We spent three days in the city’s centro historico in January 2008 getting introduced to the ways of Andalucia (sights, smells, food, language, history).
Where we stayed:
Hostal Derby on Calle San Juan de Dios (next to the McDonalds on the north side of Plaza de la Marina). A large room with a double bed and a view of the port for 40 euros. Ancient decor but very clean bathrooms. The hostal is on the 4th floor of an office building, but thankfully, there’s an elevator. (No breakfast.)
Good places we ate:
- Comoloco on Calle Jose Denis Belgrano. Good salads and pita sandwiches at budget prices.
- La Teteria on Calle San Augustin, near the entrance to the Picasso Museum. Fabulous fresh orange and grapefruit juice, millions of teas, great spinach crepes, pastries and sandwiches (bocadillos). We went back several times.
Our rule for picking restaurants in Andalucia: don’t eat at places with more than two languages on the menu or with photos of the food posted outside. They’re apt to be mediocre or overpriced tourist traps.
Favorite things:
- Arriving on a planeload of British tourists and breezing through customs
- Fresh orange juice every day (and seeing oranges on trees every day)
- The Moorish Alcazaba
- The Cathedral
- Lovely iron and glass balconies
- Balmy weather
Least favorite things:
- Feeling nervous in the deserted little streets because we didn’t feel comfortable yet
- Missing the friends we had just left behind in Edinburgh
- Tons of construction work going on
- Struggling with Spanish to ask for a hostel room through an intercom
- A snooty waitress in the Cafe Mokka
Final thoughts:
It’s a city that gets a bad rap, mostly based on people seeing the drab outskirts where the airport, train, and bus stations are found. But we found it a very pleasant introduction to Spain. The city center is historical, attractive, of a manageable size, and very Spanish feeling; in addition, the Alcazaba is prettily situated and provides an uncrowded hint of the Moorish sites to come in the rest of Andalucia. One regret—I should have gone to the trouble to get over to the district with all of the seafood restaurants.
