Su casa, mi casa

Yes, this is long overdue. But with Christmas round the corner, work, gym, new/upgraded shopping malls, new camera and new geocaches, I barely had time to catch my breath! This post was a year in the making, photos enhanced a long time back but only assembled this weekend! Here are some of the more memorable places we stayed at in Spain last year.

It was hard trying to keep to a sub-100-euro budget in Espana. We didn't want to bunk down in flea-invested dives but we weren't prepared to really splurge on rooms. We needed only clean rooms with shower/toilet en suite. In most places, breakfast wasn't included anyway. Our Madrid and Barcelona sleeps were nondescript motels with mod-cons but they were near the subway line to/from the airport.

In some towns, we had to bite the bullet and cough up more euros. In return, we got atmosphere!


We liked the moorish decor of Hostal Lineros 38 in Cordoba. Made us feel like we were in a harem of sorts. There was even a daybed in the room, so it's big enough to host a family. The woman manning the reception doesn't speak English, so we had to use gestures and very minimal Spanish to communicate. There's a TV in the room but no lifts.

It's near the Alcazar, the Mesquita and the river. There's a direct bus from the train station. But to be sure of our stop, we asked one woman on the bus where to get off. That launched the back half of the bus into a debate of which was the best stop for us. Quite amusing to watch even though we didn't really understand what was said. Our map was passed round a few ah sohs on the bus!




Arcos de la Frontera is one of the pueblos blancas (white villages) of the Cadiz province of Andalucia. This perched-on-a-ridge village was our base for exploring the region of pretty villages nestled in mountains. But it was hell navigating the super-narrow streets with one-way traffic. One street was just a little wider than our Peugeot 307. We picked El Covento over the parador next door because it was half the price and offered the same view. Plus our room had a nice little balcony.

There is still a convent abutting the hotel and we discovered that the nuns make marzipan to sell. The nuns are cloistered so you can't really see them. You give them your orders through a rotating window in a wall that separates them from us, drop your money and the boxes of sweets appear at the next turn. One helpful Spanish ah soh, who was also buying marzipan, decided to place orders for us too while her bemused husband watched. Our Spanish was really rudimentary but we understood from the man that they were out-of-towners - from Granada.

We had dinner at El Convento's restaurant, which is supposed to be one of the better eateries in town. It's in a different building from the convent. The wait staff was presided over by this matron who reminded me of the German secretary in 'Allo, 'Allo. She basically commanded her staff. But the food wasn't exactly fine dining. Being autumn, there was game on the menu and the seasonal veggies were carrots and leeks.

We saw the head waitress again the next morning - serving breakfast! Gulp! We put on our best behaviour.


Hotel San Gabriel in Ronda is rated highly in guide books. It's a lovely 18th century house. There was antique furniture littered everywhere. We had a lovely four-poster bed in our room and a secretary desk in one corner. It was nice to sit in the warm living room after a hard day's sight-seeing/hiking. But for all the Old World trappings, the hotel has a mini-cinema with theatre seats and a selection of movie classics! Oh, the car jockey unknowingly snapped off our rental car's antenna. But the hotel staff called Hertz to get an estimate for a replacement and paid us! When we checked out, we were given printed directions to our next stop - Granada.

The old and new halves of the town are linked by a bridge over a deep gorge. San Gabriel's in the old half, just a short walk from the bridge. On the other side is the parador, an ugly blockish building right in the town square.


Our one and only night in a parador was in Jaen, the centre of olive country. It's a castle on a ridge overlooking the town. We didn't enjoy any rate specials because it was still the high season, albeit at the tail end. What we got was a small squashy room that faces the carpark. At least the buffet breakfast was included! We explored the museum half of the castle, which had lots of interactive displays. The ridge ends in a spur topped by a huge cross.

Like any 4-5-star hotel, the parador is well-equipped with all the mod-cons. But it lacked the personal attention, and thus the charm, of the smaller family-run hostals and inns.

Gypsies, tramps and tourists


The place that really made our stay in Andalucia was our little cave home in Granada. We found it as a tiny entry in Lonely Planet Andalucia and an Internet search yielded more info. We were sold! Las Cuevas El Abanico was one of several lodgings converted from caves abandoned by gypsies in the Sacramonte area. Directions to the place were pretty complicated and we made several wrong turns even though we had called the owner. When we finally got there, we were faced with a 500m-to-1km hike up a cobbled street. We're not exactly sure how far up, but with our suitcases to drag against gravity, it was a long trek! We left our car parked illegally near a bus-stop at the foot of the street for the two days we were there.

It was worth the aggro! The cave was nicely done up and we had cooking utensils - even oil and salt to season the food. Shelves and wardrobe space were hewn out of the walls. The hot water wasn't very hot though. There's a lovely terrace to soak in the sun as we had our breakfast. And a scruffy furry dog and a hungry cat (we fed it about 4 egg yolks one morning and it kept wanting to sneak in!) kept us company when there were no other guests about. When we asked about a laundromat, the owner volunteered to do the laundry for us - gratis! (All conversation in bad Spanish and bad English, of course!) We had great views of the Alhambra from a little further up the street. And a public bus took us straight down to the palace, although theoretically you could reach it on foot in about 15-20 minutes.