In between all the eating, drinking and more eating we did in Spain last month, we did manage to explore the cities we visited. So at the risk of being those friends who keep forcing their vacation photos on you, we're going to round out our posts on Spain with a handful of photos and stories.
Plus, for each of the locations we visited, we're giving a set of recommendations about what to see, where to eat, and even where to stay.
We started our Spain adventure with a three-night stay in Barcelona, which gave us two full days in the city. We spent one day of our time essentially just walking through beautiful neighborhoods, and a second more structured day seeing the Gaudi sites.
On Day 1, we took an incredibly long walk through the Barri Gothic neighborhood, down the famous Las Ramblas, through the quaint Barceloneta neighborhood, and then essentially just following the beach. We loved this iconic Barcelona sculpture juxtaposed with the fancy W Hotel in the background.
On Day 2, it was all about famed Barcelona architect Antoni Gaudi. Our first stop (of course) was La Sagrada Familia, which defied all our expectations. We were absolutely blown away by the building, its scale and vision. If you haven't visited, you may be surprised to learn that it's still under major construction, with many more spires planned to be built. It was begun in 1882; the city hopes to finish by 2025.
The interior of La Sagrada is stunning.
Next we hoofed it up to Parc Guell, another Gaudi site on a hill that overlooks the city. It's a large park with a fair number of buildings designed by the architect.
But our favorite of the Gaudi sites was La Pedrera, an apartment building from the early 1900s. (It's still a residential building.)
This photo shows some chimneys on La Pedrera's undulating roof.
And this shows La Pedrera looking up from one of its interior courtyards.
Perhaps not as exciting, we loved exploring the alleys of Barcelona, especially in the Barri Gathic and El Born neighborhoods. We wandered around for hours, happily getting lost. We'll be back, Barcelona. You've been warned...
BARCELONA PICKS:
Things to See:
La Boqueria Market. It's in every guidebook, so yes, it's touristy. But still wonderful. If you want to eat while there, El Quim came highly recommended by friends of ours for lunch (we were there at breakfast and they weren't yet open).
The Gaudi sites: Do not miss La Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and La Pedrera. We did all of these in one (long) morning. You have to buy tickets in advance (La Sagrada Famlia has timed tickets). We found it easiest to visit a tourism office when we arrived in Barcelona and had them book the tickets for us (we paid an extra $2 per site for their help -- totally worth it when we got to skip the lines at the actual sites themselves).
Places to Eat:
Two two most recommended places we visited were almost among our favorites: Cal Pep and Tapas 24. We also loved Cerveceria Catalana. (Note: All three of these places were very good. But they are also very popular, especially with visitors. We heard a lot of English at all three. So are they undiscovered gems? No. But that doesn't mean they're not still gems.)
We wanted to make it to La Flauta (on Calle Aribau, just north of the Diagnol st) and Kaiku at the beach, but we'll have to go next time!
Where To Stay
We rented a simple apartment in the Gothic quarter via Airbnb. We loved staying in this part of town and highly recommend it.
THE BASQUE REGION
After leaving Barcelona, we flew to Bilbao, where we met up with our good friends Trevor and Owen, who would spend the next five days with us. We went straight from the airport to the Bilbao Guggenheim. It was a beautiful building with a great collection (the Richard Serra room is especially stunning).
We spend one day just driving from San Sebastian down the coast, stopping to take in the views.
Really, the views are spectacular.
It was white asparagus season, and it was available all over the place.
BASQUE REGION PICKS:
Things to See:
You can spend all your time in San Sebastian eating and drinking and be incredibly happy.
We thought the Guggenheim Bilbao was well worth a visit (but we were glad we'd gotten an apartment in San Sebastian).
We highly recommend Basque Tours for any kind of outing you want -- we hired them for a wine country excursion and highly recommend them.
In San Sebastian, Mount Igeldo has a crazy roller coaster that was recommended to us, but we didn't make it there.
Places to Eat:
There are so many amazing places in San Sebastian. Here are our favorite pintxo bars:
Atari (for the gin and tonic)
For nicer meals:
Elkano. A short drive from San Sebastian. Elkano has one Michelin star. The fish is among the best we've ever had.
Akelare. One of the most memorable dining experiences of our lives. Three Michelin stars. Outrageously priced, but if you're up for it, it's a blast.
Where To Stay
There were four of us for this leg of the trip, so we rented an outstanding apartment that was stumbling distance from all the pintxo bars.
SEVILLE
We were full-on obsessed by Metropol Parasol, a wooden structure that covers a big park.
NO8DO is the official symbol of Sevilla. It's everywhere (we even saw a few people with tattoos of it). The lovely story behind it is that it's quoting King Alfonso X: "[Seville] has not abandoned me." But most people think that's a myth.
The little alleyways are incredibly narrow in Seville's old town Santa Cruz neighborhood.
We were stunned by the Alcazar palace...
...with its intricately beautiful tile work...
...and its sprawling gardens.
SEVILLE PICKS:
Things to See:
Alcazar. The royal palace is the thing to see in Seville. Breathtaking.
The Cathedral is the other thing to see there. It's the third-largest Christian church in the world (and the largest Gothic one). Plus it's built on the site (and incorporated with) the mosque that was there when the Moors lived in Spain. Very beautiful.
Metropol Parasol. This wooden structure is beautiful and worth a visit.
Flamenco. We caught a show at Casa de La Memoria, which is touristy in the sense that it wasn't a crowd of locals, but not "touristy" -- it was a stripped-down, honest depiction of this important part of Andalusian culture.
Places to Eat:
Duos Tapas. A loud, fun restaurant, kind of like a tapas diner.
Contenedor. You have to get a reservation (or go very early) but this is the best meal we had in Sevilla. Get the duck!
El Rinconcillo. This is really just a bar with snacks but worth the visit. It was open in 1670. It’s old school.
We didn’t make it to Abantal (it has a Michelin star) but a reader told us it was the best meal she had in all of Spain.
Where To Stay
We ended up at Hotel Murillo. It was a perfectly fine option in a fantastic locale, just a couple minutes' walk from the Cathedral and Alcazar.
GRANADA
We loved this graffiti that we spotted in Granada: "There are no grenades here, only pomegranates." The correct translation is "There are no pomegranates here, only people from Granada." Thanks for the correction, Maria! [see comments].
We're happy to have the correct translation, but we sorta liked out mistranslated version, which seemed like a declaration against war or something.
The Alhambra is the thing to see in Granada -- and the main reason visitors come here. It's stunningly lit at night.
More Alhambra. Trust us, these photos don't do it justice.
Tourists like us sitting and watching the sun set on Alhambra.
The view of the city from Alhambra.
GRANADA PICKS
Things to See
Alhambra. It's the big reason to visit Granada. You must book tickets well in advance, preferably before your trip.
You can tour some historic (non-functioning) Arab baths in the city. But you can also visit Hammam Al Andalus which was a lovely way to wind down just before the long journey home.
Places to Eat
Los Diamantes. We loved visiting this bar -- we went twice!
Where To Stay
We had a great experience staying at Hotel Casa Del Capitel Nazari. The staff was friendly and it was convenient for exploring the sites.
So that's our trip Spain. Can we please go back right now?
