Southern Spain On the Road
22 JULY - 1 AUGUST 2016
DAY 1
Zurich - Palafruguell
With the exception of a few must-do, such as Madrid or Barcelona, Spain is one of those territories that we have never explored in depth. And what is the best way to do it if not grabbing the steering wheel and drive through its roads and lesser-known places? We leave after the working day, traveling at night when the traffic is less intense and apart from a small break at the height of Clermont-Ferrand, we drive until we arrive in the village of Palafruguell the next morning.
DAY 2
Palafruguell - Zaragoza
We decide to avoid the most famous destinations, where you can easily get with an international flight, and we devote ourselves to the most remote corners of Spain, those that cannot be reached without a car. First stop is the tiny village of Palafruguell, a gem with cobbled streets and ochre stone houses. We, then, make a stop to rest a while on the coast, in the small village of Llafranc, and after an ice cream and a relaxing break on the beach, we set off again, eager to reach the hotel that will host us tonight, in Zaragoza. Apart from the majestic cathedral that dominates the vast main square, there is not much to see and after a few tapas, we go to sleep.
HOTEL: Hotels Sauce
DAY 3
Zaragoza - Valencia
After a decidedly Spanish breakfast, based on tostadas and tortilla, we go out for a daytime walk in the city, and we definitely confirm the impression of the previous evening. The city is quite degraded and with many abandoned buildings. The only gem is the Moorish castle Aljaferia that we find almost by chance and in which we enter for a free Sunday-visit. Beautiful and unique compared to what we have seen so far in other European trips, in Moorish style, with a Moroccan twist.
We resume our journey and we are already beginning to realize how special the part on the road will be. The landscapes are unique. We are surprised not to suffer the heat, despite the arid expanses of red earth crowned by hundreds of wind turbines in any direction.
In the afternoon we arrive at the second stop of the day, the village of Albarracin. Nestled in a gorge, with cobbled streets and buildings painted in faded red, we soon realize we have found another hidden treasure, with a beautiful view of the valley from the high walls. We stop by a bar to nibble on some local cheese, which we will also buy from a dairy-shop just outside the village, and some freshly sliced Serrano ham.
We get back on the road and arrive before sunset at the next destination, Valencia.
We manage to take a walk before it gets dark, and we will walk along the Jardins del Túria to the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, with all the beautiful and unique white buildings of Calatrava. I had already visited this place during a university-trip, and to my great regret I found it really degraded, with falling majolica tiles that cover dusty buildings. The overall impression is always outstanding anyway, and we enjoy the view until sunset.
We go to dinner and walking for a while near a swampy area and a semi-abandoned area, we reach the port area, where we stop for a while in admiration of the sea at night at Veles et Vents.
DAY 4
Valencia
Breakfast a few steps from home, in the Mercat de Colom, with a horchata, a delicacy made with strange berries, similar to an almond milk that we just discovered, and fartòns, ingots of sweet dough to soak. We head towards the centre and visit monuments and markets, and make a stop for another afternoon horchata at the Horcharia de Santa Catalina.
We do some shopping in the very promising center, and we come back for the sunset and a photo session at the City of Science. This time we are in the car and return to the port to enjoy a super paella Valenciana.
BREAKFAST: Mercat de Colom | CAFÈ: Horchateria Santa Catalina | DINNER: La Pepica
DAY 5
Valencia - Granada
We wake up early and leave for Granada. We arrive at our accommodation by walking through the stepped alleys of the old town and we enjoy for a few moments the hotel, an old Spanish residence, kept intact and really picturesque, a bit labyrinthine, all in wood, and with a beautiful view of the Alhambra from our room.
We leave and immediately go to the other side of the deep gorge that separates two sides of the city for a visit to the monument. Beautiful and majestic, one of the most beautiful places seen so far in Europe, with a magnificent view over the city. Before dinner we take a walk in the Arab Quarter and stop in one of the famous teterias. It feels like you are really in Marrakech this time, with scents of incense, leather shoe shops and carpets like in a souk. After dinner we go back to a teteria for a mint tea and a flower tea to end the evening.
HOTEL: Casa de Aljarife | DINNER: Bodegas Castañeda
DAY 6
Granada - Valdevaqueros
We head to the coast today, where we will be staying in a tent in a campsite on the Costa de la Luz for a couple of days. On the way we make a detour to visit the village of Setenil de las Bodegas, where the old town was built by digging into the rocks of a gorge, from which emerge the white facades of the houses crushed by these huge boulders impending on passers-by.
We arrive at Valdevaqueros, a beach near which our campsite is located. We set up our tents and set out for an evening walk in Cadiz. We drive for a few kilometres through immense stretches of steppe, dotted with bulls and endless expanses of wind turbines immersed in the mist. This magical landscape takes us to Cadiz, a small but delightful seaside town where we get lost in the alleys designed by the houses with jutting glass facades.
DINNER: Meson Criollo
DAY 7
Valdevaqueros
We spend the day at the beach, mostly watching the kite surfers and avoiding the sand raised by the strong wind. Just after breakfast in an anonymous bar in front of the beach, where we take a tasty and giant tostada with lots of garlic and tomato to start the day at its best.
In the late afternoon we decide to go to visit Gibraltar. We enter enthusiastically in this British premises, crossing a frontier, changing driving-side, and crossing the runway of an airport that separates the small peninsula. Soon we realize that it is a disappointing English miniature town, transplanted to Spain, with the same mailboxes and red phone booths but with more degradation. Quite disappointed we leave, not before having spent a few Euros for the parking lot and having received in exchange some useful Pounds that we did not know how to spend.
DAY 8
Cadiz - Seville
Before leaving the coast, we take another trip to Cadiz, to see this pretty town in the daylight. After a morning walk, we head to Seville. We arrive at our lovely hotel and go for a walk to Plaza de Toros and along the river, and to have dinner. The city looks already very beautiful.
DINNER: Vineria San Telmo | HOTEL: Puerta de Sevilla
DAY 9
Sevilla - Cordoba
Breakfast in front of the hotel with the inevitable Andalusian tostada. We walk around the city, as always: the beautiful Plaza de Espana is a unique and unmissable place and the Alcazar is a jewel even more beautiful than the Alhambra, unfortunately (or not) lesser known. In the asphyxiating heat, unusual for Spain but apparently typical of Seville, we visit the Metropol Parasol, in Plaza de la Encarnacion, a giant wooden structure that shades the square. We stop for a few tapas in a delightful place not far away and then we resume our journey to Cordoba.
BREAKFAST: Cerveceria Mezquita | LUNCH: Bar Alfalfa
We arrive with a bit of effort, and after having desisted from driving through the narrow streets of the historic center, in our hotel, a historic building decorated with antique furnitures with a huge room.
HOTEL: Hospederia El Churrasco
DAY 10
Cordoba - San Sebastian
We take a walk through the beautiful Cordoba. We visit the Alcazar and for lunch, under the scorching sun, we stop in the shade of the castle to eat the most famous potato tortilla in the city. Rightly so, as well as being good, they are tortillas the size of a wheel of cheese, about 15 cm thick, and really inviting. In the afternoon we visit the beautiful Mezquita, a mosque converted into a Christian church, with a forest of two-colored columns from One Thousand and One nights.
LUNCH: Bar Santos
On the way home, we stop to visit the windmills of Consuegra, the famous mills of the adventures of Don Quixote. In the evening we take a break for dinner in Burgos, which to our surprise we discover to be another beautiful town. Being very late we find all the places now closed, and we have to settle for the only tapas bar still open in town. Tired, late at night we resume the journey. We stop near San Sebastian to rest.
DAY 11
San Sebastian - Zurich
The next morning, tired dead and with deep dark circles, we take a walk to San Sebastian, in the Basque Country, where we eat some unusual tapas (here called pintxos), as bocadillos with brie and jam. The place is an anonymous and tiny bar outside the old town, but it's a great place to get an idea of the local cuisine.
BREAKFAST: Bar Diz
After snooping through some little surfer shop, we leave again, and make another stop in the snobbish and sunny Biarritz, where we find a tiny place in the small and crowded beach of the city to spend a few hours of rest in the sun. We leave again in the late afternoon and reach Zurich late at night.
This content is NOT SPONSORED, but based on my genuine personal experience. Spontaneous opinions, positive and negative, shareable or not, that I hope will help to live better travel experiences. My advice is a guide to lead you through world explorations, but the real journey, you build it!
