<b>Saturday: Sevilla to Ronda</b>
<i>*The Andalucia portion of the trip was requested by DH since he really enjoyed the last time we visited, he wanted to pass through on our way back to Madrid*</i>

Quick and easy exit from the city through Utrera, Espera to Arcos de la Frontera. In Arcos we found a parking lot only to read the sign on the exit saying that the lot closes at <b>14.00 on Saturday</b>; since that was in 30 minutes we moved on to a lot by the tourist office. We luckily caught the lady as she was closing and she gave us a great map with the sites clearly marked.

We started up the very steep hill to the old part of the city and the viewpoint (next to the Parador). The map was a great addition to the notes I had. Here we enjoyed the winding lanes and the view is wonderful. We found a wonderful house for sale and dreamt about that on our walk back to the car. On the way we stopped at a bar for water and soda -- it was sunny and around 28°C.

We drove through El Bosque to Grazalema. We back-tracked to <b>THE most scenic road on the trip</b> CA 531 on my old map but now 9104 (I think) to Zahara de la Sierra. This is a winding road which at the first lookout (going north from Grazalema), after climbing up a bunch of stairs, you have a gorgeous view on both sides of the range -- highly recommended.

Zahara de la Sierra was quite scary due to the extreme steepness of the streets. We continued on the small road as far as we could -- it merged with the A 376 and in no time we were in Ronda. We had visited Ronda before and found our way quickly to the <b>Ronda Parador</b> where we were staying.

My Parador specials did not include Saturday night so I decided to splash out and pay for a superior room. <b>This was the best room of the trip -- N°13</b> (which made us giggle since usually there is never a room 13). It is the corner room on the reception floor with 2 terraces: wonderful views of the gorge and countryside.

We thought it was prime shopping time, and went to a shoe store we had visited before. The shops were all shut tight -- <b>no shopping on Saturday afternoon or Sunday in Spain</b> I guess! We walked through the new part of town then to the old bridge then up to the old section of town. We saw a wedding procession starting -- very pretty. We sat in a park for a bit watching the people and then returned to the Parador via the new bridge.

We missed the pool hours and went down for dinner. We had a lovely dinner - Ajo blanco again for me followed by pasta with pears and blue cheese and almond, pumpkin and cinnamon custard for dessert.

<b>Sunday: Ronda to Ubeda</b>
Wonderful breakfast buffet while gazing at the countryside. We left town on the A366 to El Burgo to see the Acueducto and also to pass through the Puerto del Viento. We then took a very narrow road MA 445 to Ardales and then up the mountain side to E. Tajo de la Encantada.

We stopped to visit the <b>Bobastro </b>and stone church on the way. This was a very pretty drive which continued through El Chorro. At El Chorro, one can hike up to a gorge and view point. It was extremely hot and I said I would wait for my DH; in the end he did not go either.

We continued on small roads through the Sierra de Chimenea to Antequera. Somehow here we got routed to a bypass which took us out of the way but eventually to the freeway. It was a <u>scandal </u>for us to take the freeway but we had many kilometres left to get to Ubeda for the night: A92 to Granada then the N323 towards Jaen. We had visited Granada and Jaen before.

Finally we escaped from the freeway and slipped through Pegalajar, Mancha Real and then the A316 to Baeza. The scenery was lovely and we stopped to look for the Jaen parador and found it with our binoculars.

Today was the Corpus Cristi celebration in Baeza which I <b> DID</b> know about We found parking right by the lions fountain and followed a preplanned route through the old section of town, past the cathedral (which should have been open but unfortunately was not).

The streets were decorated with coloured sawdust paintings and prayers which my DH said he remembered from his childhood in France. We ended up making a broad loop and walked through a bit of the modern section of town. It's a lovely town.

We exited town for the short trip to Ubeda. We had an awful time finding the parador. We had driven a bit too much this day and I swear one of the signs must be missing. After a nasty drive around we finally arrived at the <b>Ubeda Parador </b>which is in the historic old section of town. We had already had a lengthy tour of the new section of town! There is no parking at this Parador but you can pull right up on the plaza -- my DH was loathe to do this -- then park a few 100 metres away by the lookout. My DH rested, I drank and then we went for dinner. The dinner was very good and the portions were enormous. After dinner we felt better and walked around visiting the facades of the buildings which were all lit up and very dramatic.

<b>Monday: Ubeda to Madrid</b>
Again a lovely breakfast. We went to visit the Iglesia de El Salvador which was splendid and then checked out. Due to our bad luck in driving I was not interested in delaying our arrival in Madrid. As planned we took the freeway and had no difficulty or bad directions and arrived at the Estacion Chamartin with 3 hours to spare. We returned our car and they did not say anything about the bumper gouges (we suspect it happened in Segovia), bought newspapers and turron and read. The return trip on the train was uneventful and pleasant. We had dinner in the dining car and the food was surprisingly good. We arrived on Tuesday morning to rainy cold Paris.

Thanks for reading this long report!

moxie,
I'm following this with much interest as we plan to return to this area, and certainly to Sevilla. Your take on Las Casas de la Juder&iacute;a is interesting to me, as when we were there, I checked the place out because it's gotten so many rave reviews, and wasn't all that impressed. For one, it smelled musky to me and the people at the reception area didn't seem very responsive to my request for information (which was made in Spanish, true rather awful Spanish, but still...)

Thanks again for sharing this information.

Great report, thanks Moxie!

Ian

I found the address for the convent cookie shop in Seville:
&quot;El Torno&quot;
Pza El Cabildo, S/n
tel 95 421 91 90

All the sweets we've tasted have been very good - especially good are the cookies made with pumpkin.

moxie, Very nice report. As I said earlier, of a path less traveled. But you never said anything really negative about some cities except the hotel in one of the places And send DH to gym regularly so he can lift the luggage without any problems in the future Just kidding.

Glad you had a good time.

Hi moxie I loved your report. I feel like taking a plane and leaving right away for Spain.
You mentioned you stayed in Hotel Amadeus in a previous trip I was thinking of goint to the Amadeus next time in Seville where I would like to stay for a week. How was it? Have you or any one stayed at the Bequer Hotel?, I have not stayed in Casa de la Juderia but somehow I knew that in spite of the good reviews it was not for me.
Let me tell we stayed in Hotel Do&ntilde;a Maria, 4 stars and all,paid for a superior room a and I did not like it. On top breakfast was horrible, we tried once and then of course we had breakfast in a nice cafe.
On the other hand I liked the Petit Palace Maques de Santa ANa ( great breakfast there)but for a full week or more I would like to spend a little less besides I thought rooms are fine but I think I would prefer the Amadeus or Bequer. Also I would like to have more personalized attention at the front desk.
To give you an example, at the Petit Palace Marques de Santa Ana where we spent five days in 2006, I asked to a young woman at the front desk for a hairdresser. She suggested the Corte Ingles, WOW¡¡ I know where the Corte Ingles is located , it is very far from that hotel an the end of Calle Sierpes, so instead I stepped out the hotel, and stopped on the street the first lady I saw passing by, and she goes, &quot;Of course, right around the corner&quot;..., a few yards from the hotel, there is a very nice hairdresser. And it was exactly what I needed. This is an example of impersonal hotels, at least for me.
Of all your wonderful trip, and great meals , what did you liked best? what city is &quot;calling you back&quot; ?
I would love to know.

moxie-- RE: Bridge in Arenas de San Pedro. It is a Roman bridge (the materials plus the design of a large middle arch with laterals kind of gives it away). Like most Roman bridges in that part of Spain, it is very well preserved with the latest documented overhaul in medieval times, around the 14-15 Century.

I love architecture and spent some time researching Romanic buildings and bridges in that region of Spain.

Great trip report; too much food details for my taste (no pun intended!), but great route, off the beaten path. Fabulous!!

Thanks for your kind comments.

I thought I was negative about the world heritage cities being over restored and touristy

Hotel Amadeus is not bad at all; the breakfast is really basic so you are better off with the bars in the street. We were spoilt with a special rate at the Hotel Alfonso where you truly are treated well for not that much more than Las Casas...

Without a doubt <b>M&eacute;rida</b> is calling me back (and I would never pass up a trip to Sevilla). Best dinner was in Guadalupe though La Juderia in Seville was very good.

moxie, I think you had a change of heart over the last one week If so, good for you.

Moxie great report. As for me, I LOVE the food details! Good to know about the hotel in Sevilla, bummer!