Life in a Hammock Spain 2026

May 07 and 08 - The Cortijo del Marques Homecoming

And here we are this Saturday May 9th waking up in a four poster bed at the beloved Cortijo del Marques.  It’s a cool cloudy day here with a high of 16 degrees, and showers are to be expected.  We scramble to get ready for breakfast and head downstairs and then through the garden to breakfast.  We are not the last ones to arrive.  A wonderful buffet waits for us.  I’m really appreciating the morning coffee as yesterday there was no time for coffee except what was served on the plane.

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Around 11:00 am Thursday, May 7 our friend Brian drove us the airport.  No point going early as the lounge is closed until next year or so.  But we did enjoy a nice time in the Montreal lounge, enough to have 3 glasses of Prosecco … so delicious, and small plates of food.  I made my own version of Italian Wedding Soup using their broth, removing the little balls of meat and replacing it with a colourful array of whatever I could find off the salad bar … it was delicious!  We enjoyed a nice chat with the couple next to us who also were on their way to Madrid and then eventually to a family wedding in Portugal.  

We boarded the plane to Madrid but due to a technical problem we were an hour late leaving.  We were not able to make up any time.  There was a fair amount of turbulence on this flight.  But we were happy in our economy seats, seated in rows of just two on the side of the plane.  The plane was almost bursting with people.  We saw no extra seats.  Six hours later, more or less, we were landing in Madrid.  We now would have less time in the Aena lounge where we enjoyed a good breakfast experience last year.

We sailed through the new documentation kiosk to enter the EU easily with the help of 'cane magic' thus avoiding the snaking long line of most everyone else.  But in fairness the long line moved quickly too.  

The walk to the lounge was slow as Norm had stiffened up with the overnight flight.  We arrive at the lounge only to be told that the seats on our flight to Granada were stand by … and therefore we were not eligible to enter the lounge.  Stand by seats when we bought the most expensive seats available (besides Business Class) offered???   And we were not told!  So a long walk back to Customer Support to plead our case.  Apparently if you do not confirm seats by seat selection within 24 hours in advance you are on a standby basis.  We thought we automatically had a seat as the booking said we were entitled to seats in the front of the plane.  At the counter they say the flight is fully booked and unless people don’t check in at the airport there will be no seat available for us.  And the evening flight was also fully booked.  Plan B … a four and a half hour drive was looking like it just might happen! 

I check again an hour later.  They say 4 seats are possible as 4 have not checked in but no guarantee.  As not everyone had checked in we wouldn’t know until 10 minutes or so before the flight.  So instead of enjoying our tortilla Español, cava and coffee in the lounge we spent it at the gate crossing our fingers all would work out.  It did.  Strangely enough we counted 8 vacant seats … someone, and not us, can’t count, lol!  We arrive in Granada and shuttle over to Enterprise to pick up our car.  A brand new Peugeot.  Off we drive to Cortijo del Marques taking lots of photos on the road headed up to the Cortijo. The orange red poppies are blooming as well as other beautiful wild flowers.  And the little baby bunnies are joyfully scampering across the road in a few places.  I hope to get pictures another day.  

We checked into our room, La Terraza about 3:30 … and I think it’s my favourite room here at the Cortijo.  I love it!  I briefly sit outside in the sunshine, catching a few rays of warmth, before heading inside for a pre dinner nap.

We awoke at 7:30 pm, keen to head over to the dining room as there hadn’t been a lot of food consumed during this somewhat stressful day!  The meal was wonderful!  My favourite was the aperitif …. a cold creamy almond soup made a wonderful dip for the crusty bread we ordered.  Norm enjoyed a new fish to him, Hake; while I had tasty glazed tofu cubes in a yogurt lemon sauce with spicy finely diced aubergine. The couple beside us, Kim and Glen, were a nice couple from Ontario staying here for a week, so easy to talk to.  After dinner we sat beside the blazing fire and listened to flamenco music while we finished our wine.  We chatted until it was time to call it a night with another couple from Ontario.  What a wonderful place this is!  We are so filled with gratitude to be back, our 5th time returning!