It's a beautiful and cozy Sunday morning where I am and I thought I'd seize the opportunity to share about my recent trip to Spain last December :) It was painful to have to look through the photos again and relive the memories that took place when I was there as this recent trip was quite possibly my most memorable and enjoyable trip thus far. I suppose it's easy to claim that about each trip, but seeing as this was my first trip into Europe (England not included) I have to say that Spain did not disappoint.
I thought I'd just share a lil' bit about my interest and obsession with Spain (& travelling) before I delve any further into the details of my trip. I love travelling to various parts of the world and am lucky enough to have that opportunity in the first place. When it comes to having a "dream destination", Europe has always been in the top spot for decades. Whilst each country and place has it's unique historical and cultural value, Europe in particular has always remained the most interesting to me due to it's history that dates way back into the Arabic period as well as the diverse cultures that are present. I realise that my impression and romanticised view of Europe could very well have been influenced by the media and my obsessive bingeing of travel shows around Europe, nonetheless it's always been a dream to walk and roam around their streets to soak in the atmosphere.
Now my interest and love for Spain in particular developed after having enrolled in Islamic Studies modules in University. There was a history module I took that taught me about Spain's rich history from the Arabian times to it's current context. I'd only ever seen in my textbooks the pictures of the architecture and I've always found it to be fascinating. You see, Spain was ruled by both the Islamic and Christian civilisations. In other words, you'd imagine that the buildings and places of interest and worship would have varied greatly between the two. That said, Spain today contains the remnants of it's history and the buildings are a good mix of both the civilisations that once ruled it. I'm no professional when it comes to history or architecture, but I can tell you in layman's terms that the streets of Spain emanates a feeling of grandeur :)
My family and I spent around a week in Spain, and we visited a total of three cities: Barcelona, Granada and Cordoba. We spent five days in Barcelona, three in Granada and spent one day in Cordoba. The cities themselves varied largely in the vibes they exuded. Barcelona was the modern bustling metropolitan city with museums, universities and high-rises buildings. Granada was slightly slower-paced with a slightly more rustic feel to it with lower-rised buildings and older architecture that dates back centuries. Cordoba on the other hand felt slightly more middle-eastern with the trees that lined the city and the design of the buildings and shop surrounding it. Then again I never really had the opportunity to explore Cordoba in its entirety so I may be wrong in this. What was most striking was the density for all three cities. Barcelona has a population of more than 1 million whereas both Granada and Cordoba have slightly more than 200 000 people. I suppose you can only imagine how much slower-paced life felt in Granada as opposed to Barcelona. I loved all three cities, but it is without a doubt that Granada holds a special place in my heart :)
Ah then, I apologise for having you read through this entire essay. I'll stop with the talking and share the photos with you now :) I should warn you first that this is going to be very picture heavy, so I do hope you bear with the loading for a while!
We spent the first night in Barcelona before flying off to Granada the next morning. The apartment we stayed at was situated at the perfect spot. It was right in the heart of La Ramblas, and it was within walking distance to several convenient stores and tourist information booths. There was a station less than five minutes away and there was shopping to be done everywhere! The fact that it was situated so ideally meant that we could roam around till late at night and still feel safe walking home. Though I should mention that the latest we ever stayed out was 8.30pm. We were usually so exhausted by then and would head to bed early to recharge for the next day.
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| Fruits from the local market. They were so fresh and yummy!!! |
The next morning, we flew off via domestic to Granada!! We took Vueling Airlines, a Spanish low-cost airline. Tickets weren't expensive seeing as they were supposedly a "budget" airline but the service and the standard of the aircraft was very good in my books. It was a one and a half hour flight to Granada from Barcelona, but I had a very comfortable flight there and would recommend this to anyone who wishes to travel around Spain via aircraft :)
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| The view from our apartment in Granada. |
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| The mighty Al-Alhambra :) |
I realise I never took photos of the places we stayed at... I'm not sure why this never occurred to me but it's such a pity I forgot to do so!! We stayed at a house in Granada - I suppose you can consider it an apartment because one building has several different rooms within it. We were given the topmost floor seeing as there were five of us, and were we lucky!! Our room was huge. There were two bedrooms altogether, a living room and a kitchen. We were lucky to have our own balcony as well! But above all, as if by fate or kismet that the heavens above knew about my love for the Alhambra, we were given this spectacular view of the majestic beauty itself. I slept in the living room (there were three sofa beds in the living room) and slept and woke up to the view of the Alhambra for three whole days. A good night's rest indeed!! :)
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| Night view of the Alhambra :) |
Aaaand that's where I'll stop for now!! I still have so many more photos and details to share with you about my trip! I'll save the rest of the details for the next time :) I hope you enjoyed these photos that I've shared thus far and I look forward to uploading the next few!
Hope you've had a lovely weekend :)
xx.
Photo Credits: myself.
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