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Seville, Spain and Canary Islands

I now have a ‘Golden Card’ for Spanish train travel, which gives me 25-40% off (depending on the type of train and day of the week). Technically you are supposed to be 60 years old, but the very kind agent at the train office just sold it – must of thought I was close enough! I was buying my tickets from Seville-Cordoba and Cordoba-Granada, so when one fare can be 30 Euros, it paid for itself immediately at 7 Euros/year.

I’ve been taking advantage of the rainy weather to plan my next steps. All I can say is if you are planning a trip from scratch, I could help you avoid the backtracking I have to do!

I did a side trip to Arcos de Frontera and Ronda that could have been easily incorporated into an itinerary. And I’ll probably do a day trip to Jerez. But what I’ve gained by having a long relaxing stay in one city is more than worth it!

A perfectly planned trip using train/bus would look at routes and schedules to the places they want to see. For example, stopping at Cordoba on my way from Madrid to Seville would have been efficient (though I was just wanting to get to my little apartment and chill). Now I have to go back to Cordoba, then take a train/bus to get to Granada. They do have the bus waiting for the train so it is not like having to change stations, but not 100% smooth.

From Granada I’m taking a bus to Nerja on the coast, then a bus to Tarifa on the southern trip of Spain. While I’m there I will do a day tour to Morocco (only a 35 minute high-speed ferry ride). Then up the coast to Cadiz, and a scoot back through Seville by train/bus to Tavira, Portugal.

From Tavira I’ll go to Faro, Loule, and Lagos. Then I’ll be in Lisbon December 22-29 for Christmas. Then I have 2 1/2 weeks to keep exploring Portugal (Coimbra, Evora, Porto…).

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