[ach1lles]

Day 11/21

We landed at Málaga airport at midnight. There was no car booked, with any rental company. For mildly acceptable reasons.

You see, there were no convertibles online. Except the Fiat 500 Cabrio. Which I did not want, for reasons. 1: It’s not a true convertible. 2. I have driven the car around Cotê d’Azur and Amalfi, so wanted something different, and 3: our luggage just won’t fit inside that shoe box. We’re North Indians and we don’t pack light dammit.

Also 4: the lowest quote was €750 for that little runt for a week. Wait, what?


Actual quote from Sixt.

So, after talking with Sixt, Europcar, and a few other local operators at the airport and realising that we’d have to pick either a very boring car, or pay a stupid amount for a half-decent one, my fiancée suggested that we call it a night, head to our hotel, and try again the next day. She’s wise like that.

We called for an Uber, the app fluctuated between €18 and, I kid you not €40, between searches. The one driver we booked did not show up. He texted us that he’d had car trouble and he was sorry. So we cancelled and booked again. The same driver accepted again. This time the app was showing cancellation fee. The driver kept texting for us to cancel, that he’d make sure we “get our money back”, whatever that meant, but wound’t cancel himself. Weird, and maybe a juvenile fraud? Not sure. We didn’t want to find out so we walked over to the taxi counter and got into a Skoda Superb, reached our hotel, checked in. It was about 3 AM, but I felt like going out. To check out the night places the coast of the sun is famous for, and grab a ‘Shawarma’. The fiancée was less keen. So while she slept, I took a stroll around the nightly neighbourhood with many bars offering free Tapas, found an excellent Shawarma place run by a fellow brown guy, reached back, feasted, and slept.


(view from)Hotel Ritual Torremolinos

This was a very welcoming Adults-Only hotel with a clothes-optional policy in common areas, no-clothes dedicated areas, and a proper feast of a breakfast. Andalucia was good like that.


Outside views

But. It was afternoon of the next day, and we still didn’t have a car. I'd kept checking online for local operators and even asked the hotel if they had any tie-ups for car rentals. Convertibles were in short supply.


This one was viable, but after checking reviews online, decided against this operator.

So we went back to the airport to pick a car. This time I was ready for a sadly-old Mini Contryman, an acceptable vehicle with a low rent of €150 or thereabouts for a week. We ended up with something slightly different.

This time, we went in to the bigger Europcar office right where the cars are parked, outside the main building of the airport.

We met Maria. Maria had beautiful green eyes. Maria said that she only has three convertibles, the Fiat 500, the A5 Cabrio, and the C220 Cabrio parked right outside. Europcar does not have a tie-up with Mini.

We still asked for the prices. What’s the extent of your barbarity, Europcar?

Maria with beautiful green eyes and a kind smile told us that the C220, with unlimited mileage, full damage protection with zero co-payment, road side assistance, two drivers on-file, and a flexi-drop location would cost us less than what we’d been quoted last night for a regular old Fiat 500.

A welp almost escaped my mouth.

We did not discuss, did not bargain and just asked her to show us the boot space available before we could confirm. But in my mind we were already driving that car out

A quick couple of signatures, a credit card amount block, and we were on our way.
(PS: it always amazes me how easy it is to rent a car out there, specially if you're from around here. They have nothing on you. A credit card can be cancelled at any time!)

And I suddenly felt a bit nervous. This was a big boy car. And it was a big car. I’ve driven on the other side of the road a few times before, but all the times have been in small, hot hatches. This was a low-slung, long, euro luxury barge.

It'll be fine. I thought. It was even better.

Some initial impressions:
1. She sexy
2. She diesel
3. She was low, and you sit deep within.
4. The COMAND or whatever the interface is called was not touch-screen. Annoying.
5. It was also slow and laggy, and CarPlay cut out more than a few times.
6. Even though she's huge outside, there isn’t much space in the boot, or behind the front seats
7. Speaking of, the front seats are manual adjust for fore-aft. Everything else was electric.
7. Apple maps are far superior to Google interface wise.
8. I found it difficult to get comfortable with the driving position. Something wasn’t feeling right
9. The under-thigh extension is quite nice to have
10. To open the roof, the car has to be stationary and the brake pedal and the roof opener button need to be pressed throughout. You can close it moving below 60kph.
11. It was a bit disorienting to see the right ORVM and see it so tiny and far away.
12. Left turns are harder, since you’re crossing over
13. The car is too wide for most of Europe
14. We really lucked out.


Are you like, checking me out?

Before we had exited the parking lot I'd gotten the top down. Within 3 mins of exiting we put it back up. The sun was scorching!


Loading..

It was already like 16h. We quickly picked up some snacks and refreshments, Coke Zero Limon for me, and along the Costa Del Sol, made our way to Granada.


On our way to Granada.

Stopover Nerja (Neuh-ha; Rich in Water)


Balcón De Europa

What’s a great road trip without unexpected and pleasant stop-overs?
Even though we’d stuffed ourselves silly in the morning, it had been an hour since we were on the road and we were hungry. So we checked maps and saw that we were quite close to Nerja, with some good restaurants about.
It has all these twisty, cobbled, narrow lanes and this merc had a trick up its sleeve for that: automatic 360 and front cameras which helped. A lot. Luckily, there was parking close-by.


Balcón De Europa

Nerja is a very pretty, sea-side town
It had a lot of tourists, most of them young, and so it had this energy, this vibe. It was nice. It was Nerja.

The Nerja local market was on, where local people were selling their artisanal wares. One stand had very cool glow-in the-dark earrings, which my fiancée said were quite costly and simply moved on.
The promenade around the Balcón De Europa with many eateries, shops etc. was completely pedestrianised.

While walking about to find the restaurant we had come to eat at, the fiancée saw an Indian restaurant serving chhole-chawal.


They looked yum and she wanted nothing else to eat. We hadn't seen Indian food for two weeks so it was understandable.
The place was also pleasantly full.

I wanted to try Nerja-ish food so we sat at this place serving local catch Paella.


Had just bought this hat

After having roamed about this quaint little town and having stuffed ourselves, goodbye Nerja.
The parking was a reasonable €13 for the evening. You'll see the reason later on.


It had become dark, and we needed to reach Granada.

We reached around midnight and the hotel parking wasn't free. Which was the norm there. Luckily, it was Sunday the next day and street parking, if you could find it, was "libre". The hotel front desk was nice enough to inform the same to us. Luckily again, we found street parking nearby.



Our parking for the night

In another bit of luck, they told us that it was the first day of the Granada fest, and that we must go. Even though it was 0200, and we wouldn't reach before 0300, it was ok since the fest would go on till min 0700. Noice.

The fest was a mix of a fair, with rides and stalls, and another area with many large tents next to each other with each playing different kinds of music. Adjacent tent-clubs, if you will.


This area (fair) had mostly emptied out


This is the tallest ride of its kind I've ever seen. you could hear screams into the nearby tram station


Clearly something to do with Batatas


All towards the tent-clubs

We danced the night away, said good night to the sun on our way back, and thus ended our first day out with the car.


A stranger with a beautiful tattoo on the tram

It had been good day and night.

[GForceEnjoyer]

Wonderful pictures, of both your destination as well as your companion sporting a three-pointed star. Well-narrated too. Enough for me to put this on my future wish list. Great write-up!

[psathya]

Lovely Writeup and Pictures. Love the Car, The Location and the the fact that you landed up without a reservation, because that's what I do too. Each time its a surprise. Luckily been having more pleasant and only a few not so pleasant ones... Did you need an international driving permit or was the Indian Licence enough. Have a fantastic drive... Cheers

[Tokengrip]

That was a lovely writeup. Enjoyed reading that.!I liked that you spelled the names of the places with diacritics..! Have a great trip and enjoy the car

[Porcupine]

Beautiful write up and photos. That's a great choice of car for the location, convertibles are really fun to drive around with in Europe.

[turbowhistle]

Wonderful photos and writeup, reminded me of our days before having a baby. Now I miss venturing out post midnight or even 9PM while on vacation so enjoy while you can.

I can't imagine going anywhere without reservation and without my car now. If you think you pack heavy then just wait till the baby arrives, there won't be a single inch free in the boot post that

[ach1lles]

It had been a long Saturday and we slept in. Granada is a small university town, not too dissimilar in feel to Pune, and as we realised, Sundays were particularly snoozy.

I think we left our room at sometime after 17h

The front desk, this exceptionally convincing Eastern European girl, Olga, let us know, with the swift proficiency of someone who'd done this enough times, along with a bachelor's in hospitality and tourism, that the only two things worth doing in Granada were to see the exquisite Alhambra, and the flamenco where it originated, in the caves in Albaicín.

Since we had nothing else planned but to roam about, it would not be unwise to presume that we'd have no trouble covering the two things Olga told us about, specially since the flamenco show was at 22h, the tickets for which were reserved by Olga herself.

That left the grand Alhambra. Or, at least, we'd like to believe it is, since we didn't enter. Yesterday's lucky streak had flipped, and a series of comical jinxes combined with our hungover brains led us to the gates of Alhambra, albeit at closing time. Typing this, and I still can't believe all these things happened in succession.



Granada (Pomegranate)

About an hour and a half's drive from Málaga, in the foothills of Sierra Nevada mountains, it houses the University of Granada, and a lot of students. Also a popular weekend backpacking destination for other students around.
It's pretty and fragrant with flower and fruit tress all along the roads and walkways.
Universidad enteric meant that Granada was also the most inexpensive place we visited on this trip
It is probably the most Moorish of all places in Andalucia, with a lot of Islamic influence preserved and proudly showcased, chief among them the Alhambra.

But. We didn't get to see the Alhambra.

Olga took my phone and opened the official website for tickets. There was a slot available for 18h, about 40 mins later.
We tried to book then, but HDFC just refused to send the OTP.
We tried again, but no go. HDFC was having a snoozy Sunday too.
So we left, thinking we'd book on the way.
Since we had free parking (this will be important later on), and we both like to explore on foot, we didn't think of taking the car.
It was about 40 mins by foot, exactly the time we needed, but as we stepped out, we were scorched. It was 17h30, post-post mid-day, and yet, a couple of Indians, one of whom is a farmer, couldn't handle the Spanish sun.
Within three minutes she'd opened the uber app, and I'd opened the maps for transit directions.
Buses were available, but being a Sunday, they were few and far in between.
Nevermind, so we'll be a little late, I said, and we'll buy the tickets at the place itself.


Didn't get to wear my hat again, that I'd bought just the day before, till the end of the trip

Granada has these 12 seater buses, since many streets and turns can't accommodate bigger vehicles. You can see a small red one in the background in the above pic.
At main stops, the drivers would get out for a break and a smoke.
In public transport like metro, tram and these 'buses', masks are obligatorio as informed by the bus driver. We weren't carrying, so I used a tissue. It was silly, but the rule was sillier.
So we sat on the bus that google asked us to, confirmed with the bus driver if they were going to Alhambra, and waited for the stop that google told us to get off at, as per the usual.
But the stop never came.
The bus stopped somewhere else, which was Alhambra, but not the Alhambra on maps, and then turned around, and went back all the way to where we'd gotten on. And we were looking at each other like what?
Ah. We'll take the next bus.
Another tissue goes on.
This time, trying to be wise, we get off one stop before the u-turn. Because why not.
We had to be close. We were very close.


The restaurant was right opposite the entrance

Taking charge now, I walked ahead in this turn which I thought was taking us to the entrance. Narrator's voice: it wasn't.
This turn instead was a shortcut back into town to Albaicín.


The shortcut

It was now past 19h, but no worries, we were just about to enter. Or so I thought.

After waling for about 10 mins downhill, we came up on the realisation that perhaps I'd gotten us somewhere else.
I had now begun to sense anger from the head that was wearing my hat.

So we went back up to where we (i) had taken the turn, only to realise that the entrance was only about, I kid you not, five steps the other way. Yikes.

19h45. Entrance closed. I tried to reason with the guards. "My amigo inside." and he said, "you wait for him outside" LOL!


The only things we could see: the exquisitely manicured tall trees..


..and the gift shop

We walked about some more, saw a couple of viewpoints, clicked a few pictures, and it was time to leave for the flamenco show. We didn't want to take a chance, so we left 60 mins before even though maps was showing us a 30 min walk.

A walk through the same shortcut. :|

Oh I had to hear it. I had to hear it good :P


Albaicín town in the distance

Soon though, I made up by clicking a few insta-worthy pictures






..and getting clicked


Alhambra in the distance


Cute


Street lined with las cuevas


Happy b'day to who?

Whiling about, clicking pictures, and just being, we made our way to the flamenco place by 2145 and suddenly realised we hadn't eaten anything since dinner at Nerja!

Flamenco, as told by Olga, was developed by gypsies and immigrants with a mixture of Southern European, Islamic, Indian, and Jewish cultures.

In experience, it is a powerful dance with the performers seemingly in a trance-like state of stomping moves that shake the floor and reverberate through the cave we were in.
This was the way to experience the flamenco. As it originated. In tiny caves amidst immigrant gypsies developing a way to entertain themselves with hand played and easily carried instruments like tambourines, bells, clappers, and makeshift ones like the ladle and the pan. Olé!


The cave of the Rocio


Inside


What was Deepak Tijori doing in Albaicín?


The performance area. The performers are right there!


Olé!



Goofing about.

We thanked the performers, and made our way back at close to midnight. The Albayzin had its own charm at night.


Alhambra, lit!


This "gate" tho


Some graffiti


The amazing by-lanes of Albaicín


A fellow strength training aficionado?


As we checked on the car


Before calling it a night.

No Molestar.

[Gypsian]

Road trips are definitely an enthusiasts favourite way to travel be it motherland or foreign land, the urge to hit the road is never gone . There’s something so alluring about convertible cars and open roads as this combination is associated with the freedom and spontaneity . One of the best writeups I have come across, very meticulous!! Happy motoring mate. Your setting travel goals for others.

[vineshpikale]

My friend, trace your roots, find you shall a certain Wodehouse with the initial P. G. as one of your ancestors from whom you seem to have inherited these remarkable literary skills. ���� beautifully penned or keyed as perhaps is more accurate. Keep it going and quick please.

[subie_socal]

With pictures doing equally good justice to our writing, I found it enjoyable and found it hilarious with all those bacheloresque goofs ��

[ach1lles]

Originally Posted by psathya

Did you need an international driving permit or was the Indian Licence enough.

I went without one as I understood that the IDP is mandatory if your DL is not in English. No one asked me for anything other that the DL though I wasn't stopped by anyone for documents check while driving either. It is a bit of a grey area.

Originally Posted by Tokengrip

I liked that you spelled the names of the places with diacritics..!

Thank you. Learned a new word, I only knew them as accents. Diacritic is more descriptive.

Originally Posted by turbowhistle

Wonderful photos and writeup, reminded me of our days before having a baby. Now I miss venturing out post midnight or even 9PM while on vacation so enjoy while you can.

I can't imagine going anywhere without reservation and without my car now. If you think you pack heavy then just wait till the baby arrives, there won't be a single inch free in the boot post that

Haha, looking forward to it

Originally Posted by vineshpikale

My friend, trace your roots, find you shall a certain Wodehouse with the initial P. G. as one of your ancestors from whom you seem to have inherited these remarkable literary skills. ���� beautifully penned or keyed as perhaps is more accurate. Keep it going and quick please.

Thank you sir, you are too generous and kind with your words. Hopefully the rest of it won't disappoint you. Also for mentioning the author, would certainly try one of his books now.

[ach1lles]

The breakfast was good, as per usual in those parts. A unique item, mashed fresh tomatoes served in shot glasses with those teeny spoons, was served here. I had a couple of them. The coffee was good too.
There was a noticeable drop in quality in things like these compared to Western Europe. The coffee was tasty, but not delicious. The fruit was fresh, but won't make you go "mmmm". The best of Eastern Europe was available in india while the good of Western Europe was exclusive would be one way to put it.

We were going to drive to Seville today, and I was excited!

While I had breakfast, the fiancée needed to decide our stopover town. She picked Córdoba over Ronda. Which turned out to be a great choice, and got us some of the best pictures of this trip.

Before breakfast the front desk informed me that the parking was libre only until 0900. If I needed to park for longer I needed to feed the meter for the blue line, or find a white line, which was completely free, all the time.

Remembering a parking ticket I had received in a previous trip for stopping at a non-designated spot in St. Tropez for 15 mins which was a painful €180, and not wanting to find out rates for similar offences in Granada, I borrowed a few coins from the fiancée's designated coin pouch (she's also organised this way) and made my way to the meter. The coins weren't needed, as the meter accepted tap-cards, they were hence returned to the aforementioned designated pouch.

The meter. A non-threading blue, post-box-ish tin-can of average height and narrow build with a touchscreen up front. You add your car's licence plate number, add duration, pay, and voilà, pardon my French. It was easy.
The trouble was that that meter only allowed parking for two hours at a time. You couldn't pay for more.
Found another place rather quickly but the meter wouldn't let me add a time there too. I asked a hotel reception nearby for the reason and they informed me that these meters are co-ordinated for a certain area of approx 300m, and once your limit had been reached in that area, you couldn't use the blue line anymore for a while.


The Blue Line


The receipt

I tried meters on three different streets all of which rejected my plea before I thought I was getting too far away from the hotel. Luckily, I found a white line space, which, truly libre, right next to the hotel. I could leave the car here for days, which, as I could make out from the dust on some of the cars there, was an option exercised frequently by the locals. The lure was real. Cue George & Frank Constanza; Seinfeld.


White Line Baby! In the shade, no less

Once Córdoba was decided, we checked out where the front desk did not hesitate to mention more than once, on how lucky we were to find a white line spot, even for a couple of hours.


Mandatory mirror-selfie before leaving. The semi-twinning and those colour choices were co-incidental, and as we would later realise, right-on for the day


Loading area. Notice how my hat provides her with much needed shade.
The top was downed just for loading, the sun was too much at this time.

This time out, I was much more relaxed while driving, having gotten used to the car, the area, the way of driving, and identified pain points. A gentle compliment was also provided for the same, which I remember distinctly because those are quite rare from her, for me.

We asked Siri to play some upbeat music, and made our way to Córdoba.

A few more impressions:

• She really sexy
• She silent too
• A total tank range of about 1000km.
• The pick-up and gear shifts were smooth
• The car rattled a bit, mostly around the hinges and joiners around the soft-top
• The boot could only fit one medium sized suitcase, snugly, and one medium duffel, along with a few smaller bags
• Since the luggage fit was snug, we would need to take it out the boot every time we needed to convert the car. The compartment for the roof storage would get stuck on it otherwise and the roof would refuse to open.
• Finally, after two decades of driving and multiple hundreds of thousands of kms driven, could I practically understand what "steering feel" meant. I had read about it, but could never map it to a physical real-world understanding. (As I understood it: the communication of forces that the tyres and chassis were feeling from and on the road. Please correct me if I'm wrong). Made me smile.
• The car would automatically bring up camera views, 360° and front or back depending on the context and speed of driving, if it sensed objects nearby. This was hugely helpful during parking and navigating the narrow in-lanes.
• The music system was just about okay.
• The interface was really crappy. Having to use these tiny nubbins for everything was a)hugely distracting, much more so that a simple touch-screen, and b)often inaccurate
• Córdoba was about 200km from Granada. Time to destination: 2 hours. Hallelujah. Average driving speed would be my onabsolutee favourite stat of this trip.

Somewhere along the way. I have never had to pay this much attention just to keep the car in lane.

Córdoba was a major Islamic center till the Middle Ages before the Church threw out the "outsiders" and is most famous for its Mosque-Cathedral, the La-Mezquita. Which is where we headed first.
The city has the highest number of designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world.
It was also quite hot outside, as the car told us, over 40°C.

La-Mezquita is said to be the largest Mosque in the world, or a temple of any kind. I couldn't really verify this.
It certainly was impressively grand, if not beautiful.


The 'horse-shoe' columns are its hallmark feature. There are more than 850 of these inside.


The High Altar


One of the ceilings. I'd estimate it to be 40 feet high.


The Islamic part apparent


A new way to pray?


The bell tower and a poser


A cute restaurant


It was really hot..


..and I wanted whatever this was. Sadly, unavailable.

We shopped about, bought a couple of souvenirs and fridge magnets. Which, btw, are the best fit for a thing ever, I remarked to the fiancée. I mean, the fridge door isn't usually great looking, and isn't used for anything else. Whoever thought of this fit got it bang-on.

Los Patios
A supremely European, quaint little section of a town where the residents pride in, compete, and just enthusiastically present their patios decorated with blue painted pots and other plants and accessories.

I didn't think of it much when she told me, and boy was I pleasantly surprised. This visit is amongst the fondest memories I have of the trip. Hopefully some pictures give you the idea, but I'm not a skilled enough photographer to capture the tranquil and happy vibe.


It was scorching hot, and the first patio was a welcome sight in more ways than one

https://youtu.be/xk0OJpirYNw

Video perspective


A rose, or a pose?

The residents were over-enthusiastic to have you there, to talk, and click your pictures. That alone was such a difference maker. Those of us lucky enough to have a welcoming older relative with a beautiful country home would identify with what we felt. Glee.


Hi there


That Lemon tree-vine tho


The festival, which happens in May, completed 100 years last year


Do you need some help sir?


Maybe?


Street lined with Los Patios. Must be buzzing during the festival


Whoosh


"��"


Vibe


Tito's guest house

We had lost track of time, and saw all patios that were open, some of which were pay to enter. We felt content, and famished. This oxymoronic combination of feelings was not without merit. The day had been such, and we wanted proper sumptuous Córdoban food to book-end this visit.


We found just the place


The food was as good as this place looked, exquisite.

After stuffing ourselves, goodbye Córdoba. I urge you to make this place a part of your itinerary, if you're ever in this part of the world.

I felt a nap coming on and the car in the parking lot was the perfect place for it.

Parked next to the car was another convertible, a new Z4! Interestingly, when we'd parked earlier in the day, our neighbour was a soft-top Porsche. Designated convertible spot? Haha. (Also sadly, since the maximum photo limit has been reached, you'd have to imagine the comparison for now. I'll try to cover it in a separate post).

A coffee before the drive led to some fun serendipity, which I'll bring up later on.
Night time also meant the top was down, and we were going into Seville town.
Our hotel in Seville was in the middle of old town, which meant proper Seville, which also meant roads and turns where you needed the merc to pull out its cameras every so often.


Outside Hotel Casa Imperial

We reached around midnight, again, checked in to this heritage hotel, found parking, and immediately wanted to go out. Since it was Monday, and not yet proper holidays for Seville, most of the places were shut. So we just walked around the neighbourhood for a while, got back in, showered, and tucked in for the night.

It had been a full and happy day.

[ajayc123]

Boss, travelogs in tbhp are incomplete without the mileage and 20 other parameters about about the car.

Jokes apart, i think you seem to be keeping folks hooked by releasing the travelog bit by bit.

And you seem to be enjoying leisurely narrating the narrative. Great work. Ekdum hatke.

[ach1lles]

Seville (Sev-ee-llya)
Grandeur of a capital city, with the charm of an antique store. It is remarkable how modern life splices with these seemingly old settlements, all throughout Europe.
These towns and cities were clearly built for a different time, a different world, and a different way of life.
Yet, in a way not too dissimilar from Wimbledon adding a roof to the centre court, these cities added electricity, rebellious graffiti, SUVs, cafés, traffic lights, a modern sewage system and other things without having lost their identity.

Built to last.


The view from outside our room


Central patio

Hotel Casa Imperial is a boutique heritage place adorned with older things like a 17th century table, seating outside every room, and ample pretty plants. Calling it a hotel almost feels dirty. It is, however, let down by poor service and an atrocious breakfast.
I am careful about picking places with a well reviewed breakfast. Stuffing yourself with yum in the morning on holiday and a lazy snooze thereafter while your travel partner gets ready is one of those silly yet genuine joys of life, like getting 'player 1' on the Playstation, though unequal in stature to annexing a newly bought hat.

The stuffing did not happen that day.


What the hat-snatcher picked

I'm not sure what happened, but it felt like they were serving leftovers. The eggs weren't fresh, the coffee was quite pedestrian, and, through some mistake made by me while booking, we got to know that our breakfast was no inclu-ee-do.
Every piece on that plate was worth €5

Today's itinerary included Real Alcázar de Seville, the Seville Cathedral, and Setas de Seville at sunset. We were going to be unabashed tourists today.


Tile art

Real Alcázar de Seville (Royal Palace of Seville) is in service of the Spanish royalty and friends even today, whenever they stop over in Seville.

I have never been much of a checklist traveller, and usually prefer the everyday, seemingly mundane life of locals over visiting old landmarks. The Alcázar, title of which comes from the Arabic word meaning castle, kind of blew me away.

It was well kept, well manicured, huge, green, peaceful, impressive, beautiful and engrossing, all at the same time. It was magnificent. It was Real.
And non air-conditioned. :|


Royal entrance courtyard


Royal some other courtyard. The hat-snatcher had put in particular effort in dressing up that day to complement the colours of Seville. This is my favourite picture of her from this trip.


My kingdom for a picture


Royal restoration work going on


Impressive, and giant royal tapestry


Royal collection of preserved hand made fans of the time, exotic. This pretty one in pearl. Some of the others were tortoiseshell (!) and Ostrich feather


The royal princess’ bath chambers. All the glittering inside were coins.


It was hot, royally so


And the only royal place we could get potable water


Siding with the royal shade


Cute


The labyrinth garden, royal of course


The stone excursions signifying, according to the royal write-up, one-ness with nature

We'd lost track of time. It was near 17h, and we still hadn't covered the Alcázar fully. We're not sure how much of it was left to see, but the royal sun was burning us up, so we made our way to the cathedral, most famous for holding the resting place of a fellow explorer, a one Mr. Christopher Columbus, which was right across the street.

Ah. Shade.


Columbus, Christopher enjoying a metaphorical ride

We were directed to climb the bell tower first.


Seville town. The giant ring in the center was probably Plaza de Toros, the bullring.


Cathedral

Interestingly, the tower climb was a slope, not stairs, for the guard of the time to climb up on his horse every hour. Clever. Which led me to question the unequivocal dominance that stairs enjoy over inclines, all around the modern world. Surely that was a mistake? Maybe because the stairs are safer on the way down, was the only logical reason my infallible mind came up with.
Slopes over stairs, esé!

The bell tower had.. er.. bells, which, when they rang when you were next to them were like piercing jolts loud enough to wake you silly. Bunnnnggggggg!


One of them ding dongs


Shadow play


"Nice hat. Where'd you get it?"


This lovely stranger with an insane tattoo was kind enough to click for us

The cathedral was a cathedral, but since this was the Seville Cathedral, it felt richer, with baroque chalices, ornaments and other such things of royal value.


How polite

It was about 20h, and we were starving. Afraid that that was too tourist-centric an area to find a decent meal, yet too hungry and tired to look elsewhere, we grimly picked a place that looked cute.


Misting all day, from within the canopies


Cute little place to sit

Thankfully, the vinegar tuna steak, the black tempura prawns, and the paella were *chef's kiss* delicious.
A strange custom exclusive to the south of Spain was charging for bread that was served for the table.

Having stuffed ourselves and gulped down cold and equally delicious grape beverages, we made our way to Casa Imperial to freshen up.

Setas de Seville (Mushrooms of Seville)
Our nap at the hotel had run a little long, and we reached the Setas only around midnight. There was a line to get in.
A modern structure, claimed to be the largest man made wooden thing in the world, with trippy flowing LED lights created to replace a convent with structural issues to turn the space into a marketplace and host events.


Architect's model

This was in definite contrast to the old world charm of Seville, and you've probably seen better pictures of the structure floating about. Nighttime phone pictures definitely don't do it justice.

https://youtu.be/3K5vIhBxbxc

It's quite big, and feels incredibly funky on top.


Also yes


The cathedral bell tower in the background

Having tripped for about an hour on the mushrooms (), I'm not really sure what happened between then and the next morning. I know we tried to get an electric scooter to work, but the app or HDFC, or both didn't co-operate, the hat-snatcher didn't want to call an uber, and I had wished for some ice cream.

The hot day had sapped some memory juice, it seems.

[ach1lles]

The only two things remaining on our list for that part of town was Plaza de España, and the famous bull ring. The sun was against us, it was scorching. Portugal was on the other line. We were also starving.

Still, some FOMO hit us and we thought we'd glance about the Plaza, grab a meal, and head out to the open highway. The Ring was bumped with the thought of visiting when there was a prize "fight" happening.
This Plaza is what maps will show you if you search for Seville. It is grand.

Turns out, the Plaza is an administrative building, a quite stately one. Surprising, since that part of the world isn't known for its excellence in administration. The 'clothes' will make them so, perhaps.


"Why are we here?"

The Plaza is huge so it is quite hard to capture, and apparently there was an event or a concert there last night, or 2 nights ago, or maybe three. No one around was sure. The administration wasn't administratin' properly.

The meh-ness of the Plaza gave way to one of the best meals we had in Spain, in this little brewery called Cruzcampo GranReserva. We were famished, a bit dehydrated, and when asked what table we would like, we promptly answered: "the one with the ac blowing on it". Aamir Khan's Munna from Rangeela sprang to mind, and I chuckled.


We had some delicious things topped with this amazing looking coffee, which I needed for the 450 or so kms coming up behind the wheel.


To sum up, we don't pack light

Satisfied with our stint of Spain, we opened up the top since the sun was a bit covered by the clouds, buckled our suitcases, and then ourselves, and made our way to Port city.

I was quite excited as I'd wanted to visit Portugal for a few years now and every time something had squashed that plan. Also I was looking forward to catching up with an old friend there, while she had no idea we were on our way.


Huelva hai kya?

Portugal was a revelation. Expecting it to be hot and sunny like Andalucia, it was anything but. The best weather in the entirety of our trip, with hilly terrain, cliffs, and beaches. The drive as good, as there was no stretch of the highway which was straight. I've never had to pay this much attention to keeping the car in lane. The merc gulped down the kilometres, with speed and stability which was, to a Hyundai owner like me, a reason to have a shortlist of ze Germans only for my next purchase.


Mid-way stop and a photosesh. Something about Portugal made me want to wear green.

At this point, we had a fork up ahead and we had to choose. We could make our way to one of the beach towns, have a crazy Friday night, and make our way to Lisbon the next day. Or, we could go straight to Lisbon and keep the beach town for another time. It had to happen because, from the title, it had been 15 days out, and we hadn't had a proper beach day or a proper crazy night out. Yet.
Not able to figure, it was finally time to call in and surprise ARMP, my beautiful friend from Lisbon. She said, and I quote, "it's Friday, all of Lisbon is a nightclub tonight". Ooh, yum. The fiancée was quite keen on meeting this friend too. She's also fun this way.

After fresh coffee, a loo break which was up-purposed to include the aforementioned phone call and a hotel booking, we got back into the merc, which we realised I'd parked in the "loading bay" instead of the parking area, we had the following: a set destination, hilly, swooping, smooth tarmac, the top down, the hills coming up to cover and diffuse the sun, superb music, better weather, and fresh, cold wind in the cabin. Wooo. Life, it was good.
Funny story: during my phone call, the fiancée was on the phone too and apprised the listeners that we didn't exactly know where we were headed or were going to spend the night. The in-laws were not amused.




The goofy two-fy

"Dress up in clothes you don't care about, you might have to throw them away. Meet me 'here' XO". The text from ARMP was succinct.
The promised night turned out to be insane. She showed us Lisbon like someone who was born there could, and took us to this crazy area where the narrow, cobbled streets were lined with bars big enough to only have space for 5-10 people inside. Which also wasn't used. Most people were out on the streets. There was graffiti, crazy cool and creative bars, like, quite possibly, a nd I kid you not, hundreds of them, which for some unknown reason only wanted cash, live music, loud music, and a general fun vibe.
We loved all of it.


Rainbow umbrellas


Word


Cave bar. This was the entirety of it


Something something cash only


Right in the feels




Braful place




Fallen comrade

Portugal was cool.

ARMP was warm. She not only showed us around, but was with us throughout, and even though it was a working day the next day, she made sure to walk us back to our hotel, before saying goodbye at 6AM. It was truly special to connect with her, and as she'll be getting a link to this post, I'd like to extend another big, joyful, thank you

It was a good first night in Lisbon.