Settled back at home from almost four weeks in Spain! This was a trip that got rescheduled a couple of times due to the availability of our adult children. Originally thinking we would travel in the late summer/early fall, we researched Portugal and Northern Italy. Both have charming small towns, art, architecture, restaurants and lots of plazas and cafes for people-watching that we love! But once it was determined that our kids could only travel around the Christmas holidays, we turned to Andalucia banking on sun and higher temperatures. And the lovely weather was in abundance!
We started in Granada for three nights, then moved to Sevilla for three weeks and finished in Madrid for New Year’s. I’m going to set up this report differently from the one I wrote about our month in Aix-in-Provence hoping that you all can find useful information more easily.
Transportation: We chose to go all the way to our final destination of Granada versus stop for a night upon arrival in Europe. Departing from Los Angeles, we thought this meant that we would have to change planes in the US so we could arrive in Europe early enough to change modes of transportation again to get to Granada at a decent hour. There is one nonstop (on Iberia) from LAX – MAD arriving at 2:00 pm but changing planes or jumping to a train would mean arriving in Granada close to midnight. Unfamiliar with Granada, I was nervous to do that, hence we did not take the nonstop. We flew American Airlines from LAX – DFW – MAD. We then went into town, had a 5-hour wait and took a train to Granada, arriving at 6:00 pm.
In hindsight, my nervousness about arriving in Granada was unwarranted. It is a vibrant town with plenty of taxis. People are out until midnight (if not a touch later). Our hotel was in a great part of town and there was no reason for me to worry about arriving late.
Also, there is nowhere comfortable to sit in the Madrid Atocha train station. We should’ve found a restaurant to settle in for a couple of hours immediately upon arrival from the airport. Last note, I thought I bought first class train tickets from MAD-Granada so we could sit in the lounge just before our train departure but I messed up our tickets somehow. Next time, unless there is a “perfect” train connection to from our arrival city to our final destination, we will fly! ;)
GRANADA
After a 25-hour journey from Los Angeles, we made it to Granada. While we typically rent vacation apartments for our travels, we decided to start this trip in a hotel, so we would have in-person service help acclimate us upon arrival. It helped us get our bearings a bit more quickly since were rusty on Spanish and had not been to Spain since 2017.
We spent three lovely nights in this charming small city. It was crowded and bustling as we were there for the December holiday weekend. There were lots of families from all over Spain who had come for a short break. Everyone we met was warm and helpful.
Arrival:
Arriving in Granada’s train station, it was quite easy to follow the signs to the taxi area. We had no problem getting a taxi right away to whisk away to our hotel for under 10 euro.
Hotel:
We stayed at the Palacio Mariana Pinenda: https://www.palaciomarianapineda.es/
Loved the location as it was short stroll to Plaza Nueva, lots of shops and restaurants in Old Town and the Albayzin, and the Granada Cathedral. We also easily walked to the Alhambra. Like the reviews said, the walls are thin. While we had a room on the interior to not hear the street noise, we still could hear the guests in the room next door. For three nights, this was fine as the hotel was charming, historical, a great value and had a fantastic helpful personable staff!