After 3 weeks in Madrid, Cordoba, Grenada, and Seville all on public transportation, my husband and I will have a car and 9 days to explore the white hill towns, coast (Spain and/or Portugal) and smaller towns near Madrid before flying out of Madrid. We are open to any ideas!! What would you do???

From southern Spain I would drive up the Extramadura, visiting Merida, Caceres, etc. on to Salamanca, Avila and Segovia to end the car trip in Madrid.

Thank you for the suggestion. We've now poured over maps, and computer and are very intrigued with the area. Are you a hiker??

Not particularly. But between Salamanca and Caceres we went through a mountain area that probably would be more interesting for hiking than the area between Caceres and Merida.

These pictures up to Seville are of the trip we took in reverse: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...th/4175185614/

Visiting many pueblos blancos to me is highly over rated. Please note it is Granada, Grenada is the island the US invaded about 30 years ago to free some medical students who were lounging about.

What do you want to see in Portugal?