The trip started in San Ildefonso la Granja in order to investigate the purchase of an apartment in the area. After a 24hour exhausting journey I arrived in my Airbnb and made myself at home. I soon realized that this small village is quite isolated but very beautiful. My next two days consisted of viewing apartments in Segovia and then the following day travelling by train to Guadarrama and Villalba. The latter is a busy town quite close to Madrid and was really out of the question but I saw three apartments that I liked, so now we have to make a decision how to proceed, and proceed we will. One of the estate agents was intent on describing the facilities of the area which included the local cemetery. Travelling on Renfe trains outside the high-speed line is a bit depressing, run down stations, ticket machines that don’t work, very few passengers and late trains. Thank heavens I was befriended by a Rumanian lady called Aurore otherwise I would have missed my connection and still be whizzing around the mountain slopes of Madrid.
The Royal Palace in San Ildefonso is truly beautiful, based on Versailles, with extensive gardens spread across the mountain side. It was built in the 18th century but is now disused and open as a museum. It really is unique to go around this palace and explore the gardens.
My daughter in law Natalia came across with Oliver, my grandson, to see me. The link for Oliver with our family seems to be severing, but I’m determined to keep contact.
I have found this trip rather stressful, not knowing the language, customs and being rather isolated.
Spanish business hours are quite different, 09.30 to 14.00, siesta time until 16.30 and then work until late in the evening. They take a small breakfast, lunch at 14.00 and then dinner between 21.00 and 22.00. Everywhere there are plenty of places to eat, from formal to outdoors. At night the cities are buzzing, what a contrast to South Africa.
My next change was to go by train to Cordoba. This meant a taxi to Segovia station, 30-minute train to Madrid Camp, a taxi ride to Madrid Atocha, 2-hour high speed train to Cordoba, followed by a taxi whizz round the side streets to my apartment. The high-speed trains are great but checking in is ridiculous; baggage X ray and then twice checking in like on a plane person by person leaving a mad dash at the end before the train leaves.
The main feature of Cordoba is the Mezquita, the Great Mosque which is enormous and inside has different styles of architecture including red and white striped Caliphal arches. But it doesn’t just have this wonder, there are kms of narrow streets, hidden quiet courtyards. I’ve been now to a number of ancient Spanish cities and they are delightful with wonderous cathedrals and old city centers.
On to Seville, a much larger city with a small apartment next to the road and an all-night street party. How the police allow this and the inhabitants put up with it beats me.
Feeling tired I took the wrong route and ended up in a seedy part of the city and walked past four run down fat prostitutes sitting on chairs in the street.
The main sights are full with overseas and local tourists and you have to book ahead. I decided to give the huge cathedral a miss, perhaps for later. and went around the wonderful Real Alcazar with its huge beautiful gardens.
The next night was the same, total noise from midnight to 07.30. Again, no sleep. So, I decided to check out and claim from Booking .com. Seville was a disappointment for me.
I moved on to Cadiz and a beautiful apartment with all mod cons which has been tastefully renovated in the old city. This is very reminiscent of Sesimbra in Portugal where you live cheek by jowl with your neighbors. During the day one can hear neighbors talking and, on the phone, but thankfully it’s all quiet at night. So, I spent the time wandering the narrow streets, walking to the extensive beaches and gardens and generally recovering from my time in Seville. Cadiz is the oldest city in Spain; there are a lot of tourists as there were two cruise ships in port.
The apartment has an innovative entry scheme, after signing in on line which took me ages, I was given a link from the tourist office with an on-line key to the apartment. It worked perfectly.
Cadiz has beautiful beaches to boot with good surf and a huge cathedral. The sea front reminds me of the Malecon in Havana and the churches in Philippines are clearly modelled on their counterparts in Spain. The Spanish way of life clearly includes lots of coffees, drinks, lunches, tapas and late dinners, often outdoors in the squares.
A long train ride via Seville to Granada where I sat next to a couple of Americans who talked nonstop about politics and conspiracies. My flat is on a street with the cathedral at one end and a church at the other, another converted well-appointed apartment. I spent a lot of time walking up and down hills and down narrow streets, there’s one street with a number of Arabic, Palestinian, Israeli restaurants and of course a lot of Morish influence from when the city was ruled. I took a 3-hour conducted tour around the Alhambra, a huge palace which dominates the city from a hill and then the General Life gardens which is a riot of colors. Altogether this was maybe too much to take in one go but at 45 Euros a throw I can’t repeat it.
I spent another day wandering Granada before being picked up by Sharon, my niece and her husband and Kevin and taken to a hired house in Melagis, which is about 30 minutes’ drive from Granada. This is a four bedroomed house on three levels with a garden, pool, braai etc. in a small town of narrow streets and alleyways, certainly not designed for the motor car. There is a pulley arrangement with a basket to ship goods from the ground floor to the third floor. This once again has night time revelers talking outside until all hours, luckily overcome by use of ear plugs. Friends of Sharon’s, Lorraine and Paul, join us here so it’s pleasant for me to have good company for a change.
We walked to the next town and had a coffee there before taking a drive through hair pin after hair pin high up in the Sierra Nevada to a white village called Capileira , a center for walking and hiking. I’ve never seen a place like this, a moonscape with a town perched on the edge with flat roofed small houses with convoluted chimney pots and narrow streets to wander in.
The next day we went to Montefrio, again on a narrow winding road through acres of olive fields, dry grassless fields with the trees in long line. The village was rather disappointing except for a church on the hill. All this time we have had sunny dry weather, chilly in the morning rising to mid-30’s by the afternoon.
We drove to Nerja , a seaside town with lots of tourists but very pretty with small beaches and blue calm Mediterranean Sea. From the view point we could see villages on the top and almost descending to the sea down steep cliffs. Wherever we drove we passed olive groves planted on dry soils.
We did another hot walk down and up a steep climb and finished off with a coffee and a beer at the local restaurant. And before long our week in Melagis was over.
Not all travelling is a pleasure, after dropping me off in Malaga on their way to the airport I had to hang around until my flat was ready. Then followed a tortuous checking in on the phone and only then a code to enter the building. I was stood on the road for 20 minutes before finally finding the right entry code. All very impersonal and frustrating but everything is done on the phone here.
I walked to the top of the hill to the vast Alcazaba , built between the 8th and 11the centuries with amazing views over the city. The beaches are also a short walk away but how people sit there burning themselves to obtain skin cancer beats me. But the majority of visitors are from the northern countries, UK, Germany, Scandinavia and crave the sunshine.
I visited the Picasso Museum, he was a native of the city, and was bewildered by much of his paintings.
Spain is a really super country for visitors. It has a relaxed way of life, a fascinating history, wonderful architecture, a good transport infrastructure, dry but hot climate, mountains, warm beautiful sea, good food and lots of cafes to sit out in, cheaper property prices and freedom to walk the city streets and squares. There are many small privately owned shops and stores, something which has basically disappeared in South Africa with its malls and stores. I like the way people come into the city centre at the weekends to shop, eat and for entertainment. Outside Granada cathedral people were dancing to old time Glen Millar music, and as you always see when people dance, they all had big smiles on their faces. The Spanish know how to enjoy themselves.
