Spain June 2011 -- two weeks
 

What to do and what to see and what to eat, for sure! Help! We have two weeks. We have timeshares, so our housing is taken care of. We are also renting a car.

The first week is near Malaga at Mijas-Costa. The second week is at Playa del Albir near Alicante. We can use our timeshares as a base, but can do overnight trips, too.

We want to go to Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia for sure.

David is a professor/artist and loves taking photos and turning them into art. Donna loves watching people and interacting with the locals -- we both speak Spanish, but have only been in Mexico, so may have to change our pronunciation a bit.

We have never been to Spain but like exploring. Looking for suggestions for our adventure...

if you do a bit of research on your own and come up with
a schedule it would be easier to give you suggestions.

I don't understand why you would traverse the country from your bases. You should check out the excellent Rough Guide to Andalucia or Andalucia.com.

Thanks for your suggestions! We will follow up... D and D

You should go to Málaga city, great sights and genuine Andalusian atmosphere. "Authentic charm of an overlooked treasure": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/ci...-treasure.html

You are not far from Ronda; much history and very pictoresque: http://www.andalucia.com/ronda/

And not far from Ronda, you'll find small Ardales with the nearby and spectacularly crazy Camino del Rey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw
http://www.andalucia.com/province/ma...dales/home.htm

And when in Valencia, be sure to visit the food market. Not like this every day, but...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw

We were in Andalucia for a month in November. We stayed in a house and did a small circle from the Malaga-Nerja area to- Granada, Seville, Ronda. Ronda was stunning. The drive from Seville to Ronda was stunning as well.

Nerja is a beautiful town on the coast in Malaga.

I live in Andalucia and there is PLENTY to do and photograph within a MUCH smaller raduis. Barcelona is at the other end of the country and Madrid is a 4 hour high speed train ride from Malaga. Try stay a little closer to homebase and you can see the following within a 2-3 hour drive: Cordoba (has a church turned mosque turned church), Jerez (home of sherry), Cadiz (one of the oldest settlements in Europe), Seville (one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen), Grenada (home of the Alhambra) and Ronda (city staddling a deep gorge). All are very photogenic cities with opportunities to enjoy the Andalucian culture (June is still high time for local Ferias -the spanish version of the couty fair and are VERY Spanish).I think you'll spend too much time travelling to the farther flung places when staying close by your home base would be a better use of your time and give you the opportunity to bask in the spanish culture.
Enjoy!

Caves outside of Nerja are beautiful, check for live concerts. Frigiliana is beautiful & great for photos, go to the Le Jardin restaurant at the top for some great views & good food.

agree with kimhe about Malaga. The old town is charming with more to see than we expected.