Category: Spain
Having visited five cities and towns on this trip, I will say that Ronda is my favorite. I now understand why many authors are enchanted by this town. Listening to chirping birds and watching them soar across the deep gorge, inhaling crisp fall air in the peaceful morning, and enjoying breakfast with a view of … Continue reading Exploring Ronda
Woke up early to catch our 8am train to Ronda. By the time we got to Ronda, it was 11am, too early to check into our Airbnb. Luckily, we were able to store both our luggage at Hotel Andalusia located right across the train station for 5€ before heading into town. Ronda is small. There … Continue reading Ronda
The original plan was to leave for Ronda today. However, by the time I got around to booking our train tickets, the train was already full. What I had failed to realize was that today is All Saints Day, which is a public holiday for the Spaniards. Given that today is the last day of … Continue reading Extra Day in Granada
The crown jewel of Granada. So popular that by the time we got there with our advance purchased tickets at 8:15am, all tickets for the day were already sold out. The general ticket gets you into the Nasrid palace (star of the show), Alcazaba fort, Charles V palace, and the Generalife summer home. This royal … Continue reading Alhambra
The rain predicted for today didn’t really materialize until early evening, and even then the rain was sporadic - mostly off than on. And today, we got a brief but important lesson on Spanish history. Back in high school, we had briefly learned about some Spanish Queen funding an Italian guy for his trip to … Continue reading Granada Cathedral & Royal Chapel
A 2-hour train ride from Córdoba brought us to Granada. Granada is a much larger city with more to see. However, it’s main draw for most is the Alhambra. Our tickets are for Sunday, which means we have a couple of days to wander before hand. Today will be the last sunny day in the … Continue reading Views of Alhambra
Old Town Córdoba is charming but small. We saw most of it yesterday in a few hours. Today, we got a chance to retrace some of our steps to get a better look at sights we had either tabled for today or had missed yesterday. The Jewish Quarter has one of the three best preserved … Continue reading Old Town Córdoba
The train ride between Sevilla and Córdoba is about 45-60 minutes, so a lot of people day trip to Córdoba from Sevilla to check out the Mezquita. We opted to stay two nights in Córdoba to get a better feel of the old town. For me, Córdoba’s old town is much more intimate than that … Continue reading Mezquita
Spaniards eat lunch from 1:30pm to 5:30pm, and dinner from 8pm to midnight. Restaurants therefore open only during those hours. For us, it’s been difficult to adjust. We’re famished by noon. By the time we’re ready for lunch, the restaurants that are open had just wound down from their second breakfast. Dinner at 8pm is … Continue reading Spanish Time Zone
Some of us were recently introduced to the world of dressage during the Tokyo Olympics, where an American horse pranced and danced to the hip hop tunes we grew up with. Real Escuela Andaluza Del Arte Ecuestre in Jerez is one of the big four equestrian schools in Europe that teaches classical dressage. Since Jerez … Continue reading Jerez – Dancing Horses & Sherry
Three full days in Sevilla is a good amount of time to explore the city and cover the main sites at a leisurely pace. Our last full day brought us to the Bullring and Ceramic Museum, neither of which were on my initial list of places to hit. As an animal lover, I have misgivings … Continue reading Bullring & Ceramic Museum
Architecture in Sevilla is interesting. Unlike in Rome, where beautiful ancient Roman architecture is the uniform, Sevilla is full of surprises. Take the Sevilla Cathedral, for example, where else in the world do you see a gothic cathedral attached to a minaret. Today, we were treated to another visually bizarre combination of two architectural styles. … Continue reading Royal Alcazar & Flamenco
Old Town Sevilla is a pedestrian haven. There are one way streets for cars, but the roads are so narrow that drivers are forced to slow down. Amazingly, I have yet to hear anyone lay on the horn. If this were NYC, you’d be assaulted by the sound of honking left and right. This Old … Continue reading Sevilla Cathedral & Plaza de España
Traveling through time zones is never easy. For me it’s always been harder traveling eastbound. Landing in the mornings make it tougher because you have the whole day ahead of you, but I don’t like arriving in a foreign country at night for safety reasons. So our first days in Europe end up being “throw … Continue reading A Slow Start
The last time I flew on a near empty plane was almost a year ago when I flew to Taiwan. On our most recent trip to Morocco in April, we found ourselves on jammed packed flights. Today, our Air France flight experience is more aligned with traveling during the earlier days of the pandemic. The … Continue reading Post Vaccine Pandemic Travel – Europe Edition
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