First, the positives. Our guide, Helena, was great - caring and always available to help. We saw key sites in Antequera, Cordoba and Seville and had an especially lovely time in Granada where the group stayed for 3 nights and where we had time to browse at leisure. Also, I might add, although it was a large group this time it was a wonderfully friendly and inclusive group which really added to the good feelings of the holiday. Both hotels were of good quality, comfortable and with helpful staff. This was our fifth trip with Travel Department and we wouldn't hesitate to travel with them again.That said, there were two major downsides to this particular holiday. The first of these was the location of the first hotel in Loja. The hotel is good but the choice of Loja as a location for trips is not. In addition to Loja itself being, at best, 'sleepy', the trip down to the town from the hotel is steep and the trip back up is even worse. Not suitable for anyone other than the super fit. I understand that the other hotel in Antequera is being renovated and this would make a very much better base for the trips to Antequera itself, to Cordoba and to Seville. I understand that Travel Department are aware of this.Also, the first three full days were very full-on with an hour to Antequera, 2 hours to Cordoba and three hours to Seville on the coach followed by a heavy walking programme at the end of each. The tour was advertised as 'moderate' in terms of exercise and suitable to those of 'reasonable fitness and mobility' but realistically it was more demanding than that. I don't know what the ideal solution here is, but the result was that days 2,3 and 4 were very intensive without a rest day in between. Would definitely advise that Travel Department have a look again at how to space the content or how to make it less physically demanding at the outset. (Moving the base to either Antequera or Cordoba would itself reduce coach time and give more options for leisure.)We enjoyed the holiday, loved Granada and cannot speak too highly of Helena and the rest of the group. But it was more demanding physically than would be ideal for many.
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