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Marina and I have just spent 5 days in Andalusia. Join us via the podcast, and check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.
Travel Notes:
In Carmona we stayed at the extremely clean and pleasant Hotel Alcazar de la Reina, which we got a good deal on via booking.com (always worth checking before phoning hotels directly). It’s worth checking if they have a room at the Carmona Parador though too if you can afford it!
In Cadiz we ate at Cumbres Mayores, the best tapas bar in town, and stayed at the very well placed Cortes de Cadiz (booking directly with the hotel).
Finally, on the coast we stayed at the incredible Palomar de la Breña, a stunning 19th century Finca surrounded by rolling pastures, lanes lined with wildflowers, and wooded valleys. Go and see it for yourself (and if your Spanish is up to it, chat to the Spanish owner about the history of the region, he is a mine of really interesting information).
The main locations from the trip are marked on this map:
Frank
22 May 08 at 10:17 pm
We have not stayed at Palomar de la Breña, but we have visited it, popped in to see the enormous palomar and have a drink in the bar. Nice place.
If you find yourself further inland near Medina Sidonia some time, you could do worse than try this place.
http://www.ownersdirect.co.uk/spain/S2112.htm
Nice place, nice people. No connections, we just enjoyed are stay there.
Frank
22 May 08 at 10:18 pm
Are stay????? Whoops, our stay.
jules
22 May 08 at 11:10 pm
Judith & I went to Carmona a couple of years ago. An interesting place and quite easy to get there by bus from Sevilla.
Cadiz; If you go there, I recommend the camera obscura – absolutely fascinating.
Ray
23 May 08 at 12:36 am
Ben, greetings from the Costa del Sol,
I feel for you.
Fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, fish, Fish.
Once I told my wife that it’s not that I don’t like HER fish, it’s that I dislike FISH in general. Still, she just won’t let it go, meaning she eats twice as much now. (I think she’s trying to compensate for the fish I don’t eat.)
I am so glad there is someone like you guys to put out a podcast like this. Inspiring effort.
Good luck.
Stuart
23 May 08 at 3:51 am
One thing I really like about dry, more southern climates (or more northern if your from the southern hemisphere) is on a clear day, the sky is so so blue when looking straight up that it appears almost black.
frank
23 May 08 at 9:41 am
Some time ago I linked to some of my photos of surfers, and they were all taken on the beach immediately below the faro, to the right. It sloops away quite steeply there, great for the sort of surfing they do there. Playa de Valdevaqueros, back towards Tarifa, is worth a visit if you have not been there, good beach, large sand dunes etc (not quite as boig as Bolonia). very popular with surfers, kite surfers etc.
Ben
23 May 08 at 12:37 pm
@Frank – I see you are another costadelaluzofile! I love watching those kitesurfers for a while, though in the end it is one of those sports that never better illustrates the fact that humans have evolved to a point where we have far too much free times on our hands. A bit like skiing. Or tennis.
Richard Gillespie
23 May 08 at 1:05 pm
I love the Costa de la Luz. I was there filming at the end of last year. I have posted some of the shots that I took at Cabo Trafalgar on Flickr. You can see them here
tailormade andalucia
2 Jun 08 at 6:22 pm
I live in Conil de la Frontera and can see the lighthouse at Trafalgar from my roof. This place is an aboslute gem!!! Great tapas, great climate, great people!!