Spain - Corboda and Madrid

Alas, we've come to the last post :( Our last two stops in Spain were Cordoba and Madrid. Tomorrow we drive back to Barcelona's El Prat airport for our flight back to Atlanta, connecting overnight in Paris. It's been an amazing two and half months. We're sad that it's finally come to an end but definitely excited to start the next adventure in Philly! And plan the next trip post Wharton :)

Alright, enough fluff, onto our Spanish cities. Cordoba is extra hot. Apparently everyone knows this but us because it had the least amount of tourists we'd seen in Spain yet excluding tiny Arcos. Our short stop in Cordoba allowed us to see the major attractions that seem to be defaults in Spanish Andalusian cities: really old cathedral (that used to be a mosque in the Moorish times), really old picturesque bridge all light up at night, historic river, and the all important "main square" that's now filled with over-priced food that only tourists will pay for. This may sound negative but all these things make for a fun stay!

Madrid seems to be buzzing at all times of the day. With the siestas being reduced in frequency and length, you see people out and about all day and night. There's enough infrastructure with the metro that it doesn't feel too packed like other large cities. And the food's pretty good too, though slightly more expensive than Andalusia.

Here's a quick summary of what we did, followed by some advice if you visit, fun facts, and a summary of our favorite pictures.
Corodoba

• Stayed at AC Cordoba
• Jewish Quarter
• Old Town walking
• Best meal: Taberna Gongora (must get oxtail stew)

Madrid

• Stayed at the Westin Palace
• Old Town / City Center walking
• The "eclectic" and real neighborhood Lavapies 
• Palacio Real
• Parque del Retiro
• Museo del Prado
• Best meals: Taberna Alhambra & El Azul del Fucar

Advice if you visit

• Read the scams that are popular in Barcelona on WikiTravel. They are spot on. Someone tried to petition scam us in a park in Madrid. Although we just walked away, the three youngsters went to another tourist family. Five minutes later we saw the police escort the youth to the police car.
• Museo del Prado in Madrid offers free entry from 6-8pm Mon - Sat. They have a huge collection and we even got to see a Picasso exhibit. Definitely worth the visit.
• Underground parking in Madrid is expensive. Our hotel charges 39 euros/day. We found a public lot near the hotel and still had to pay 31 euro/day. Not much in terms of advice in finding parking lots but just keep parking costs in mind if you decide to road trip in Spain. We will pay ~125 euro for 10 days.

Fun facts

• Youth rap battles can be witnessed in the parks of Cordoba.
• 80% of Spain's GDP comes from Madrid. Although the previous statement is totally fabricated, its what you will feel when you come to Madrid after ten days in Andalusia. We actually saw people wearing suits and going to work here!
• Apart from Madrid, if you'd like to get a feel for the summer Andalusian lifestyle, just stay at home and sleep in on a Sunday :)
• Spain has taught us a new drink: tinto de verano = summer wine. Just take any cheap red wine and add Fanta/Sprite/Sparkling Lemonade. 50/50 proportions and some ice. Super refreshing in the summer heat. Oh and for the wine snobs out there, chill out, it's delicious.
• All of Europe's restaurants are serviced by a single waiter. No wonder the unemployment rates are so high in Spain. The area that a waiter covers in Spain is usually two or three times the size of most American restaurants. And yes, the service can be painfully slow.
• 2,312 kilometers driven!
• Fate took Mohit to the Lavapies neighborhood and that may have been too much character for Mohit :).

Summary of pictures

Taberna Gongora introduced us to fried eggplant with molasses

Cordoba, we will be back when you're not trying to give us a heat stroke!

Wee Mohit

The art exhibition included a Bedouin serving tea, where is that tears crying emoji 

Mohit truly appreciated broccoli

Not the best pic but this smoked fish tapa was truly memorable

Historical Westin

We could get used to churros and chocolate every afternoon

Amazing urban park

Spain - Arcos de la Frontera & Sevilla

The road trip continued onto a small (~30k residents) Spanish hill town called Arcos de la Frontera. All the houses in the town are completely white washed with khaki-brown roof tiles. Yes, it's starting to get touristy because of Rick Steves but it was an awesome place to relax for a day. Our hotel room had a terrace with beach chairs and an umbrella overlooking a valley. Great place to watch a Friday evening sunset :)

After a night in Arcos, we continued to Sevilla, spending two nights at an AirBnB just outside the walls of the Old Town. We spent the first day and night exploring Venezuelan food and more tapas. Then the second day we went out into Old Town with another AirBnB guest to Plaza de la Espana where they shot a scene from Attack of the Clones! The walking continued to the Guadalquivir river in the evening.

Here's a quick summary of what we did, followed by some advice if you visit, fun facts, and summary of our favorite pictures.

Arcos de la Frontera

• Stayed at the El Convento Hotel
• Walk around the Old Town
• Dinner at Bar La Carcel 

Sevilla

• Stayed at AirBnb at the Northern edge of the city walls
• Nighttime visit of the Cathedral
• Plaza de la Espana
• Metropol Parasol
• Nighttime walk of Guadalquivir river
• Lunches at El Arepazo and Vineria de San Telmo
• Dinners at Bar Alfalfa (twice!)

Advice if you visit

• Sevilla's metro network has pretty terrible reach so its worth spending the extra money to stay closer to the Old Town area (our walk from the AirBnB at the edge was a bit too long). However, driving within the old city walls can be a nightmare. The streets are quite tiny.
• It's difficult to see all the sights of Sevilla in just a two night stay. If you really want to see the major sights and experience things like a flamenco show, try to make your trip for four nights. 
• Park at the sister hotel Los Olivos for El Convento, you especially do not want to drive in this Old Town

Fun facts

• If a store is open between 2m and 7pm, there's a 90% chance its run by an Asian.
• Teens can be spotted with a to-go version of a hookah. Just a tiny version of the full-scale hookah that one person carries while his/her friends smoke away to glory.
• Yep, its true, the Brits love coming to the hot Andalusia region of Spain in the summer. Probably to get their fill of the heat before heading back to dreary, windy, wet, cold London.

Summary of pictures

Don Quixote was here 

Hotel search ensues

Balcony view from El Convento!

He said he didn't mind the mid 90s F heat underneath the umbrella

Arcos also has Roman, Moorish then Christian history. We will visit them next time.

That quaint life

The classic breakfast in Arcos, this local bread was dynamite 

Rich people's courtyards in the past in the town, now an art gallery

Best small town walking experience

Sevilla begins

This plaza was awesome especially because of Star Wars history

Google Plaza España Sevilla Star Wars

A surprisingly awesome attraction

Entry gates into Sevilla

Land of the tapas,Spain has been the top two best food experiences in Europe

Spain - Granada

The drive from Valencia to Granada takes around five hours. Nothing much happens in the first four hours and the scenery is pretty bleh. But hey, zero tolls! Once you enter Andalucia though, the scenery becomes a bit more dramatic and beautiful.

Granada is best known for the Alhambra, a fort that's been around since the mid-1200s. It's one of the most visited places in Europe. Even though its tough to impress people who've seen a ton of Mughal architecture in India (Taj, Fatehpur sikri, Agra Fort, etc.), this is still well worth the visit. Also, Granada has been continuously inhabited by humans for the past 2,500 years (wiki.) So there's gotta be some history around here. If none of this excites you, you can get a cerveza and a tapa for 2 euros. Come onnnnnnnn.

Here's a quick summary of what we did, followed by some advice if you visit, fun facts, and some of our favorite pictures.

• Stayed at NH Collection Victoria Hotel
• Tapas at Avila, traditional Spanish food
• Tapas at Om-Kalsum, Moroccan food
• Old Town walking
• Alhambra
• La Tana, traditional Spanish food
• San Miguel de Bajo square
• Mirador de San Nicolas

Advice if you visit

• If you plan to visit Alhambra in the summer, definitely go in the morning time slot. Your options are either 8am or 2pm entry. Additionally, try to get your timeslot for the Nasrid Palaces to be around noon. This will allow you to start the walk at Generalife and work your way down to the palaces.
• If the tickets on Ticketmaster are sold out, you can likely still get them at Tienda librería de la Alhambra. It's a small bookshop near Old Town. They take credit card only (no cash.)
• It's worth bringing your own lunch for the Alhambra tour. Even though there is a cafeteria inside, the options are limited and expensive. There's plenty of free cold water fountains, so be sure to bring a water bottle.
• We enjoyed the food that was tucked away from the main streets. Not only did it have a lot less people, the food was cheaper and just as good. Mohit's favorite tapas place was Bar Avila while Fate's favorite was La Tana.

Fun facts

• Hot pants are all the rage across Spain. But some of them are getting seriously out of control... and not in a good way ;)
• We play a people watching game with categories like: spot the most ridiculous hot pants, or find the first Indian family. But we hit a jackpot in the Alhambra. We spotted the elusive, serious umbrella-hat wearer!
• At Om-Kalsum you can get eight tapas and a bottle of wine for 14 euro, or swap the wine to a pitcher of beer and the price drops down to 12.5 euros. 

Summary of pictures

You see a lot of orchards or olive tree fields driving around in Andalucia 

Here begins the main highlight of Granada, the palace/fortress Alhambra visit

You got to have symmetry unnatural in nature in gardens 

This was the leisure area for the kings

Asian tourists hiding behind the bushes

They typical Persian garden layout

On to the fortress area

You get great views of Arab quarter

Some of these were rooms for soldiers and scarily tiny

Entering the Nasrid Palaces

This ceiling is an illusion we don't remember how to explain

Pictures don't do it justice

Interesting to see Islamic architecture with Spanish tiles

Our future backyard

Past residents of Alhambra

Charles V had to make his own style of palace in the compound too

Alhambra at night as seen from a hill on Arab quarter 

We had to watch our toes when cars drove past