Holiday in a nutshell
Day One: Basel-Madrid
Fly to Madrid. Luckily there are no problems with Munchkin's ears on the flight, and we get three seats to ourselves so she can eat in privacy. Her first flight is a big thumbs-up! Wander around Madrid during the evening.
Day Two: Madrid
Friends Beatriz & Julio and their new baby (just a few weeks older than Munchkin) have us over to their house for the day in the Madrid suburbs. It's great to get caught up with friends and to get a taste of suburban life Spanish-style. We go out for tapas, and what goes better with gambas a la plancha than a bottle of formula?
Day Three: Madrid-Sevilla
Wander the streets of Madrid in the morning, then catch the high-speed AVE train to Sevilla in the afternoon. Ignore advice to pre-book tickets and instead spend a chaotic hour waiting in line at Atocha Station. Temperature in Sevilla at 6:30pm is 39.5C/103F. When we comment on the heat to the hotel bellboy, he says "now it is not hot, but in the middle of the day it is like hell." Resolve to wake early.
Day Four: Sevilla
Sleep late. Oops. Still, what's left of the morning is noticeably cooler and refreshing. Visit the Alcazar, which is really impressive. Return to the hotel to escape the heat. Decide to go for a cheesy horse-and-carriage ride. Driver omits half the tour, but we don't care at that point because the horse is so slow we just want to get out.
Day Five: Sevilla
Visit the Cathedral, which is alleged to be the largest in the world. Unfortunately much of it is closed off for ceremonies, but it's still quite impressive. Wander shopping streets downtown. Learn from experience and book tickets for train to Granada. Try to escape the heat. Spend the evening wandering the old Santa Cruz neighborhood and gawking at sights like the Giralda, which was once the minaret of the mosque during Moorish rule and then became the bell tower for the cathedral.
Day Six: Sevilla-Granada
Bid farewell to Sevilla. Overall impression: uncomfortably warm, but beautiful and well worth a visit. Take train (NOT high-speed) to Granada with countless other tourists doing the Andalucia circuit. Walk downtown and encounter ladies aggressively trying to scam tourists, street punks, semi-crazy people, etc (interestingly, we are warned about this in Sevilla but encounter nothing like it--they seem to have made some sort of exchange with Granada). It's 5:00pm, yet every shop is closed and we can't find food anywhere. At 5:30pm, all of a sudden all of the shops open and people pour into the streets. Effort to find food takes so much out of us (we're like foraging animals preparing for hibernation) that we call it an early evening.
Day Seven: Granada
Wander the charming old Albaicin neighborhood and catch our first panoramic view of the Alhambra across the valley. Take the bus up to the Alhambra. The whole site is impressive, but the Nasrid Palaces in particular--wow. No, really--wow. Words can't do it justice (at least not that I can come up with).
Day Eight: Granada-Marbella
Rent a car and say adios to Granada. Impression: not a great start, but in the end very positive (Gretchen may even prefer it slightly to Sevilla). Have heard mostly negative things about the Costa del Sol, so have low expectations (but Malaga is closest airport to Granada, hence our visit there). Stop for lunch in Nerja--sun is shining, water is blue, palm trees are swaying in the breeze...what's so bad about this? Drive on past Malaga and realise why the area gets a bad rap. Finally arrive in Marbella, which seems somewhat less cheesy than the rest of the coast. As long as we look at the water and not the buildings it's all good. Hear jokes on two different BBC shows about the type of people who fly to Malaga for holidays.
Day Nine: Marbella
The one day of our holiday that is actually devoted to nothing but relaxing. Hang out by pool. Walk along beach. Eat fried fish. Witness much topless sunbathing (there are more nipples than a pacifier factory). Wish most would not sunbathe topless (you may see an example if you look closely enough at our self-portrait).
Day Ten: Marbella-Basel
Up at the crack of dawn for the drive to Malaga Airport. Impression? Nicer than expected, but not rushing back. Remind selves to try never--ever--again to find ourselves at Malaga Airport. Smooth flight, no problems. Sadly, back in the office by afternoon as if we never left...
[Come to think of it, that was a pretty long nutshell, wasn't it?]
Fly to Madrid. Luckily there are no problems with Munchkin's ears on the flight, and we get three seats to ourselves so she can eat in privacy. Her first flight is a big thumbs-up! Wander around Madrid during the evening.
Day Two: Madrid
Friends Beatriz & Julio and their new baby (just a few weeks older than Munchkin) have us over to their house for the day in the Madrid suburbs. It's great to get caught up with friends and to get a taste of suburban life Spanish-style. We go out for tapas, and what goes better with gambas a la plancha than a bottle of formula?
Day Three: Madrid-Sevilla
Wander the streets of Madrid in the morning, then catch the high-speed AVE train to Sevilla in the afternoon. Ignore advice to pre-book tickets and instead spend a chaotic hour waiting in line at Atocha Station. Temperature in Sevilla at 6:30pm is 39.5C/103F. When we comment on the heat to the hotel bellboy, he says "now it is not hot, but in the middle of the day it is like hell." Resolve to wake early.
Day Four: Sevilla
Sleep late. Oops. Still, what's left of the morning is noticeably cooler and refreshing. Visit the Alcazar, which is really impressive. Return to the hotel to escape the heat. Decide to go for a cheesy horse-and-carriage ride. Driver omits half the tour, but we don't care at that point because the horse is so slow we just want to get out.
Day Five: Sevilla
Visit the Cathedral, which is alleged to be the largest in the world. Unfortunately much of it is closed off for ceremonies, but it's still quite impressive. Wander shopping streets downtown. Learn from experience and book tickets for train to Granada. Try to escape the heat. Spend the evening wandering the old Santa Cruz neighborhood and gawking at sights like the Giralda, which was once the minaret of the mosque during Moorish rule and then became the bell tower for the cathedral.
Day Six: Sevilla-Granada
Bid farewell to Sevilla. Overall impression: uncomfortably warm, but beautiful and well worth a visit. Take train (NOT high-speed) to Granada with countless other tourists doing the Andalucia circuit. Walk downtown and encounter ladies aggressively trying to scam tourists, street punks, semi-crazy people, etc (interestingly, we are warned about this in Sevilla but encounter nothing like it--they seem to have made some sort of exchange with Granada). It's 5:00pm, yet every shop is closed and we can't find food anywhere. At 5:30pm, all of a sudden all of the shops open and people pour into the streets. Effort to find food takes so much out of us (we're like foraging animals preparing for hibernation) that we call it an early evening.
Day Seven: Granada
Wander the charming old Albaicin neighborhood and catch our first panoramic view of the Alhambra across the valley. Take the bus up to the Alhambra. The whole site is impressive, but the Nasrid Palaces in particular--wow. No, really--wow. Words can't do it justice (at least not that I can come up with).
Day Eight: Granada-Marbella
Rent a car and say adios to Granada. Impression: not a great start, but in the end very positive (Gretchen may even prefer it slightly to Sevilla). Have heard mostly negative things about the Costa del Sol, so have low expectations (but Malaga is closest airport to Granada, hence our visit there). Stop for lunch in Nerja--sun is shining, water is blue, palm trees are swaying in the breeze...what's so bad about this? Drive on past Malaga and realise why the area gets a bad rap. Finally arrive in Marbella, which seems somewhat less cheesy than the rest of the coast. As long as we look at the water and not the buildings it's all good. Hear jokes on two different BBC shows about the type of people who fly to Malaga for holidays.
Day Nine: Marbella
The one day of our holiday that is actually devoted to nothing but relaxing. Hang out by pool. Walk along beach. Eat fried fish. Witness much topless sunbathing (there are more nipples than a pacifier factory). Wish most would not sunbathe topless (you may see an example if you look closely enough at our self-portrait).
Day Ten: Marbella-Basel
Up at the crack of dawn for the drive to Malaga Airport. Impression? Nicer than expected, but not rushing back. Remind selves to try never--ever--again to find ourselves at Malaga Airport. Smooth flight, no problems. Sadly, back in the office by afternoon as if we never left...
[Come to think of it, that was a pretty long nutshell, wasn't it?]
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