From a past trip a family friend mentioned Andalucia in the spring - flowers bloom, sweet nectar aflow. The seed for an April trip was planted. Besides, what better time to visit than during Semana Santa?

Air Iberia
$453 JFK to MAD
10 solid days in Spain; arriving in Madrid in late morning and leaving in early afternoon

Avis
Still debating the merits of a rental car but a reservation for 10 days/$464 was made using discount code A108325 (Costco). Spain actually seems pretty easy to get around with its extensive inter-city train and bus system.

Granada (2 days)
A five-hour bus ride from Madrid will only set us back about 19 Euro (fees included). Decision to make Granada our first stop partly is based on Granada's procession schedule, partly stems from availability of Hostal Austria (45 Euros/night, central location at the foot of La Alhambra and processions will practically pass by its front door). If we could make the 11:30am bus at Madrid, we will arrive at the hostal by 5pm on Tuesday, just in time to witness the Gypsy procession (the other recommended one is the silent procession on Good Friday, but if possible we want to be in Sevilla for it).

Sevilla (3 days)
Finding a place to stay in Sevilla proves to be challenging so still need to work on it. The following are already fully booked:

• Oasis Sevilla
• Samay Hostel
• UrbanyHostel
• Hotel Amadeus

As a safety I booked

• Tryp Macarena for 167 Euros a night, cancel within 2 days of arrival
• Melia Lebreros for 159 a night, cancel within 2 days of arrival
• Hotel Alcazar for 130 a night, cancel by April 7th
  

Cordoba (2 days)
Reservations have been made for

• Hotel Selu (8-28-19-12-2) for 63 Euros/night and cancellation policy 2 days in advance
  
• Pension Cibeles (for 40 Euros/night and cancellation policy 2 days in advance
  
• Eurostars Las Adelfas (19-22-5-5-3) for 64 Euros/night and cancellation policy 1 day in advance
  

Toledo (1 day)
Perusing a Taiwanese forum, I came across an offer for home stay in Toledo, just south of Madrid. We are suckers for small towns and UNESCO sites! So we will try to swing by. A little annoyed at the booking process though, need to figure out how to send 10 Euro to the Taiwanese account. What about pay pal?

Madrid (2 days)
Reservations have been made for

• Hotel Alhambra (2-3-1-0-0) for 60 Euros/night and cancellation policy 3 days in advance (2 min walk to Sol station where a few major subway lines meet)
  
• Pension Jaen (3-1-0-0-0) for 40 Euros/night and cancellation policy 2 day in advance (good reviews on forum, 5 min walk to Anton Martin station, 9 min walk to Sol)
• Hostal Victoria II for 53 Euros/night (3 nights, in case we skip Toledo) and cancellation policy 2 days in advance (only Victoria III is found on Tripadvisor but I & II have central location that can't be beat, right next to Sol)

And I LOVE Babel Fish