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Seville

Zac495

Zac495

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Jun 6, 2005
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Location
Philadelphia, PA
I've focused most of my questions on Marbella because that's where we'll be most of our trip.

We leave Marbella Marriott on a Sunday. Our plan is to drive there and stop at Cadiz along the way. Map seems to indicate this makes sense. Thoughts?

We really only have one full day in Seville (staying 2 nights) as Sunday we travel there (we'll have dinner that night in Seville) and tuesday we have to leave for a 3 pm flight.

Questions:
1. What to do in Seville for a day?
2. Where to eat in Seville (we have 2 dinners)?
3. When should we leave in order to make our 3 pm international flight from Malaga?
4. Does the stop in Cadiz make sense?
5. Anything else you want to say. :whoopie:

THANKS
 
My first comment would be why drive? Although driving in Spain is easier than most European countries, I'd take a train or tour. I am sure your resort has planned tours for this kind of thing. Depending on the circumstances it may well be cheaper too. The fixation on driving from point to point is an American thing. Maybe when gas hits $10 a gallon we will change and do what the Europeans do-rely on easy, affordable mass transit. The drive to Seville from Marbella is certainly doable. I don't know that I'd go over to Cadiz on the way-what's the attraction? In Seville, you can see a bull fight, visit the tomb of Christopher Columbus, see the royal palace and in general find alot to see. It is a relatively easy city to navigate. It is much easier on a bus. As for traveling to Malaga, I would consider seeing some of the white villages along the way. The airport there is rather compact (it is right next to the train station which makes train travel easy). It is rather modern and I would keep with the general rule of 2 to 3 hours in advance for international travel. Hopefully, you are not flying Iberia. Others may disagree, but I put Iberia low on my list of international air carriers.
 
I agree with Jimster about Cadiz. We had more time, so spent a couple of nights in Sevilla, and later, a night in Cadiz. Cadiz is a very interesting old city, with lots of waterfront, parks, and history. We enjoyed staying there and touring the city. But I'd still take the extra time in Sevilla any day.

In Sevilla, you'll definitely want to see La Giralda, one of the largest cathedrals in Europe. It's fascinating, and can take a couple of hours to tour. Also the Alcazar, a palace in the old moorish style. They're right next to each other, and both in the historic Santa Cruz district of the city. Mostly, you'll want to just wander through the old Santa Cruz district. It's wonderful, with narrow cobblestone streets winding past historic places. It's easy to get lost, but also fun to do so. You'll find your way back to something familiar in 10 minutes or so, and in the mean time you'll have a great time.

As far as food, there are some great restaurants and some not so great ones. We had a romantic dinner at La Giraldilla restaurant. It's a tourist trap, in that they charge an extra 25% to eat outside. Still, we gladly paid it. You eat right on the square, right underneath the main tower of La Giralda cathedral. When lit up at night, it's terribly romantic. So you'll either love it, being romantics like DW & I; or you'll hate it due to being soaked for an extra 25%. The food was very good. Not the best gourmet I've ever had, but good.
 
Jimster said:
My first comment would be why drive? Although driving in Spain is easier than most European countries, I'd take a train or tour. I am sure your resort has planned tours for this kind of thing. Depending on the circumstances it may well be cheaper too. The fixation on driving from point to point is an American thing. Maybe when gas hits $10 a gallon we will change and do what the Europeans do-rely on easy, affordable mass transit. The drive to Seville from Marbella is certainly doable. I don't know that I'd go over to Cadiz on the way-what's the attraction? In Seville, you can see a bull fight, visit the tomb of Christopher Columbus, see the royal palace and in general find alot to see. It is a relatively easy city to navigate. It is much easier on a bus. As for traveling to Malaga, I would consider seeing some of the white villages along the way. The airport there is rather compact (it is right next to the train station which makes train travel easy). It is rather modern and I would keep with the general rule of 2 to 3 hours in advance for international travel. Hopefully, you are not flying Iberia. Others may disagree, but I put Iberia low on my list of international air carriers.
Click to expand...

We have a rental car from the day we land June 29 to the day we return (Lufthansa) July 8. We stay at the Marriott in Marbella June 29 to July 6th. - Should we consider leaving Marbella July 6 (the day we leave the timeshare) and driving the car back to Malega, and then taking a train from there to Seville? Then taking a train back to Seville?

We have a hotel for 2 nights in seville, so we wouldn't take a day trip from there. thank you for the idea!
 
train

You mean taking a train back to Malaga?? Frankly I would look into that. In Europe it is generally possible to travel from point A to B without a problem if you just know the transit system. There are also sites that will route you there. I believe ricksteves.com offers info on train tickets although it concerns train passes it still gives you the info. Others here can give you better advice too. I believe there is a sight called www.bahn.de which will give you what you need.
 
Jimster said:
You mean taking a train back to Malaga?? Frankly I would look into that. In Europe it is generally possible to travel from point A to B without a problem if you just know the transit system. There are also sites that will route you there. I believe ricksteves.com offers info on train tickets although it concerns train passes it still gives you the info. Others here can give you better advice too. I believe there is a sight called www.bahn.de which will give you what you need.
Click to expand...

That site is in Spanish and I can't read it. I tried malega to seville but i had no idea what it was saying/asking.

the extra 2 days of the car rental might be easier.....
 
Ellen,

Go back to the link Jim provided. In the lower left corner of the Bahn box are
links for different languages - click on English. You should then be able to read the website fine and obtain the info you need.


Richard
 
sites

Yes, I should have indicated you need to make a language choice. I think the Rick Steves site is easier. You just plug in the point of origin and destination. Hope this helps.
 
If you already have a car, I'd definitely take that. There is no direct train from Malaga to Sevilla. You have to go via Cordoba, and that's quite a bit out of the way.

I could have sworn that the Renfe (Spanish national rail) web site used to have an option for English. But I just went there, and it was Spanish only.
 
trians point to point

Hi, if you check out the eurail site or britrail it will bring you to another site where you can buy point to point tix... I have the name of the company at home ! There is also National rail but I found them to be higher in price. Let me recheck the name but if you can look at those sites, they will redirect you , in dollar amounts for your trip. Seville by the way is lovley !!!:)
 
Zac495 said:
I've focused most of my questions on Marbella because that's where we'll be most of our trip.

We leave Marbella Marriott on a Sunday. Our plan is to drive there and stop at Cadiz along the way. Map seems to indicate this makes sense. Thoughts?

We really only have one full day in Seville (staying 2 nights) as Sunday we travel there (we'll have dinner that night in Seville) and tuesday we have to leave for a 3 pm flight.

Questions:
1. What to do in Seville for a day?
2. Where to eat in Seville (we have 2 dinners)?
3. When should we leave in order to make our 3 pm international flight from Malaga?
4. Does the stop in Cadiz make sense?
5. Anything else you want to say. :whoopie:

THANKS
Click to expand...

Love Seville, so much to see and do...two days are not enough, but we gave it only one day...and spent another day in Granada instead. The Catherdal is amazing, La Giralda, Real Alcalzar are both MUST sees, all of this can take a full day alone. One of the great surprises was Casa de la Condesa Lebrija, and enjoyable home turned into a museum with Roman artifacts from near by Italica, which if one had time,I would recommend visiting (Roman Ruins city near Seville)...and Parque Maria Luisa, is a city park on the old grounds of the Palace. We chose not togo to Cadiz preferring instead to go to the White Hill towns north of Marbella like Ronda, which are amazing; Granada and The Alhambra, which for most in our party was the absolute highlight of the trip; and Gilbraltar which was shockingly different than Spain. We debated but decided against Morocco and Cadiz. We drove and all but in the city of Seville was fine. Seville has a very difficult traffic problem. Roads are good and not crazy drivers like in Italy. We also enjoyed our time in and around the coast like Malaga, Nerja, and Puerto Banus. My only regret on an otherwise wonderful trip was misisng Cordoba and the outstanding Mezquita. But then, that is what is so wonderful about southern Spain, so much history, so much to see and do....you have to go back.
 
My favorite building in southern Spain was the Mezquita at Cordoba; 850 red & white marble arches within a beautiful Moorish building. Then, after the area converted to Catholicism, they put a very ornate cathedral inside! We only stayed there a few hours on our way from Toledo to Seville, but it was fascinating. We started in Madrid & visited Avila, Segovia & Toledo before this. Seville, however, was everyone's favorite city. We took the green on/off bus, and this included 2 very informative walking tours and 2 separate bus routes; it took a whole day, but we saw a lot. We stayed in the Santa Cruz Jewish quarter and it was incredible; I agree that you will happily be lost the whole time you are there. After Seville, we traveled on to the Marriott Playa Andaluza. From there we took day trips to Granada, Gibraltar, Tangier, Ronda & Mijas. It was a wonderful jam-packed 2 weeks!
Lynne
 
rail companies

Its ACP rail international also made an error not National Rail but Rail Europe !!!:)
 
more rail sites to check out for Seville and elsewhere

thry Railpass.com for tix for point to point or passes... cheaper than ACR that I was looking at.:)
 
RIMike said:
Love Seville, so much to see and do...two days are not enough, but we gave it only one day...and spent another day in Granada instead. The Catherdal is amazing, La Giralda, Real Alcalzar are both MUST sees, all of this can take a full day alone. One of the great surprises was Casa de la Condesa Lebrija, and enjoyable home turned into a museum with Roman artifacts from near by Italica, which if one had time,I would recommend visiting (Roman Ruins city near Seville)...and Parque Maria Luisa, is a city park on the old grounds of the Palace. We chose not togo to Cadiz preferring instead to go to the White Hill towns north of Marbella like Ronda, which are amazing; Granada and The Alhambra, which for most in our party was the absolute highlight of the trip; and Gilbraltar which was shockingly different than Spain. We debated but decided against Morocco and Cadiz. We drove and all but in the city of Seville was fine. Seville has a very difficult traffic problem. Roads are good and not crazy drivers like in Italy. We also enjoyed our time in and around the coast like Malaga, Nerja, and Puerto Banus. My only regret on an otherwise wonderful trip was misisng Cordoba and the outstanding Mezquita. But then, that is what is so wonderful about southern Spain, so much history, so much to see and do....you have to go back.
Click to expand...

Luckily we have a week in Marbella before our 2 days in Seville. We will definitely do Gibalter, Rhonda, Morocco, and Grenada from our t/s in Marbella - Marriott! SO excited! I wish we could stay 2 weeks, but hubby has to work. Everyone should be a teacher like me so they can have more than 3 weeks in the summer. Hee hee:cheer:
 
Gibraltar

I found Gibraltar totally missable but some others seem to like it. Certainly go into the caves if you feel compelled to go. Heed the warnings of others who have posted about Gibraltar (do a search on here) and time your visit correctly. You can have huge lines to get in and out of Gibraltar. BTW if you have a clear day going to Ronda and you look back from the mountains, you can see Gibraltar in the background.
 
Zac495 said:
Luckily we have a week in Marbella before our 2 days in Seville. We will definitely do Gibalter, Rhonda, Morocco, and Grenada from our t/s in Marbella - Marriott! SO excited! I wish we could stay 2 weeks, but hubby has to work. Everyone should be a teacher like me so they can have more than 3 weeks in the summer. Hee hee:cheer:
Click to expand...
Although Ronda, Morocco and Grenada are all must-sees, in some ways my favorite day trip in the area was to the little white town of Casares:
http://www.andalucia.com/casares/home.htm

If you want to go somewhere without hordes of other tourists and tour buses, this can provide relief ... we walked from one end of the town to the other, then climbed up to the castle ruins and explored them for awhile, and never saw another tourist the entire day. A few days later we went to Mijas, which didn't compare. That was 10 years ago so I don't know whether or how it has changed.

We ended up skipping Gibraltar because we ran out of time.
 
Last edited:
I liked Cesares too, Laurie.

But my favorite day trip destination was Setenil de las Bodegas. It's just north of Ronda. We spent a half day in Ronda, then went on to Acinipo and then Setenil de las Bodegas. Don't get me wrong -- you can easily spend a day or more in Ronda. But the other two places were fascinating (though a little hard to find).

Acinipo is an ancient Roman ruin site that has a colosseum. Pretty interesting stuff, though you needn't spend more than an hour there. It's only about 20 minutes north of Ronda.

From Acinipo, if you keep going north and then east (a total of about 10 miles), you get to Setenil. That's a fascinating town. It was built into limestone cliffs, and many of the houses and shops are built so that 3 walls and the ceiling are the cliffs, with just an exterior wall to enclose a small cave. Truly fascinating to wander around in, and I do believe we were the only tourists in the whole town.

I wish I could figure out how to attach a .kmz (Google Earth) file to this. I've seen it done on TUG. But try opening Google Earth, center it at 36 48' 06" North, 5 12' 32" W, and at an eye altitude of about 10.6 mi. At that point, you'll see Ronda in the lower right of the picture, Acinipo just above and to the left of the center, and Setenil in the upper right corner.
 
Setenil does look very unique- will make a note for a return trip someday.

Your mentioning Roman ruins reminded me of another place we happened upon: some pretty extensive Roman ruins called Baelo Claudio, in a gorgeous setting, along the drive from Costa del Sol to Cadiz. I think there were maybe 2 other people there, besides ourselves. Here's someone's SlowTravel trip report that describes it:

http://www.slowtrav.com/tr/tripreport.asp?tripid=856&index=2
 
Laurie, Baelo Claudio looks wonderful! Better than Acinipo, I think. Acinipo has just one reasonable ruin.

OK, this thread caused me to try to figure out how to post pictures. Got an account at photobucket, and here's my first try.

This picture was taken from the front seat of our rental car in Setenil. Yes, we had to go past those cars and through that little opening. No choice -- one way street!
Setenil1.jpg
 
Great, that worked. Sorry about the image size. I had already reduced it by half. But I'll keep going.

So then DW & I parked the car and walked back to get someone to take our picture in the same spot (actually the other side of where the street passes through.
Setenil2.jpg
 
Here's a fairly typical view -- houses built both under and on top of the limestone cliffs.
Setenil3.jpg
 
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