For the last few weeks I have been working on an itinerary for my daughter’s honeymoon this fall. My daughter is known as “La Princesa de Westchester” by our Cuban-American family which translates roughly to” Princess of Westchester”, Westchester being the Miami neighborhood where she grew up. I will leave the reason she got this nick name for another day (I’m sure you can guess at some of her “Princess” qualities) but now you know the reason for the title of this post!
The original honeymoon trip idea was to take a leisurely two week driving tour of Spain staying in AirBNB type vacation rental apartments. Since I have traveled extensively to both the north and south of Spain, planning this trip sounded easy enough! The Princess’s Dad, aka Guy-with-the-Girl-in-the-Aisle-Seat, thinks they should tour the north of Spain visiting Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian and the Cantabric coast. We were absolutely enchanted with the north when we toured last year. But to me, it just seems that the south is a must do when visiting Spain for the first time. My recommendation was to visit Madrid, Barcelona, Andalusia and the Mediterranean coast. But wait, that’s not the end of the itinerary dilemma! The original plan has now morphed into joining a group of friends for a week-long stay on the Greek isle of Mykonos then touring Spain alone for another week.
Wait, what? Including a week with friends on a honeymoon? Once you hear their plans, though, I think you will understand. One of the friends is a prosperous business man who rented an eight bedroom mansion on Mykonos generously inviting several couples to stay with him. I’ve seen a picture of the place and it is amazing! I mean, how often do you get invited to stay in a mansion on a greek island for free? This was just too good to pass up! Plus, there will be one couple getting engaged on this trip (shhh, it’s a secret!) and now one honeymoon as well.
So, now my task is to design an itinerary combining a week on Mykonos with a week in Spain. As I worked on the itinerary I realized that with only seven days allotted in Spain and so many awesome places I wanted them to see, this would be a challenge! But, no one can say I am not up to a travel planning challenge! So, here is the itinerary I planned for my Princess and her Prince:
Day 1: Travel from Miami to Athens
Day 2 : Morning arrival in Athens with time to use the Hop On, Hop Off bus to explore the historic sites like the Acropolis, the Parthenon and the Temple of Zeus then catch a late ferry to Mykonos.
Days 3 – 8: Enjoy the amazing Mykonos Mansion with side trips to other Greek isles such as Santorini, Naxos or Paros
Itinerary for Week Two of a Honeymoon in Spain – Flying in from Athens
Day 9: Travel to Madrid. Explore Madrid’s Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol, visit the Prado museum, the Placio Real, Cibeles and Parque del Retiro. Enjoy an evening of tapas or a late rooftop dinner.
Madrid's Puerta de Alcala
Day 10: Explore more of Madrid then dinner and Flamenco show at Casa Patas.
Day 11: Take the early train to Sevilla. Enjoy the afternoon and evening in Sevilla.
Day 12: Sevilla. My daughter and her fiance are big fans of Star Wars and Game of Thrones. They are excited to visit filming sites such as the Alcazar used to represent the water gardens of Dorne in Game of Thrones and the Plaza de Espana used in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
Bull Ring with Sevilla's signature ochre trim
Day 13: Drive to Malaga on the Mediterranean Costa del Sol. Spend some time on the beach followed by lunch then drive to Granada.
Beautiful beaches
Day 14: Granada. Visit the Alhambra, Generalife and Albaicin neighborhood
The beautiful Alhambra, a Unesco World Heritage site
Day 15: Drive to Valencia for sightseeing the City of Arts and Sciences, old town and a paella lunch. Drive to Barcelona, evening dinner, drinks and illuminations drive.
Old Town Valencia contrasts with the new and modern...
Day 16: Barcelona. Visit Las Ramblas, Sagrada Familia cathedral, Parc Guell, Barceloneta beach
Olympic Port
Day 17: Travel from Barcelona to Miami
A lot remains to to be discussed with the happy couple regarding how active or leisurely they want to go, what they want to do, airfares, budget and so on so, who knows, this trip could continue to morph. Whatever they decide to do, I will publish on my itineraries page. Let’s see how this puppy turns out!
Loving the process,
The Girl in the Aisle Seat