Real Alcázar

In the morning we went out early to get to see the alcazar before we had to leave Seville. It opened at 9:30, so we arrived there promptly, along with a bunch of other tourists who had exactly the same idea. The alcazar is the palace of the muslim caliph of old, and is decorated mostly in the muslim style. There are also exhibits of tiles and a history of tile-making in Spain. The walled gardens are extensive and maintained in the same style as they were originally.

After checking out of the hotel, we decided to drive to Ronda, a small town which is on the way (-ish) to Málaga. We walked down the main street towards the old town and bridge, for which the town is famed.

The old town is very picturesque, but we didn’t have much time for a full historical tour, so satisfied ourselves with a quick wander around, a spot of lunch, and then walked back up to the car with every intention of heading on our way to Málaga.

Sattie, however, had other ideas. She was confused by roadworks and diversions, as there appears to be some major road remodelling going on in Ronda. Eventually, after being sent the wrong way too many times, we stopped at a petrol station and bought an old-fashioned map. Sattie, I am disappoint.

Eventually heading out of Ronda on the right road to Málaga, through spectacular mountain scenery,  we made good time as far as Marbella, when Sattie again led us astray. She was trying to take us the toll-free route, and was getting into an awful muddle. I believe her software is somewhat out of date, and the new roads didn’t appear on her map. We therefore decided to take the toll road as this was clearly marked “Málaga: over here”. The motorway took us past the airport and again Sattie had trouble finding our hotel – a Holiday Inn on a main road, so shouldn’t have been a problem – so we decided to take the car back to the rental place at the airport and get to the hotel under our own steam. “You have failed me for the last time, Sattie” I said in a Darth Vader voice as we left.

The hotel is one bus stop away from the airport on a windswept industrial park. It was an unappealing place, but it did for the night as we had to check in by 6:00am for a 7:00am flight back to the UK.