(Sadly) Back from 2 Amazing Weeks in Spain
 

Just returned on Sunday evening and have been up to my neck at work, but I'm planning to cobble together a trip report over the weekend.

A quick summary: In January, I surprised Mom with the news that she was going on a paid two-week trip to Spain and (as anticipated) she was thrilled. Everything went off as planned ... it was a relaxing, beautiful, completely unrushed time.

The itinerary was:
Seville for 4 nights with a daytrip to Cordoba
Countryside location (2-3 miles from Ronda) with a rental car for 4 nights with daytrips to Grazalema, Setenil, and Ronda
Granada for 2 nights
Madrid for 4 nights with a daytrip to Segovia

My wish list of things to visit was, I thought, extremely modest, but we ended up hitting just a few major sights and opting for more time to sit at cafes, stroll, and relax (we decided that on the first afternoon).

In more than a dozen trips to Europe, this might be the most reluctant I've ever been to leave somewhere or for a trip to be finished. Spain absolutely surpassed all of the high expectations ... the scenery, the food, the people, the architecture ... all of it was truly spectacular.

So many trip reports on these areas have been posted that I'll make mine brief, but hopefully will have a new restaurant or accommodation option that haven't been covered.

Heather, I'm looking forward to your trip report. We're leaving for our trip to Spain in 6 days and we'll be covering much of the same territory. I'd love to hear about your experiences...

Hi Chi Heather ~ Welcome home!

You trip sounds fantastic, I can't wait for the report!

Heather, how did you like the different cities in the Andalusia area? Any suggestions for those of us that will be going to that area? You must have had a car, how was the driving?

Welcome Back! I can't wait to hear all about Spain. My sister is headed to Barcelona tomorrow... lucky duck!

So glad you had a great time here, heather :) Looking forward your report !

Well, can't wait to hear about your trip. My husband and I may plan a trip there this summer, -- a last minute trip and will need ideas, reasonable hotel recommendations, etc.

Heather, may I ask what is the best way to get from Sevilla to Cordiba: train?
Also, we will be doing a daytrip from Madrid to Segovia? Any advice on it would be greatly appreciated.
(We are not planning to rent a car).
Thanks,
Argus1500

Heather, welcome back! I am so happy you had a good time and it looks like you did a lot of wonderful stuff. I can't wait to hear about it!

Argus- though not Heather, I can answer your questions. The train from Sevilla to Córdoba is the best way to get between the two cities.

For a day trip to Segovia, take a bus. It is faster and cheaper than the train, and they have more departure/return times throughout the day.

Oh, I love Spain, am also awaiting your trip report.

I'm so sorry for the delay ... I ended up having to work part of the weekend and have been at work late, too (part of the price of two weeks off).

Laclaire, I cannot wait to take advantage some day of your amazing advice for Barcelona. Thank you for getting back to Argus, too. We ended up taking the train to Segovia, but only because we missed out on the Strawberry Train (sold out) so we were already in the train station.

My partial post is going to cover Seville while the rest is still being put into Word. It is much wordier than anticipated, so I'll try to cut back as the report progresses.

HERE GOES ...

While I have a lengthy list of places to visit or revisit, some aspect usually pushes me over the edge in favor of one or another of the destinations. This time, an enormous desire to see the Prado (I’m a bit of a museum geek, but it was among many other factors) led me to choose Spain for a vacation.

Here a few of the more general Spain sites that I bookmarked while researching. More specific ones are within the report by location. If anyone is interested, I can come back with more info on how I plan destinations, length of stays, budgeting, etc.

http://www.maribelsguides.com/
http://www.innsofspain.com/?r=5
http://travelinginspain.com/
http://www.busstation.net/main/busspa.htm
http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Dest...s/?language=en
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/spain/
http://spainforvisitors.com/
http://www.andalucia.com/
http://www.sol.com/moduloca.asp?idCA=1
http://en.cadiznet.com/

A quick disclaimer that I’m trying to churn this report out quickly and I don’t take notes or journal. In piecing the following together from memory, receipts, and the like, errors and omissions most likely will be frequent. I apologize in advance for them but bow to their inevitability.

AIRFARE
Just a quick note on airfare … after the trip itinerary was pretty solid, I started searching for airfare and was a bit worried that the lowest fares for either roundtrip Chicago>Madrid and open jaw into Madrid and out of Seville were in the $950+ range. The departure date was Saturday, May 20, and the return on Sunday, June 4. While surfing the almost always enlightening Forum, one simple piece of advice from RufusTFirefly stood out – reverse your itinerary. So simple, yet so money-saving. While the itinerary going into Madrid and out of Seville was preferred for various reasons, it was quickly flipped in exchange for $680 open jaw fares. Thanks, again, Rufus, for helping save my budget nearly $600! An amount more appreciatively applied on the ground toward tapas and sangria.

The flights were American direct Chicago to/from Heathrow with Iberia between Heathrow and Spain. All went well with American but Iberia had numerous glitches. Nothing too awful considering we arrived at both ends safely, which, in the end, is my measure of a good flight. The 5,000-foot drop in less than 30 seconds on the Iberia flight to Heathrow was a bit more than bargained for, though. The flight attendants on all of the legs were some of the nicest that I’ve ever encountered.

SEVILLE
The flight path from Heathrow to Seville seemed to curve east, arcing back southwest across Spain, taking us over some great scenery. The sun was setting as we flew southwesterly into Seville. It was gorgeous.

The Iberia flight into Seville was delayed, so it arrived around 11:00 p.m., which is after the shuttle quits running. We took a cab to the hotel, which ran around €30. Apparently, a few days prior, the temps were around 100 (104 in Cordoba). We drove into the city with the windows down and the weather was stunning. No humidity, gorgeous breeze, and the temperature was maybe 68. My kind of weather. The roadways were lined with huge flowering bushes and palm trees were blowing in the night air. I really do enjoy vacation.

We stayed at Hotel Simon for four nights in a double that cost €85 with a mid-sized private bath.
http://www.hotelsimonsevilla.com/frame.htm

A couple of quick notes on the hotel. It was charming, clean, and the staff was very nice. The room was not enormous, but plenty big enough for the two of us. The room had a very narrow balcony overlooking the street, which also added to the charm, but was noisy if you like sleeping with the windows open. I don’t use a hotel for many services, so not sure what else to say for the review. A vending machine just off the lobby has inexpensive, ice cold water, soda, and beer (around €0,60). For the money, location, quality, etc., I would stay here again.

The hotel charged €4.5 for a dreary breakfast. Skip this for a very good option about a block or so away at the corner of Vinuesa (the hotel is located on this street) and Constitucion. It’s right across from one of the cathedral’s corners but the name escapes me. It has sit-down service, a stand-up bar, and take away – lots of good pastries and a large deli selection of cheeses, meats, and the like for picnics. The prices were reasonable. Or, if you’re a coffee addict (for American-style coffee) like my mom, we would carry out to the Starbucks that is kitty-corner across Constitucion.

Speaking of this corner (and nearly every other in Seville), prepare for construction, renovation, and a lot of scaffolding and cranes. Seville is renovating and, apparently, leaving no cranny un-spiffed. From what many of the locals said, this is an excellent sign of a burgeoning economy and increased tourism. Though, there weren’t many crowds during our stay. Tour bus crowds appeared at the usual places (the alcazar, the cathedral, and a bit around some of the Santa Cruz area), but no crush and no jostling. Once you turned a corner away from the main sights, it was very peaceful.

Just a quick note on the architecture … it’s gorgeous! Even with all of the work being done, the buildings are just stunning, and the unexpectedness of turning a windy street and ending up in a small park/plaza was delightful. Being from a city laid out on an almost perfect grid, I fully admit to finding the streets confounding even with a map. But, our itinerary was very, very open, so wandering was fine and never time wasted.

Some random Seville links:
http://www.exploreseville.com/
http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Dest...es?language=en
http://www.sol.com/en/modulo.asp?IdP...;IdContenido=2
http://www.andalucia.com/cities/sevilla.htm
http://www.turismosevilla.org/

MONDAY, MAY 22 (a.k.a, Our First Full Day in Spain)

Anticipating a late arrival, I arranged a 10:30 a.m. walking tour to get the lay of the land, and it was incredibly informative and enjoyable. We used http://www.sevillawalkingtours.com/ingles.html and the tour cost €10 per person. Our guide was incredibly interesting and leisurely walked our group of approximately 15 through the main sites and areas. It wasn’t something I had done before and was happy to start out our stay this way (just put the hyper-planning portion of my brain on cruise and was very entertained). The small agency also offers tours of the cathedral and alcazar. If you take multiple tours, the cost is lower per tour.

With the walking tour wrapping up around 1:00 p.m., we walked to Triana. Again, lots of work going on in this area. It looks like the neighborhood is being “revitalized”. While I read that this was an area akin to Chicago’s Wicker Park or New York’s Village neighborhoods, it appeared that older businesses (Flamenco dancing studios and shops, etc. were liquidating and closing). Not sure if it’s a sign of a larger transition of Triana, but just reporting what I saw. If anyone has insight more insight on this, please feel free to share.

We were starting to hear stomach rumblings and not a lot of the restaurants were open. From research and our guide, this area along the river was pointed out for good seafood. We headed down Calle Betis (#6) and ended up finding ourselves in front of La Albariza, which was a fantastic first meal in Seville (we didn’t count the dreadful hotel breakfast). According to the receipt, lunch consisted of some very poor handwriting and it cost €32.50. In reality, we had some delicious (pardon the ghastly interpretation if the spelling if wrong) tortilla de camarones and a mixed fried seafood platter with fantastic sangria. The tortilla dish had what appeared to be shrimp so small they could only have been ordered from the back of a comic book, but the dish was outstanding. It’s too much of a disservice to call the seafood fried as it brings bad childhood memories of Long John Silver’s to mind. The fish was outstanding. We went on to see hake on many menus, but this was the first time I ever tried it. All of the seafood was very good, including melt-in-your-mouth calmari.

We walked around in the zero-humidity, mid-70’s, completely sunny weather to burn off some of the lunch. Since Triana is known for its ceramics, we window shopped a bit. After all, it was still siesta time. It was refreshing to be in a city and, as we discovered, a country that hasn’t altered itself to comply with tourists’ demands. Plus, it just gives another reason to stroll or sit awhile and really enjoy a relaxing vacation (this aspect will appear a lot in this report).

After shops began reopening, we bought a few very inexpensive dishes for gifts in Pisano. Definitely not traditional ceramics, but cute and inexpensive. I bought 4 plates to hang in my kitchen and they were only €3 each. And, buying heavy, breakable souvenirs on the first day of a two-week trip is such a brilliant idea. This is one vow, along with not lugging home umpteen bottles of wine, I always seem to forget while traveling.

On our leisurely walk back across the river, we wandered upon the Capote Bar. Situated under an extremely large pond and along the river (nestled in a nook near the Puente de Isabel I), this was a place to truly relax. Serving killer, expertly made mojitos and caipirinhas, this was a perfect place to enjoy the afternoon (and early evening) breeze while basking in the art of doing nothing. Day 1, not yet 16:00 p.m. Obviously, it takes me days to unwind from the stress of city living.

The early and mid-evening was spent walking down the many pedestrian shopping streets and trying on Camper shoes. Even after 2 drinks, we ended up full of restraint and didn’t purchase any funky Camper Twins.

For dinner, we ended up eating at a very off-the-beaten-path recommended by someone we met. It wasn’t outstanding or memorable, so the fact that the name escapes me isn’t a big loss.

TUESDAY, MAY 23 – DAYTRIP TO CORDOBA

Misc. links for Cordoba:
http://www.travelinginspain.com/cordoba.html
http://www.andalucia.com/cities/cordoba.htm
http://www.spain.info/TourSpain/Dest...tm?language=en
http://community.webshots.com/album/37842052CRJsvC

We woke early, picked up coffee and pastries, and wandered to a nearby cab stand for the train station. The ride cost less than €5, but it was definitely too far to walk. We bought tickets for the AVE train at 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Cordoba in at 9:40 a.m. There is a T.I. in the station where you can pick up a good free map. Again, we spent €4-5 for a cab to the Mezquita.

The Mezquita (entry fee is €8) was indescribably, really. It was one of the nonnegotiable must-sees on my list of sights to visit. It completely surpassed all the photos and information found online. If you are anywhere near Cordoba, this should be on your itinerary. In the end, we spent at least 2-3 hours gawking inside and still probably missed seeing it all. The tour busses really started piling up after 11:30 or so, so going early paid off with very few people inside for the first hour or two (but it is so large that you barely notice groups of 30-40 even).

To make it on the 14:42 AVE train (arriving Seville 13:35), we really gave Cordoba much too little time. Because the weather was so stunning – breezy, incredible blue skies, and very warm, we spent an hour or so nosing through the windy streets and not going into any other sights. Then, we followed our nose to a good place for lunch. Many places didn’t open until 13:00-13:30 for lunch, which was too late to catch the train. But, we ended up eating at Taberna Casa Salinas, which was a very good choice. The waitress was incredibly nice and recommended some local dishes that were excellent and very reasonable. (I’ll try to track down the receipt with the names.) The meal ended up costing well under €20 and the waitress gave us glasses of the most delicious local liquor for after-dinner drinks. We couldn’t quite work the communication out to figure out what it was, but it tasted fruity and was a pretty pomegranate kind of color.

Arriving back at the Seville train station, we had the cab take us to “Pilate’s House”. It’s free to wander to ground level gardens, but it costs €4 to tour the inside of the house (upstairs). The 16:00 tour was in English and lasted only 15-20 minutes. The home is privately owned and the family lives in it part of the year. The whole visit takes a leisurely hour and is worth it if you have time in your schedule.

For dinner, we ended up at Cerveceria Giralda (Mateos Gago, No. 1). At one point, we took a circuitous route and had to ask directions from a man who was entering his apartment building. He said it was a restaurant he frequented (with a forlorn look in his eye that tourists might be overrunning it) and that it was very good. The food was good with a large selection and very reasonable prices. Arriving at 22:00, we had a brief wait. When we left at 23:45, there were approximately 15 people waiting for tables.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 24

Today, we visited the Cathedral (€7,50 entry) in the morning and the Alcazar (€7 entry) in the afternoon. Both are spectacular and deserving of at least 2 hours each. The Cathedral is the third largest in Europe and is just amazing. The treasury was certainly a highlight as were the main chapel and La Antigua Chapel.

After the Cathedral, we ate lunch at Casa Robles (Alvarez Quintero, 58). The waiter recommended one of the most delicious dishes we ate during our trip. It was what can best be described as a molded shrimp and egg appetizer with caviar on top. While it sounds not-so-hot, it was excellent, as was our entire meal. With several small dishes, bread, and drinks, the bill was €30. Well worth every cent, too.

After a long lunch, we arrived at the Alcazar a bit later in the afternoon and the crowds were practically nonexistent. The layout was a tad confusing and we had to backtrack a bit, but it was incredible. Despite our now-tired feet, we wandered in the gardens for at least an hour and a half (not including a quick pick-us-up in the café). Some of the garden photos came out very well and I’ll be posting a link to those soon.

Since we were still full from lunch, we went for a light picnic dinner. The evening was one of the most spectacular I’ve ever seen, so we headed down to “our” Capote Bar for a farewell to Seville caipirinha. The cool breeze off the river, the palm tree overhead, and great music … what a way to end our stay in Seville. We loved the city and were happy to have four nights there.

Having glanced through the Seville report, I've left out so much and am uncertain that a reader could get a good feel for how much we truly liked staying here.

One suggestion is to read a book that I re-read on the trip by my favorite author: "The Seville Communion" by Arturo Perez-Reverte. The previous 2-3 readings were great, but reading it after leaving Seville meant much more and evoked what were already great memories.

So much for proofreading as I scan this ... if you're curious, the Capote Bar is NOT located under a large pond, which would be interesting. That should read PALM. Geesh. The corrections for the myriad other typos seem more obvious.

THURSDAY, MAY 25 – ADIOS SEVILLE

While researching rental cars, the prices were fairly high, particularly since I only wanted the car for four days. All the usual rental agencies were at least $600. No, I can’t drive a manual, so I was going to have to pay the price (literally). Then, I happened upon Helle Hollis. A truly wonderful small company that I cannot recommend enough for service and value. For a full four-day rental of an automatic with all-inclusive insurance, the total cost was €338. And, get this, they delivered the car right to our hotel door in Seville and allowed a one-way drop-off at the Granada airport. Afterwards, I found out that they had to drive the car all the way from Malaga, driving two cars for the return. The car was perfectly immaculate and everyone I dealt with from start to finish was amazingly helpful and courteous.

http://www.hellehollis.com/

I love to drive in Europe and, usually, the drives are some of my favorite memories. Simple advice: if you really want to rent a car but are hesitant, do it. But, if you rent an “automatic” in Spain, beware that they are different than U.S. automatics. If anyone is interested, I can walk you through the hilarious adventure of me trying to start the car (a.k.a. Alfonso) in front of an outdoor bar full of older men in Seville.

The drive from Seville to our next accommodations outside of Ronda was gorgeous. Large, rolling hills, perfectly organized forests of olive groves, endless fields of sunflowers facing the sun, mountain lakes of unearthly blues … I was sorry that it was only a two-hour drive. The only downside to being the driver is having to sneak quick looks on some of the windy roads. Also, the roads were terrific, and the signs are very clearly marked.

The hotel for our four-night country stay took me the longest to find. In 2000, I found a perfect place in Provence with a pool and a completely peaceful away-from-everything (but good for daytrips) location. Replicating that was challenging until I surfed my way to Finca la Guzman. Again, this is one of the four or five recommendations I will truly herald from the trip. The double room with a very large country breakfast was €75 per night.

Guzman is owned by an ex-pat British couple, Peter and Claire, who are extremely interesting, welcoming, lovely people. They could not have made us feel more at home. If you live in England, you may have seen them on a five-part TV show on which they were featured about British ex-pats starting businesses abroad. (I found this out when we arrived.) While both are fluent in Spanish, their guests are mostly British, Dutch, and Belgian, according to Claire.

The location is perfect … about five minutes from Ronda and easy drives to Grazalema, Setenil, and a dozen other places we hope to return to visit some day.

Just a note that Claire and Peter rescue abandoned/abused animals. They had three dogs and eight cats that I counted. These seemed to be the happiest animals in Spain, if not all of Europe. If you have an aversion or strong allergy to animals, this might not be your place.

Also, they had an open kitchen with access to a fully stocked honor bar (almost a mini-supermarket). The refrigerator was stocked with all sorts of beverages from white wine to diet coke to beer. They also had snacks, including ice cream treats (especially popular with the two young boys staying there), nuts, cheeses, and such. Everything seemed to be at cost … beer for €0,40 and so on.

They have endless suggestions for places to sightsee, outdoor activities, and restaurants. Claire also loaned out helpful maps and provided a folder of things to do in the room, which is worth reading just for the restaurant commentaries.

http://www.laguzmana.com/

We absolutely crashed by the pool all afternoon, shamelessly whiling away the hours with our books and cold cervezas. Out in the country and surrounded by olive trees, Guzman seems a million miles away from any towns and is extremely quiet (except for occasional dog panting nearby).

We trotted down to the serviceable Venta at the end of their lane. We weren’t very hungry, which was fine because the food wasn’t that great. Though I don’t recall what we did for lunch. I think we had picnic nibbles for the drive.

FRIDAY, MAY 26

As with every morning, we had a terrific breakfast … eggs however you like, fresh jams, homemade muffins and bread, fresh squeezed orange juice, tea or coffee, etc. Claire presided over the meal and made sure we were stocked up on toast, and I learned what being toast monitor meant. All of the British guests talked about being ink monitor or chalk monitor in school. It was very informative as we sat around the long country table fueling up for the day. Before breakfast ended, though, Claire had to sack our toast monitor.

The weather was very cool and just a little overcast in the morning as we headed off for Grazalema. The drive ended up being about 30-40 minutes and was very pretty. We drove through a cork forest, where you can see where the cork is harvested. It was quite interesting and very pretty. This was one of the curviest roads I’ve driven. At numerous points it had curved around so much that you were “across from” the road you just drove on. Again, some of the photos of this came out well.

I don’t know if we were traveling just ahead of the season, but we only saw about 20 tourists in the village in 3-4 hours. It’s delightful and quiet. We ended up buying some wool wraps and scarves in a very nice store. I’ll track down the card. The prices were extremely fair (€19 for beautiful scarves, €49 or so for medium-sized wraps, €85-120 for very large wraps or ponchos, and blankets started at just over €100). (Later, in Madrid, we noticed in the very large Palace gift shop that they only sold blankets from same shop in Grazalema and they had the royal seal embroidered on them.) Just found two business cards (I bought a stunning lightweight, handknit scarf at the other store … not sure which is which) … one shop is called Pilar Romero, Mateos Gago #14, and the second is Artesania en Lana, Anexo Plaza Espana #18. The shop that has only woolen items is, I believe, the former, and the latter shop also has beautiful leather goods.

We wandered about a lot and ate a delicious, very inexpensive lunch in what seemed to be the main square. If you walk into the square from the parking lot, it is on the right with indoor and outdoor seating. I’ll dig around and see if the receipt pops up somewhere. Also, we bought extraordinary pastries at the bakery right on the same square.

I'm too tired to keep writing tonight, but "tomorrow" in report time is our daytrip to Ronda.

Heather,
Enjoyed your report so far. I hope you will continue.

Will do ... didn't get any feedback, so was worried it was too boring.

No I'm loving it. Planning a first time trip to Spain next year so following your report closely!

Looking forward to your impressions of Madrid. I will be there Next Sunday!

Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful trip with us. WOW--Claire and Peter's place sounds like my kind of place--I LOVE dogs and miss mine so much when travelling that some of my favorite places to stay were places that also had great dogs!

Looking forward to the rest of your report.