Kicking it with the Hathi-Fritz’s in Andalucia

We got to Seville and were almost instantly greeted by our good friends Neesha and Adam. They came to Spain to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary….Congratulations guys! ☺ We all stayed at the Vincci La Rabida which was in the El Arenal area of Seville, pretty central to the sights and restaurants. Somehow we got ridiculously upgraded to a 2-story suite...we've had some good hotel karma lately! (unfortunately Neesha and Adam did not and their experience was not as nice as ours….bummer!)

We’ve known Neesh and Adam since our Michigan years and it was so good to see them! The first thing we did was chilled with some Cava and beers. Seville is pretty small and very walkable. It’s full of narrow, winding streets that seem to all interconnect. You are constantly looking at your map but it’s really hard to stay too lost for that long.

It seemed like things were quieter since there weren’t too many people out but supposedly August is the busiest month for Spain so we really didn’t know for sure. It could also be that we still couldn’t get the timing right with Siesta and the late-night dinners….

Seville (and much of Andalucia) was under Muslim rule (many, many years ago) and much of its architecture is influenced by the Islamic Moors. We loved the Cathedral and Alcazar. The Cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world and was built where the original Mosque was. It’s also where Christopher Columbus is buried. The Alcazar (palace to many Kings and Queens) was also very cool....it once was a Moorish fort. The detailed Islamic artistry prevalent throughout the Alcazar is unlike anything we’ve seen before.

The weirdest place we went was El Garlochi for a drink. There really is no way to describe this place except that it is freaky. The bar is full of religious paintings, statues, candles, coffins, crypts, and other weird stuff. I was too freaked out to even go to the bathroom! Some of our other favs were El Capote for a drink along the river, and Al Medina for good Moroccan fo0d.

After 2 days in Seville, we made it to Granada. We stayed at the AC Palacio de Santa Paula which we loved….great service and the best part - everything in our minibar was free...including 2 beers a day! The boys loved this!! ☺

Granada is also pretty small and very easy to navigate. In addition to tapas bars there are outdoor restaurants in plazas everywhere. As opposed to northern Spain there were definitely more food options here. My favorites were Gazpacho (which I had every meal) and Espinaca con garbanzos (spinach with garbanzo beans). It was nice to have things other than mayonnaise and salty ham on the menu!

The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra and it was pretty amazing! A massive, red fortress surrounds the Palacio Nazaries, Alcazaba, and gardens which were originally built by Moorish rulers. Much of the artistry in the Alhambra is typical Islamic Moorish style – I loved this style – really symmetrical, detailed patterns on ceilings, columns, floors, and walls. Who comes up with the idea to build stuff like this - it's just unreal!

We visited the Albayzin area in the evening which is just up the hill from the city center. The Albayzin is the old Muslim Quarter. It’s narrow, winding roads are full of Hookah bars and restaurants....so fun! We walked to the top of the hill, had great mojitos at Natural Siempre (an outdoor cafe), and watched the sunset with the Alhambra as backdrop. It was magical! We finished up the night with a great dinner at Restaurante San Nicolas. We had the only table on our floor so it was like our own place....and we had a great view of the Alhambra! Yummy food, good cava, and great friends! Perfection! :)

Thanks Neesh and Adam for coming! Good times!