Granada

We took a bus from Seville to Granada, having reserved a room at the Itinere Hostel. It was a great place, with a super comfy living room that we took full advantage of as we needed some relaxation time before hitting our next stop, Morocco.

While Seville was composed of houses painted and tiled in many colours, Granada was a study in white and brown with old fortress walls, surrounded by the green vegetation of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The first day we wandered the neighbourhood of Sacromonte, with the infamous hillside homes and businesses in cuevos (caves).

During our meanderings we happened upon a small cozy plaza, where we enjoyed a great deal on very good food at the La Parrona restaurant patio and live music by three talented local female artists.

As you may have noticed in the pictures, Ben decided that his flowing locks needed a trim and we went to a barber to get his hair cut. Ben’s family on his mother’s side is named Samson, which could explain his deep rooted fear of haircuts. There was some to and fro with the hairdresser, who stated he preferred short hair, but we thought we had finally convinced him in our limited Spanish that long was still the way to go. Unfortunately something was lost in translation, and Ben’s hair emerged looking like a cross between a mullet and a preppy collegial schoolboy do, which made for some interesting photo shoot opportunities outside the barber shop.

On our last day we went to the Alhambra, which is a World Heritage Unesco site and a marvel to see. Some of the buildings date back to the 14th century, and are a captivating mix of Moorish and Spanish style. We spent many hours strolling the grounds, enjoying the parks, intricate stone and wood carvings and beautiful views of Granada through keyhole arches.

In the afternoon we saw the Semana Santa parade go by our hostel window, with ornate religious floats and marchers dressed in crazy pointy hat outfits. Very strange and interesting. The Semana Santa is a catholic festival that is very popular in the south of Spain.





At night we went in search of a bar that served “free tapas” with drinks, which apparently is relatively common in Granada. We found a great place called Babel, where for 10 euros we had four glasses of wine and four tasty tapas! It was obviously popular with both locals and tourists alike, and we toasted our good fortune.

Now it is off to Morocco, which we plan on reaching by taking a bus to Tarifa on the southernmost coast of Spain, from where we will catch a ferry over to Tangier.

Seville

Seville was a wonder. We arrived planning on staying just two days, and ended up staying for five. One of the initial reasons was our hostel, Hostel One. We arrived from the airport by bus and with the help of a map found our way into a beautiful courtyard with a café filled with local Spaniards dressed in their Sunday best, surrounded by fragrant orange blossom trees.

Our room was incredible, with high ceilings, private bathroom and a balcony with prime seating for people watching, listening to live music from the plaza and to the church bell tolling the hour.









If we close our eyes and think of Seville, the first thing that comes to mind was the smell of the orange blossom trees that was present throughout the city. It was so pleasant to smell it in the wind, drift to sleep with it at night, and wake up to it in the morning. Unfortunately they were sour orange trees and therefore not suitable for eating unless in marmalade form, but perhaps this was a good thing as the bright orange globes dangling off the green branches were also very pleasing to the eye.

We spent our days wandering the winding narrow streets, enjoying all the beautiful pastel colours of the city and the amazing tile work. Just when we thought we had gotten to know all of the unique spots, we would stumble on yet another hidden plaza with a central water fountain and inviting patios.

The mix of the Moorish and Spanish architecture was gorgeous, especially in the Cathedral Santa Maria, which is the third largest cathedral in Europe, and the largest cathedral in the Gothic style.

We celebrated Ben’s 33rd b-day in true Seville style. We found an amazing restaurant for lunch, Los Coloniales. The saying goes that the best tapas in Spain are in the south, and we would definitely agree. We enjoyed white wine with a “tabla” of bread, olive oil, a local sauce called salmorejo and sliced iberian ham, among other delicacies. The waitress was a treat.

For dinner we made reservations for the best seat in the house at a flamenco restaurant called Flamenquito, and it was incredible. There was a dancer, singer and guitar player, all extremely talented people who obviously have a passion for what they do. It was great to try some more homemade local food and drink some good wine while watching the show into the late hours of the night.

We went out one night with two other travellers who were from Quebec on an organized Tapas Tour, where we sampled different types of food and drink. We particularly liked the little forks and the digestif at one of the last restaurants.




This was followed by some bar hopping, and soon we were blending in with the locals, with Ben bargaining for a bottle of wine at the bar which we drank on the street in fancy glasses.

Now that we are firm Barcelona soccer fans, we made a point of watching the Barca versus Milan game at a patio bar and cheering with the local Spaniards.

Spending five days in Sevilla really gave us a good taste of the city. We were not surprised to meet many other travelers who had made far reaching travel plans, but upon arriving in this seductive city, decided to stay long term. They share good company as over the centuries this region has lured so many people of different places and cultures. It is definitely high on our list for a return visit. Next stop Granada to continue our tour of amazing Andalucia!

Barcelona

We were incredibly lucky to get a cheap flight from Sao Paulo to Barcelona with Singapore Airlines. The plane was pure luxury, and it was a nice way to transition from South America to Europe for the next leg of our trip (free drinks!). Ben had never been to Barcelona before, while Patricia had been twice already and loved it, so we were both excited to arrive in Spain after a long overnight flight from Brasil.

We rented a lovely apartment at the "Welcome In" with shared kitchen and bathroom a few blocks off of the famous Las Ramblas, and it was a great place to catch up on some sleep and access the sights of Barcelona. It was also very close to La Boqueria, the colourful food market, so we took full advantage with shopping nearly everyday for amazing items including freshly baked bread, local eggs, fresh seafood, and seasonal fruits.

We sidled up to a restaurant stand inside the market one morning for breakfast and watched the organized chaos behind the counter produce one amazing dish after another.

On our to do list for Barcelona was: eat great paella, drink good red wine, see everything Gaudi, and stroll the gothic quarter. Ben was also really motivated to see an FC Barcelona football game as they are currently the best team in the world and boast players with incredible creativity and talent. In all things we were successful and had an amazing time!

The football game actually happened to be on our very first night in Barcelona and so we dragged ourselves to the stadium after our long overnight flight hoping that the play on the field and the atmosphere in the enormous stadium would keep us both awake and entertained. We got more than we could have hoped for when a local season ticket holder offered to take us to sit in his family's seats and to watch the game with him. When asked how long he had been coming to games here he replied with a grin: "I was born in these seats!". I guess that's the only way to be in such a great location that close to the field and mostly covered by the grandstand roof. Barcelona put on a show with Lionel Messi, the best player in the world, scoring a hat trick to break the team’s all-time scoring record! By the end of the game Patricia had picked up some of the songs and was singing and clapping along with the rest of the crowd. An incredible night and a memory not to be forgotten.

A trip to Barcelona is not complete without seeing Gaudi’s huge influence on the city and on architecture worldwide. We took a day to walk by a few of his very unique buildings in the city, noting the skull shaped balconies and bonelike columns at one location and the very curvy organic façades.

We also spent hours marvelling at the unfathomable vision on display at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Work has been ongoing on this project since the late 1800’s and current projections claim another 20 to 30 years is required for completion! Gaudi used nature as his inspiration and when you stand inside the Sagrada you feel as though you’re standing in an enormous forest, with canopies of leaves overhead and light streaming in through breaks in the trees. He must have been unbelievably persuasive in order to convince people to pay for these crazy schemes!

If this wasn’t enough, Gaudi seems to have created the original Disneyland experience at the fantastical Park Guell. The mosaics everywhere on display were amazing.

Patricia even got to kiss the lucky Gaudi lizard, so hopefully the rest of our trip will go off super smooth!

The gothic quarter in Barcelona is a fantastic maze of small alleys, dead ends, plazas, patios and surprises. It’s great to just get lost in the twists and turns and see where you end up. We bumped into some great street musicians using the surrounding structures to beautiful acoustic effect, had beer and food in the sunshine and just enjoyed meandering around as life passed by on all sides.

On the main strolling street, Las Ramblas, Patricia got mauled by one of the living statues, an experience that resulted in a few shrieks and left us giggling for a long time afterwards.

While navigating the narrow streets we also got a chance to meet up with friends of the family from Brasil. Juba owns a shoe store in Barcelona with a really unique twist. The shoes are manufactured in the north of Brasil supporting local rural production and the soles of the shoes are made from reclaimed car tires avoiding a lot of waste in the landfill. Patricia bought a funky pair of sandals and we totally recommend you see the full selection online as they will ship to your destination. The brand is called Caboclo.

If all of this is not enough, Barcelona even has a reasonably nice waterfront to explore. After all of the food and wine we felt that maybe a little exercise was needed...

We’ll miss you Barcelona, but as Patricia said, somehow it feels like we’ll be back.