AphroCadiziac

So returning to the story so far pre Xmas/NY, we arrived in Cadiz, and looked for a hotel. And looked. And looked. And then signed into the dodgy looking Hostal which was the only open Inn in the town. It didn't have a byre or a lowing donkey but not far off. Cadiz was closed. Well the touristy bits anyway and there were few of those - the English burnt Cadiz to the ground in the 16th century and not much had improved since then.

After a surprisingly sleep filled night given the locals lobe of shouting from the top floor to the bottom late at night, John had a stresscapade / wobbly and decided we had to leave that moment, go straight to the station, leave Cadiz immediately and go somewhere else book a hotel for Xmas/NY because he was frantic we'd be stuck there.

So 200+ miles later we were in Cordoba, I was doing my best Zen impression of calmness and bending with the one hand falling or whatever you do and one slightly calmer John.

So we spent Xmas and NY in Cordoba, great place and good mixture of tourist and historic without the horrors of Costa style development.

AphroCadiziac

So returning to the story so far pre Xmas/NY, we arrived in Cadiz, and looked for a hotel. And looked. And looked. And then signed into the dodgy looking Hostal which was the only open Inn in the town. It didn't have a byre or a lowing donkey but not far off. Cadiz was closed. Well the touristy bits anyway and there were few of those - the English burnt Cadiz to the ground in the 16th century and not much had improved since then.

After a surprisingly sleep filled night given the locals lobe of shouting from the top floor to the bottom late at night, John had a stresscapade / wobbly and decided we had to leave that moment, go straight to the station, leave Cadiz immediately and go somewhere else book a hotel for Xmas/NY because he was frantic we'd be stuck there.

So 200+ miles later we were in Cordoba, I was doing my best Zen impression of calmness and bending with the one hand falling or whatever you do and one slightly calmer John.

So we spent Xmas and NY in Cordoba, great place and good mixture of tourist and historic without the horrors of Costa style development.

AphroCadiziac

So returning to the story so far pre Xmas/NY, we arrived in Cadiz, and looked for a hotel. And looked. And looked. And then signed into the dodgy looking Hostal which was the only open Inn in the town. It didn't have a byre or a lowing donkey but not far off. Cadiz was closed. Well the touristy bits anyway and there were few of those - the English burnt Cadiz to the ground in the 16th century and not much had improved since then.

After a surprisingly sleep filled night given the locals lobe of shouting from the top floor to the bottom late at night, John had a stresscapade / wobbly and decided we had to leave that moment, go straight to the station, leave Cadiz immediately and go somewhere else book a hotel for Xmas/NY because he was frantic we'd be stuck there.

So 200+ miles later we were in Cordoba, I was doing my best Zen impression of calmness and bending with the one hand falling or whatever you do and one slightly calmer John.

So we spent Xmas and NY in Cordoba, great place and good mixture of tourist and historic without the horrors of Costa style development.

AlDisneyland

So being in Cordoba of course the first thing you do is jump on a train to Granada to see the world famous Alhambra gardens. Or try to.

There is amazingly only 1 train a day Cordoba-Seville. The train goes through amazing mountain scenery, and apart that they only seem to have two films dubbed in Spanish, Click and Who Killed Harry Crick? (the scriptwriters that ripped the Truman Show seemingly).

Which leads me to a question - why given that a lot of the station have a few trains a day, or a couple of trains an hour, why are stations like Cadiz massive multiplatform expensive productions that would shame most London stations that have trains every few minutes, not hourly/daily? Most of the platforms even at AVE stations are unused. I sense an EEC money scam.

Also they style them like airports, which given the massive production of security, Xray machines, security guards, long lines, and tickets checked at least 2 times by different people; well one gets the sense it's a large job creation scheme, and like British Fail will eventually become totally uneconomic, not that railways ever can be profit making, but given the overstaffing and bureaucracy of the system it feels scarily nostalgic.

Anyway onto Alhambra, to queue and queue and find all the tickets to the garden sold about 10 people before us. What most of the guide neglect to tell you is you need to book MONTHS in advance or chance a ticket in the morning...which of course because of the one train means we missed. Which was the whole point of getting to Granada anyway. 

So we are back here today to try our luck in the rain!

AlDisneyland

So being in Cordoba of course the first thing you do is jump on a train to Granada to see the world famous Alhambra gardens. Or try to.

There is amazingly only 1 train a day Cordoba-Seville. The train goes through amazing mountain scenery, and apart that they only seem to have two films dubbed in Spanish, Click and Who Killed Harry Crick? (the scriptwriters that ripped the Truman Show seemingly).

Which leads me to a question - why given that a lot of the station have a few trains a day, or a couple of trains an hour, why are stations like Cadiz massive multiplatform expensive productions that would shame most London stations that have trains every few minutes, not hourly/daily? Most of the platforms even at AVE stations are unused. I sense an EEC money scam.

Also they style them like airports, which given the massive production of security, Xray machines, security guards, long lines, and tickets checked at least 2 times by different people; well one gets the sense it's a large job creation scheme, and like British Fail will eventually become totally uneconomic, not that railways ever can be profit making, but given the overstaffing and bureaucracy of the system it feels scarily nostalgic.

Anyway onto Alhambra, to queue and queue and find all the tickets to the garden sold about 10 people before us. What most of the guide neglect to tell you is you need to book MONTHS in advance or chance a ticket in the morning...which of course because of the one train means we missed. Which was the whole point of getting to Granada anyway. 

So we are back here today to try our luck in the rain!

AlDisneyland

So being in Cordoba of course the first thing you do is jump on a train to Granada to see the world famous Alhambra gardens. Or try to.

There is amazingly only 1 train a day Cordoba-Seville. The train goes through amazing mountain scenery, and apart that they only seem to have two films dubbed in Spanish, Click and Who Killed Harry Crick? (the scriptwriters that ripped the Truman Show seemingly).

Which leads me to a question - why given that a lot of the station have a few trains a day, or a couple of trains an hour, why are stations like Cadiz massive multiplatform expensive productions that would shame most London stations that have trains every few minutes, not hourly/daily? Most of the platforms even at AVE stations are unused. I sense an EEC money scam.

Also they style them like airports, which given the massive production of security, Xray machines, security guards, long lines, and tickets checked at least 2 times by different people; well one gets the sense it's a large job creation scheme, and like British Fail will eventually become totally uneconomic, not that railways ever can be profit making, but given the overstaffing and bureaucracy of the system it feels scarily nostalgic.

Anyway onto Alhambra, to queue and queue and find all the tickets to the garden sold about 10 people before us. What most of the guide neglect to tell you is you need to book MONTHS in advance or chance a ticket in the morning...which of course because of the one train means we missed. Which was the whole point of getting to Granada anyway. 

So we are back here today to try our luck in the rain!