Oh Babushka - trips within a trip - Thailand, UAE, Oman, Spain, Portugal, UAE again, Sri Lanka and Singapore

[VPS]

Wednesday 12 December 2024 - Obidos-Seville We Take a Road Trip

Today we will drive to Seville, about 4.5 hrs to the east.

We stopped in to visit the old town of Obidos, which would have been great with an old aqueduct (had we not been totally spoilt by Elvas) and a nice castle and city walls (had we not been spoilt by Sintra) .

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That's not an aqueduct!!!

Still, a cute town for a stroll, especially as it was decorated for Christmas.

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Yes, I did succumb to a couple more fancy bottles of Ginja!

Gold filigree jewellery in the local style was also a popular item for sale, and it is beautiful - light and delicate.

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I am happy to say a pair of beautiful earrings embedded themselves in my ears and refused to leave until they were purchased by Mr Seat 0A as a wedding anniversary gift. I haven't worn them much, as it turned out that the little clasps on the back of the post are extremely close-fitting and are all but impossible for me to remove without serious pain to my ears. I keep meaning to take them to a jeweller here for adjustment, but haven't quite made it yet. I honestly don't know what I am doing with my time these days!

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Next we strolled around and enjoyed the bookshop in the main cathedral - it could easily have been in one of those bibliophile posts on Facebook (that tells you a bit about my Facebook Feed - it's all fantastic book shops/libraries and advertisements for learning Japanese!)

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Wandered around the old town and noted the old, old, lemon (or maybe orange?) trees in all the house gardens, appreciated the pretty outdoor dining areas that must be lovely in the warmer months, and finally admired the tiled chapel in the city wall.

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Then on the road to Seville for a complex route planned to minimise tolls and maximise coffee stops:

A8N - A15E-AC25_EN366-A1S-A10E-A13S-A6E-A5-N630S-A66 for which we paid EUR 23.90 in tolls.

Boy were we glad to arrive in Seville.

Stayed at the Ibis Styles, which was great. A big room with a very comfy bed, which made me realise in retrospect how uncomfortable our bed in Obidos was. A nice rooftop pool and bar area where we enjoyed our Accor welcome drinks.


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1 night including breakfast and parking EUR52.80 and some Accor reward points.

Today's Steps: 5,996

Goodbye Portugal. I really enjoyed the time in Portugal. It has never really been on my radar as a destination until Almost DIL came into the family. I now think I will be back a few more times as there are still plenty of amazing places to visit, and I would happily go back to Elvas, Lisbon and Sintra again.

that photo of the ?chapel with the arch and blue tiles is just beautiful

 

[Seat0B]

that photo of the ?chapel with the arch and blue tiles is just beautiful

Thanks @VPS. It was a little chapel inside the town wall. The town wall had a couple of right angle turns, presumably to prevent raiders just storming in. This was tucked away on the back wall of one of the turns.

 

[Seat0B]

Thursday 12 December 2024- Seville to La Linea de la Conçepcion - Two Controversial Decisions

On the road again for the remaining 3 hrs of the trip to La Linea, our cheaper jumping off point for a couple of days in Gibraltar.

Controversial Decision #1 - we did not spend any time seeing anything in Seville IKR! Given the places we have already visited, and the planned visits to Cordoba and Granada, we didn't really think the sights of Seville that looked radically different and we were pressed for time as Gibraltar was on Mr Seat 0A's "must do list". As I think it's likely we will be back in this region at some point in the future, I'd be very pleased to hear people's suggestions for Seville.

Controversial Decision #2 - we decided to stay in La Linea rather than Gibraltar proper. Yes it involved us in having to walk about 500m extra each day to get to the border, and yes, La Linea is a pretty grimy, seedy, unattractive sort of a town, but we figured we were literally only there to sleep. And it was so much cheaper - 2 nights with breakfast at Ohtel La Linea for EUR 240 in a "suite" - more on that later. Compared to the cheapest we could find on Gibraltar at GBP 450 for the stay.

A straightforward trip saw us arrive just after midday. Tried our luck on early check in, and yes, we were given access to our room.

The pluses of our room:

• huge suite with a bedroom, and separate lounge area
• totally spectacular views of the Rock of Gibraltar and the harbour/marina area from our balcony

• spectacular views over the Gibraltar airport where we were able to watch the daily coming and going of aircraft into the fairly tricky airport

The minuses of the room/hotel:

• pretty shabby - old, uncomfortable, stained furnishings and curtains
• rather uncomfortable bed
• a plethora of notices forbidding this, that or the other thing
• stingy breakfast

Anyway, we did a quick unpack and re-sort of the day pack as it was raining, and then we walked for less than 10 minutes to reach the international border. I was excited to get an "exit Spain" stamp in my passport, but very disappointed to receive nothing at all in Gibraltar - not an entry stamp or an exit stamp. As soon as we were over the border, it was like "little England", with red phone boxes, and the street names being very British - Winston Churchill Ave, Queen's Way and Prince Edward's Gate for example.




Walked a further 3 minutes to the bus stop and then caught the Route 5, using a pre-purchased Hopper ticket (GBP 6.00 ea), which proved to be a very good investment.

Gibraltar is very hilly and of course is dominated by the Rock, which is over 420m high. We wandered (sorry I keep stealing your word @wandering_fred ) some very narrow and hilly streets, really noticing the age of the buildings and the tokens of British heritage everywhere. But the cars are all left hand drive.

Next we caught the #2 bus, intending to visit Europa Point, but we went in the wrong direction and ended up in Market Square. No worries, just hopped on another bus going in the right direction. Shared the bus with 3 families with some of the most obnoxious children I have seen in a while. They were yelling at each other and the girls in particular were shrieking and squealing. They were snatching things from each other, dropping food on the floor of the bus (there were no eating signs everywhere) and running and tackling each other in the bus. It was feral, and their parents just ignored it and talked amongst themselves. Wild!

It was a winding road and exceptionally narrow in places. These drivers are very skilled. Saw the famous Europa Point lighthouse and the mosque at the foot of the Rock. Another reminder of the Islamic influence in this part of Europe.


Luckily the rainy weather had started to clear, and we were able to just make out the coast of Africa, which is about 20km directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Europa Point. You can see why Gibraltar is such a strategic point, especially in WWII. I tried to take a photo, but it was too hazy to be able to make it out.

Enjoyed a good coffee and some hot chips (which we had to defend from the seagulls, same the world over!) while we waited for the bus, which we took back to the main street. Hopped off and walked through the very English High Street (Marks and Sparks, anyone?) before hopping on yet another bus back to the border, which they call the Frontier. Crossed over, more stamps in the passport for Spain, and then walked through an extremely seedy stretch of bars and eateries where very customer was drinking and smoking - hard. Walked the main street of La Linea, which was similarly down at heel and grubby past a coffee shop where all the locals were having afternoon tea - coffee and cakes - at 1800! Hilarious. The only open restaurant was an Indian place called, you guessed it The Taj Mahal, where we got a very decent chicken dhansak and lamb rogan josh and naans.

Back to the hotel to unpack and rest my tired feet. Tomorrow, we will visit the Rock itself.

Todays steps 15,346
Weather: rainy and 11 degrees.

 

[RooFlyer]

You know, I am so bookmarking each post/town for a (now) planned Portugal visit next year. I did a bit of work in Spain in the early 2010s, but only got to Portugal once, in 2012 for a quick 5 day trip between tasks and I went north to Porto.

I'd be very pleased to hear people's suggestions for Seville.

As you say, you'll probably be going back and if you do, you must not miss Salamanca, Segovia and Avila in eastern Western Spain. And make sure you pronounce Seville properly (and apologies if you have been before and seen these places) .

In Seville, the Alcazar, bullring, cathedral (and its bell tower, Giralda), Plaza de Espana . Lots.

Cordoba not far away - I'm taking a day trip by rail from Barcelona to there in August.

 

[Seat0B]

You know, I am so bookmarking each post/town for a (now) planned Portugal visit next year. I did a bit of work in Spain in the early 2010s, but only got to Portugal once, in 2012 for a quick 5 day trip between tasks and I went north to Porto.



As you say, you'll probably be going back and if you do, you must not miss Salamanca, Segovia and Avila in eastern Spain. And make sure you pronounce Seville properly (and apologies if you have been before and seen these places) .

In Seville, the Alcazar, bullring, cathedral (and its bell tower, Giralda), Plaza de Espana . Lots.

Cordoba not far away - I'm taking a day trip by rail from Barcelona to there in August.

We had Salamanca and Segovia on the initial planning, but just ran out of time - this was a side trip after all . We decided to do the southern loop and so missed those places and Porto in Portugal, for example. Next time, likely a northern loop!

 

[Seat0B]

Friday 13 December 2024 - Gibraltar - What a Day!

Quite excited after yesterday's intro to Gibraltar to be going back today to do the Rock.

Our pre-purchased cable car tickets included a shuttle to the base of the cable car from the Frontier, and we found it easily just opposite the Eroski supermarket. Still disappointed that there is no entry stamp in the passport. BTW, got yelled at by a border guard about 20 sec after taking this photo - I guess we were too focused on the Rock to think whether it was any security issue.



The view from the cable car on the way up was quite nice:


but nothing compared with the amazing views from the top of the Rock, which were simply stunning, in every direction. I took lots of photos, which became one of the themes of this amazing day.



Some views from the top:



Yep, that's the runway in both these photos. And it's the Marina outside our hotel.

The Rock dominates everything. New multi-storey residence and hotel blocks under construction.


It was a beautiful day, and such good luck that we had today also available as it was rainy and cloudy most of the day yeserday. I would have been really peeved to miss out.

The other theme was up hill and down dale. Boy did we walk some! Started off towards O'Hara's Battery which is at the highest publicly accessible point of the Rock. At first, we walked down. Then we walked up. Then we walked up some more. Stopped at a vantage point.



Then we walked up some more, and up and up and up some more.

Along the way, we saw the famous cheeky macaque monkeys, although we kept our distance. However, there were some very cute scenes that involved baby monkeys, monkeys eating, monkeys grooming each other and monkeys just chilling out.



Anyway, onwards and upwards we trudged until we finally reached O'hara's - quite hot and sweaty. I cannot imagine how they got artillery guns and animals up to this point during the various wars!!



Ate our picnic lunch at a nice little spot with a pretty view.

 

[Seat0B]

Rock of Gibraltar Part 2

Next, we decided to walk down to the WW2 tunnels. It was a downhill walk of about 3 kms - if you don't take any wrong turns. How hard could it be, right??

Answer, well if you have a dodgy paper map, poor internet coverage and Google Maps gaps, it is harder than it has to be. Quite a few wrong turns were indeed taken, necessitating lots of re-tracing our steps back up hill and making a better choice at the forks in the path . And the beautiful morning weather turned dodgy too, and it started to rain on us! And my feet were getting sore. As any experienced walker knows, downhill is often harder on the body than uphill.

Still, one foot in front of the other and we eventually made it to the WW2 tunnels, which were amazing. To start with, they were huge. the network of tunnels ran from one side of the Rock right though to the other side so that messages about enemy shipping could be relayed. There are many, many more kilometres of tunnels yet to be made safe and presentable for public access. I found the social history exhibits very moving, talking about the mandatory evacuation of women and children to Morocco in 1940. It was partly for civilian safety, but mainly to make space for military billets. Then, only a few months after that, because of a spat between France and England, the evacuees were moved again. To London. In the height of the Blitz. And they were regarded as an annoying foreign burden. Some of the wealthier citizens who could pay their own way settled in Madeira, where they were welcomed because their investments propped up the failing Madeiran economy.

After a lengthy visit to the tunnels, all that was left for today was to make our way home - a long, long walk on very tired feet. We arrived at the famous runway crossing just as the 1630 daily BA flight landed. Great close up view, followed by a walk across the tarmac. Quite thrilling. You can no longer drive across the runway since mid 2023 - they have built a tunnel. But pedestrians, and bikes are still allowed.




Once back over the border into Spain, we followed local tradition and went for coffee and cake at about 1730 at the hilariously named local bakery "Okay -since 1961" It must have seemed like a good idea at the time to call it that. I was pretty chuffed that I managed to order coffee and pastries and request to pay by credit card all in Spanish. Sat for a while and enjoyed the local hubbub. The decided to move to savoury pastries for dinner. I neglected to take any photos of this at all!

Limped the last few blocks back to the hotel and had a big night in with some downloaded content on Britbox - The Jetty with Jenna Coleman, which was quite good.

Steps today: 27,448
Flights of stairs up: 25 floors
Flights of stairs down: 130 floors - yes you read that right, one hundred and thirty floors
Temperature: forgot to record it!

 

[Seat0B]

Saturday 14 December 2024 - La Linea to Cordoba

To avoid tolls of about EUR 24.50 we backtracked almost to Seville and then on to Cordoba, for a total of about 3.5 hrs travel time, including a coffee stop.

Arrived and checked in at Hotel Hesperia Cordoba to a lovely, clean, modern room, with excellent wifi and a great view of the Roman Bridge built in the 1st century BCE, with Arab reconstruction in the 700s. It was the only bridge from this side of the river into town for centuries.


The bedhead was an Islamic inspired mosaic


Views of the bridge and old town from our room as the afternoon golden hour arrived

Mr Seat0A took a reccy walk into town for our plans the next day. My feet and shins were still sore from yesterday's efforts so I didn't go with him.


The street trees looked magnificent, laden with beautiful oranges. I sampled one that had fallen and it was very unpleasant to eat. Then I googled it and found that the street trees were in fact "bitter oranges" - yes they were! These were selected because they look more beautiful that standard orange trees. What a disappointment!

When dark fell properly, there was a Christmas themed drone show over the Roman Bridge. Just like the coffee shop in La Linea, it was OK, but nothing more . I am definitely a fireworks person.

Today's steps: 3,945.

Accommodation, breakfast and car parking for 2 nights EUR 297.40.

 

[Seat0B]

Sunday 15 December 2024 - Cordoba - Wow! Wow!! Wow!!! Part 1

Out into a crisp, clear, cold, blue morning for the very short stroll to the Roman Bridge and then over into the old city of Cordoba (Qurtuba in Islamic times).


After the Romans, came the Moors around early 700s, who were supplanted by Christians in the 1100s. By the 900s, Qurtuba was a thriving walled city with over 250,000 inhabitants. Wow!

We entered the Mezquita Catedral (Mosque-Cathedral) at 1000, and wow, wow, it was amazing. First we walked through a large quadrangle full of citrus trees, fountains and paths made of fine stones laid in beautiful patterns.


Then we entered the building, which was originally a mosque until it became a Catholic Cathedral in the 1200s. The mosque was constructed in the late 700s, and subsequently expanded over the years until the reconquista and conversion to cathedral around 1236. The Islamic part of the building is minimalist and beautiful in its symmetry and simplicity inside and out.





The cathedral part includes many small chapels and a large Royal Chapel. The cathedral was consistently revised and added to from the 1200s onwards, with major alterations during the Renaissance in the period 1550-1600. To my eye, it was excessively over-decorated with lavish carvings and lots and lots of gold leaf.




Advent candles being lit

Overall, it is huge and spectacular. We only found out the immense population of the medieval Qurtuba after we visited the Mezquita Catedral, and in that context its size and lavish adornment make sense. Being Sunday, we had to leave by 1130 so that Mass could be conducted - the Cathedral complex is closed each Sunday between 1130 and 1500 for worship.

The rest of the day was spent wandering the very narrow streets and alleyways of the Old Town, in particular the old Jewish Quarter (completing our survey of three major world religions in one day). We inspected a remaining segment of the old city wall, and visited the old Jewish Synagogue, which also had lavish carvings and graceful architecture. Wow, wow, wow.



The streets are really crowded with mostly Spanish tourists and large groups visiting the Mezquita Catedral. Other than the very excessive amount of smoking, its a nice vibe, with family and friends chatting, eating and enjoying the sunny day.

Edit: remove excess photos

 

[Seat0B]

Sunday 15 December 2024 - Cordoba Part 2

We decided to visit the Mezquita Bell Tower, but it was also closed until 1500 for worship, so instead, we had lunch at a fabulous Moroccan restaurant called Umaueyon. It served deliciously authentic food, with great service. We had a tasty eggplant and tomato dip (zaalouk) with flat bread to share as a starter, then Arabe Mousaka for Mr Seat 0A and Tajin de Pollo for me, and we could have been in Marrakech! It was all accompanied by the traditional sweet mint tea, with traditional fancy pouring by the waiter - small pour to warm the tea glass, then progressively higher and higher pours with fancy turns of the pot - a real "tea bae" moment. I wasn't able to capture the pour, was quite in the moment! But here's my teapot!



Another restaurant shot. Once again, I seem to have forgotten to take food photos, but it was delicious and I would recommend this restaurant. Alcohol was available, just a bit discreet about it.



Then we strolled around the old town and bought a few trinkets, and found (by chance) the tourist info place which had very nice clean toilets and an interesting free "museum" display in the stairwells near the loos about the history of Cordoba/Qurtuba which is where I learnt a lot about the history of the place. Definitely worth a visit. Turn right immediately after you enter the old town coming off the Roman Bridge and follow the signs.

Finally we made it up the Bell Tower at about 1545 and were rewarded with lovely views.



A cup of coffee in the most modestly advertised Starbucks that I have seen and then home to rest my still aching shins and feet with a hot bath, a cup of tea and a smear of metsal. Had a snack dinner in the room and an early night.

I forgot to record my steps today, but I'd guess in the 8,000-10,000 bracket. it was a pleasant 2-15 degrees today.

I have loved the time in Cordoba. I came here with no expectations, but was totally mesmerised by the history and beauty of this place.

 

[RooFlyer]

My go-to chain in Spain is Paradores. Wonderful places and locations but can be expensive. At Cordoba, its on the hill on the edge of town with nice views and I got a great promo for 2 nights in August a few months ago.

Ta-ta Paradores ! Now booked at the Herperia with Mosque-view, saving E80 and a few Ubers; many thanks for the tip.

 

[Seat0B]

Glad to be of help to you @RooFlyer!

 

[Seat0B]

Monday 16 December 2024 - Cordoba-Granada

Small sleep in, and then off to Granada. Decided to shop for a few things at Aldi on the way out as we are staying in the old city in Granada and it might be too hard. Big Mistake.

Put the address into Google Maps and it took us all over the place on ever smaller and narrowed and more cobbled streets. Before too long we were trapped into driving into the restricted zone of the old town. There was almost no warning - the only sign appeared just a few metres before the last turn and there was a lot of aggressive traffic tailgating etc that made it impossible to take that turn. There was nowhere else to obvious to turn and it was highly stressful. So when we arrived at Aldi, I jumped out of the car and Mr Seat 0A skedaddled to somehwere outside the zone. Plan was that he would call me with directions for a walk to the pick up point. Did our shopping quickly, and waited for the call with directions. waited a bit more and started to feel really cold as in my haste to jump out I had forgotten to take my puffer jacket and it was 8 degrees. There was nowhere warm to wait as the Aldi foyer was just as cold as outside! After a few more minutes, I called him and he said he had not yet found a suitable place. Cutting to the chase, it was hard for him to find anywhere to pull over and wait for me, and hard to choose a suitable meet up point in a strange city. In the end, we chose a landmark - the park at Plaza de Colon, about a 10 minute walk for me. I was really glad to get moving and even more glad to lob at the park and see Mr Seat 0A waiting for me. With the fine for wrongfully entering the low emission zone of the old city around EUR 200, it might have been a rather expensive visit to Aldi! Still there is nothing we can do about it now.

After that heart starter, it was an easy enough trip to Granada until the last 10 km or so. The hotel , Hotel Monjas del Carmen, is right in the old city restricted zone, and we had been emailed what we thought were very detailed driving directions for how to successfully navigate all this, including a barricade with bollards that go up and down if you are allowed through. We had previously provided them with our car registration for this purpose. Anyway, it turns out the directions were not that clear when you came to follow them, and skipped a few steps about proceeding straight ahead or taking turns. And so we missed a few turns, got off roundabouts too early or too late, found some incredibly narrow streets, unexpected lane merges and a lot of traffic. Anyway, it was an adventure!

Checked in and drove extremely cautiously into the hotel carpark, down the narrowest driveway yet - even more challenging than the one in Lisbon. And located and parked in our miniscule allocated parking space. We were exhasuted by our car adventures, and very, very happy to have made it.



Yes people drive their cars down these streets

The hotel receptionist was lovely and took great care to explain the surroundings and things to do. We unloaded the car, had a quick cuppa in our room, which was old fashioned and simple, but nice - and the bed was comfy. The bathroom had been modernised, but I didn't get a picture.


The view was out over a very narrow landway, and was quite pretty with the mosaic patterns in the walkway.



So following the receptionist's advice, we armed ourselves with a map and our walking legs and headed up, up, up via steep roads and many flights of steps to a Miradoro to get a sunset view of the Old City (Albaicin) and Alhambra.

The look out was lively with lots of people admiring the view with their friends and a group of men playing traditional folk songs on guitars with very fancy clapping rhythms. We stayed for a while and just took in the scenery before starting the long walk back down. The views were worth the effort.




On the way down, we popped in to a terrace a few streets down from the look out and, following local tradition, ordered a coffee at 1700! We had a lovely view of the Alhambra, and I managed all the requesting a table, ordering and paying in Spanish. Continued our walk down through the Arab Quarter and visited a few shops. Came away with a great selection of baklava and other hard pastries from a bakery with an extensive choice of middle eastern style delicacies. Their display was absolutely beautiful.



It was pay bt the kg. I kept asking them to stop; they kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that until finally Mr Seat 0A said "hallas!" (arabic for finish, stop, no more etc, and a word that is very very handy for time in the Middle East). The guy was astonished, and stopped, and his colleague called out "Muy bien!" to Mr Seat 0A. We ultimately ate the baklava and other morsels with our hard won Aldi charcuterie for a snack dinner in our room and it was totally delicious - sweet and very. very crunchy.

And that's it for today.

The weather is much cooler here in Granada, getting to 0 or -1 overnight and about 8 degrees in the day. There is some snow on the Sierra Nevada Montains, although it does not look enough to ski on as yet.

Steps: 9326
Stairs: 12 flights

 

[Seat0B]

Tuesday 17 December 2024 - Granada - The Alhambra

Slept poorly. We are on the top floor of the hotel, and it is very over heated, and as we all know, hot air rises. It was impossible to get the room cool enough to sleep, so we opened the balcony doors to let in some air. Which it did, but it also let in a lot of street noise from the nearby bars that roared into life at about 2300.

After a good breakfast in a crowded breakfast room - many local people not guests of the hotel as they arrived on foot in groups with clearly their work colleagues came in for coffees and open sandwiches and pastries - we walked through a different part of the old town to get to the Alhambra, which was our main activity for the day.

I had bought the tickets on line for EUR 19 ea a few months ago (for entry to the Alhambra, Generalife and Nasrid Palaces), after much advice that this was the best way to avoid long lines, which turned out to be true. Also, if you buy on line, be sure to go to the official web site rather than any of the opportunistic commercial ones that will charge a lot more for the same tickets - we saw some wanting as much as EUR 45 ea, claiming to provide you with a physical self-guide - which you get for free anyway when you enter the site.

One of the big advantages of winter travel was that the entry lines were relatively short. But with pre-booked tickets, we did not have to wait at all. We walked around the extensive grounds, took in the beautiful views and scenery, and enjoyed viewing the old buildings, ruins, walls, gardens, etc.

The palace was started in the mod 1200s in the then Muslim state of Al Andalus.It was almost continuously modified by subsequent rulers. In 1492, it was returned to Christian control and modifications continued. During Muslim rule, the alhambra was its own walled city, separate to Granada, and contained a mosque, roads, houses, public baths, workshops, a tannery, six palaces and a complex water supply.

We saw the preserved remains of one of the Nasrid palaces (the name of the house of rulers) and it was truly spectacular and opulent, with ornate carvings, mosaics, wood inlay and pools and fountains and courtyards. Breathtaking.



The day passed really quickly.

Just as we were about to start the long walk home, along came a city bus and so for EUR1.60 each, we were chauffeur driven back home - within 100m of the hotel. Cuppa and a small rest, packing and then headed out to dinner at the originally named Kasbah Restaurant that we had spotted in the Arab Quarter yesterday and thought that it looked good and reasonably priced. We wer right! For EUR 38, we got the 5 course tasting menu that included all you can drink mint tea and ....baklava for dessert .

Todays steps: 13771
Stairs: 11 Flights
Temperature: 11 degrees

Accommodation, breakfast and car parking for 2 nights EUR228

Edit to add - a picture of our dinner that I found

 

[Seat0B]

My go-to chain in Spain is Paradores. Wonderful places and locations but can be expensive. At Cordoba, its on the hill on the edge of town with nice views and I got a great promo for 2 nights in August a few months ago.

Ta-ta Paradores ! Now booked at the Herperia with Mosque-view, saving E80 and a few Ubers; many thanks for the tip.

Also, forgot to mention that the Hesperia Cordoba has a lovely rooftop garden/bar area. It was closed for winter, but should be open when you are there, and would have great views out over the river and the Roman Bridge over to the old town.

 

[Seat0B]

Wednseday 18 December 2024 - Granada-Madrid

Departure from the Hotel Monjas Del Carmen was much more straightforward than arrival and we were soon on the road to Madrid, which was a longish trip 4.5 hrs plus stops.

Every hill as far as the eye could see was covered in densely planted olive trees. No wonder a lot of the olive oil we buy at home in Australia is from Spain. We have been wondering how they would harvest the olives on such steep hills - the answer was revealed when we saw a tractor towing a hopper with a massive suction hose attached, and a guy sucking up olives from the ground. One machine goes along and shakes the trees until the olives fall, and then the next machine hoovers them up into the hopper. The roadside rest stop where we had lunch (another good menu del dia) had an extensive display of local olive oils and olive oil products such as body lotions, soaps etc for purchase.



For those who have been following along, you'll remember that our car was not authorised for entry into the Madrid old town, so we had to change our accommodation. Based on the very pleasant stay we had on our arrival into Spain, we had rebooked at the Pullman Feria & Aeropuerte. We arrived there just on 1700 and after emptying all our goods and chattels from the car and giving it a bit of a tidy up, we decided that we had plenty of time to make the car return at 1900. So a nice relaxing cuppa, and into the traffic for the short drive back to the airport via a fuel station that looked, according to Google Maps, to be right beside the freeway.

Well, dear reader, it wasn't, so that was a bit of a stress. But we had fuelled up and made it back to the freeway by 1830, feeling a bit more stress. which we then compounded by missing the turn and getting stuck in a mega-traffic jam that was literally crawling along for 15 minutes - all just to make a U-Turn. Surely, the Spanish road systems is finished with us now???

Hope, it wasn't, because the freeway exit that Google Maps directed us to take (in fairness, so did TomTom), was closed!!! At this point, we gave up and just started to follow signs that mentioned the airport. We eventually made it, tempers a bit frayed, at 1859. hey no stress!

The train ride back to the hotel was very straight forward by comparison. Did some serious bag re-organising, and while moving around the room managed to whack my right little toe very hard on one of the legs of the bed. Bet I'll have a good bruise on it tomorrow.

 

[Seat0B]

Thursday 19 December 2024 - Free Day in Madrid

Slept badly. Coughing was bad last night and disturbed my sleep. And my foot is really sore. Finally fell into a deep sleep around 0530 and was rudely woken by the alarm with just enough time to scrape into breakfast at around 1000 - it goes off at 1030. Most of the food was cold.

Oh boy, my foot is really sore. My toe is very swollen and multi-coloured red, blue and purple. I can't put on my walking shoes.

Feeling grumpy.

So we decided on an easy day. Rode the madrid metro to the shopping area and sat at a Starbucks coddling a coffee while Mr Seat 0A visited a few shops he wanted to check out. Then grabbed a light salad lunch at a nearby cafe that looked popular with the locals.

Hobbled around the Plaza Mayor. Not very impressed with the Christmas Market there. They were just selling lots of stuffed toys like you find at sideshow alley at a country show. The Christmas tree was a bit sad too. Overall, the area looked and felt tired, dirty and run down. Debated eating some tapas, but neither of us was hungry, so we headed back to the hotel at about 1630. The rest of the day was spent packing for our return to Dubai, eating a jamon and cheese roll we bought on the way back, and resting my foot. And applying for our on-line Omani visas that we will use on 23 December for a dhow ride in the Mussendam enclave.




We have a late night phone call booked in at 2330 with the Snowy Monaro Regional Council about a development application we are planning to submit for our house in Jindabnye. They now require a "pre-DA meeting" and so we will do it by teams meeting. Gotta love modern technology.

Today's steps: 7,805, and I felt every single one of them.
Stairs: 7 flights
Weather: cold morning 5 degrees, cloudy, then crisp blue afternoon 15 degrees.

 

[MARTINE]

@Seat0B

Thankyou for your very informative and detailed trip report. I applaud your sense of adventure given some of the situations described and how you managed. I am sure they make great dinner party anecdotes (Aldi Granada!). We are currently in Portugal so enjoying following in your footsteps.

We are spending a fortnight in Spain in October (visiting many places in this report) so I am keeping it as really helpful.

Thankyou so much for sharing