PART 1, Week One in Spain.
PART 2, Week Two in Spain.
PART 3, 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. The top will indicate UPDATED AS OF so you can tell if anything new has been added without scrolling through again. I'm hoping to get it all into one entry like I usually do but we'll be gone almost three weeks. I've never been gone that long so we'll find out if there is a word limit.
Plan B I had to make a Part 1 and Part 2 and working on Part 3.
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.
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 she's amazing.
Speaking of the plan, he made some minor changes to the itinerary from the original. Mostly hotels that were changed.
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
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| 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 and arrives this morning our time, evening in Madrid. Spain is nine hours ahead of AZ time. My flight is scheduled to arrive at 9 a.m. 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.
I'll update daily, if possible, depending on WiFi and my free time.
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 confirmed the departure gate. Had to get on the Skylink. Unfortunately the Skylink only goes one direction so I had to go.ALL.THE.AROUND the LONG loop! As I was approaching my gate, it was completely deserted. Not even a gate agent. As I got closer, the sign read “flight closed Madrid“!!!!! Instead i’m stopping in my tracks I walked up to the podium, and 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, shuttled to passport check. Got to baggage claim and waited about 20 minutes for luggage to come down. My bag was there lickety-split. Maybe the 12th one down the shoot. 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.
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| 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.
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| Typical street in Madrid |
We went into a few stores and right off the bat, into a boutique and I already brought a dress. I think I’ve been here 30 minutes!
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| Hangin’ with the locals. |
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| 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.
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| 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 for 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. 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.
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| Cheers |
Next of was stewed tomato with balsamic which was really delicious.
Matt said it was a 700 calorie bite of tomato! Translation, it was 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. 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.
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| Groupies |
We had a nice long walk back to the hotel. It was beautiful for an evening walk.
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| 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. On the agenda for today:
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. I also had a cappuccino with an extra shot of espresso. Reminder, up since 3:15 AM.
Our guide taking the place of the owner is Sofia. 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.
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| Gardens at Plaza de Oriente |
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| Horsing around |
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| Monument of Philip IV |
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| Overlooking Plaza de la Armeria |
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| As seen on TV This was very cool |
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| Arches at Plaza Mayor |
We went down a narrow street where they made 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
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| 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. 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!
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| The lake in the park |
We went to a different marketplace. Sophia left us. We shared a roast beef sandwich at Bocā Tame.
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.
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| It looks better than it was |
We found our way back to the hotel. If you heard any screaming, that would’ve been my quads and my calfs. We will 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.
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| I had the chorizo Stromboli and Lisa had the cheese pizza. We shared the potato chips. |
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| 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 shoes and out of nowhere we encountered incredible hail storm. 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. 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.
Today’s 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.
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| Our chariot awaits |
We walked up to meet the bus and headed towards Avila, which is about an hour and a half from Madrid.
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| Tour guide Maria |
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| Beautiful view from the overlook |
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| Hangin’ with the locals |
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.
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| Lisa getting the pic of the vagina door knocker |
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| The ladies door knocker |
Neither one of us got a picture of the men’s door, but one of the ladies in our group did so I will add that when we get it from her.
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.
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| The pretties. We passed again. |
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| My sandwich and the foreground was on an olive baguette, and it was some kind of 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. 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.
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| 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.
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| Picking up men on the streets of Segovia |
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| Good to the last drop |
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| bye-bye Segovia |
We dropped off our packages 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!
We walked down the block after dinner 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.
I’ll go back and add tags on some of the photos and clean up typos when I have some extra minutes. Voice to text does not always understand me! It’s after midnight. I’m gonna try to get a few ZZZZ‘s. Hopefully there will be no middle of the night wake up calls tonight!
Friday the 13th!!
Today’s 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 730, maybe 8.
We arrived in Toledo and and went to find restrooms before starting our tour and we’re told that there are “or no public restrooms in the area“! 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.
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.
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| Narrow streets |
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| Move over for the delivery trucks |
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| Beautiful cathedral |
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| I have apparently developed a thing for arches! |
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| The Jewish Quarter |
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| Gelato. I called it lunch. |
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 is 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.
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| Taylor, Laura, Lisa, moi |
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| Groupies |
Then we took the hour drive to the Castle of Consuegra. Sofia 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?!?! 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. 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 bags 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.
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| I got a sangria with lemon foam and Lisa got, I think it was a spritzer. |
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| Lisa’s Chicken Caesar |
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| My Burger 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…Spain…
Long story short, or jump to the end, = today was not my favorite day.
The trek to the bus was no walk in the park. Up the alley/street, up the road, around the bend, up and across the street. Ugh.
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.
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. Up an incline and across the bridge and into town, to the hotel. Funny how none of that was mentioned in the itinerary!🤪 Anyhow, enough complaining. I reserve the right to complain again when we have to drag our bags to the bus on Monday.
Hotel is really cute. Our rooms are nice and right off of the courtyard.
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| Cute. Nice big bathroom too. |
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| Interior courtyard |
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.
There is a huge amount of history here however I’m too tired right now so that will have to wait for another day. I *WILL* go back and fill in history at some point.
Lisa and I walked around the shops a little and did our part to boost the economy.
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. 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 way better. Then met in the lobby to walk to the bus, our usual MO.
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| Miles and miles of future olive oil. I call it pre-extra virgin |
The Islamic Fortress of Alambra is beautiful and our guide, Gabriella was great.
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.
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.
Tomorrow morning we check out at 9 AM and head for Seville. We’re stopping along the way at Ronda where there are the cliffs that overlook gorge known as El Tajo.
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| Typical street in Alhambra |
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| Lisa’s pasta with guanciale and parm |
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| My caprese salad |
These 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. 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.
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| In front of me |
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| Behind me |
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| Around the front of the bridge and beyond the building on the far right. |
Monday, June 16, 2025
Just a quickie since I already mentioned what is on the agenda.
We are desperately waiting for our morning coffee. ☕️The machine is in the breakfast area that doesn’t open until 7:30 AM.
It’s supposed to be 100+ today and stay there while we’re in Sevilla.🔥🥵 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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