¡Hola! With the long beaches along the Mediterranean, the interesting cities all over the country the green coast up north shoring the Atlantic and mountains of the Pyrenees in the North and the Sierra Nevada in the South, Spain has a lot of different things on offer.
Barcelona: see if they’ve finished Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia (working on it since 1888). Go see Parc Guell. Take the cable car from Montjuic park to the harbor and walk over the Ramblas. It is nice to look up and around, but if you look at the ground, you’ll see that the streets in Barcelona have lots of different tiles on the pedestrian paths.
Barca’s surroundings, Dali museum in Figueres, Cadaques is a beautiful little beach town, very mediterranean, almost a Greek kind of style.
Go to Andorra and add another country to your list. Interesting country side, Andorra de Vela very commercial, cheap stuff
Valencia, old town, Las Arenas big beach and Ciudad de las Artes y Las Ciencias with modern buildings with science center, IMAX 3D dome with very interesting movies. Former Turia river renovated as a park. It’s a very multi faceted city with lots of different things to see.
Grenada – Alhambra, an old saying goes: ‘If you have died without seeing the Alhambra, you have not lived’, so go there! Book tickets well in advance, your designated tour time is for the Alcázar Palace, the rest you can see without a guide. Worth to see the Palace, amazed by all the intrinsic details, so beautifully decorated and preserved, just stunning. In Granada, see the cathedral and the Albayzin, the old Arab quarter with little streets to get lost in. Walk up to Iglesia (church) de San Nicolás to get a great view of Alhambra and the (snowcapped) Sierra Nevada mountains behind it.
Córdoba, the Mezquita (former mosque), inner city closed off for most traffic, so walk to the hotel and ask for their parking. Very narrow streets in the old town. Alcazar old town wall and fortress, across the bridge nice view of the town. Have a berber-style meal (I had lamb stew with almonds and plums).
Sevilla, when driving, for a left turn you sometimes have to be in the right lane, make a right turn and then with a loop go across to get to the street you need to be on. Interesting Moorish influences, big cathedral, palace, gardens, Plaza de Espana (also in Star Wars Episode 2),
Algodonales, paragliding and falconry experience
Arcos de la Frontera, a town created before cars were made, so tiny narrow streets, lots of one way streets. When driving, and you want to leave again, make sure to follow the Salida de Ciudad signs (the exit of the town), stay at San Marcos nice little hotel with good food too.
Cadiz, oldest city of mainland Europe (3100 years old) on peninsula,
Jerez de la Frontera is known for sherry and horses
North coast, known as Costa Verde (the Green Coast), is very popular with Spaniards for their summer vacation because it is cooler there than in the rest of Spain.
The end of the pilgrims route (feel free to walk this, there are different starting points and lengths of route to take, up to 800km): Santiago de Compostela, stay at B&B Hostal Alfonso, close to the cathedral, very quiant, cozy rooms and delicious breakfast (eggs, orange juice, fresh bread and coffee)! Cafetaria Dakar good and cheap food.
On the way to La Coruña from Santiago de Compostela Celtic ruins of Castro de Baroña at Porto do Son. The ruins of the fort are 2000 years old and were very interesting to see. Hercules Tower in La Coruña from the 2nd century, oldest still working lighthouse in the world, and apparently put there by Hercules himself…
Along the north coast Playa de Cathedrals, pancake-stacked-like rock formations, carved out by the ocean.
Bilbao, Guggenheim Museum even when you’re not going in, the outside is also a hundred million dollar work of art, and great for photos. Also some outdoor sculptures. Interesting to see the Basque language on street signs etc, very different from any other language.
San Sebastian, nice bay, surfers, lovely streets to wander around in. In Hondaribbia lovely colorful and decorated houses, like stepping into a painting.
Pamplona, running with the bulls?
Eat and drink: tapas and sangria
