oh, we stayed in Granada at Anacapri, highly recommend. Free breakfast by mentioning RS. We felt reserving directly with the hotel mentioning RS got us some perks.
We LOVED Cordoba. We stayed 2 nights. We stayed Hotel Mezquita about 15 feet from the Mezquita. We walked the old city wall and spent a lot of time walking the Jewish quarter and looking into patios. We also walked along the river and crossed the old roman bridge. Stunning! We went to the Mezquita at 8:30am (not free because it was Sunday) it was quiet and we got great pics of the garden and the interior. Also, by staying by the Mezquita we could take pics without crowds. We ate at La Posada del Caballo Andaluz in the San Basilo area. Cute place, attentive service, very good, value priced food. The waiter spoke very little English made sure we were happy with our food, wine, etc. He gave us a mini tour of the restaurant which had an ancient well. He brought out samples and even brought out a dessert serving when we didn't understand what it was. We stayed two nights in Cordoba. One little negative experience was at a souvenir shop. I was purchasing 6 postcards and asked for 6 stamps to "America". It was two young women and they showed a stamp. The other stamps I had purchased said "America" and this did not. I said I needed the stamps to America. They kept asking how many. Finally they were counting on their fingers like I was stupid. I bought the stamps and later found out they were not for the U.S. I don't fault them for the mistake. I would fault them for their rude behavior which was so unlike other people we interacted with, and by the way, I spoke with them entirely in Spanish (as bad as my Spanish is). The stamps were about 1.5 euro a piece so I wasn't going to toss them. On our way to the train station we stopped at the central post office where nothing was in English (and I say this to explain the context and not as a criticism, obviously, Spanish is their language). I took a number and hoped for the young guy thinking there'd be a higher probability of English. I got an older guy. He didn't speak English, but was attentive. In my horrible Spanish I said, "tienda senoritas no bueno, sello de correos incorrecto. Necissito America". I think I basically said the shop girls were bad, but apparently it got the point across. He printed stamps for .1 euro (seriously, that's the difference? that is funny) and put them on each postcard. It was a good interaction. He wished me a good day. Proceeded to the train station where we found out our train to Madrid was cancelled! And the next train was full and my RT tickets to Toledo gave me 5 minutes to change trains so I had to get new tickets. When we got to Madrid we had to wait 45 minutes for the train and when we went to get on, the ticket taker said our tickets were for the wrong time. (Note to self, make sure that person prints the correct tickets!!) She sent me to the RENFRE customer service desk where it took a lot for me to remain sane. Five employees chatting and ignoring customers and the train we needed was leaving in 10 minutes! Finally, someone turned to "help" me and said there were no tickets available and the train was leaving too soon. I stood my ground and said it was not ok and that our initial train had been cancelled. She didn't care. Finally some younger guy came over, may or may not have been in charge and she told him there weren't any tickets left. He finally took me over to the gate where my husband was standing with the luggage. He asked another suited guy, who said it was full, we'd have to stand. For a 35 minute train ride that was fine. We stood in a car and when the train left, the last suited guy gave us a couple bags of snacks and found us seats! We learned, to check our tickets and be aware that when your trip itinerary is tight and you prepurchase train tickets you can lose significant portions of cities. I was able to modify our plans and leave Toledo later the next day.