Well, we're home, we're sifting through our 9 rolls of film and it was estupendo!!!
Daughter preceded me to Madrid by 18 days and - - hosted by a college friend and her family - - saw La Escorial, Toledo, Bilbao, Pamplona, vinyards of La Rioja, and Barcelona, as well as lots of time in Madrid.
I arrived and enjoyed 2 nights in Madrid (Hotel Villa Real) while daughter escorted me on a best of Madrid tour. Great meal at Botin (on edge of Plaza Mayor). We rented a Hertz-mobile at the Atocha train station and headed out. Spent mid-day in Toledo (definitely a blast into the past) and made Granada by twilight.
Parador de San Francisco, in Granada, has - - hands down - - the best location possible if your primary objective in Granada is La Alhambra. We stayed 2 nights. On Day 1, La Alhambra was unexpectedly closed due to some labor dispute. This turned out to be a great boon to us, because there were no tourist busses or tours up on the hill, yet the grounds were open to those of us who ventured out. We had the place to ourselves and took lots of great photographs without crowds of people in the views. Ventured into town in late afternoon to take in the view from Mirador San Nicholas, as recommended on this and other travel boards. Wandered the nearby neighborhoods and enjoyed wandering the backstreets around the university.
After our tour of the palace and other areas closed on Day 1, we headed out into rural Andalucia toward Ronda. It was great fun to get off the beaten path and onto the backroads through the little if-you-blinked-you-missed-it towns. Ronda is a bustling little town surrouned on three sides by 600 foot cliffs into the Gorge. The Parador de Ronda enjoys some of the prime real estate, but was the most pretentious of all the paradores we encountered in terms of trying to be chic/cool/with it. We enjoyed shopping in this town. Wonderful meal at the fish restaurant just north of the Parador. We bought some fine ceramics here, which turned out to be the only buying we did the entire trip.
Zigzagged our way out of Ronda, through Ubreque and ultimately into the coastal town of Mazagon, where again, we arrived at the Parador just before twilight. Spent a lazy evening listening to the waves and lounging about. True to the publicity, the paradores did offer fabulous meals representative of the regions/towns. They were pleasant and friendly, especially to the language-challenged. Meals were usually at least as expensive as the rooms.
The town of Mazagon in December is like any coastal area that revels in its rest from the summer tourist industry. Sleepy little town full of places that promised to be hopping in the summer months.
Enjoyed a quick foray into Portugal and the scenic town of Talivera between Mazagon and Sevilla. Open border but different currency. We were there on Sunday and most everything was closed, but it was worth the trip because the architecture, stonework, and tiling were dramatically different from anything we had seen in Spain. Roads were good, people friendly, and our California espanol (learned from street names and subdivisions) was of no use whatsoever in dealing with Portuguese!
Although we had reservations for the Parador de Carmona (about 30 miles outside Seville) we opted to stay at the Hotel Casa Imperial right in the heart of the Santa Cruz Barrio and walking distance from many of the major sites in Sevilla. This was the most expensive place we stayed, but it was also a really fun and friendly establishment, with 24 rooms, it could be intimate and offer high quality service. Our rooms on the second floor included a spiral staircase up to the third to the bedroom and bath and another spiral staircase up to the roof which offered spectacular views in all directions. Staff was helpful, friendly, and full of splendid suggestions for places to eat. Very glad to have scheduled 2 nights in Sevilla, because it is a wondrous city with much to see and do. Enjoyed wandering about the streets and neighborhoods, and felt right at home in this city.
The mosque (La Mezquita) in Cordoba was a highlight on our site seeing list (second only to La Alhambra) and still had 2 nights left in Madrid to explore, mingle with the Christmas shopping crowd and prepare for the long journey home.
Though we saw places where tourists could definitely be taken advantage of, we found that keeping our wits about us and being mindful of the people around us and being discreet in dress, actions and behavior served us well. A mother-daughter duo throughout our travels, we felt secure in city and countryside, daytime and on the streets as late as 1 am.
A charmed trip, no complaints. The car was wonderful for moving from town to town. In towns, the car stayed parked at the hotel and we used our feet and taxis. We abandoned our original plan to turn in the car in Sevilla and use the AVE to Cordoba and back to Madrid. Instead, we kept the car and turned it in as we re-entered Madrid. This site, the AOL travel boards and the
http://www.parador.es website stood us in great stead. We couldn't rent a room in most any US city as nice as those in the Paradores for twice the price!
Faffo & daughter
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