portuense... guess you've seen this clip of Antonio's grandmother Tia Juana, fantastic. As her daughter said, "she was a cathedral".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVK395ilU2k

Just saw that Juana la del Pipa will perform during the Jerez festival on the 6th of March together with Dolores Agujetas and La Macanita, perhaps have to make new travel plans...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQnc5eyjQoA

Hi Tunema,
I visited Spain in June 09.
12 days- I spent 4 days in Seville. It was just right.
It is verrrry beautiful. We stayed at Hotel Alcazar- Beautiful view of the church, Alcazar and gardens, right across Bario Da Santa Cruz, very close to bus station.
Don't miss the Flemenco bar "La Carbonaria". Locals and tourists both come here. Out of the world. Above all--No entrance charges, wine for 2 Euros.
We fell in love with Seville. spend at least 3 days there. You can do day trips to Cordoba and Ronda, jerez from here.
Best luck.

Kim I saw Antinio El Pipa & his crew here & loved them.

Does Tunema like flamenco...??(What's not to like but well you never know..)

amsdon,
Well, the thread started to sort of live a life of its own...

yes, sort of organic...where can we take it now? spanish booze anyone? football? customs? coffee (i can bang on for ever about this one)...

Stumbled upon this place last time in Málaga. Must be the best place for coffee and chocolate con churros ever!
http://www.casa-aranda.net/

i've been there too - v good. wonder if josele is a regular...

mind you, as i've said before, for me nothing beats cafe con leche (en vaso) y un mollete con jamon serrano y aceite. In fact just back from this morning's edition - another new location on my unending quest to find el mejor desayuno de andalucia...

A good breakfast place is essential, a pity that many travellers stays with a boring hotel breakfast when the culinary and social feast of a local Spanish breafast normally is just a block or two away.

kim, you have just expressed the single most important thing about visiting spain. i can only back you 100%. ban the buffet and make a break for the local bar.

for me nothing beats cafe con leche (en vaso) y un mollete con jamon serrano y aceite. >>#

ok, porthugese, i get the cafe con leche and the con jamon serrano, but what about the mollete and the y aceite?

is it " cafe with milk and a [piece of] bread with serrano ham and vinegar"? ??? surely not.

i agree about ban the buffet - they are mostly very samey and very expensive.

A mollete is a round roll (somewhat soft) originating from Antequera and typical for desayuno in Andalucia.

"un mollete con jamon serrano y aceite" would be with serrano ham and olive oil.

My favorite desayuno is when they have the tomato/garlic puree to spread on the mollete along with the serrano and olive oil (similar to pan con tomate in Catalonia). You've made me suddenly very hungry ;)

The only time I eat the breakfast buffet at the hotel is when it's included in the price (or free). Otherwise I love starting my day eating at a local bar, particularly in or near a market.

aha - thanks, Cathy.

I'd more or less got it apart from the aceite being olive oil - though i think i knew that somewhere in my brain.

I love pan con tomate, but I'm not sure about it for breakfast. chocolate con churros is more my "tasse de te".

that's the thing cathy...can't do the garlic if you needd to talk to someone at some point during the day! there is a certain appeal in rubbing raw cloves of garlic into an oiled tostada if your day is your own.
my least favourite breakfast option is manteca (lard - tripe) especially the hideously orange stuff "flavoured with tomato". Still, I know people who swear by it, especially builders and agricultural workers, who claim it gives them strength for the day (effect on heart unknown but can be guessed at).
And I've never had the luxury of a day where I have absolutely nothing to do which is why I've never joined the old boys in downing a glass (or two) of aniseed liqueur for breakfast. Frequently you see them knocking it back then marching out of the venta and jumping into a car...

What's lard got to do with tripe? Different animal: different bits.

Manteca, surely, is straightforward lard: rendered pigfat, and strictly speaking the fat that surrounds the internal organs. Sometimes flavoured - but it's never mixed with other offal, is it?

Tripe is bovine stomach lining, to be distinguished from the bits and bobs of gamier innards known in Spanish as tripas. Neither has any known deleterious effect on hearts or arteries

yeah yeah thanks for the lesson flanneruk - to be honest i wouldn't go near either of them which is why i couldn't remember what it was. either way you have to have a screw loose to spread it on your toast

I only like chocolate con churros, if the churro stands upright in the chocolate.

either way you have to have a screw loose to spread it on your toast>>

no turkey dripping for you then, portuense.

what a shame, it's one of the best bits!

Anyone for a carajillo?

I think there is a lot of good advice from previous posts. We have driven all over Spain however it is also wonderful to do it by train because this way you take out a lot of things out of your head. <<I agree you can go to Toledo by train or bus from Madrid, coming back to Madrid it is a short distance and then take the Ave Train to Cordoba and Sevilla. From Cordoba you can go to Granada not to be missed. To include Antequera is a good choice as well as other lovely cities or towns like Ubeda and Baeza etc. If you must go to Ronda you can drive there but I would leave it for another time. It is not possible to include so many places, so as someone said read a little about the different places, choose what appleas more to you and keep it to a short list. Seville is more important than the others and there is a lot to see and do. From Seville you can visit for the day other places too like Carmona only a short drive.
A guide book can give you a lot of information like pre booking some visits like the visit to the Alhambra in Granada which surely is going to be one of the highlights of your trip.
It would be nice to include a stay in one of the Paradores which are so unique and fun and offer all kind of promotions like Años Dorados for Seniors etc.

I'm a bit troubled by the fact that graziella has chosen to ignore the breakfast theme and gone back to the original topic...
and, er, no turkey dripping thanks. i'm not sure what will grace the christmas table in the portuense household this year. ideally it would be goose but fat chanced of getting one here...likewise pheasant. could probably hunt out a duck (not literally) otherwise it's a turkey but would have to be bought from the farmer. never tasted turkey like the ones they rear on farms here...