Plaza de España & Royal Alcazar

Seville     Time Spent: 2 nights  Favorite Food: Duas Tapas  Favorite Attractions: Plaza de Espana & Royal Alcazar

^The Bathes at the Royal Alcazar – a good 15-20 degrees cooler than outside!!img_2385-1

These photos are from our time in Seville. We spent our second day there exploring the Royal Alcazar & Plaza de Espana. I highly recommend purchasing tickets for the Alcazar in advance that way you aren’t wasting time waiting in line. It was so fun to walk around, there’s so much Moorish detail throughout all the buildings & then you head outside & you can explore the gardens. Something we really like was that it didn’t seem overly crowded like some of the other attractions we’d been to in Spain. After the Alcazar we found some lunch in a little square & then we decided to walk around & explore Seville. We ended up at the Plaza de Espana, it wasn’t necessarily on our list to go visit that day, but I’m SO happy we ended up there! The Plaza was built in 1928, held the Worlds Fair & now is used mostly for government buildings. It’s so cool that people actually go to work each day in this incredible place! The Plaza backs up to another beautiful park you can explore. We had a great time in Seville, it was definitely one of my favorite places we visited!

20 Hours in Granada

Time Spent: 20 hours

Favorite Food / Drink: Jardines de Zoraya & El Huerto de Juan Ranas 

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Granada was perhaps one of the best twenty hours of the trip; between taking in all the sights at the Ahlambra & the delicious meals we kept talking about how this was one our favorite stops on our trip! We traveled early in the morning from Seville, (I’ll be posting our whole two week itinerary in a separate post so stay tuned for that). We arrived in Granada mid morning & couldn’t check into our Airbnb so we found a cafe & enjoyed some breakfast.  After we checked in, dropped our bags & changed clothes we headed out to catch the shuttle up the hill to the Ahlambra. We spent the whole afternoon exploring the grounds. There’s so much to see, we both agreed the gardens & the guest quarters were by far our favorite. As you can see from the photos the amount of Moorish details throughout is incredible.

After a full afternoon of sightseeing we headed out for some cocktails & dinner. We grabbed a drink & appetizer at El Huerto de Juan Ranas, they have a great outdoor patio with an incredible view looking right at the Ahlambra. It’s a little on the pricey side but definitely well worth it, especially if you’re able to time it at sunset! We walked to dinner at Jardines de Zoraya, which Chris had eaten at years ago when he first visited Granada. They also have an outdoor patio, with delicious food that is reasonably priced. After dinner we walked back to our Airbnb along the Passeo de los Tristes.

We only spent 20 hours in Granada, it was our busiest day with travel & walking, my fitbit counted us at nearly 30,000 steps that day but we had SO much fun!

Hope you enjoy these photos! I’m off to Scottsdale this weekend for a bachelorette, but I’ll be posting more photos from our Europe trip in the following weeks, along with our detailed itinerary.

Beginning In Barcelona

Time Spent: 3 days / 2 nights

Favorite Places to Eat / Drink: Firebug – brunch, Carlos & Matilda – Cocktail, Babol – quick bite (great Brie Burger!!)

Favorite Sights: Barcelona Cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, Barri Gotic, Parc de la Cuitadella

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                          ^Barcelona Cathedral – throwing serious Hogwarts vibes!

^ Barri Gotic love

^^ When you stumble up a pet store / vet right by your airbnb.

I’m finally getting around to posting photos from our trip! The first stop on our two week journey was Barcelona. Neither Chris or I had visited, so we were excited to set out and explore. We had two full days in Barcelona. The first day we set out for breakfast & then headed to La Sagrada Familia. I couldn’t recommend booking your tickets in advance more! It was so easy & low stress, we printed out our tickets in advance & were in line I’d say for less than 10 minutes. The day we visited the weather was drizzly & breezy so unfortunately the towers were closed that day.

We visited the Barcelona Cathedral the next day, in comparison to La Sagrada this cathedral is so laid back, with no entrance fee, a fraction of the crowds, we found this cathedral more enjoyable. The two are just completely different, but both can be appreciated!

Finally I have to say our favorite part of Barcelona was exploring the Barri Gotic. The windy crocked streets are perfect for getting lost. There are tons of shops, restaurants, and little bars to stumble into.