Spain France ~ June 2025 ~ Part 1

PART 1, Week One in Spain. 

PART 2, Week Two in Spain.

PART 3, Week Three in France then back to Barcelona. 

If you are new to my TravelBlog, I update the same entry rather than making a new one every day.  I had to make a Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 this time (one for each week).  I've only included a wee tad of history. Of course, Historian Google is at your fingertips if you want more. All of our destinations had a ton of historical significance.

Lisa and I will be exploring Spain and then the South of France on a small group tour.  When the tour ends in France, we are going back to Barcelona for a couple of days before heading back home. Our adventures in Spain will be Madrid, Toledo, Cordoba, Seville, Barcelona. In France we will be in Marseille and Antibes. Then doubling back to Barcelona. 

Clint, the man who owns the travel company talked to us the other day to let us know he can’t go with us. WHAT?! He has a medical situation that prevents him from flying. We're bummed we won't be able to meet him after all this planning.  He has hired a professional tour guide to take his place so everything else will be according to plan. He says Sophia is amazing.  ETA - He didn't exaggerate. 
Speaking of the plan, he made some minor changes to the itinerary from the original.  Mostly hotels that were changed. 

Sunday June 8, 2025

I checked in for my flight. What happened to the days when you could check in from your computer and print your boarding passes? The only option was "time to check in for your mobile pass" so I had to check in on my phone. Times, they are a changin'. 

Monday June 9, 2025

Off to the Airport

It's travel day.  One connecting flight and then straight into Madrid.  At least that's the plan! 🙏 Lisa left last night from WA and arrives this morning our time, evening in Madrid. Spain is nine hours ahead of AZ/WA time. My flight is scheduled to arrive at 9 am tomorrow. We tried to coordinate to fly together but it just didn't work out.  Once I get through passport check and get my luggage, 🤞 I'll grab a taxi to the hotel. After I check in we will explore the streets of Madrid. Tomorrow is a free day on our small group tour until the Welcome Dinner in the evening. 

Bon Voyage or que tangas un buen viaje (says translator Google) to me! 

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Oy! What a travel day. My flight from TUC to DFW was 15 minutes late. I already only had a 55 minute connection time so was a little anxious about that. By a little, I mean a lot! My flight was supposed to come into and go out the A concourse. Doable. All things subject to change we came into a C gate. Ought oh. When I got off the plane I confirmed the departure gate. Had to get on the Skylink. Unfortunately the Skylink only goes one direction so I had to go ALL.THE.WAY.AROUND the LONG loop! As I was approaching my gate, it was completely deserted. Not even a gate agent. My first thought was they changed the gate. Nope. As I got closer, the sign read “flight closed Madrid"!!!!! 😱Instead of stopping in my tracks I walked up to the podium. There was a flight attendant inside the closed glass door. She opened the door, rushed out and said “hurry up, boarding pass, passport, now, now, now!” I said “God Bless you” and BIG thanks to the Travel Gods I was able to get on the flight. Smooth sailing from that point on. Arrived in Madrid, and was shuttled to passport check. Got to baggage claim and waited about 20 minutes for luggage to come down. My bag was there lickety-split. I hopped in a taxi and a driver had no idea where my hotel was! 😨 Luckily Google maps knew the way! We pulled into an alley and I still didn’t see the sign for the hotel and said, “is this where it’s at?” He walked around in a circle, arms out and said “somewhere!“. I text Lisa and said “I think I’m here, I’m in an alley”. She said “sounds about right” and then walked out of the hotel which was right behind us. Whew! Let the adventures begin.

History of Madrid: the City's history includes periods of Islamic Rule, Christian reconquest, and development under the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties. It also experienced the impact of the Napoleonic Wars, the Spanish Civil War, and the Francoist dictatorship, followed by a transition of democracy and a flourishing of arts and culture. 

My cute little room

There was nothing on the agenda for today until meeting in the lobby at 7 PM for the welcome dinner. Lisa and I hit the streets and started to explore. I usually try to take a picture down a side street rather than the more crowded main street. 

Typical side street in Madrid

Madrid definitely has old world charm, and is HUGE.

 

We went into a few stores and right off the bat, into a boutique and I already bought a dress. I think I’ve been here 30 minutes! Slow your roll on the shopping Missy, we've got three weeks!

Hangin’ with the locals.

Oh la la (Window shopping. No, we didn’t partake)

We wondered around looking for a place to grab a quick lunch. Lisa had grabbed breakfast at the hotel and I had a fruit plate on the plane so we needed something to hold us over since dinner was later than usual for both of us. We surprisingly couldn’t find anything, and I finally said “I don’t think I know how to eat here!” “Me neither!”  We are both incredibly flexible with “ I don’t know, what do you want? I don’t care. What do you want?” so I see this being our situation for the next few weeks. 😀We ended up at Oskar and split a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. 

It was good and half was just enough. We sat there and chatted a while soaking in the air condition comfort. It was pretty hot out, mid 90s. It’s hotter than normal for this time of year.

Scooter time!

We hit the streets again and when we decided to go back to the hotel, we got completely lost. Google walking map was not being very cooperative nor the printed map the lady at the hotel had given us. All the streets look the same and there are minimal street signs to let you know what street you’re on. We finally made it. 

We rested for a while then ventured out to explore a little mini market that’s a couple of doors down from the hotel and then waited in the lobby to meet our group. 

People started congregating and the tour guide showed up and off we went for what was said to be a 15 minute walk, which was probably closer to 30 minutes. There are 15 of us. 14 groupies and Sophia.  Lisa and I are the only "first timers".  All the rest have traveled in his groups before, although not all together. Dinner was at El Rincon de Esteban, a small family owned restaurant where we were in a private room. The table was set, rolls plated, and cheese plates were in place.

Wine was poured.

Cheers

The first appetizer was potato salad with octopus. 

Lisa passed. I’ll try it. When on an adventure, be adventurous. It was actually delicious. Then more bread, this time an olive baguette, which strangely tasted like blueberry.

Next of was stewed tomato with balsamic which was really delicious.

 

Matt said it was a 700 calorie bite of tomato! Translation, it was very sweet.  Good thing we’re not counting calories today. Next was another appetizer and I had to ask the server what it was. Fruita de Mare.

Crispy fried bits of seafood topped with an egg. I enjoyed the crippled bits.  Next was seafood soup.

No Bueno.
Onto the entrée, I was completely adventurous and ordered the black squid ink rice with calamari. I figured by then I wasn’t very hungry so if I didn’t like it, nothing ventured nothing lost.

The calamari was finely chopped and mixed into the rice.
It was made in large paella pan.

Lisa, who says she’s not adventurous when it comes to food, ordered the beef ravioli. 

The other two entrée options were monkfish or steak tartare. Dessert was a little disappointing. It looked like a square of flan topped with a sauce. 

It was called Fried Milk with Vanilla and Toffee. It was a strange texture. I don’t think most of the people in the group cared for it since nobody finished it. It must be an acquired taste, which I have no desire to acquire. That being said, overall the food was great and so was the service. It was kind of hard to get to know the people at the other end of the table but we have plenty of time for that.

Groupies

We had a nice long walk back to the hotel. It was beautiful for an evening walk.

Streets of Madrid were hopping’ at 10:15 pm

June 11, 2025

3:15 am wake up call from my roofer and could not fall back to sleep. Not the way I was planning to start my day but okay. 

Today it’s supposed to rain but not until later. High today is expected to be 82. We will take that over the mid 90s that we had yesterday.  Breakfast opens at 7. 

Agenda:

At 10 AM you will meet in the hotel lobby for a walking tour of Madrid and it’s various sites and sounds. The rest of the day is free.

Time to shower, fluff and puff and get the day started. 

Already starting trouble!  I put my bag with most of my cash in the safe and it didn’t give me the option to put in a code and then it wouldn’t open! The nice lady at the front desk came up with the manual and said not to worry she could open it, and if not, she has a pass key. She put in an override code and then a temporary code and it opened. Whew! But now that I know it is so easy to override, I will not be using it! I’m sure that’s always the case. They have to have a way to get in so they don’t have to call a locksmith every time somebody gets locked out of the safe. Then I said “while you’re here, I could not get the water to come out of the shower head, just the down spout. I promise I have stayed in a hotel before, this is not my first time!”  “Ah yes, I show you”. You have to pull up the plunger first and then turn the water on. If you turn the water on and then pull up the plunger (like I do at home) nothing happens. Oy! I thanked her and told her I will try not to be a troublemaker the rest of my stay. She said “ You’re fine, it’s not your fault. You are very kind. By the way, you look very nice today.” Well, thank you very much.

Lisa and I had the breakfast buffet at the hotel. 

It was okay except for the eggs. The scrambled were dry and the hard boiled was rubbery. Meat, cheese, veggies, and mini pastry made up for it. I also had a cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso. Reminder, up since 3:15 AM. 

Today, in addition to Sophia, we had a local guide Anessa.

She told us a little history as we meandered the streets. At the end of the 19th century Emir Muhammad founded the city and named it Mayrit. The city flourished during the Arab occupation, but later fell into Christian hands during the Reconquest of Spain. 

Gardens at Plaza de Oriente

Horsing around 

Monument of Philip IV

Overlooking Plaza de la Armeria 

As seen on TV
This was very cool

Erica had seen this on TV so we HAD to go in. She bought cookies and shared them with the group.

In the Plaza del Conde de Miranda, a simple set of double doors in the wall of the Monasterio del Corpus Christi lead to a place where visitors can buy cookies directly from cloistered nuns. Although the monastery has been in operation since 1607, only more recently did its inhabitants get into the baking business. As word spread, what started out as an informal neighborhood affair quickly grew.

Since the nuns are strictly forbidden from contact with the outside world, they designed a rather ingenious system. Simply ring the buzzer that says “Monjas” (nuns) on the door and ask, “Tienes dulces hoy?” (“Do you have sweets today?”) If the nuns buzz you in, walk to the end of the corridor, following the signs that read “Torno.”

When you get there, you will see a turntable, or torno, as well as a menu offering classics like mantecadas de yema (egg yolk shortbreads), nevaditos (iced shortbreads), and naranjines (orange-scented biscuits). The cookies are ordered by weight, so tell them how much you want and put your money on the turntable. The nun on the other side will rotate the turntable so that your money disappears and is replaced by freshly baked biscuits.

Not my photo
Place money here

Not my photo
Turntable moves.  Money disappears to the right.
Cookies appear from the left!

Arches at Plaza Mayor

Also during the tour we went down a narrow street where they make espadrilles. We definitely wanted to go back there when we have time to shop.

We walked through Mercado de San Miguel, which was a foodie paradise of a market place.

Must go back. 

I like tall buildings and I cannot lie

Don’t be jealous Rio Rio friends. 

This used to be the Post Office!

When the tour ended, everyone scattered. Sophia was going to Parque de Madrid, which she said is a beautiful park that she always likes to go to when in Madrid. Lisa and I went with her. Along the way, we found a craft market. Everything was handmade and all three of us supported the locals!

The lake in the park

We went to a different marketplace. Sophia left us. We shared a roast beef sandwich at Bocā Tame. 

It looks better than it was

No bueno. It was weird. The beef was tough and chewy and the spread tasted weird, but the bread was okay! Me and bread, we get along. 

We found our way back to the hotel. If you heard any screaming, that would’ve been my quads and my calfs. We rested for a while and then we ventured back out to Mercado de San Miguel for early dinner since neither one of us ate much of our lunch.

I had the Chorizo Stromboli and Lisa had the Cheese Pizza.
We shared the potato chips.

We each got a fruit cup at a stand where you
pick the size container you want and
then tell them what you want in it

Everything was really super fresh and delicious. We both agreed that this was the best food we’ve had since we arrived in Spain.

We started to walk around to see if we could find the shops where they made the espadrilles and out of nowhere we encountered incredible hail storm. Huge chunks of frozen balls like the size of ping pong balls! We waited about 10 minutes until that passed and started down the street again only to be bombarded with a crazy rainstorm.  We ducked under an awning and waited for that to settle down. We finally made it back to the hotel and chatted in the lobby for a little while then we went to the little mini market next-door so Lisa could get a protein snack for later and I grabbed a Coke Zero, my first one of the trip.

Hoping to get some good rest tonight because we have a very busy day tomorrow. I have already put my phone in airplane mode so I don’t get any random wake up calls.

Thursday June 12, 2025

1:15 AM wake up call from Paul’s doctors office. What the heck? I had it in airplane mode. Then a 3 AM text message. Found out later in the morning that I need to turn the Wi-Fi off at night to prevent calls/text from coming in. Oy! 

Agenda:

10 AM picked up at hotel and taken to Puerta Del Carmen in Avila for a walking tour.

3:30 picked up and transported to historic City of Segovia at the Plaza Mayor. After a brief walking tour and included visit to the Segovia Castle, you’ll meet back at Plaza Mayor at 7 PM to be taken to a famous location to view the stunning Segovia Castle from afar. 

And in the “all things, subject to change“ department, our tour guide is sick today, so our adventure will be even more adventurous.

Tour guide being sick was not as bad as we thought. We still had Sophia and we still had a local guide in Avila. It was just the local guide in Segovia that was sick.

Our chariot awaits

The bus can't get up the narrow street the hotel is on, so we walked up and around and across to meet the bus and headed towards Avila, which is about an hour and a half from Madrid.

Avila History:  it's known for its medieval walls. 

Tour guide Maria

Beautiful view from the overlook

Hangin’ with the locals
Monument to Saint John of the Cross

Santa Teresa

A wee tad more history: Our guide told us that they had separate doors for men and for women. The door knocker for the men to use look like a penis and the door knocker for the women to use look like a vagina.
The knockers made different sounds because it was inappropriate for a Muslim woman to open the door to a man, therefore visitors had to knock according to their gender.

Lisa and Cheryl getting the pic of the vagina door knocker

Ladies door knocker 

Neither one of us got a picture of the men’s door, but Cheryl in our group did so I will add that when we get it from her.

ETA: Pics from Cheryl (with permission)

Cheryl's pic. Male door knocker. Obvious enough?

Cheryl's pic. Female door knocker.
The Ss are supposed to represent ovaries
The flowers, kind of obvious now that you know

Another random door knocker
(this one is my photo)

I have no idea the significance of the hand on the ball! 
One source says it's symbolizing the Hand of Fatima
and was to protect a house from evil.

Too bad they don't sell the door knockers. I definitely would have purchased a pair of the gender knockers!  Missed marketing opportunity Segovia! 

Iglesia-Convento de Santa Teresa
Church at Plaza la Santa

Our guide told us when the artist painted this picture of Saint Teresa, she told him that she hopes God will forgive him for painting her so ugly!

After the tour, we walked around the streets and ended up at a little bakery café and grab a couple of sandwiches.

The pretties. We passed again.
ETA: We didn't buy any of the pastry we passed on the streets
and there were a LOT of them.

My sandwich in the foreground was on an olive baguette,
and it had Ibėrico (dried ham).
Lisa’s is in the background and was regular ham and cheese on baguette.
Those plus one bottle of water was the grand total of six euro.
Inexpensive and very good. Not too shibbity shab. 

We actually found our way back to the meeting place. I think we are getting the hang of this Spain thing. Then the bus took us to Segovia, which was about an hour drive.

Segovia History: This is a historic UNESCO site. The aqueduct is one of the oldest and largest in the world. Built during the second half of the 1st century A.D. under the rule of the Roman Empire, still in use.
Very impressive. 

We passed some really nice looking stores, but we were not going to have any shopping time in our schedule.

Cathedral 

Inside the cathedral

We had tickets for the cathedral and for a palace tour. I don’t want to say we are spoiled, but we are spoiled. We have seen some of the most beautiful cathedrals in our travels. As nice as it was when we first entered, we decided to skip the tours of both venues and walk back through the town and go shopping! Must support the local economy. I bought what I thought was a long flowy skirt but is actually pants! 

Picking up men on the streets of Segovia

These pictures are for Denise, who insisted we try churros with chocolate dipping sauce. The chocolate sauce is more like a thin pudding, not like Hershey’s. A couple in our group had had them in the night before so we knew what to expect.

Good to the last drop

Not really, but we thought Denise would appreciate a picture of fake guzzling of chocolate sauce!

bye-bye Segovia

We met up with the group headed back to the bus. Sophia said the bad news was we were not going to be able to drive to the overlook for a view of the Palace because they were doing construction and the road was closed. I don’t think anybody in our group was terribly disappointed.  We were back in Madrid about 8:30 PM.

We dropped off our stuff and then headed to the streets to find someplace to have dinner. We ended up finding restaurant row! We decided on a bistro called Steak Burger where we split a burger and fries. We sat out on the patio, which is really nice however, there are a LOT of cigarette smokers in Spain! Just sayin'...

It was pretty darn delicious.

We walked down the block after dinner to scope out the other restaurants for another day and then turned around and headed back to the hotel and called it a night.

Tomorrow the bus is picking us up at 9 AM and heading to Toledo.

Friday the 13th!! 

Agenda:

Hotel at 9 AM to be transported to Hospital de Tavera in the historic City of Three Cultures known as Toledo your walking tour.

After the walking tour, you’ll return to Hospital de Tavera at 3 PM to be picked up and taken to the iconic windmills at La Mancha at Consuega, followed by a visit to Castle of Consuega. 

6 PM, return to Madrid for some much earned relaxation.

Sounds good to us.  It will be nice for these two early birds to go to bed before midnight!

So much for an early evening. We left the castle at 6 PM so we did not get back to Madrid until After 7:30, maybe 8.

We arrived in Toledo and went to find restrooms before starting our tour. We were told that there are “or no public restrooms in the area“! Holy Toledo (pronounced toe-leh-doh). Excuse me? There was a little bar that had a sign that the Bano was for customers only however they did let us go in and use the restroom. A few people bought water from bar as a thank you to justify being "customers".

Later we discovered there was actually a public restroom by the overlook. It was quite a ways from our starting point.

We walked up the hill and up several escalators and then up a few areas of stairs until we got to the center of town. We met up with our tour guide of the day, Anthony.

Typical street in Toledo
He said the canopy above provides
shade plus protection from bird poop

13th Century Gothic Cathedral 

Narrow side streets

Move over for the delivery trucks

Another view of the beautiful Cathedral

I have apparently developed a thing for arches!

The Jewish Quarter

More History of Toledo: This was originally an Islamic area. In 1492 when the Christians took over, the Jewish people were told to “convert or get out“. 🤔 

Jesus watching over Toledo

Nice view from one of the overlooks

Gelato. I called it lunch.

After the tour, we had some free time. First stop, Lisa got a smoothie and I got a scoop of gelato.

We ran into Laura and Taylor and the four of us went back to some of the stores we passed earlier. We shopped around and did our part to support the local economy.

Then back to the meeting place and took the reverse track back to the bus.  

We enjoyed Toledo, even though the streets are steep, the cobblestone and concrete are uneven, and it was hot and humid.  It’s hotter than normal here for June. It usually doesn’t get this hot till July from what we’ve been told.

The bus took us to another overlook to get some pictures.

Taylor, Laura, Lisa, Me

Groupies

Then we took the hour drive to the Castle of Consuegra.
History of Consuegra: It was a stronghold of the Knights during the middle ages. It feel to ruin in the 18th-19th century and has been partially restored. 
Sophia told us that yesterday’s castle was religious, today’s castle was military. It was more like fortress. First stop was the windmills and then he parked, and we walked to the castle.

Have I mentioned the walking has all been uphill?!?! Both ways! This was the only picture I took at the castle in an effort not to risk my life. We had been warned the terrain was uneven and sometimes slippery. That was not an understatement. A lot of it was concrete and rocks and dirt. When we got inside to go up and around and back down again, there are very few handrails and very steep stairwells. There is no ADA here like we have in the good ole US of A where handrails would have been required, especially at a tourist attraction. This was not my favorite thing. I went down the steps and inclines slowly like a little old lady, cuz I actually *AM* a little old lady. When we finished, we waited for the rest of the group. Did I mention it was hot? Anyhow back to the perfectly air condition bus and approximately one and a half to two ride back to Madrid. 

We made a quick stop at the hotel to drop off our stuff and then back out for dinner. First, we went back to the shops. Lisa wanted a pair of shoes and I wanted to go back to a store we were at the other day where I saw a cute hat. Mission accomplished. We actually went back to the same restaurant we went to last night. This time we started with a cocktail after our long day and a proper farewell to Madrid.

I got a sangria with lemon foam and Lisa got a aperol spritzer.

Lisa’s Chicken Caesar.
Not the Americano version

My Burger (add cheese please) with Roasted Tomatoes and Potatoes

I was a hungry monkey and it was delish! 

We walked back to the hotel and called it a night. 

Yes, we enjoyed Madrid. 

Tomorrow we have to be in the lobby around 10 to meet our bus at 10:30 to head to Cordoba. 

It is after 11 pm so I am going to hope the Sandman arrives soon. 

Saturday June 14, 2025

This morning we say goodbye to Madrid.  
Agenda:

Depart Madrid at 10:30 AM, arriving at hotel around 2 PM. Following some free time we will meet in the lobby at 5 PM and your tour leader will take you to the Mesquita de Cordoba for your included visit.

But first, check out time. The street our hotel is on is very narrow so the bus can’t come to us, we have to go to the bus. We’ve been doing that the last couple of days, however we weren’t schlepping our luggage at the time. When in Rome…I mean Spain…

Long story short, or jump to the end,  = I like Cordoba but today was not my favorite day.

The trek to the bus from our hotel in Madrid was no walk in the park. Up the alley/street, up the cobblestone road, around the bend, up and across the street. Ugh. I told you, it's all uphill here! Seriously though, this route WAS all uphill. 

It was a nice drive and we stopped along the way to use the restroom and grab something to eat. I broke my cardinal rule of traveling. I don’t like to eat someplace when I’m traveling that I can eat out at home. Nuggets and fries from Popeyes! There, I said it out loud. We ate at Popeyes Louisiana Chicken! In Spain! It was a little challenging figuring out the order kiosk. The humans only prep, package, and hand over your food. The first kiosk I tried only accepted Apple Wallet which I don't use. The next one was more than happy to take my good ole fashioned credit card. But it was good, so there's that.

Back on the bus and arrived in Cordoba at 3:30. It was a HOT 97* when we arrived. Unfortunately, we had to do a repeat of the luggage schlepping, only worse. Up the street, up an incline and across the long ass cobblestone bridge and into town, to the hotel. Funny how none of that was mentioned in the itinerary!🤪 By the time we got to the front desk we were both ready to go home! Anyhow, enough complaining. I reserve the right to complain again when we have to drag our bags again.

Hotel is really cute. Our rooms are nice and right off of the courtyard.

Cute. Nice bathroom too. 

Interior courtyard ~ adorable

We met our guide in the lobby (I don't remember her name) at 5 PM and walked over to the Mosque.  

History of Cordoba: Cordoba is famous around the world for the Great Mosque. It represents a unique artistic achievement due to it's size and the boldness of the height of the ceilings.  It is the most emblematic monument of Islamic religious architecture. 

Cordoba

Our local guide (in pink top)

 

Sophia had the guide take a group photo of us inside the Mosque. As soon as she sends it to us, I will add it in.

Lisa and I walked around the shops a little.

Then we stopped and grabbed a gelato before heading back to the hotel. We both had about half of our chicken nuggets left from earlier so we called that dinner. We did scope out a pizza place for tomorrow night. I guess it’ll depend on what time we get back in town.

Tomorrow we have to leave by 8 AM so I probably won’t have time to update in the morning. We are going to visit an Islamic Fortress of Alhambra which is about three hours away. Sophia also gave us an option of changing the schedule for tomorrow afternoon which everybody agreed to so I’m not really sure what we’re doing after the tour. We do know it’s going to be HOT at 98° so we have been told to bring lots of water and sun protection. Let the adventure continue.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Today was a great day. We started off with the breakfast buffet, similar to be one we had at the last hotel only today’s eggs and coffee were much better. Then met in the lobby to walk to the bus, our usual MO.

Agenda:

Today, you will leave the hotel at 7 am sharp for your included visit to the Islamic Fortress of The Alhambra.  After several hours of exploration, you will depart The Alhambra at 1:30 pm arriving in Grenada's historically significant Sacromante section. We recommend a visit to the Sacromonte Caves Museum, where you can learn more about the history of Granada's old cave dwellings.  At 4 pm you'll meet back at the museum for your return to Cordoba, where the rest of the evening is yours. 

Acres and acres of future olive oil. 
I call it pre-extra virgin 

The Islamic Fortress of Alambra is beautiful and our guide, Gabriella was great.

History of The Alhambra: It is an Islamic palace and fortress complex, representing the last Muslim Kingdome in Western Europe. The complex served as a royal residence, a fortress, and administrative center. 

It was very hot. Gabriella said "we have two seasons. Winter and Hell". 💥 After the tour, the original itinerary recommended visiting the Sacromonte Caves Museum however, everyone voted yesterday to have free time in Alhambra instead.

We grabbed a fresh made lemonade while we wandered through the shops. We stopped at a café and sat outside and enjoyed a delicious lunch.

Typical street in Alhambra

Lisa’s pasta with guanciale and parm 
Guanciale is pork (like bacon)

My caprese salad (with  baretta cheese)

Lisa found our way back to the main square where we reconvened with our group, hopped on the bus, and headed back to Cordoba. 

We got back around 7. Lisa is still full from her pasta, but I needed to grab something to eat so we went back out on the streets. She got a scoop of gelato and I got an empanada. M-M-Good. By then most of the stores had closed.

These were made with puffed pastry rather than dough
Super flaky and delicious 

Tomorrow morning we check out at 9 AM and head for Seville. 
These two girls are not going to schlep our bags to the bus. We talked to the man at the front desk to see if it is possible to get a taxi in the morning to pick us up at the hotel and drive us down across the other side of the bridge, where the bus will be waiting. He said of course, they will call in the morning and the taxi will be there in five minutes.  It’s not spoiled, it’s survival! 

And just in case you think I’m exaggerating, I took pictures this morning on the way to the bus.
History of The Roman Bridge: It was built in the first century BC and straddles the Guadalquivir River. It is over 800 feet long.
It felt like over 8,000.

In front of me (walking towards the main road)

Behind me (into Cordoba)

Around the front of the bridge and
beyond the building on the far right.

Em, no. 

Monday, June 16, 2025

Just a quickie. 

We are desperately waiting for our morning coffee. ☕️The machine is in the breakfast area that doesn’t open until 7:30 AM.

Agenda:

At 9 am you'll depart Cordoba for your included visit to Ronda, where you can view the cliffs that overlook the dramatic gorge known as El Tajo. At 3 pm you'll depart Ronda for Seville, arriving around 5 pm for the hotel check in. 

It’s supposed to be 100+ today and stay there while we’re in Seville.🔥🥵  By the time we get to Barcelona and then when we go to the South of France, it’s supposed to be mid 80s for the rest of the trip, so that’s more like it.

When I update later this evening. I’m going to start a Part 2 entry for this trip. This is a long way to scroll down!

Part 2 starts >>>HERE

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