Category: Europe Spring 2022

Breakfasts in the Paradors we have visited have always been wonderful. This morning there was a fruit on the buffet that I had not seen before. It was cherimoya. The word is the same in Spanish and in English. It was sweet and a bit creamy.

After breakfast we checked out the parador garden.

Roger and Gayle had a noon reservation for the Alhambra tour. We checked out of the Parador. Roger and Gayle went on their tour and Duke and I drove down into central Grenada and checked into our hotel. We are staying at the Melia. Our room is spacious and comfortable with a nice balcony.

We woke up to what we thought was heavy fog this morning but it turns out that the air is thick with Saharan sand blown in ahead of the current storm. Everything is incredibly dirty and you can see the dirty air.

I mailed postcards.

We met Roger and Gayle after their tour and walked with them down to the hotel

The man helping us with our luggage said dirty air won’t be a problem tomorrow because it will be pouring rain!

For dinner I had wonderful octopus.

This morning when we woke up it was pouring rain. After breakfast we left Córdoba and drove to Granada. We saw lots and lots of olive trees and it rained the whole way.

The Alhambra in Granada is one of the top sites in Spain. It is very special. Duke has been to Granada four times before and I have been here three times.

Every time we have visited we have thought how wonderful it would be to stay at the Granada Parador which is actually inside the Alhambra. We usually have coffee in the bar and daydream. But the Granada Parador is the most expensive hotel in the Parador system. It usually costs at least $400 a night to stay in the Granada Parador. But this time Duke found a special deal to stay here for one night for much less. It’s very exciting, something I’ve really wanted to do.

We went out exploring, then had our welcome drinks and played cards.

Dinner in Spain is late. Our reservation at the Parador restaurant was for nine. Before dinner we went out to explore a bit more. Being able to have the Alhambra to yourself at night is one of the big advantages of staying here.

For dinner I had veal, Duke had lamb stew, and Roger and Gayle had sea bass. it was a perfect end to a perfect day.

This morning started out with an adventure.

About two weeks ago Duke asked the Parador where we were staying to call the Parador in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa. He asked them to find out whether the land border between Ceuta and Morocco was open. A few months ago Morocco was allowing no foreigners to enter the country. Then they opened their border to people flying in. The Parador in Ceuta said the land border was not open and they had no idea when it would be open.

Our original itinerary had us taking the ferry across the Straight of Gibraltar and then crossing into Morocco at the land border Since that is no longer an option Duke had to change our plans. He changed the rental car to turn it in at Malaga airport and booked a flight from Malaga to Tangier. He got confirmations for all the changes.

When we arrived by taxi at the Eurocar rental office this morning in Seville the agent told Duke the reservation had been cancelled and it would cost about $500 more to rent the car we had reserved. After quite a bit of discussion, trying to call Eurocar customer service unsuccessfully, and searching for options from other companies we gave up on Eurocar and booked a car through Enterprise. Eventually two hours behind our original plan we were on the road out of Seville heading towards Córdoba

The drive was uneventful and beautiful with orange trees and olive trees in all the fields we passed. We checked into our Parador in Cordoba.

Next we drove into the town center to see the old Roman Bridge and visit the Mezquita-Catedral. The Córdoba Cathedral is built in the center of the former Mosque. The Mosque was massive. The Mosque-Cathedral is one of my favorite sights in Spain.

There didn’t seem to be any restaurants open near our Parador. The front desk did suggest a Chinese Restaurant but we decided to eat in the Parador bar. I had the ham sandwich and everyone else had the hamburgers.

Today, Saturday, is only the second time on this trip that we have spent two nights in one place. There is so much to see and do in Sevilla that it is easy to spend more than one day here. Saturday morning we had coffee, croissants and fresh orange juice at a cafe next to our hotel. I love the automatic orange juice making machines here. We watched our waiter load the machine with oranges and make our juice.

After breakfast we went for a horse and buggy tour of the area around the cathedral and Plaza de España.

Next we went to the Archives of the Indies. It is where they have all the old documents related to Spains exploration and colonization. They have exhibits that change every few months. The displays were all in Spanish but still interesting. This time the exhibit was about the New Spain fleet and the the search for the galleon Nuestra Señora de Juncal which sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 1631.

From the archives we found a place to have coffee.

Each coffee packet has a saying on it. So we took pictures with our packets.

We were revitalized so we did the Rick Steve’s walking tour of Seville. We are here at a very good time. Al the orange trees are blooming and the air is full of the smell of orange blossoms. It’s wonderful.

We had a tasty lunch in a small square, outside, under the orange trees.

We shared tapas.

After playing cards for a while by the hotel pool, we decided to take a walk through the newer shopping district of Sevilla. When we got over to Avenida de la Constitución, just past the cathedral we discovered a big parade of mainly Peruvian and Bolivian dancers. they wore wonderful, colorful costumes. The dancing was fast, exuberant and lots of fun to watch.

For dinner we went to a tapas restaurant with bull heads on the walls. Each head had a plaque about the famous bull.

Friday morning we walked to the Madrid train station and caught an 8 am high speed train to Sevilla.

We had coffee and pastries in the station before boarding the train

The train ride was smooth, scenic, relaxing and fast!

Our hotel rooms weren’t ready so we went across the street and visited Sevilla Cathedral.

One of the things I was struck by was how bright the paintings that had been cleaned were. It was especially noticeable when a cleaned painting was next to an uncleaned painting.

We went up to the top of the Giralda Tower. In an earlier version the tower was the minaret of the mosque that was on this sight.

While we were inside the cathedral it stated raining hard. Everyone had brought their raincoats except me. Luckily it was a short walk to the hotel.

We had cheese and ham for lunch and played cards.

Later we put on our raincoats and went for a walk. We walked along the river and went in the Torre del Oro. It was the customs house for the riches from the Americas which flowed through Seville. Now it’s a naval museum.

About 8:00 pm, after a break and short siesta at the hotel, we went out to find some tapas for dinner. The rain had stopped and there were a lot of people out. We had a perfect dinner of tapas and beer.

As we walked back to the hotel the streets were full and the cathedral was lit up.