A visit to Andalucía wasn’t in our travel plans going in to 2024. However, we had to cancel a planned trip to Madeira after our holiday package company changed our flights. My Brother in Law, David, knowing we were disappointed and suddenly holiday-less, offered us the opportunity to share an Air BnB with him and Donna in Torrox, Spain.

We didn’t hesitate to take him up on the offer so we booked flights and flew in to Malaga in June to meet up with them. David picked us up from the airport in their hire hire car and whisked us off back to the flat they had rented in Torrox. The Air BnB was fabulous. A two bedroomed apartment with a large balcony overlooking the sea, with views across to nearby Nerja. Details for the property are here: El Sentimiento Calaceite

Cordoba
David had a few ideas of places to visit during our stay was quite happy to drive. First up was a trip to the historic city of Cordoba. It was quite a long drive from Torrox but the roads are good and we travelled on motorway for the majority of the journey. We were able to park just outside the city and we then walked across the famous Roman Bridge, over the Guadalquivir river, in to the historic centre of Cordoba.

Our first visit was to the Mosque – The Cathedral of Cordoba. Having bought our tickets, we queued for our time slot, about 45 minutes, then we were allowed in. Like all these fantastic historic sites you could spend a good half day or more here. We didn’t rush but we had to leave after a couple of hours as we had more sights to see.

Within the grounds of the Mosque is a bell tower. You can climb to the top for views over the city. It’s another site with tickets sold in time slots to avoid it being too crowded at the top. We bought tickets and after a short wait climbed to the top. The views were great and it was certainly worth doing.

We spent the rest of our day exploring the Modern side of Cordoba, then wandered in to the Old Town before leaving in the early evening for the drive back to Torrox.

Almunecar
Following a couple of beach days and exploring Torrox, our next trip was a short hop along the coast to Almunecar, a small city with a lovely beach and historic castle. The beach was busy with a mix of tourists, but mostly with locals. David and Donna had visited here before so we left them on the beach and went off to look around the town and visit the castle – Castillo de San Miguel

The town is a really nice place to visit and off the main tourist trail. The castle was at the top of the town with great views along the coast in both directions. We paid for entry but only had an hour to look around as it closed at 1pm on a Saturday. We would have liked longer but an hour was still fine.

Having spent the morning walking, we joined David and Donna on the beach where we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Seville
Sunday was the big one – trip to Seville day. We were up early as we had a 160 mile drive from Torrox to Seville. Again we would be driving most of the route on really good motorways and we arrived by mid morning with no delays.

Our first port of call was Park ‘Maria Luisa’ which is located next to the Plaza de España. The park grounds are lovely and offer some welcome shade. The weather boards were showing 42°C by noon on the day we were there. There’s lots to do and see in the park and and an easy place to pick up a horse and carriage ride for a tour of the sites, which we did.

Horse and carriage ride over, we made our way in to the impressive Plaza de España. Unfortunately for us, part of the plaza was closed off with a large stage for a series of summer concerts. They had some big acts appearing throughout the season including Take That and Tom Jones.

Despite the restrictions the square was still an impressive place to walk around with some fantastic architecture. The area was quite busy, but large enough to cope with the tourists, and there was a really good buzz with the crowds enjoying some impressive flamenco dancing.

It was early afternoon by the time we left the plaza and walked up to the Cathedral and La Giralda. We bought tickets for entry to the cathedral but on the door Donna, who was wearing a vest top, was told she would have to cover her shoulders before being allowed to enter. That meant buying a cheap shawl in a nearby ‘tat’ shop. We’ve come across this in Italy, but there they provided plastic shawls if you needed one. Not here though.

I’m not a great one for museums or cathedrals/churches etc, but the others found it really interesting and enjoyed the cathedral visit. It was time for a coffee and cake after we left and we then walked on to the Metropol Parasol – Setas de Sevilla.

The parasol is really impressive and has become an iconic symbol of Seville. You can walk around the top of the parasol after buying tickets in the basement area and then taking a lift to the top. We arrived in the late afternoon and it was still really hot.

The white walkway seemed to intensify the heat, but they do provide umbrellas to shield you from the sun. The views from the top, across Seville, are impressive and I think it’s just one of those things you have to do whilst you’re in town.

We had packed a lot in to our day so it was time to make our way back to the car for our return to Torrox. It felt like we’d only scratched the surface of Seville and it’s somewhere we all agreed would be great to return to for a longer city break. I’m sure we’ll do that at some time in the future.

With so many great locations in the area Torrox is a little bit off the tourist map. It’s all the better for it really, as you feel like your staying in amongst the locals if you’re shopping or just spending time on the seafront. We went out one Saturday night and the promenade there was just coming to life at about 10pm. It was packed with local families coming out to eat or just enjoy a coffee and ice cream. It was still lovely and warm at that time in the evening.

The local market is one of the few I’ve been to that isn’t packed with stalls selling the usual tourist junk. I had a great time with the camera shooting the colourful spice and fruit stalls and just enjoying the general vibe.

Nerja – 2016

Although we were staying just up the road from Nerja we didn’t stop there on this trip. We spent a week there in 2016 so I thought I’d cover it in this blog rather than write a separate article.

We stayed all inclusive at the Hotel Riu Monica and enjoyed our week there. In hindsight, if we went again, I’d look at booking an apartment and finding our own food. The Old Town is full of Tapas Bars and the modern side of town has lots of small restaurants. I can’t fault the hotel food but eating out on this occasion would have been more fun.

We caught the bus to the nearby hillside town of Frigiliana one afternoon. The bus service was really good and the fare was €1. Yes €1! The town itself was busy with tourists with quite a few guided tours but we found a few quiet spots and it’s definitely worth a visit.

A week in Nerja was long enough for us. We’re keen walkers and although we found things to do we’d pretty much exhausted everything locally by the end of the week. However, if you’re looking for nice beaches and a relaxed week with a lovely old and modern town to wander around, then Nerja would be perfect.