stivi
Well-Known Member
well, this review is neither about ibiza, nor about clubbing...but i thought i still might share what we (natascha and me) did last week!
sunday 10th april
flight from zurich to malaga in late afternoon...very nice weather (sunny and about 22°C) when we arrived!
picked up our rental car and drove into malaga town, where we had booked a room in a nice 4*hotel for our first night. then we took a walk through malaga...the town was quite quiet (well, it was sunday evening), but we liked it. malaga isn't really known to be beautiful, but it has its nice corners - especially around the cathedral and the alcazaba (an very old fortress). found a nice tapas bar/restaurante and had a nice selection of tapas together with some very good red wine!
monday 11th april
off we go! got up early and left malaga in eastern direction. drove along the coast - of course we also had beautiful weather that day - and then we took a small, steep and windy road which took us through the mountains (a part of the sierra nevada) and lead us to granada. granada is famous for its alhambra, which is known as the biggest arabic building outside nowadays "arabic world". did you know andalucia was arabic territory many many years ago? you often see it, influences in clothes, eating, buildings...and so on!
the visit of the alhambra was absolutely worth it and you need at least half a day to see all those buldings, gardens, patios...wonderful!
after our expensive night at malaga we searched for a cheap hostal in granada, which we found easily...but it wasn't a good one...but for one night it was ok. in the evening we went eating tapas again...yummy!
tuesday, 11th april
took a road which lead us more north-west, first into priego de cordoba (thanks mr x from this forum) where we had a stop for some tasty bocadillos and then onwards to cordoba. cordoba is a very nice town with a beautiful centre and it's well-known because of their mezquita - another arabic cathedral/mosque - but a huuuge one! had a lazy afternoon lying under the orange trees in the mezquita's patio (oh, did i mention we had nice weather?). this time we found a brilliant (and still cheap) hostal for the night - hostal la fuente. again we had a nice dinner...and of course some vino tinto!
wednesday, 12th april and thursday, 13th april
this time we decided to take the motorway (...shall i say racetrack?) directly to seville instead of taking just normal roads (although the normal roads are much more fun!). sevilla is absolutely brillant!!! again some stunning sight-seeing: the alcazar (an ancient fortress) with its gardens is something not to be missed and the views from top of the cathedral are worth walking all up! seville is also great for shopping and has plenty of nice restaurants and bars! again we had nice weather and we even had more luck: during our stay in seville the so-called feria de abril (april fair) took place and we also went there. absolutely brillant to see the andalucians “socialising” in their traditional costumes!
friday 14th april
took the autopista in southern direction, first to jerez de la frontera (you might know it from the F1 race) and then we drove to tarifa. tarifa is the southernmost point of andalucia (about half an hour southwards from gibraltar) and from there you can easily see africa - morocco's coast is only 15km away. tarifa is also very popular to windsurfers and kitesurfers - i think it's the windiest spot i've ever been! but still we had sun and we enjoyed our walk on the beach and a nice and romantic dinner in town. again we found a perfect hostal, hostal alameda.
saturday 15th april
from the beach to the mountains again...we drove to ronda, which is located on a plateau and surrounded by mountains (ronda got its name because of this as far as i know). if you go to andalucia, then you definitely have to go to ronda! although it's very touristic (even more than granada or cordoba), it's still nice and absolutely worth a visit! this time, we didn't search for a hostal - we wanted some luxury again and took a room at the parador de ronda. the paradores are a hotel-chain in old houses/castles/fincas and that stuff - very very nice!!!! (in portugal they're called pousadas). the ronda parador is perfectly located and was just the right thing for our last night in andalucia!
sunday 16th april
drove back to the coast, were shocked by the sins that had been done in marbella and all along that coast (marbella-torremolinos-malaga - it's a non-stop city...) but still we stopped in torremolinos. went to the beach (27°C, sun, people were already swimming in the sea), had a nice lunch (tasty fish!) and tried to catch as much sun as possible...flew home that evening and when we arrived in zurich, winter was back: 2°C and snow had been falling the night before...aaarrrggghh!!! :x
in short: andalucia is absoutely worth a trip! beautiful landscapes…quite rough and stony in the mountains and very nice with hills in “flat land”…very green and everything was in bloom (or blossom – how do you say?)…olive trees and orange trees all over…people are very friendly and helpful. but: if you don’t speak any spanish, it’s gonna be hard! on the coast, they do speak a bit of english (and even german), but in the cities and especially in the small pueblos they don’t! luckily I do speak some spanish and it was great fun!
food there is great (tapas - paella - delicious cold and hot meat - fish and seafood puls their local postres =sweets) and so is their wine (their "fino" is tasty, but still i prefer the reds) and both is absolutely affordable!!!
GO! fly to malaga or seville, hire a car and explore the region! you need at least a week (the more the better) to make a good tour and you will love it!
some pictures: http://public.fotki.com/stivi/
saludos de suiza
nostrum
sunday 10th april
flight from zurich to malaga in late afternoon...very nice weather (sunny and about 22°C) when we arrived!
picked up our rental car and drove into malaga town, where we had booked a room in a nice 4*hotel for our first night. then we took a walk through malaga...the town was quite quiet (well, it was sunday evening), but we liked it. malaga isn't really known to be beautiful, but it has its nice corners - especially around the cathedral and the alcazaba (an very old fortress). found a nice tapas bar/restaurante and had a nice selection of tapas together with some very good red wine!monday 11th april
off we go! got up early and left malaga in eastern direction. drove along the coast - of course we also had beautiful weather that day - and then we took a small, steep and windy road which took us through the mountains (a part of the sierra nevada) and lead us to granada. granada is famous for its alhambra, which is known as the biggest arabic building outside nowadays "arabic world". did you know andalucia was arabic territory many many years ago? you often see it, influences in clothes, eating, buildings...and so on!
the visit of the alhambra was absolutely worth it and you need at least half a day to see all those buldings, gardens, patios...wonderful!
after our expensive night at malaga we searched for a cheap hostal in granada, which we found easily...but it wasn't a good one...but for one night it was ok. in the evening we went eating tapas again...yummy!
tuesday, 11th april
took a road which lead us more north-west, first into priego de cordoba (thanks mr x from this forum) where we had a stop for some tasty bocadillos and then onwards to cordoba. cordoba is a very nice town with a beautiful centre and it's well-known because of their mezquita - another arabic cathedral/mosque - but a huuuge one! had a lazy afternoon lying under the orange trees in the mezquita's patio (oh, did i mention we had nice weather?). this time we found a brilliant (and still cheap) hostal for the night - hostal la fuente. again we had a nice dinner...and of course some vino tinto!
wednesday, 12th april and thursday, 13th april
this time we decided to take the motorway (...shall i say racetrack?) directly to seville instead of taking just normal roads (although the normal roads are much more fun!). sevilla is absolutely brillant!!! again some stunning sight-seeing: the alcazar (an ancient fortress) with its gardens is something not to be missed and the views from top of the cathedral are worth walking all up! seville is also great for shopping and has plenty of nice restaurants and bars! again we had nice weather and we even had more luck: during our stay in seville the so-called feria de abril (april fair) took place and we also went there. absolutely brillant to see the andalucians “socialising” in their traditional costumes!
friday 14th april
took the autopista in southern direction, first to jerez de la frontera (you might know it from the F1 race) and then we drove to tarifa. tarifa is the southernmost point of andalucia (about half an hour southwards from gibraltar) and from there you can easily see africa - morocco's coast is only 15km away. tarifa is also very popular to windsurfers and kitesurfers - i think it's the windiest spot i've ever been! but still we had sun and we enjoyed our walk on the beach and a nice and romantic dinner in town. again we found a perfect hostal, hostal alameda.
saturday 15th april
from the beach to the mountains again...we drove to ronda, which is located on a plateau and surrounded by mountains (ronda got its name because of this as far as i know). if you go to andalucia, then you definitely have to go to ronda! although it's very touristic (even more than granada or cordoba), it's still nice and absolutely worth a visit! this time, we didn't search for a hostal - we wanted some luxury again and took a room at the parador de ronda. the paradores are a hotel-chain in old houses/castles/fincas and that stuff - very very nice!!!! (in portugal they're called pousadas). the ronda parador is perfectly located and was just the right thing for our last night in andalucia!
sunday 16th april
drove back to the coast, were shocked by the sins that had been done in marbella and all along that coast (marbella-torremolinos-malaga - it's a non-stop city...) but still we stopped in torremolinos. went to the beach (27°C, sun, people were already swimming in the sea), had a nice lunch (tasty fish!) and tried to catch as much sun as possible...flew home that evening and when we arrived in zurich, winter was back: 2°C and snow had been falling the night before...aaarrrggghh!!! :x
in short: andalucia is absoutely worth a trip! beautiful landscapes…quite rough and stony in the mountains and very nice with hills in “flat land”…very green and everything was in bloom (or blossom – how do you say?)…olive trees and orange trees all over…people are very friendly and helpful. but: if you don’t speak any spanish, it’s gonna be hard! on the coast, they do speak a bit of english (and even german), but in the cities and especially in the small pueblos they don’t! luckily I do speak some spanish and it was great fun!
food there is great (tapas - paella - delicious cold and hot meat - fish and seafood puls their local postres =sweets) and so is their wine (their "fino" is tasty, but still i prefer the reds) and both is absolutely affordable!!!
GO! fly to malaga or seville, hire a car and explore the region! you need at least a week (the more the better) to make a good tour and you will love it!
some pictures: http://public.fotki.com/stivi/
saludos de suiza
nostrum