Exploring Andalusia and the Sister City of Toledo

Send me the paella recipe's
This part of you trip sounds so good. Love all the pics. By the way, Paella is one of my fav dishes.....I would of had two fo the pear in wine .Happy Birthday to me today and soon > Happy Birthday to me dear friend Dave !

Missing Spain!
I'm traveling vicariously with you -- enjoying your blogs. And terribly missing Spain! You must be in Portugal now enjoying your port. What I love most about Spain and Portugal is the love for life manifested in its art, cuisine and lifestyle. When people relax and celebrate life at every opportunity, you're in good company! So have more fun. Drink more port and enjoy that bacalhau and pulpo! Finish off with those egg tarts and torrijas . Buen provecho!

Pros
Ah so now you're pros at making Paella

Love your narrative and photos of your trip to Spain, Merry! The foods you have encountered all sound delicious!!!

Thanks for the blog.
It took me back. We've been to Ronda and Sevilla, quite a few years back now. I wasn't mad about Ronda, but I don't think we stayed there, we visited from somewhere else. Sevilla was super, loved the food. Our hotel was opposite the cathedral and had a rooftop bar overlooking the stunning medieval prospect and the plaza. Great food, lovely walks by the river, the Plaza Europa was impressive. I remember the fast trains, if you looked 90 degrees over your shoulder out of the window it was hard to take the view in, it sped by so fast. Enjoy Portugal. Just to be safe, keep an eye on your belongings in Lisbon.

Romantic train journey
Your description is fantastic. Seriously, you should consider writing a book when you are back. I will only comment on your romantic train journey. I am with you...I miss it in North America. To me it's not only romantic, it's nostalgic. I grew up with a childhood of 'clickety clack' train chat with its wheels, somewhere in the middle of the night trains stops in a sleepy station, sometimes it passes a level crossing suddenly with a glimpse of civilization then dives into eternal darkness - 'Hello darkness, my old friend"...Oh, I miss this so much. Later I travelled overnight trains in Chiang Mai and in Vietnam...they reminded me my old days.. a world of fairy tales..So enjoy your train journey as much as you can.

Day trip Towns
It is nice you were able to stay in Ronda and Toledo, we did the same. Lots of people were only visiting for a few hours during the day. I find the evenings in such places to be so relaxing and love walking around after sunset. Seeing everything lit up and quieter adds an entirely different perspective.

Thanks for the tips
As you know I’m often in Spain , so it’s good to get tips about new places to go like Toledo and also cafes and other places of interest in places I already know. Travelling by train or bus I couldn’t believe the mountainsides absolutely covered mile after mile with olive trees . Hasta la vista .

Beautiful Spain!
Gosh, I seem to have forgotten what a beautiful country Spain is - thank you for the reminder! ? It looks like you've seen some amazing places and sights, and I'm glad also that you've been able to see live flamenco - such passion and intensity! Ah, I remember having to get used to Spanish mealtimes, and the strange looks on people's faces when I asked if they were serving food in eateries at 12pm or 5.30pm! I also seem to remember only certain places in Spain do tapas with drinks - I don't think you get them in Cataluña for example, I think they are more common in Andalucía.

Bringing back memories
I visited Ronda in 2018 and I really enjoyed it there. Although I don't really like bullfighting, cruelty to animals is not OK, but the bull fighting arena in Ronda is a pretty cool building. /Ake