Beautiful photos! Las Setas at night, la feria de artesanía, la Plaza de España (love those tiles, each section representing a region of Spain), the tiny narrow streets, embutidos y queso, el Alcázar. And the Christmas lights will be illuminated on Dec. 2. In Madrid on November 23 at 7 pm with a ceremony at the Puerta del Sol and officially the Naviluz bus to see the lights starts running on Nov. 24.

Looking forward to more!

On to Granada next. Btw, we chose our order of cities, by flat, hilly, flat, hilly, rather than geographically logical 🙂. We were very glad we did this, as our bodies needed the breaks!

We'd had the good fortune to sit on our plane ride from the U.S. to Spain, next to a very friendly young woman who was from Granada. One of the things we'd asked her, was if she knew a good place to hear live music, not flamenco (tho' we'd enjoyed that very much in Sevilla) and not a big rock concert, rather a more intimate type venue, singer-songwriter with small band. With seats, for us older types. She wasn't sure but said she'd check with a friend who would know, and took my number to text me. Which she did, and that sent us on our first night (since that's when there was a concert happening), right after checking in to our place, to a venue called Lemon Rock, on Calle Montalbán 6. We had such a wonderful time there! People were warm and friendly and the music was great. Afterwards we were hungry, and went to Los Manueles on Bib Rambla, where we enjoyed our tapas and dinner. I think that might have been where we had our first rabo de toro (oxtail stew) of our trip, which we had a couple more times before all was said and done. I'm sorry, while we ate well, I did not keep good track of too many other places we ate on this trip. One exception was lunch at the Parador on the day we went to the Alhambra, and you'll see a picture of my heavenly dessert with the Granada pictures.

I'd wondered if the Alhambra would disappoint after so much build-up from reading and seeing pictures, but it did not, in the least! The architecture, the tiles, the gardens...it's beyond words, of course. I was glad that the way we did it, was to start with the Nasrid Palaces, so I didn't have to worry myself about getting back there at our assigned time. We were a little astounded to walk right in at the Puerta de la Justicia and wondered for a moment if we were in the wrong place, but then as we walked around, we came to where the line was...but not bad at all, perhaps because of it being Nov., I don't know. We had noon tickets, as I'd decided this trip to try not worrying about getting everywhere super early (we're slow risers and even once up prefer to watch the world go by a bit as we have our café, tea and a bite, before sightseeing). It worked out just fine, we were even able to spend some time at the Alcazaba before lunch. And, I was very glad for the recommendation of others, to book ahead for lunch at the Parador as a lovely treat and nice break mid-way for our bodies.

Besides the Alhambra, other things we very much enjoyed in Granada, were:
-- sunset at Mirador San Nicolas (despite the crowd there, probably the only time we really experienced the "tourist tsunami" in it's completeness, lol, but it was worth it);
-- I loved spending a little time in the Iglesia de San Nicolas afterward - hardly anyone else went in there, which was a shame (for them, not us). It's a much more simple church than most, dating back to the 1500s. Not at all glitzy, but with lovely murals in which religious figures are depicted as the people of color that they indeed were but is rare to see, and beauty in its simplicity;
-- The walk down from the above, was quite the adventure. It's a little amazing I'm still alive, lol.
-- One afternoon we spoiled ourselves at the Hammam Al-Andalus, where we very much enjoyed the baths and massages - no pictures, but ah, the candlelight, soft music, etc...very memorable;
-- I'm a tea addict so even tho' I knew it was touristy, I enjoyed tea at one of the many choices of teahouses (if anyone really wants to know which, I'll see if I can find the receipt), and afterward purchased some loose tea from a nearby shop (there were SO many tea choices, and you could smell each to decide) that I've been greatly enjoying ever since coming home;
-- exploring the beautiful Albayzin and Sacromonte areas (we were going to go to the Museo de las Cuevas in Sacramonte, but ended up not, which is a long story not worth telling, but I did love the parts of Sacramonte we were in);
-- the Catedral, which although gorgeous, I admit by the end of the trip, it fades in my memory compared to the ones in Sevilla and especially Toledo;
-- of course, lots of delicious tapas, but lots of delicious Moroccan food as well

No doubt I'm leaving some things out, but there are the highlights. I'm going to try to attach pictures in a moment.

Thanks for your comment, Maribel, it came in while I was still writing about Granada! And here are some Granada pictures, hard to choose (as it is, for every city!)


This was our dining area at our beautiful apartment.




from the Iglesia San Nicolas



taken from the ladies room at the Alhambra, couldn't resist lol

omg, this dessert...I've been calling it orange-flavor puffy things, with dark chocolate to pour over them. I guess I should find out it's real name, since I'll probably be dreaming about it for ages.

part of the view from one of the windows of our apartment

view of our street




a moment's pause in the beautiful Sacromonte neighborhood. And yes, still some beautiful colors of flowers even in Nov., I hadn't been sure there would be.

I need to take a break from Thanksgiving preparations so decided to check Fodors! Go_Laura, I love your photos of Seville. Haven't read about Granada yet but I will. Somehow we missed Las Setas, just didn't have the time. Your night time photos are gorgeous! Don't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier thread, but I absolutely love the Real Alcazar! The Alhambra ranks #1 for me but with the Seville Alcazar a very close second. Love your photos of the Plaza de Espana! Another one of my favorites in Seville. It's so photogenic! Everywhere you turn there is a gorgeous photo op!

Maribel, I love your description of the Mercado Barranca! On our last day in Seville we had lunch at the Barranca. We were exhausted from being away for a month, first 2 weeks in France and then last 2 weeks in Spain. There is a lovely outdoor bar not far from the Barranca. As long as we ordered drinks from them, they let us sit there while we took turns with our friends going into Barranca, selecting delicious lunch items, and bringing them back to the bar for consumption, along with our awesome drinks. And with great views of the river. We sat there for hours! An awesome way to end our trip!

I am really enjoying reading your report. So many great suggestions and I am taking notes. The orange puffy chocolate thing looks great too.

Love your report and photos about Granada! You certainly filled your days and nights. The concert sounds like fun. Lucky you to have met the woman from Granada on the plane. From my research I knew about mirador San Nicolas but unfortunately we never made it there. The church looks nice, too. And it's interesting what people remember and what they enjoy the most from their travels. The Granada cathedral was actually one of my favorites. I love those huge soaring white, ornate pillars!

Your report has been a fabulous journey for me too.
I am taking notes, and I will visit one day….

go_laura,
I really like the way you chose the order of your cities----"we chose our order of cities, by flat, hilly, flat, hilly, rather than geographically logical"
That makes good sense to be kind to one's needs and to avoid exhaustion!

Thanks for your gorgeous photos! La Alhambra is one of my favorite places on earth, so far anyway. The symmetry of the place, the water and the gardens calms me. My happy place.

When we were last in Granada in 2014, there were only about 10 people watching the sunset from the Mirador San Nicolas, including our party of four! You managed some amazing photos despite the crowd. Did you feel your meal at the Alhambra is something you would recommend for the experience, the views, the food?

I like to take pics of the menus with names and background of the restaurants we enjoy. It is much easier to find the names when it is time to write a report.

So glad you are still alive after your descent from San Nicolas! Looking forward to more

Also, thanks Maribel and KarenWoo for your suggestions for Sevilla. I have copied them into my One Note Spain 2024 file and hope to use them to make an itinerary when I have time. Probably that is the best way to determine how much time to spend in each place.

I can't speak for Laura, but I do know that we've enjoyed our lunches at the Parador after our morning visits to the Alhambra. It's easy, still on the Alhambra grounds, just short walk up Calle Real, and the menu features typical Granadino specialties that you may not find elsewhere. As I understand it, the lunch dining is open to non-guests now, but the evening dining is reserved to guests only.
https://paradores.es/es/reservas/res...es/27865-29759

Thanks, everyone, for your comments and appreciation. natylou , yes, I recommend the lunch at the Parador, for both the experience, the food, and the lovely rest in the middle of seeing parts of La Alhambra but not yet others. I personally wouldn't do it just for views, since you have the views while walking around and you can also get those elsewhere. But for all the rest, yes, definitely. We started with the Nasrid Palaces and Alcazaba fortresses at noon, had our lunch at the Parador at 2:30, and after lunch walked through the Generalife gardens right up to closing time. This worked out perfectly for us - just as we were wanting to get off our feet for a bit, it was time for lunch. I'll say tho' that prior to some challenges with our bodies, we probably would have enjoyed arriving a little earlier and having a little more time overall.

And now, on to Córdoba! Where I have few notes, so it'll be shorter. I came down with a cold on the way from Granada to Córdoba, so that slowed things down some. I do remember that on arrival, for whatever reason (maybe due to feeling crappy!), I had the thought that it seemed a bit dingy. But I didn't end up feeling that way at all.

By the time we arrived and checked in, we were hungry, but many places were closing from lunchtime and not re-opening til 8 or 8:30. Fortunately when I asked a man who worked at a place we tried to go to but was closing, whether he had anyplace he'd recommend nearby that would be open, he sent us to La Gloria on Calle Claudio Marcelo (he actually walked outside of his restaurant, to better direct us on how to get there from where we were - so often the kindness of strangers impressed us, on this trip!) The place was hopping busy, all locals except us, many traditional dishes to choose from, and all was delicious. Maribel , we managed while in Córdoba to eat every single item (not all at that 1 meal!) you had recommended as Cordoban specialties - the salmorejo (which we'd also enjoyed in Sevilla), the cold almond soup (blanking on the name), the berenjenas con miel, the rabo de toro, and the flamenquin. I think I ate more fried food than I've had in years lol.

Two more food mentions. One, partly because I loved the little Plaza de Dr. Emilio Luque it was on, was breakfast at Aromas - the best freshly squeezed oj this trip, maybe that's why I recovered more quickly than usual from my cold 😉, and lovely homemade butter for my toast. We also enjoyed on our last night, by which time my cold had mainly passed, dinner at Taberna Salinas. That said, I don't think we had a bad meal anywhere.

Highlights of what we did in Córdoba: we had tickets for our arrival evening, because it was the only evening they'd been available, for the light and sound show at the Mezquita. I appreciate having been given this tip - it was a spectacular beginning to our time in Córdoba, both to wind our brief way through the streets and alleyways to get there, and then to see the Mezquita in this way. Since I wasn't feeling great we almost just skipped it, despite having tickets, but I was glad we didn't. Given how I was feeling, we didn't get going until very late the next day, and then once again we did a touristy hop-on hop-off to begin. We've not done these on other trips but for this one it was perfect, we took the bus around one complete loop, and then stayed on to get off at the Palacio de Viana where we so enjoyed the lovely dozen courtyards, patios and gardens. When we finished there, we walked around the corner down to Plaza San Agustin. The church was closed (I forgot to mention, another thing we enjoyed in every one of the cities on this trip, was just ducking into random churches if they were open), but we very much enjoyed a chocolate caliente on the corner of the plaza, and watching children play while their parents talked. I then called a cab to come right there to pick us up (we waited a bit but none were going by) and that worked out perfectly and led to yet another very fun conversation with one of the taxistas - I forget if I'd mentioned, that conversations with cab drivers was another favorite thing everywhere! I found the cab drivers to be very proud of their cities and happy to talk about them.

Of course, another huge highlight, separate from the evening show, was our other trip to the Mezquita. I'd wanted to get up and go for 8:30AM per progol's tip, but my cold just wasn't going to let that happen so I let it go and just said we'll get there when we get there. We ended up not getting there til an hour before it closed (I don't even remember what we did earlier in the afternoon since this memory has now wiped out whatever came before it), and wow!!! This is another time of day I highly recommend. First of all, and who knows maybe this is more typical than I know, there was no line at all for tickets. And, after about 15 minutes, many people started leaving, so the last 45 minutes of our visit, there were very few people, it was quiet, AND the light of the sun going down was creating rainbows on the pillars - it was completely magical and felt almost unreal.

We also very much enjoyed in Córdoba, being on the Roman Bridge at night and looking back at the Mezquita-Cathedral all lit up; exploring the Judería and Sinagoga (especially appreciated the plaza and statue to Maimonides as had studied him when younger); and on our last day (by which I was feeling better) we enjoyed walking up from the Plaza de las Tendillas, to the Plaza de Colon with its Jardines de la Merced, resting on a bench there and watching the world go by, and then walking through the little Santa Marina neighborhood and stumbling upon the Puerta del Rincon with its lovely statue, right next to a piece of the old tower and wall from the old medina (one of the things I loved in Córdoba was how often we'd come upon pieces of the wall in seemingly random places). From there, we came down a street and found ourselves, to our surprise as we hadn't been looking at a map, back at the Palacio de Viana! We then did pull out a map, and discovered that a perfect and not-too-long way of winding back to our apartment for a rest, would be to go by way of the Casa de los Villalones, the Iglesia Fernandina Real Convento de San Pablo, and Templo Romano.

The Saturday night we were there was when I was feeling at my worst, so sadly we didn't get out to be part of that "scene" - we'd hoped to walk over to the Plaza de las Tendillas for that. Tho' we got a small taste of it just by seeing all the people out and about as we headed near our place to a farmacía and a take-out place for simple shwarma sandwiches (which turned out to be very good!). What we did see the next day, was all the people at the end of a large political demonstration (we were to see that again in Madrid). I asked someone what was going on, as couldn't tell by the signs, and learned (even more later by following up with reading), about the parliamentary election that was to take place on the day we were leaving Spain. I also got into a conversation with a worker at a pastelería about it, and she strongly disagreed with the protesters - so it was interesting to witness that slice of Spain life.

Again no doubt I'm forgetting things but there you have it, so much for being short, I should know by now I never am lol! I'll post some pictures now, and hopefully soon, finish this trip report with our brief time in Toledo and Madrid.

Beautiful photos, go_laura! Isn't Córdoba magical at night? Especially from the Roman Bridge looking back to the Mezquita. Sorry you had a nasty cold but your decision to spend 4 nights turned out to be the right one, giving you time, despite feeling under the weather, to discover all the hidden crannies in the city and to explore it at leisure. And I'm very proud of you tasting all the Cordoban specialties! (The cold almond soup is ajo blanco.)

I've put Aromas on the Plaza de Dr. Emilio Luque on my list for breakfast for my March trip, so thanks for the tip!.

I really enjoyed your visit to Cordoba, one of my favorite places! I can tell by your gorgeous photos and your report that you saw more of Cordoba than we did. You were smart in staying 4 nights, especially since you ended up getting sick. We were there for 2 nights, and I always wished we had an extra night to explore the Juderia more. Did you have time to visit the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos? That was another favorite of ours. The gardens are beautiful. I remember some people telling me it wasn't worth visiting but I'm glad I didn't listen to them.

I always advise people to spend at least a night or 2 in Cordoba instead of visiting as a daytrip. I think people who only visit as a day trip can't really appreciate Cordoba's beauty and ambiance. And as both you and Maribel said, walking across the Roman Bridge and looking back at the illuminated Mezquita is magical!

Thanks so much, go_laura, for this part of your report, especially. Life catches up with you when arriving home from a vacation doesn't it? Your photos are beautiful, and your narrative is much appreciated! Sorry you got sick, that really can affect one's enjoyment of a place. This happened to me when we arrived in Dubrovnik. Not sure if it was the crowds, the heat or the flu that really diminished my enjoyment of that place! I had booked a really nice hotel with a beautiful pool and was unable to use the pool because I was sick, but still the views were magnificent.

I am really looking forward to Cordoba. The view from the bridge at night is something I will really enjoy. Although we have been to S Spain twice, we haven't been to Cordoba. I do remember loving Granada though. Thanks for the endorsement of lunch at the Alhambra.

I also love your timing trick. We often find that arriving towards the end of the day instead of the early hour results in less crowds as people begin to leave.

natylou,
For lunch at the Parador inside the Alhambra grounds, you can book online here
https://paradores.es/en/restaurant-parador-de-granada

Thanks Maribel for the link.