to spread out and relax. There was a living room with a sofa, tables, and a TV; a well-equipped kitchen with coffee pot, microwave, cooktop, sink, dishwasher, and table; a pretty bedroom with a comfortable bed and pillows, bedside tables with lamps, and an antique armoire; and a bathroom with toilet and bidet and a tub/shower that had good water pressure, plenty of hot water, and lovely toiletries. An elevator carried us up to two large rooftop terraces with views over the city, and to a common area with a washing machine and dryer that we used to launder our clothes. The building had several apartments of varying sizes. https://sevillasanjose.com/


The Alsa bus from Granada to Sevilla


Casa Palacio San Jose


Waiting for our hostess from the Homeathomes team. What you see is all that we travel with - two rollaboard bags, a backpack, and a Rick Steves Eurobag. Inside of these we pack his lightweight backpack and a Travelon crossbody bag to carry stuff during the day and to create room to bring home souvenirs.


Looking into the central courtyard


The central courtyard - apartment doors led off of this.


A sitting area in the central courtyard


In the central courtyard


Up on the roof - a lovely place to relax with a view of the city.


Covered roof-top patio area with tables and chairs


The sitting room - there was a table and TV across form the sofa (visible in the photo that follows).


The bedroom


An antique armoire in the bedroom held our clothes and extra pillows and blankets.


The bathroom. It had a tub/shower.


The kitchen - there was a table between the kitchen and sitting room.

Love all the details, travel costs and times etc as well as your accommodation. That apartment looks great.

(Yes, temps in Seville look pretty warm, even in spring. I could cast my net a bit wider...)

We were settled into the apartment by 1 pm and set out to the recommended Bar Alfafa at Calle Candilejo 1 for lunch. It was fascinating watching the man and woman behind the bar working together to take orders, prepare drinks and food (with help from the kitchen), and accept payment from the busy lunch time crowd. We had paella with meat (3.50 Euros), tempura shrimp (6.90 Euros), bread (1 Euro), and a dish recommended by the owner that I never would have tried but which was so delicious I had it twice more at other restaurants in Spain – Carrillada Iberica (pork cheeks) served over roasted potatoes (4 Euros). For dessert we shared a brownie tarifa (brownie with ice cream and whipped cream (5.50 Euros). To drink one of us had a Royal Cream (1.80 Euros) and a first experience with Vermut (2.30 Euros), which was so good that we ordered it again and again on our travels. All of the food was top notch, and we enjoyed a spirited conversation about travel, food, politics, and current events with a delightful couple from England who were seated nearby. The experience at Bar Alfafa was altogether wonderful and only 25 Euros total!


Bar Alfafa at Calle Candilejo 1


Inside the restaurant


Paella


Pork cheeks over potatoes - absolutely delicious!


Shrimp tempura


Brownie with ice cream and whipped cream

Adelaidean - We prefer to travel when it's a bit cooler rather than too warm. We live in a sub-tropical climate and rarely go outside in summer. Touring when it's hot would be miserable. We were in Greece, Turkey, and southern Italy this past June and even that was too hot for touring comfortably some days. We usually travel late April/early June or late September/early October.

After our wonderful lunch at Bar Alfafa, we bought a few groceries for 10 Euros at the nearby Supersol and dropped them off at the apartment before beginning our exploration of Sevilla. We walked to Plaza del Triunfo and enjoyed seeing the many horse-drawn carriages and pretty statues. We shot photos of the exterior of the Cathedral and continued on to the Real Alcazar, which we decided to tour (6 Euros for two senior admission) even though it was on our itinerary for the following day. It was prettier than we had expected from reading about it and we thoroughly enjoyed the Moorish architecture and decoration. We weren’t able to tour the royal apartments as they had already closed for the day but we’ve seen lots of those elsewhere and didn’t mind. But since the gardens of the Real Alcazar served as the setting for the Kingdom of Dorne on the Game of Thrones, I did regret that we were too tired to visit those. We made our way back to the apartment and crashed for the evening.

Miles walked 3.45

Alsa bus from Granada to Seville 36.20 Euros

Taxis 20 Euros

Food 40 Euros

Admissions 6 Euros




Entrance to Real Alcazar Sevilla


Real Alcazar Sevilla


Real Alcazar Sevilla


Real Alcazar Sevilla


Ceiling Detail, Real Alcazar Sevilla


Real Alcazar Sevilla


Real Alcazar Sevilla


Details, Real Alcazar Sevilla

Ceiling detail, Real Alcazar Sevilla

Thank you for posting so much useful information! I couldn't view your pictures for some reason but will try from my laptop at home!

Glad to give back as I've benefited from others' posts when planning trips over the years. It's curious that you can't see the pictures. They show up on both my phone and my laptop. If the problem continues, you can post the issue in the Forums Help section. That's where I learned to post the photos! Thanks for coming along for the tour of Spain.

Church of the Divine Savior, the Cathedral, Torre del Oro, and Hospital de la Caridad

On Day 2 in Seville, we had a lesson in deviating from our carefully planned itinerary that added extra steps to our sightseeing and cost us some time. I’m the family travel planner and create both a spread sheet and a Word document with a day-by day itinerary, including opening and closing hours, the time we plan to visit each sight, admission costs, and any other important information. We had originally planned to visit the Church of the Divine Savior and the Cathedral on our first afternoon in Seville, but by the time we settled into our apartment and had lunch we didn’t have time to see both, and given that they are on a combined ticket, didn’t know whether we could see the church one day and the Cathedral on a different day, so we went to the Real Alcazar instead.

I forgot to check the opening time for the Church of the Divine Savior before we set out, and when we arrived, it was not yet open. We are usually out and about pretty early in the morning and found the typically late opening times in Spain to be rather frustrating, especially since some sites were also closed for part of the afternoon and/or closed early because it was November and days were short. Visiting churches seemed to be the most difficult due to irregular schedules, and I’m something of “cathedral addict,” so seeing as many churches as I would have liked proved to be a challenge.

We wandered around the Plaza del Triunfo and surrounding streets before returning to the Church of the Divine Savior, which was small but exquisite. If you’ve ever wondered what happened to all of the gold that was brought back from the New World, look no further than Spain’s churches! They are lavished with gold! We purchased a ticket that allowed admission to both this church and the Cathedral (8 Euros for two senior admissions).

After this we toured the Cathedral of Santa Maria de la Sede de Sevilla, built from 1401 to 1506. It was built on the site of the great Aljama mosque, built in the late 12th century by the Almohads, the ruling Moorish dynasty, of which the only remaining parts are the Patio de Naranjas (Oranges) , the Puerta del Perdon (Forgiveness) on the north side, and the Giralda, the former minaret that now serves as the cathedral’s bell tower. It’s A UNESCO World Heritage site that is the third largest church in the world and the largest Gothic cathedral. It has the longest nave of any cathedral in Spain at 138 feet and has 80 side chapels.

The centerpiece of the cathedral is the Gothic altarpiece with 45 carved scenes from the life of Christ, as well as Santa Maria de la Sede, the cathedral's patron saint. It was the lifetime work of craftsman Pierre Dancart and is the largest altarpiece in the world. It is estimated that the carvings are covered with 88,000 pounds of gold!

The Chapter House of the cathedral has a beautiful domed ceiling and marble floor, and houses several paintings by the famous Spanish Baroque artist Murillo.

One of the major attractions of the cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, borne aloft by four bearers representing the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Aragon and Navarra.

After leaving the cathedral we searched for the Archivo de Indias to look at the maps and other documents of Spanish exploration but never found an entrance. We probably passed by it and just didn’t know what we were looking for! My husband finally insisted that we give up and we stopped for s late lunch at Levies Café Bar at Calle San Jose 15, eating at an outdoor table in the square across from the restaurant. I had calamares fritos (fried calamari, 3.80 Euros) and ensalada russa (creamy potato salad, 3.30 Euros), and my husband had paella, (3.60 Euros) and lomo baja de ternera en su jugo y patatas fritas (tenderloin beef filet in truffle sauce with French fries, 6 Euros). With two vermouths, lunch was 19.80 Euros. The food wasn’t as good as at Bar Alfalfa but it filled us up and the price was right!

After lunch we wandered on toward the river and found the Torre del Oro, where we took some photos but decided not to climb to the top. We made a decision before this trip that we wouldn’t stress our knees by climbing every tower we encountered as we’ve done on previous trips. In Switzerland and France I overdid the stair climbing during the first couple of days and suffered for it for several days afterward. Thank goodness we’ve discovered the ibuprofen gels and creams that are sold in Europe as they do an amazing job of stopping the pain in my knees when they’re hurting.

From there, it was only a short walk to the Hospital de la Caridad (10 Euros for two), a charity hospital that was founded in 1674 and still cares for the elderly poor. The chapel is filled with works by painters such as Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Juan de Valdés Leal, and sculptors like Pedro Roldán and Bernardo Simón de Pineda. The intricate and exquisite Baroque altarpiece represents Christ’s burial and refers to the work of mercy of giving a Christian burial to the dead. On the left side of the altarpiece is a sculpture of St. George with the dead dragon under his feet. To the right is a sculpture of St. Roque, universal patron of epidemics, with a dog accompanying him with a piece of bread in its mouth. At the top of the are three figures: Faith to the left represented by a female figure carrying the cross and chalice, Charity in the center, represented by a female figure surrounded by children; and Hope represented by a female figure with an anchor, symbol of those things which keep us tied to life. At the top of the altarpiece there is an inscription in Aramaic: “Yahweh.” The patio is decorated with seven tiled panels of 1700 from Holland, representing scenes of the Old and New Testament.

From the Hospital de la Caridad, we walked back through the Plaza del Triunfo, stopping to watch the many horse drawn carriages, and returned to our apartment. Still full from lunch, we nibbled on some snacks before heading out to the Casa de la Guitarra (28 Euros for two) for the evening flamenco show that our apartment host had reserved for us. It was a small venue and we were seated close to the stage. There was a guitar player (muy guapo!), a man who sang and provided beats by tapping his feet and clapping, and a woman who danced the flamenco. It was a pleasant show with a funny multilingual announcer and we enjoyed the evening, capped off by a stroll through the nearby streets.

We don’t buy much while traveling but, inspired by the flamenco dancer, we couldn’t resist buying our granddaughters, ages 3 and 7, little flamenco dresses with matching shoes while shopping in Seville! When we returned home, we played videos of flamenco dances for them and they put on their own show for us!

Miles walked 8.38

Lunch 19.80 Euros

Pastries 5.70 Euros

Admissions 18 Euros

Flamenco Show 28 Euros

Apartment 108 Euros

Photos of these sights to follow!

Exterior, Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Altar, Church of the Divine Savior


Altar detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Altar detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Altar detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Altar detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Ceiling detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Altar detail, Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior - Incredibly moving depiction of Christ


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior


Church of the Divine Savior