Review: Spain Vacation, Barcelona, Nerja, Seville, Ronda, Cordoba, Malaga, Alhambra, Generalife, Beaches

Hotels

We want to thank you for choosing the specific locations during our trip. My husband particularly enjoyed the hotels in in Ronda. The locations were spectacular. He had an opportunity to stay and sleep in an actual castle. Ronda has spectacular views, comfortable room and the breakfast buffet was one of our favourites. Both of these locations offered an off the beat path feel which he really enjoyed. The novelty of the elevator was cool and so was the corner room with the balcony. We can’t wait to tell our sons that we drove our car into an elevator.

Driving

The drive from Ronda to Malaga was amazing as we saw so many vistas. Next time, I would like to do a motorcycle ride from Malaga to Ronda. I even enjoyed the challenge of driving in the old parts of the cities, although next time I will be acutely aware of the difficulty of finding and fitting into parking.

Beaches

The beaches in Spain were incredible. We enjoyed Marbella beach in Barcelona as that day was windy enough to create wonderful waves that I would only find in a wave pool back home. After we visited Peniscola we found the little beach by the hotel and had a night swim. The sand was so soft and could see why it was such a popular tourist destination. In Valencia we went a little south of the city to find a town called El Sater where we found a local beach which had sand dunes and incredible waves. On our way to Cartenga we spent some time in Vorrevieja Beach which had an incredible surf. The flags were raised as red which created some awesome conditions for body surfing. In Malaga we decided to visit the Playa de la Moro in Nerja. I couldn’t believe how amazing this beach was. The clarity of the water, the ability to swim with fishes and snorkel to watch them swim was amazing. Even the little restaurant was awesome. This little enclave of a beach has a perfect amount of waves which made the whole day incredibly fun.

Sites and tour guides

We also really enjoyed Conception Castle in Cartenga as there was such rich history in the location which appealed to him since it was a naval base and he is currently serving in the Navy. We were surprised to see so many castles around the main Conception Castle. As well the pedestrian walkway of marble was awe inspiring to see so many old buildings with a mix of facades.

Al ahambra provided amazing insight into the Muslim traditions and history as well as the engineering that was in place to keep such an elaborate complex going. The Generalife was beautiful to see as we have never seen a pomegranate tree and that was really special. On my return trip, I look forward to seeing the magnolia trees in bloom. Our tour guide was really good at answering our questions and getting us opportunities to take good photos which was especially important to me and particularly difficult in such a busy tourist location. The special attention we received during our private guided tour made us feel special.

The walking tour of Seville was great. This ended up being a private tour which was great for us. We enjoyed the walk through the Archives since it provided a context for the history of Seville as well as some special photos. We enjoyed the history of the Cathedral from the outside as well as a walk through the priest’s quarters and up medieval winding streets.

It’s hard to put into words the awesomeness of the Royal Alcazar and Cathedral in Seville. My paltry pictures didn’t do these sites justice.