Spain requires that your passport be valid for at least three months beyond your intended date of departure.
Arab chronicles recount how Abd ar-Rahman I purchased half of the Visigothic church of San Vicente for the Muslim community’s Friday prayers, and then, in AD 784, bought the other half on which to erect a new mosque. Three later extensions nearly quintupled the size of Abd ar-Rahman I's mosque and brought it to the form you see today – with one major alteration: a Christian cathedral plonked right in the middle of the mosque in the 16th century (hence the often-used description ‘Mezquita-Catedral’). Following a dispute between the church and the city over the name of the building in the 2010's it is now diplomatically called "Cordoba Mosque Cathedral". The approach is via the Patio de los Naranjos, a classic Islamic ablutions courtyard which preserves both its orange trees and fountains. When the mosque was used for Moslem prayer, all nineteen naves were open to this courtyard allowing the rows of interior columns to appear like an extension of the tree with brilliant shafts of sunlight filtering through.Shorts or bare shoulders are not allowed for either women or men. The Mezquita is a Catholic church.
Situated in the heart of Córdoba’s charming former Jewish quarter,
El Zoco (‘The Souk’) is where to head if you want to check out what the city’s finest artesans are up to. This has been a market in various forms for centuries and was originally part of Córdoba’s expansive souk, at which expensive perfumes were sold alongside the finest fabrics and spices from north Africa. Nowadays, handmade ceramics and leather goods as well as jewellery, glassware and ornaments are on sale daily in one of this old neighbourhood’s most
attractive courtyards.
Courtyard tour:
https://www.patiosdesanbasilio.com/tour/ruta-de-patios-de-san-basilio/
€10 2-hour tour
The fantastic tour accompanied by a caretaker of courtyards that will explain all the tour and its curiosities, will have an average duration of 2 hours during which you will enter the Barrio de San Basilio (the neighborhood of the courtyards) and the famous Barrio of the Jewish quarter. In these neighborhoods you will visit the well-known Patios Córdoba awarded with the festival awards for patios and different architectures, shapes and colors. It will also include the entrance of a small ethnographic museum located in one of our courtyards that deals with the history of the kitchen. A wine tasting of our land will be included in the price of the entrance. Which you can enjoy in the tranquility of one of our courtyards thus obtaining all the essence of the cultural tradition of the Cordoban Patios.
10:00 a.m., 12:00 pm., 4:30 p.m. /17:30p.m.
Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos
Built under Castilian rule in the 13th and 14th centuries on the remains of a Moorish predecessor, this fort-cum-palace was where the Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabel, made their first acquaintance with Columbus in 1486. One hall displays some remarkable Roman mosaics, dug up from Plaza de la Corredera in the 1950s. The Alcázar's terraced gardens – full of fish ponds, fountains, orange trees and flowers – are a delight to stroll around. At 9pm (except Mondays) there's a popular multimedia show featuring lights, flamenco music and dancing fountains called Noches Mágicas en el Alcázar (Magic Nights in the Alcázar; adult/child €6.50/free). While here, it's also interesting to visit the nearby
Baños del Alcázar Califal, the impressive 10th-century bathhouse of the Moorish Alcázar.
9pm Magical Night Tour, light show
€6,50/ adult, children free
Callejon de las Flores
Medina Azahara (Medina Al Zahra)
9am-3pm; Closed Mon
Bodegas Mezquita
Taberna El No.10
GRANADA
Alhambra, gardens
8:30am-8pm daily
Adults: 14.00 €
Children under 12: Free (ticketed)
https://tickets.alhambra-patronato.es
https://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/info/goingtothealhambra.asp
http://www.alhambra-patronato.es/fileadmin/PAG/educacion/descargas/PLANO_INGL.pdf
Inside the Nasrid Palace, it is compulsory to carry backpacks in front or by hand. No strollers are allowed inside the Nasrid Palace. Picnicking is allowed at appropriate sites. Food and drink are only sold at the kiosks at the Wine Gate (near the Alcazaba). Water fountains are scattered through the complex. Note that toilets are only available at the Wine Gate (in between the Nasrid Palace and Alcazaba) and near the stage of the modern open-air auditorium near the Generalife gardens. There are no toilets inside any of the palace buildings. The Gate of Justice (Puerta de la Justicia) entrance a bit closer to the old town but may only be used by visitors already holding QR barcoded tickets. Admission tickets are not sold at this gate. Arrive well in advance of the time for entering the Nasrid Palace. Reaching the palace takes just less than half an hour once past the ticket scanners at the main gate. You must enter within the 30 minute window printed on your ticket, otherwise they will not let you in. In spring and summer, there’s typically a wait, so I would arrive 30 min ahead of your designated window to prepare for long lines. Seeing the Alcazaba and Palace of Charles the V before entering the Nasrid Palace reduces the need for back tracking. The best gardens are after exiting the Nasrid Palace and of course at the Generalife. Tickets are checked at entry to specific points (Nasrid, Alcazaba, Generalife and palace etc) but most areas between the key points are free. The best views from afar are from the Mirador San Nicolas viewing platform, especially popular at sunset.
Getting there: Take a minibus from Plaza Nueva. Either bus no. 30 or 32 is fine, they run every few minutes and cost €1.20 upon boarding. The minibus goes along the main road and instead of turning left, heads farther up to drop you off at the Main Entrance.
parking cost
El Banuelo
10am-5pm daily
This is a free entrance museum which will take about 15 minutes to visit.
These baths used to be part of the Mosque of the Walnut Tree (Mezquita del Nogal) which previously stood here. They were built in the 11th century and are considered to be among the oldest and most complete baths in Spain. Bañuelo were the hammanes baths, the place where the inhabitants of the district went to wash, look after themselves and converse. The Bañuelo bathhouse dates from the XI Century and is one of the best preserved in Spain. The building is divided into three rectangular rooms. Next to the entrance courtyard is the cold room, then the warm room, which is larger, and decorated with horseshoe arcades in three of its sides. Finally, another rectangular room with two spaces where the water baths were placed was the hottest water room.
Mirador San Nicolas, Albaicin (overlook)
Sacramonte gypsy quarter, street flamenco
http://granadainfo.com/rocio/english.htm
Alcaicería - shopping
Royal Chapel of the Monarchs (Capilla Real)
€5, free kids; 10:15 - 6:30pm
La Riviera
free tapa with each beverage
Bar Los Diamantes
free tapas
Restaurante Jardines de Zoraya, in Albaycin
6pm, 8pm, 10pm shows €20/adult; free under 8
https://www.jardinesdezoraya.com/en/reservations/
Bar Aliatar Los Caracoles
Plaza Aliatar, Albaycin
Baños Arabes
10am-7pm, €3
SEVILLE
After the city of Córdoba (also in Andalusia), Seville has the hottest summer in continental Europe among all citieswith a population over 100,000 inhabitants, with average daily highs in July of 36.0 °C (97 °F).
Cathedral
General admission €9; free under 15
Tuesday to Saturday from 11:00 to 17:00
The Cathedral of Seville (Catedral de Sevilla) is an expression in stone of post-Reconquest confidence and wealth. Built on the site of a mosque, it is the third largest church in Europe and the largest Gothic building in Europe. It also boasts the largest altarpiece in the world.
Two parts of the mosque were thankfully preserved in the cathedral: the Moorish entrance court (Patio de los Naranjos); and the Giralda, originally a minaret, converted into a bell tower. The cathedral is entered via the Puerta de San Cristóbal on the south side, just inside of which is the tomb of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón). Columbus was originally buried in the cathedral of
Havana, on the island he had discovered on his first voyage in 1492. But during the upheavals surrounding the Cuban revolution in 1902, Spain transferred the remains to Seville. A monumental tomb was sculpted for the explorer's new resting place in Seville. Sculpted by Arturo Melida, it was designed in the Late Romantic style and is held aloft by four huge allegorial figures representing the kingdoms of León, Castile, Aragón and Navarra. There have long been doubts about the authenticity of the remains in Columbus' tomb, and DNA tests are currently underway to find out if they really are those of the explorer.
La Giralda
01/09 - 30/06: Monday: 11:00 - 15:30. Tuesday - Saturday: 11:00 - 17:00.
Price. Adults: 8 € (includes visit to the Church of Salvador). Entry tickets can also be purchased at the Salvador.
The Giralda is the bell tower of the Cathedral. It its day, it was the tallest tower in the world, standing at 97.5 m in height, in addition to being one of the most famous images of the city and Andalusia. The tower consists of two different but perfectly unified pieces, a perfect example of the crucible of cultures existing in the city. The Muslim body is the oldest part, started in 1184 by order of Abu Yaqub Yusuf to be the minaret of the Almohad mosque of Seville. A curious fact, the Giralda does not have stairs, but instead has 35 ramps wide enough to allow the Sultan to ascend mounted on horseback to see the beautiful view.
Real Alcazar
https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/en/
Monday to Sunday, 09:30 to 17:00
€9,50 adults; free under 16
10 min walk from Plaza Nueva
Las Setas de Sevilla
Entrance is underground. €3 for the lift to go to the top, with a token for a drink.
12min walk from Plana Nueva
Parque de Maria Luisa
Plaza de España
Take T1 tram from Plaza Nueva to San Sebastian
Calle Sierpes - shopping
El Pasaje
Bodega Santa Cruz Las Columnas
Bar Pelayo
El Rinconcillo
Casa de la Guitara, kids allowed
€18 adult
https://www.peppylocals.com/qa/866/flamenco-for-kids
Flamenco museum:
https://museodelbaileflamenco.com/en/
10am-7pm
€22 adult; Children under 6 Free
Tram T1 runs between Plaza Nueva and San Bernado via Avenida de la Constitución, Puerta de Jerez and San Sebastián. The standard ticket is €1.40 but a range of passes is available if you're likely to use it a lot. The tram (tranvia) goes south from
Plaza Nueva, the centre of the city, and has four stops, covering a total distance of 1.4km. After leaving from
Plaza Nueva, it goes down Avenida de la Constitucion past the
Cathedral, stopping at the
Archivo de Indias (next to
Alcazar Palace), San Fernando (where Puerta Jerez
Metro station is), the Prado de
San Sebastian (Metro station, Plaza de Espana, Maria Luisa park), and terminates at San Bernardo train station (Metro station), where you can catch a
Cercanias train. Confusingly, the tram is called Metro-Centro, even though it's nothing to do with the
metro. It runs from 6am to 1.30am.
PORTUGAL
The Fort of Our Lady of Grace, officially termed as Fort Conde de Lippe is located in the parish of the Alcáçova, about a mile north of the city of
Elvas,
Portalegre District.
When the 16th century the fortified city of Elvas was running out of water; the wells were drying up so the decision was taken to channel water from Amoreira eight kilometres away.
Marvão Castle and Cistern
The formidable castle, built into the rock at the western end of the village, dates from the end of the 13th century, but most of what you see today was built in the 17th century. The views from the battlements are staggering. There’s a huge vaulted cistern (still full of water) near the entrance and it’s landscaped with hedges and flower beds. The torre de menagem (keep) has displays on the castle’s history even predating its 13th-century founding.
Roman ruins in Conimbriga, near Coimbra
Braga
Guimarães is the oldest city of Portugal
Train from Porto or Caíde to Pinhão
schedule:
https://www.cp.pt/StaticFiles/timetables/oporto-regua-douro-regional-trains.pdf
Historic steam train from Regua to Tua:
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en/how-to-travel/For-leisure/Nature-and-Culture/douro-historical-train
Saturdays, between June 1 and October 26, 2019;
Thursday (public holiday), August 15, 2019.
Outward: Régua 15:23 > Tua 16:34;
Return: Tua 17:10 > Régua 18:32.
Magnifico Douro river cruise from Pinhao
€10/ 1 hour 12pm, 3pm, 5pm
Northern Spain
Santiago de Compostela (2.5hr from Povoa)
Jobson’s Cove
Horseshoe Bay Beach
St. George's Unfinished Church
