Hola. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our trip which far exceeded my expectations (maybe limited travel due to pandemic elevates the experience). What follows has a few lessons learned which may help others.
Itinerary:
Flew from Uruguay ("home") to Madrid, and caught connecting flight to Sevilla. Getting to the shuttle for the int'l to domestic terminal was a little confusing I think due to covid routing changes - so ask someone if not sure which way to go (we wasted some time not asking). Side note - I visited Madrid some years back and intentionally skipped this trip - just not my thing.
Sevilla was fabulous. 3 nights were great but would consider more on a return visit. Stayed in Old town so several tapas bars and major sights easy to get to. We booked the early am cathedral rooftop tour (do in advance as english tours are limited). Despite RS claim, after that tour we were ushered out and had to buy a separate ticket for a Cathedral visit later that day. We did the Nasir palace rooms at our allotted time, and thought we could depart then return later for a tour of the rest of the palace. Ticket checker turned us back on return and we heading out to get new tickets when the supervisor said "ok...but show passport." We had a lot of fun a one tapas bar with a zany bartender who even threw out some Japanese phrases (my wife is Japanese and loved that).
Took bus to Ronda for 2 nights. All buses seemed to arrive earlier than scheduled which was nice. We did a very dry walking tour booked thru the information office. Informative, but I think we were an hour into it before the guide cracked a little bit of a smile. Next day we walked in to the gorge for some photos/etc. We had our 1 bad meal of the trip on a square which was my fault - i thought the low google review was for an adjacent location. We didn't make that mistake again. Good times and long enough visit with one full day (but we did not venture out). We would have liked to do a winery tour but found those a bit too late.
Next, bus to Nerja for 2 nights with an intentional long layover in Malaga to see some sights - castle/Picasso/etc. Scenic big city which was nice but a little too hectic for us. Short under an hour bus ride to Nerja arriving 8 pm. Walking to our hotel near the "balcony of Europe" we waded through a LOT of tourists/expats on sidewalk tables. First impression was a bit too hectic, but the area grew on us. Next day, as a break from sightseeing, we did a standup paddleboad tour in A+ weather (no wind/waves/clouds), which was lucky since next day was supposed to be windy. We SUP'd a lot while living in Okinawa Japan so this was a lot of fun for us. We did the beachfront paella place (RS) which was very good. Not much to do in the afternoon so we somewhat hastily took a taxi to Frigiliana to check that out (SUP guide lived there and suggested going). It was nice but less than an hour we pretty much saw the town, stopped for wine, then caught the last bus back to Nerja.
Bus to Grenada for 2 nights. Did a free (tip only) walking tour which was enjoyable seeing some off the beaten track locations. We did the obligatory Alhambra as well as the upper rooms. We hit (too?) many tapas bars and even closed down a few (didn't expect that). Too much fun!
Next up was train for 2 nights in Cordoba which was a late addition to our itinerary. As RS mentions it definitely lacks a lot of charm compared to other areas, but I LOVED the mosque-cathedral and highly recommend a visit. Very unique. We used a taxi to/from the train station since our luggage was getting a little heavy, and cobblestone streets were a bit brutal on our one roller.
end of part 1