I started in the High period with the Aragonese, so there was no El Cid around. I ended up going north into Toulouse and Aquitaine so I could have a good trade port on the Mediterreanean as well as the Atlantic. This enabled me to build trade quicker (going around the Iberian penninsula was too expensive and time consuming early on).

I did bribe the Navarre rebels, but I also made the mistake of bribing the Portuguese. No link to the rest of my provinces meant rebellion after rebellion after rebellion until the force I had initially bought out was destroyed.

The Almohads currently have an enormous empire to my south, but so far I'm still on friendly terms with them. (Just waiting till I can start pumping out the Chiv Knights).