Southern Spain

Friday May 3 - off to Malaga

We left the ship at 9am sharp and took our private transfer to the airport arriving just after 9:30am - unfortunately we could not check-in for our Vueling flight to Malaga until 2 hours before scheduled departure at 1:30pm. Since we had our luggage all we could do is hang around the check-in counter twiddling our respective thumbs. In the mean time the flight was delayed until 2pm but fortunately we could check-in at 11:30am - we sailed though in less than 5 minutes and settled into the Priority Pass lounge which was very pleasant. We a few snacks then boarded our flight.

Even though the departure was delayed we arrived pretty much on time - at about 5:30pm given the 1 hour time difference. We caught a taxi to our the hotel - the Gran Hotel Miramar and checked-in to our amazing suite - 2 rooms - living, dining and bedroom with a huge balcony overlooking the sea.

We did a quick unpack and shower then headed to dinner at a pasta/pizza place about 1 minute walk from the hotel.

Saturday May 4 - Malaga

We had already decided we would have a bit of a rest day - so we walked around Malaga checking out the super yachts in the marina. We had lunch at a water front pizza place then walked around the old town and finally did a bit of shopping for our in-room breakfast. We had dinner at the beach-front restaurant across the street from our hotel - we had a BBQ'ed whole fish (sea-bass) which they filleted at the table - it was excellent.

Sunday May 5 - Malaga (Ronda and Sentinel)

We had a FULL day tour booked today departing at 8:30am from a hotel about 10 minutes away by taxi. We visited the famous towns of Ronda and Sentinel. We finally got back to our hotel at 6pm - very tired so we had dinner at the same pasta/pizza place as the first night.

Monday May 6 - Malaga

Another full day - we booked a tour of the fortress/castle in Malaga - 1.5 hours, then lunch followed by a hike up to the fortress and finally a pre-booked visit to the Picasso museum which was (well) interesting. Back at the hotel - again very tired we had dinner at the beach-front seafood restaurant across the street - a whole BBQ'ed fish again - excellent.

Tuesday May 7 - Malaga to Grenada

Off to Grenada by bus. We arrived around noon and were able to check-in to our hotel (Hotel Palacio) right away - we got a room on the 5th (top) floor with a great view. We unpacked and headed out to the old town to find some lunch - we had a shared pizza and 2 drinks so we walked back to the hotel and had a rest. We had dinner at another restaurant in the old town recommended by the hotel - Italian but essentially a pasta / pizza place with other dishes. Atmosphere was great as was the drink service - everything else was a total fail - the only saving grace was my unusual ravioli was excellent so I shared it with Dieter whose pasta was pretty dry and tasteless. 

Wednesday May 8 - Grenada

After a hotel brekkie (an up-sell at check in - reduced from 40€ pp to 23€) - which was fine but nothing worth documenting. Our first stop was the cathedral in the old town which was magnificent then we walked (hiked) up to the headline attraction - Alhambra - we had been unable to secure tickets (fully booked till the end of May when Dieter tried to book 2 weeks ago !! live and learn) - but we could still enter and see much of the fortress including the museum and church and grounds / walls / towers - we had a light lunch on top then walked back to the hotel via the Jewish quarter. 

Thursday May 9 - Grenada to Seville

We headed off to Seville by bus (about 3 hours - the fastest and easiest way to get there) - we arrived at the station and walked to our hotel (Hotel Colon Gran Melia) - which should have been a 7 minute walk but with all sorts of "advice" from Google maps it took us 30 minutes. Anyway we checked into our lovely suite and spent the afternoon exploring the old town. We had dinner at the hotel after happy hour in the Red Level Lounge - a pretty ordinary club lounge.

Friday May 10 - Seville

We spent most of the day exploring the city after one of the best breakfasts of the trip - lots of fruit. For dinner we went to an Italian place close by recommended by the hotel - it was very ordinary.

Saturday May 11 - Seville - day trip to Cordoba

We set off by super fast train (45 minutes) to Cordoba where we visited the most famous cathedral. We bumped into the Spanish family who lived in our building for 2 years but had returned to Madrid - talk about small world. We took a mini hop-on-off bus tour of the old town before returning to Seville.

We had dinner at another hotel recommendation - El Cairo - it was very good but not excellent.

Sunday May 12 - Seville

Today we visited the Seville fortress. 

Monday May 13 - Seville

We visited the Seville cathedral then had the best dinner of the whole trip at El Disparate - it was a 15-20 minute walk from the hotel - when we arrived they did not have our reservation (our hotel concierge had made the booking) but they fit us in anyway. 

Tuesday May 14 - Seville to Madrid

After an early morning Zoom Strata Meeting for me we took the train to Madrid - some 2h40m by fast train. We checked into our hotel - Atocha Hotel Tapestry Collection (by Hilton) where we scored an early check in and an upgrade on an award booking. We spent the afternoon walking around then had dinner at El Barillo (an AmEx $200 cash-back deal) - the meal was pretty good - again not excellent.

Wednesday May 15 - Off to Doha

We did a quick walking tour of Madrid before catching a taxi to the airport - leaving earlier than probably required - but as it turned out Madrid airport is so massive and spread out in what seemed to be a very disorganised way it took us nearly an hour to get settled into the lounge. We boarded our Qatar flight around 3:30pm and settled into our Qsuites with a welcome Tattinger rose champagne.

We landed in Doha around 11:30pm local time - we had to stay overnight due to our long connection time - immigration was total chaos - looked like it could be hours to get through - we finally got moved to a 'special' queue and got through in about 30 minutes - then took a taxi to our hotel after getting 300QAR from an ATM as Google had informed us that Taxis did not take credit cards - as it turned out they did. We finally got to the Hilton Doha Diplomatic Precinct about 1am and checked in - scoring an upgrade to a huge suite and a free breakfast as Hilton Gold.