Portugal would be a tough act to follow but our route back through Spain was going to take us through ( arguably ) an itinerary of some of Spain’s best sights and, indisputably, its most popular travel region – Andalusia. Needless to say our expectations were high but the coming two weeks would prove the optimism to be well founded. With a couple of weeks of European vehicle insurance still remaining on our van and plans to spend a month in Morocco before flying home to Canada for a Christmas break, we’d left ourselves enough time to see the major attractions. Much of this we had missed on our earlier trip in Spain so adding to the appeal was the fact that most of it this area was all virgin territory for us. Seville, Cordoba, Granada and down to Nerja on the Mediterranean coast would fill the first week, and then a loop up through Malaga, Caminito del Rey, Setinil de las Bodegas and Ronda would provide plenty to do the following week. Fortunately ( and rather incredibly ), superb weather would hold up for the entire duration !

Seville has to be one of Spain’s prettiest cities and offers a plethora of historic buildings, some of Spain’s nicest parks and just an overall friendly vibe. It was easy to get around and as a bonus provided probably the best nighttime view from a campground that we have experienced anywhere. Our very old Lonely Planet guide described the place well – “In the past, armies of Muslims and Christians fought over this sun drenched part of Spain but these days tourists are the only visitors to arrive in battalions”. Sunny it was and the tourists were there in droves ( if not exactly in battalions ).

Cordoba was probably the city where our expectations were lowest ( not being as popular or well-known as some of the others ) but it too delivered a great experience for us. In more ways than one, actually. A simple tire rotation which we had scheduled for our Cordoba visit uncovered the need for some additional vehicle work ( as such “minor visits” invariably do ) when the service folks identified a screw that had pierced our front driver’s side tire ( this now explained the slow leak we’d been curious about  ! ) and the fact that our rear brakes were in need of replacement ( down, he said, almost to metal on metal ). It should not have been a complete surprise since we were told back in Austria ( when the fronts were done ) that we only had (at most ) 10,000kms left on the rears and we were close to that point. The service ( speed, quality of work, and cost ) provided by José and team at Euromaster was exceptional – recommended should you ever need brake work in Cordoba !

Serious consideration was given to skipping Granada altogether since we had discovered, a few weeks back, that we were most unlikely to be able to procure tickets to its famous Alhambra. This world famous Moorish palace complex is the reason visitors come to Granada, but sadly, like the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, tickets sell out weeks and sometimes months in advance. Not a problem if you’re on a tour and you can commit well in advance to a day and time, but an absolute impossibility if you are roaming around in a camper van like we are and don’t know where you’ll be from one day to the next – literally ! Having said that, Granada was almost en route to our next destination of Nerja/Malaga so we thought it worth taking a chance that we might just get a cancellation ticket or some such. We rocked up to the Alhambra ticket office and put that very possibility to the ticket agent. She almost fell off her chair, laughing…! “Cancellations ?”, “Last minute tickets ?”.  “Sir, no one cancels an Alhambra ticket !”.  Well, we’d not gone too far out of our way, and that was pretty much what we expected, but then to our surprise, she leaned forward and said, “But, having said all that, did you know there’s quite a bit of the Alhambra complex you can see without a ticket and at no charge?”. No, we certainly did not know that and this sounded quite intriguing. She proceeded to tell us about the areas that were open to everyone and which included quite a few of the notable components of the complex. Not the famous bit, of course, but enough to give you a good idea of what the famous bit was like –  we proceeded in, wandered around and were delighted to experience just a little of what was created here starting almost almost 1,000 years ago. Granada, thus not a total wipeout at all !

Castles, cathedrals and old towns we had now seen enough of for a while and needed a break – coastal Nerja offered just the antidote and with a very centrally located park-up we enjoyed our last couple of days beachside. Can see why this place is so popular – a great beach, scenic coastline, pretty town and great restaurant scene. Seldom do we get all that together and when we discovered we could camp in the middle of it, we did just that. A great end to this part of our Andalusia travels.

Till next week…..

Video:

Joke For The Week: ( Saw This And Had A Giggle )