Desde el mirador, mi abuela dijo que lo que menos le gustaba del viaje era el viento.

Desde means from, so Desde el mirador means from the lookout/viewpoint. It highlights the place she was speaking or observing from.

If you said En el mirador, that would mean at the viewpoint, focusing more on location than on the idea of speaking or seeing from that spot. Both can make sense, but desde is more natural if the viewpoint is the place from which she made the comment.

A mirador is a lookout, viewpoint, or scenic viewing spot. In Spain, it is a very common word for a place where people stop to admire a view.

So in this sentence, it suggests a scenic place, probably outdoors, from which the grandmother was looking out.

After decir when you report what someone said, Spanish normally uses que.

So:

• Mi abuela dijo que... = My grandmother said that...

This is the standard way to introduce reported speech in Spanish. English can sometimes drop that, but Spanish usually keeps que.

Lo que here means what or the thing that.

So:

• lo que menos le gustaba = what she liked least
• more literally: the thing that pleased her the least

Spanish uses lo que very often to talk about the thing that... in a general way.

In this sentence, lo que menos le gustaba del viaje means the thing she liked least about the trip.

The verb gustar works differently from English to like.

In Spanish, the thing that is liked is the grammatical subject, and the person who experiences the liking is shown with an indirect object pronoun:

• le = to her

So:

• le gustaba el viento literally means the wind was pleasing to her

That is why Spanish uses le, not la.

You could also say:

• a mi abuela le gustaba

But in this sentence, mi abuela has already been mentioned earlier, so just le is enough and sounds natural.

Gustaba is the imperfect, and it fits well here because the sentence is describing her opinion about the trip, not a single moment of reaction.

Compare:

• le gustaba = she liked / she used to like / it was pleasing to her
• le gustó = she liked it at a specific moment / she found it pleasing then

Here, the idea is what she liked least about the trip overall, so gustaba is the natural choice.

Menos means less or least, depending on context.

In lo que menos le gustaba, it means what she liked least.

This is a very common structure in Spanish:

• lo que más me gustó = what I liked most
• lo que menos me gustó = what I liked least

So menos is creating that superlative idea of least.

Del viaje means of the trip or about the trip, and here it refers to one aspect of the trip.

So:

• lo que menos le gustaba del viaje = the thing she liked least about the trip

If you used en el viaje, that would mean during the trip or on the trip, which changes the meaning. Here the sentence is not mainly about when something happened; it is about which part or aspect of the trip she liked least.

Era is the imperfect of ser, and it sounds natural here because the sentence is identifying something within a broader description or reported statement.

The structure is:

• lo que menos le gustaba del viaje era el viento
• the thing she liked least about the trip was the wind

Spanish often uses era in this kind of explanatory or descriptive identification.

Using fue is not impossible in every context, but here it would sound less natural and more abrupt. Era fits the idea of calmly stating what that least-liked thing was.

No. El viento is not the subject of gustaba in this sentence.

Inside the reported clause, the structure is:

• lo que menos le gustaba del viaje = subject
• era el viento = predicate

So el viento is the thing identified as what she liked least.

If the sentence were simply:

• A mi abuela le gustaba el viento

then el viento would be the subject of gustaba. But in your full sentence, the grammar is different because of the lo que menos... era... structure.

Yes, that is completely possible.

Both mean the same thing:

• Lo que menos le gustaba del viaje era el viento
• El viento era lo que menos le gustaba del viaje

The difference is emphasis:

• Lo que menos le gustaba... emphasizes the thing she liked least
• El viento era... emphasizes the wind

The original version sounds very natural and slightly more neutral in this context.

Because Spanish often avoids repeating information when it is already clear from context.

The sentence already says mi abuela dijo..., so le is naturally understood as referring to her.

You could say:

• Mi abuela dijo que lo que menos le gustaba del viaje...

or, for extra clarity/emphasis:

• Mi abuela dijo que lo que menos le gustaba a ella del viaje...
• Mi abuela dijo que lo que menos le gustaba a mi abuela del viaje...

But the original is more natural because it avoids unnecessary repetition.