Caveat Lector In the text that follows, I have tried to give some background information about the cities of Córdoba, Granada and Sevilla, as well as about Andalucía in general. I have also attempted to provide practical information about places to visit, things to see, and places to eat, drink and relax. This information is correct to the best of my knowledge, but establishments (especially bars and restaurants) can change and even close down altogether. Likewise, bus timetables and routes change, so please regard travel information as a rough guide only. If making a particular journey is critical to your making a connection or boarding a flight, please double check! Also, as you would expect, my recommendations are personal. I am more interested in galleries and churches than in funfairs and climbing walls. My taste in bars tends more towards the traditional décor of an old-fashioned hostelry than the gleaming chrome of a high-end cocktail bar. When it comes to food, I look for a place that serves Spanish cuisine (even haute cuisine) rather than a ‘concept’ place which claims to serve Ibero-Japanese-Peruvian fusion dishes. Having said that, one or two of those sorts of places might creep in here and there. Peruvian food is, after all, a fusion cuisine in which the Iberian and Japanese influences loom large. For each of my suggestions and recommendations, I have tried to explain why I am recommending it. I hope this will make it easier for you to decide to either add it to your itinerary, or to give it a miss! Moreover, the Granada section is comparatively short — more a list of suggestions without much detail. This is partly because I know it as a city less well than Sevilla, but also because it is so dominated by the Alhambra. Making the most of a visit to the Alhambra, plus the journey there and back, is four hours — considerably more if you include refreshment and/or lunch stops. Finally, this text has neither been proofread nor edited, so the very many mistakes come with my apologies. ¡Buen viaje! You will find the contents page at the back of this book 1 Checklist: Checklist Checklist ADVANCED BOOKING ADVISED: Travel (trains, intercity buses) Alhambra visit Sevilla Cathedral Visit (includes church of San Salvador see p. 125) www.catedraldesevilla.es/cultural-visit/ Sevilla Real Alcázar realalcazarsevilla.sacatuentrada.es/en WHEN YOU ARRIVE Sevilla’s Feria de Abril ends on Saturday 11 May. This is your last (and only) chance to experience one of the most authentically andaluz spectacles, and it is not to be missed. This is something that very few visitors to Sevilla get to see. See p. 122 A Walking Tour can be a very good way to find your bearings, and get to know the compact heart of the oldest part of the city. Consider doing this on your first morning, especially in Sevilla. See p. 111 SMARTPHONE LINKS Moovit This is the best smartphone app for journey planning, in my experience, is moovit (www.company.moovit.com/) available for iOS, Android and Web. It is more reliable that Google Maps, with more cities covered, and better up-to- date information. One word of caution, though — it tends to underestimate the time that it will take you to walk to the nearest suggested transport stop, so if you search at 1200 noon for a journey plan, it may well direct you to a stop where a bus is due at 1202, and yet which is 3 minutes’ walk! 2 Checklist: Smartphone Links Companion Online Google Map Every restaurant, hotel, bar, bus-stop and place of interest that I mention in this guide (broadly speaking all locations shown in bold type) has been plotted on three Google Maps. Here is how to find them: 1. Download (if necessary) and open the Google Maps app on your iOS or Android smartphone. 2. Log in to a new account. 3. Account name: malagamap2018 4. Password: malaga2018 5. From the menu, select Your Places, then MAPS, and select Sevilla | Córdoba | Granada as appropriate 6. If you pay significant roaming charges and/or have little or no data allowance, select ‘Offline maps’ from the menu to download the map while you are on WiFi. 7. The maps are organised in layers (eating and drinking, attractions, barrios, transport, shopping, etc.). Click ‘VIEW MAP LEGEND’ and select the layers you want to view. I am sorry that Google Maps are somewhat hopeless — low contrast and very difficult to follow. But, alas, Google Maps are the only show in town as far as sharing maps is concerned. Sorry. Web Links To access the web links and maps for this guide: MAIN ANDALUCÍA PAGE bit.ly/GEandalucia SEVILLA PAGE bit.ly/GEsevilla 3 Checklist: Smartphone Links CÓRDOBA PAGE bit.ly/GEcordoba GRANADA PAGE bit.ly/Gegranada Google Maps Sevilla: bit.ly/EGMsevilla Córdoba: bit.ly/EGMcordoba Granada: bit.ly/EGMgranada Language and Spelling This is not a guide to the Spanish language, but the following notes contain a number of Spanish words and phrases, especially relating to food and drink. Spain has one of the lowest levels of English proficiency in the European Union (11.7%), lagging just behind the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. By way of comparison, a quarter of the population of France speak English, as do a third of Greeks and over half of all Swedes. Many Spaniards working in the hospitality industry will speak English, and around 20% of those under 35 speak English, but on the whole, and outside the larger hotels and well-worn tourist spots, few españoles you meet are likely to speak English. A little knowledge of Spanish (also called castellano, or ‘Castilian’) will be helpful when it comes to finding your way around (signs), choosing what to eat and drink (menus), making the most of bars and restaurants, and simply being polite and friendly. But if languages aren’t your thing, don’t worry too much. Spanish is not Hungarian and is one of the easiest foreign languages for English speakers to master. Many words are similar to English, and if you know any French, Italian or Latin, then Spanish should be a piece of cake (or ‘eaten bread’ as they say in Spain). Another reason not to fear a lack of linguistic ability is that Spaniards are (for the most part) polite, hospitable and friendly. Certainly, their manner is direct and no-nonsense, and words like ‘please’, ‘thank you’, and ‘sorry’ are not used 4 Language and Spelling: Language and Spelling as frequently as in the UK, but this is not out of rudeness. They are likely to be just as apologetic for their lack of ability in English as you will be about your inability to speak Spanish. More often than not, they will be happy to take time to communicate in ‘Spanglish’, especially when it comes to transactions in hotels, bars, buses, and the like (and in tourist hot-spots, they will speak English well). Indeed, if you are hoping to practise your Spanish, you may find that people reply to you in English. This is not because they have judged your language skills and found them wanting. It is more likely to be because they want to practise their English and are trying to be helpful and hospitable. Most Spaniards are fiercely proud of their home town, their culture and their cuisine. They will do whatever they can to ensure that you enjoy it too. PLACES With the exception of Spain (España) itself, the place names in this book are written with Spanish spellings. In most cases, these are no different to English spellings, but a few British archaisms remain. In English it is still common to refer to the river Tajo by its Latin name, ‘Tagus’, and the city of Córdoba is often called ‘Cordova’ by older people. The reason for employing the local spelling is that it helps with recognition (e.g. reading signs), and pronunciation. The English pronunciation of ‘Cordova’ is ‘kor-do-vah’, whereas in Spanish the stress is on the first syllable (indicated by the accent over the ‘o’) and so it is ‘ ko R -do-bah’. It’s not a huge difference, but a useful one to be aware of if you are listening attentively for an announcement on a bus or train. The same goes for the difference between the English name ‘Sevilla’ and the castellano name Sevilla. The former is pronounced ‘seh-vill’ (or ‘suh-vill’), whereas the latter is ‘seh-bee-yah’ — quite a difference when heard by a native speaker (imagine trying to buy a ticket to ‘Wipers’ at the Gare du Nord!). This is particularly the case in the south of Spain, where people tend to swallow the ends of words and some consonants seem to disappear entirely. The first syllable is all you may hear. For this reason, for all the delights of Andalucía, it is perhaps not the best region of Spain in which to learn Spanish as a beginner. TRANSLITERATION I have transliterated those Spanish words which you may need to pronounce, and have done so in a rather basic (and probably somewhat inconsistent) way. I hope the pronunciations are fairly obviously phonetic (although I have not 5 Language and Spelling: Transliteration used IPA). I have used a small capital H to express the velar fricative (the ch of the Scots loch — IPA /x/ or sometimes /ɣ/), and the small capitals TH to correspond to the th in ‘thin’ (in contradistinction to the th in ‘this’). I have also used R and RR as a reminder that although the Spanish ‘r’ is always a flap/tap (slightly ‘rolled’), in certain positions (e.g.