Holiday plans

Seville, our favourite city

I'm jolly excited because over the weekend we booked our next holiday, and it's going to be a special one.

I have two goddaughters (no, I'm not religious - I figured I could do the 'be nice to people' bit and leave the religious instruction to people who know about that sort of thing). They're the daughters of one of my oldest schoolfriends, who married an American man, and the family lives in Virginia. I promised both girls that when they turned 18 I'd take them anywhere they wanted to go in Europe. The eldest has been learning Spanish-Spanish in her spare time, and it's now her time to travel, and she picked Spain.

Mr Robot and I LOVE Spain, so it's like she's given us a massive gift in allowing us to show her some of our very favourite places. In recent years we haven't gone every year, but if we leave it too long we do start to miss the place terribly.

As Big Goddaughter is a history buff, we're basing the trip loosely on the life of Queen Isabella, starting in Segovia where she was born, travelling down to Toledo, the old religious capital (Isabella and her husband aren't known as 'the Catholic monarchs' for nothing, and they planned to be buried in a monastery in Toledo), from there on to Seville where she gave birth to her second son and set up systems to administer wealth coming in from the Americas, and finally on to Granada where Isabella is buried. There will be castles, palaces, galleries, gardens and museums galore to explore – and as this is a trip with me and Mr Robot, there will also be restaurants and tapas bars and all sorts of other good things. We're staying mostly in historic buildings too, none of this modern chain hotel malarkey. (I can't abide the sort of four-star hotel where you could be anywhere in the world, give me a three-star with more character even if it has fewer comforts.)

Isabella's birthplace, Segovia castle

I suppose it's going to be a little strange, as we don't all know each other that well, and Mr Robot and I don't have children, so we're going to have an 'Honesty is the Best' policy: if one person doesn't feel like doing something, they can say it. If they'd rather go off alone, or stay in bed, or whatever, that's okay. We're all grownups and no-one has to do anything. Likewise, if someone really wants to go somewhere in particular, they can say so.

I'm already planning what to pack. When we went to Burma, I knew I'd look foreign no matter what, and would be so far from my cultural background it would make no difference what I wore, so all I had to do was dress in a culturally appopriate fashion for the monasteries and temples we'd be visiting (ie, nothing short, tight or low), and make sure I could carry my luggage. Well, there's no way I'm dressing in polyester travelling trousers and T-shirts in Spain! The Spanish always dress very nicely, so I'll be trying to look smart while also wearing things practical enough to do loads of walking and sightseeing. I'm wondering if a pair of Vivien of Holloway capris would fit the bill...

Photos on this page are copyright PP Gettins