Madrid & Nature?

We stayed in Rascafria at Santa Maria de Paular
which was in a pretty mountain area not too far north of Madrid. We had a car. The Monasterio was nice and our dinners there were excellent.
I think there was a ski area nearby.

Thanks! I'll look into that!

(We are not into skiing though, and we are not particularly looking for snow...)

Well, I wouldn't recommend Madrid unless you are huge art fans and want to spend 3 days looking at European paintings.

I would fly R/T Madrid and take the train to Sevilla for 5 nights. Day trip to Cadiz (on the Atlantic, so choose a sunny day and enjoy the ancient sights and a stroll on the beach. Oh, I just remembered - Carnival is a big thing in Cadiz (not nearly as big as Venice or New Orleans) but fun to see. Find out when the opening Sunday is and try for that. Day trip to Cordoba especially to see the Mezquita but there's a lot more, take time to enjoy the well-preserved medieval center. Then rent a car and spend 3 days driving through the hills and seeing the pueblos blancos, stay in Ronda. El Torcal is not far away and is a good place for hiking. So is Ronda. The driving is easy and scenic if the weather's good. End up in Madrid for 1-2 nights to see a bit of the city and have easy access to the airport for your flight home.

BTW Andalucia is the warmest, driest part of Europe, one more reason to go there in winter.

Thanks, Chani, I agree perfectly that Andalucia is a great destination, especially in winter! We have actually been there twice and enjoyed it hugely.

We thought we'd explore a different part of Spain this time, but you don't sound very encouraging. I think I would survive one museum of European art, but I sure wouldn't want to overdo it...

What parts of Spain would you recommend to people who want to see the next best place to Andalucia?

Hi Anna, I've only spent time in Andalucia, Barcelona and Valencia. Barcelona in late February was pretty mild weather, not much different from Andalucia, maybe a little warmer than Madrid/Toledo/Segovia. If you haven't been to Barcelona, it would be a great choice. There's much to see and do in the city and day trips. The Dali Museum in Figueres is an experience. Girona is a small town with a well-preserved medieval center. There's hiking on Montserrat - day trip from Barcelona. I'm not much of a hiker, but there must be other places if you take a car for 2-3 days. Valencia is good for a 2-3 night stay, pretty town, interesting architecture, and more. In Barcelona there are concerts at the gorgeous Palau de la Musica, and concerts at some of the old churches too. I went to a great guitar concert at one.

For another trip, think about coming here. It's a birder's paradise. Here's a taste. (for some reason the photos take a long time to load).

Thanks! I'll definitely have a look into the Barcelona and Valencia areas.

Yeah, I've heard that Israel is supposed to be a birding hotspot, with all the migrating birds passing through! I had to smile when I saw those photos though because I actually don't have to travel that far to see those ... :-)

Beautiful photo. We do get about 500,000,000 overnight tourists twice a year. Most of the cranes just stop for supper and a sleep, but about 40,000 spend the winter here.

The best website I've found for Barcelona activities is the http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/ and Here you can see all the tours - some are run by the TI, some by others.

Thanks! That does look tempting!