join the johnson journey: sizzling sevilla, crackling cordoba & magnificent malaga!

On Thursday we headed back to Spain! Sevilla was our second to last big stop. Sevilla is gorgeous! Sizzling, hot Sevilla. Wow, that is a one seriously hot place. It was in the high 80's and 90's the entire day. After we checked into our hotel, we walked around for a bit. We went into a cute food market and got some empanadas. They were quite yummy. We then headed to the Torre del Oro. We got a great view of the Sevilla Cathedral from the top. After we finished at the tower we just walked around for a while. Nick was hurting a lot... he really tweaked his knee earlier in our trip and he was struggling to even walk at this point! So we decided to walk back to the hotel for a while and take a quick nap. Then we headed out to eat a nice meal and retired for the night. We decided to take it easy of Day 1 in Sevilla since we had another 1.5 days there. We were pretty worn out at this point and we realized that we had probably stretched ourselves a bit too thin!

cute bench in sevilla

yummy potatoes!

nick and his beer..

sevilla cathedral

espana!

torre del oro

On Friday we got up and went to the Sevilla Cathedral. This cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. We were hanging out in the super long line when a lady came up and let us know that she was about to start an English tour! It was a little more expensive but we decided to do it so we could skip the line. The tour was super informative so we were glad that we did it! After we walked around the cathedral for a while we decided to do the hike to the top. The way up to the top is a series of ramps instead of stairs and it is quite interesting! The few of Sevilla from the top are great and I highly recommend doing this if you are in Sevilla! After we wrapped up at the cathedral, we headed to the Plaza del Toros. It was very cool! It is where the bull fighting still occurs even today. I definitely do not think I could watch a bull fight but it was neat to learn about the cultural aspect of it and see the main ring where the fight occurs. The next stop of the day was Real Alcazar! This palace was also amazing!!! It was a lot like the Alhambra (palace in Granada) - even though they were both unique in their own ways I liked both about the same. Alhambra definitely has more grounds in general but Real Alcazar has gorgeous tile work and greenery. There are ancient Roman baths that are just so serene and peaceful! See below for the gorgeous pictures. Nick then headed back a bit early to the hotel and I kept exploring (aka getting lost) for a while. On Friday night we went to another Flamenco show at Casa del Flamenco and it was another great show! I really enjoyed watching all of this while we were in Spain. The local culture is just incredibly beautiful in Spain. I would go to a hundred of these shows before it would be enough.

beautiful sevilla cathedral

crazy hair!

outside plaza del toros

bull fighting ring

tile work central

ancient roman baths

tiled benches

wowza

stairwell in the palace

flamenco show in Sevilla

On Saturday we woke up and went to a yummy tapas place. Then we went to the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. This is a gorgeous square with a ton of character and details. We spent a bit of time there just enjoying the area then we headed back to the hotel to grab our train to Cordoba. After getting into Cordoba we checked into our hotel. We were staying directly next to the Cordoba Mosque. The detail is exquisite at this place. Every inch of it is covered with etchings, tiles, and painting details. After we walked around the outside of the mosque for awhile we decided to head over the ancient Roman bridge for a beautiful view of the mosque and Cordoba in general.

plaza de espana!

few from our hotel room!

cordoba mosque

the start of the gorgeous ancient roman bridge

On Sunday (our last full day of our trip), we woke up and headed to Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. It is a Moorish palace with lush gardens. We spent a few hours just walking around and checking out the scenery. Afterwards, we headed to the Caliphal baths. Then it was time to go to the amazing, beautiful Cordoba Mosque. The detail and time and effort that went into this place... there are absolutely no words that can describe it. It was one of my favorite things we did the entire trip for sure. To wrap up the day we decided to eat some Italian food (we were a bit over tapas!) and we went to see the sunset. It was so sad to know it was our last night in Spain but we really enjoyed our time here and we knew it had been the trip of a lifetime.

spending the last day with my man

the lush gardens and fountains of alcazar de los Reyes

ancient baths!

roman bridge

the detail is out of this world....

courtyard at the hotel

On Monday October 3rd (GO GERMANY DAY!) we headed back to Malaga via train from Cordoba. Once we got to Malaga we went to the churros place called Casa Aranda that our friend Allison has told us about. OH MY GOD. It was beyond amazing. Like simply delicious. The melted chocolate was out of this world and we enjoyed sitting down for awhile and eating some yummy treats. After the churros we just walked around for awhile then we went to the beach and soaked up the Mediterranean. This was the fifth country I had been to on this body of water. Wow! The sand is very nice and gorgeous - more like what we are used to back on the Gulf coast. After spending some time here we headed back to the train station and back to the airport. Then back to Hamburg it was and back to reality of work...etc! Thank you Spain for being so perfect. And Portugal too! This was a top notch trip and we loved every second of it. Next time we may have to cut back some on the list of activities, haha! But all in all an excellent trip and we would love to go back to both countries at some point.