part 1 - tour schedule

day 1: city tour of sevilla - no driving required

day 2: day trip to cordoba, stop at carmona - ~300km drive total

day 3: day trip to donana national park (el rocio, acebuches & matalascanas) & then to cadiz - ~300km drive total

day 4: day trip to tangiers, morocco (drive to tarifa, and then "fast" ferry across strait of gibraltar) - ~200km drive total

day 5: city tour of cadiz & half-day trip in pueblos blancos (arcos de la frontera, zahara, sentinil de las bodegas & ronda) & then to malaga (via a397 - very windy mountain road & ap-7 - toll road) - ~200km drive total

day 6: day trip along the costa del sol (including caves of nerja), and turning north along a4050 - even more windy mountain road (not recommended for night driving) to granada (via jete, otivar and venta de fraile) - ~200km drive total

day 7: day trip to sierra nevada for skiing - ~100km drive total

day 8: city tour of granada, including the magnificent alhambra palace - no driving required

part 2 - holy week

from wikipedia:

"Holy Week (Latin: Hebdomada Sancta or Maior Hebdomada, "Greater Week") in Christianity is the last week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday, and lasts from Palm Sunday (or in the East, Lazarus Saturday) until but not including Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ culminating in his crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday."

this is a week in spain full of processions, festivities and remembrance. everyone (young and old, man and woman) is on the street, either part of procession or one of the spectators. there is a great sense of respect, belonging and of course, repentance. there is a clear demonstration of the community spirit and devotion to christianity. the processions each night carry a massive amount of inheritance, history and culture, underlined by the deep christian beliefs of the spanish people. i was privileged to be there to witness, and to be a part of, the holy week in spain in 2008.

part 3 - sevilla photos

part 4 - day 2 photos

part 5 - day 3 photos

part 6 - day 4 photos

part 7 - day 5 photos

part 8 - day 6 photos

part 9 - day 8 photos

part 10 - processions 1

part 11 - processions 2

part 12 - processions 3

by the way, these are not the kkk.

the kkk may have copied the designs from the costume's spanish origins (e.g. used in holy week 'semana santa').

similarly, the nazi symbol swastika was a widely used religious symbol, long before the 20th century.

好久没来了，这个帖子一定要顶一下！！！~~

一直都很喜欢西班牙，照片拍得真美，把我旅行的瘾又勾出来了，嘿嘿！~~期待更多精彩的PP

then you should book your trip now.

you can see other photos via link in my signature.

Well done , your photos are really nice!!
I am going Spain in July, pity that can not go to Andalucia, time limited.

barcelona and madrid?

颜色很绚丽, 真漂亮.

a potential choice for your honeymoon destination?

我5年前去過Sevilla, 很喜歡.
當時便想順路去Cordoba, 走路到了火車站, 老公(當時男友)突然說時間不多, 路程太遠, 不想去.
就這樣, 我們3天都留在Sevilla.

西班牙是很漂漂的, 我們上次去Madrid, 順路去了Toledo. Madrid主要是博物館, 還可以, 但Toledo真值得一遊.

madrid, in my mind, is better than barcelona

toledo is a good place for a half-day visit.

granada is a must though, for any spain goers.

fully agree. i also prefer Madrid/Seville than Barcelona!!
was in Seville as well several weeks ago. really nice!! great weather. lovely lovely orange trees!!
must go to Granada.

fly direct ...

Spain, a good destination for the summer, but very hot around July/August.

Where is nothing_is_impossible?

Yah~~~

DB, happened I'm going to visit Sevilla and Granada - maybe Ronda as well - at some point in the next couple of month! Hopefully it would be still warm down there..

details for nothing is impossible:

day 1: flight to seville in the morning

day 8: flight back from granada

driving on days 2-7 (hire from europcar via auto europe)

Was on a stag weekend at Madrid a couple of years ago, mate of mine was attacked and his mobile phone and wallet were taken from him... spent one of the 3 days at the police station given statements... a lot of theives in Spain, watch out when you go!