Thanks to Norwegian Airlines I found some ridiculously cheap tickets from Oakland, California to Barcelona and out of Malaga for the return. Perfect. The plan was Spain from one coast to the other! I convinced my oldest son to join me.  Here is an overview of the trip. For details on specific cities, click on the links below.

From Barcelona  to Malaga hitting 3 separate parts of the coastline in 14 days. We rented a car on our last day in Barcelona and drove it to Granada. Then we took the bus to Malaga (An easy trip, buses depart every half hour). It gave us more flexibility in our travel, but was quite expensive compared to train or bus travel.  Your choice! 

SIMPLIFIED ITINERARY
BARCELONA 3 days
Day Trip to Montserrat Option
BILBAO 1 day 
MADRID 2 days
TOLEDO  1 Day
CORDOBA  1 day
SEVILLE 2 days
Ronda - Day Trip 
GRANADA 2 days
MALAGA 2 days

The first thing I will tell you is - GO!
Go before they are on the €uro, or members in the EU and the prices skyrocket. Go while they have not burned out on tourists - who despite our best behavior, can wear down the most hospitable of hosts. To me, it has the best of Italy and Greece combined.  Go, Go , Go.

Croatia has got so many things going for it, I can't even begin to list them all.

• An amazing coastline - check
• Friendly people who speak many languages - check.
• Cities, parks, nightlife, amazing food and historic sites - check and double check.

In fact, so much history that you can't miss it. It's got movie sets (Game of Thrones), Roman palaces and coliseums, great wine (and beer - Pliny the Elder lived in the Pula/Istrian Peninsula) and great highways to make driving the entire country a breeze. I've even shared my "8 Amazing Day Itinerary" with you to make planning a cinch.