Tuesday 17 September We had thought that we might have a more relaxed start today, but as we had signed up to an optional tour of Cordoba, we were on the bus as usual at 8.00am. It seemed to us and other participants that the tour start hard been brought forward, but we got no sense from Emma the Tour Director. Cordoba is 140km ENE of Seville so an hour and a half saw us pull up besides the Guadalquivir and the Puente Romann de Cordova. The bridge's foundatio...

Monday 16 September On Day 3 of "Amazing Spain & Portugal" with Insight Vacations we are up and outside the hotel ready to visit the Alhambra Palace just after 8.00am. We will be one of the first groups through the gates and we have to be on time. Some 3 million people visit this UNESCO World Heritage site and a maximum of 8,000 visitors is allowed on any day, so book early. Each ticket is individually identified with your name to prevent scalping and occ...

Sunday 15 September Today was our first full day with Insight on their coach tour. We were at breakfast for 7.00am with the suitcases out in the corridor as requested. Busy place the breakfast restaurant buffet when you have two Insight tours that want to leave early. The coach left just after 8.00am, so on time, with us being in one of the front seats for the drive down the freeway to Toledo. We will change seats each day for the rest of the tour. Being Su...

Saturday 14 September On Saturday morning our flight was scheduled to leave Almeria at 10.50am. The airport is not large although it handles international traffic from around Europe, and both Thomas Cook and Easyjet fly in from the UK. We planned to leave Vera around 8.00am, with the hour drive giving us nearly 2 hours leeway before the flight. First job was to get the car to the door so we could load it. Thankfully, by now a Council worker had opened a drai...

Saturday 7 to Friday 13 September We are up on time and down to an empty reception. On Irene's advise Tony heads out to the Metro station taxi rank where, even at 6.30am, there is a taxi waiting. No problem heading to Terminal 4 at the airport this early in the morning. The usual nonsense at the automated check in and security. Tony had checked in on line so the machine behaved itself, but so many others had problems. Grab some breakfast, a book from W H Sm...