Clapp Radical Sabbatical

The morning after our fun wine adventure we got up early for the opening of the Boboli Gardens, which are attached to Pitti Palace and prominently featured in Dan Brown’s Inferno. We wanted to beat the heat and we were successful for about the first hour of our visit. The gardens are fairly massive though not quite as big as Versailles and they feature many different old fountains, a cypress row, some modern statues, grottos, and several different types of buildings. Our first stop was a hike up to the top of the rose garden.

In the rose garden we got some great views of Florence’s rolling hills and then we took a gander in the Porcelain Museum. There were tons of different sets of china dating back anywhere from 200 – 300 years ago. There were other porcelain objects too like these creepy little figurines.

After the top rose garden area we strolled down the cypress row towards a very large fountain and the back up along the citrus grove finally making our way over to the vineyard, teahouse, and small grotto.

On our way out we stopped to take some pictures of the large Medici Grotto and were rewarded with a guard coming to let us in! We got to see all 3 chambers of the large grotto, which includes statues done by Michelangelo – it was quite impressive!

In the afternoon Ace and Andrew took a trip up to Pisa to take photos with the famous leaning tower. It looked like they had quite a time – there were several different ‘bloopers’ in the photos and they even got gelato before rushing to catch their train back. I didn’t go because I’d been before and someone has to plan the rest of our trip and write blogs! But don’t worry we included a picture from my trip 10 years ago too.

In the evening we went to dinner at a local’s home – we booked it through eatwith.com at the recommendation of my coworker James – thanks James! The dinner started with olives, focaccia, and pecorino cheese – of course it was paired with a local white wine. The second course was a traditional Tuscan soup, pappa al pomodoro, and then the main course spezzatino (a meat stew). Dessert was some delicious homemade cream and biscotti crumble served with an Italian Moscato dessert wine. Our dinner company was two older couples – one from Melbourne, Australia and the other from a small town outside of Vancouver, Canada. It was a nice change of pace to have an intimate dinner party at someone’s home!

On our last full day in Florence we hiked up the dome of the famous Duomo. Although Andrew and I have climbed up the towers of many cathedrals, none were quite like this. The stairs go in between the inner dome and the exterior dome and they are the same stairs that were used by the builders of this extraordinary cathedral. You get both a view of the dome from the inside and an amazing view of the cathedral and city from the outside. Ace was a trooper and conquered all 360+ steps like a champ!

Our next site was a look inside the Baptistery, which is the oldest building in Florence. From the outside it has the same design as the cathedral – white, green, and red marble but the inside is quite different. The domed ceiling is mosaic and is dominated by gold tiles – it was striking.

Before lunch we strolled through the courtyard and garden of the Medici fortress where we could imagine summer soirees being held hundreds of years ago.

For lunch we went to San Lorenzo market. The downstairs is a traditional market and upstairs are various different vendors and restaurants making delicious food sourced from the market below. We tried a burrata salad, a spinach risotto fried ball, a typical Italian street food sandwich, some pork dumplings, and Aperol spritz (an orangish liquor with soda, a slice of orange, and lots of ice). After lunch we bought some produce, meat, and limoncello in the downstairs market for dinner.

A trip to Florence without venturing out into the Tuscan countryside is like going to Bora Bora and not snorkeling – it just has to be done. Besides the fact that the countryside is home to a bunch of different wine regions where there is literally something for everyone (don’t drink? that’s ok – you can do olive oil and balsamic tasting – freshly made at the estate) it is also incredibly beautiful!

The last time I was in Florence we booked a wine tour through Viator and it was a great experience – we toured an old castle winery, tasted, and then got to explore the town of Greve. This time I wanted to do something a little different though so I booked a small group tour through a local company. We went to 3 different wineries on the tour, all were Chianti Classico and the first was considered a medium winery. They had barrels that were hundreds of years old – clearly no longer in use, great views, and are unique in that they are the only winery in the region that makes a Super Tuscan that is aged in clay barrels. We had seen the clay barrel technique used in Peru to make wine and Pisco!

The second winery we went to was a small family owned one. Half of the chateau is used as a tasting room and the family lives in the other half. With vines growing over most of the building it reminded you of something out of a movie like Under the Tuscan Sun. One of my favorite things about wine tasting in Tuscany is that you do it sitting down with nibbles of food like the olive oil and bread that are made by the winery. This makes conversation and fun flow freely unlike places in Napa or Australia where you stand at a bar.

At the last winery we got a traditional Tuscan lunch. The first course was olive oil, nicely aged balsamic, cheese, meat and bread. The second course was homemade pasta with marinara, and the final course was biscotti that they suggested you dip in the paired wine. Each course had a lovely wine paired with it and this was the only winery that served us a white and rose wine. Their balsamic was so good that Ace bought a bottle – hopefully it makes it home without us eating it all first!

I’ve been to Florence before and I have to say two things – 1. I love Florence – it’s one of my favorite cities in the whole world and 2. it’s WAY better in October when the crowds of tourists aren’t there. We arrived to the craziness of summer tourism in Florence at the train station and decided to walk the 20 minutes to our Airbnb. After a little confusion about the store front numbers verses the residence numbers and a miscommunication issue with the Airbnb owner we got up to our top story apartment and it was beautiful.

We took it easy the first day and after lunch in our palazzo spent the afternoon writing Airbnb reviews and booking some travel stuff. In the evening we went to grab some cash from the ATM and walked back along the river to see the Ponte Vecchio – completely picturesque.

The next day however we took fully advantage of Florence. We woke up early for a booked tour. After some history we went into the Accademia to see the David. In the 10 years since my last visit even the entrance to the museum changed but it was still amazing to see the David.

After the Accademia we walked by the Medici fortress and then to view the Duomo of Florence. We stood in line for about 20 minutes and then we got to go into the cathedral. The nave of the cathedral definitely isn’t the most beautiful but the inner dome is absolutely amazing.

After the Duomo our tour guide took us strolling through the medieval streets of Florence and we walked right by our apartment and into the Piazza della Signoria where the open-air statue museum, former seat of the Florence government and former home of the Medici’s is. This was also the home of the David until it was moved to the Accademia for preservation. The David was a symbol of the Republic government that chased the Medici family out of Florence. However, when the Medici family came back with great armies and reconquered the city they left the David in place but added a defiant Hercules in response.

Our tour guide took us from the palace to the Uffizi and showed us the walkway that was installed so that the ruling family could travel from this fortress across the Ponte Vecchio and arrive at Pitti Palace.

In the afternoon Drew and Ace went to the Uffizi. I chose to stay back since I have seen more than my fair share of Madonnas and Child (probably enough for a whole life time) and I had visited the last time I was in Florence. While I booked more of our trip, they saw all the museum had to offer at rapid speed and were surprised to see Venus was born from a shell an adult woman.

The final activity of the day was a trek up to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sunset. The views of Florence were stunning and splitting a bottle of Prosseco while taking in the views was the perfect way to end our busy day!

Although I have been to Italy before I have not had the chance to go to Cinque Terra and it was a LONG day trip from Milan but totally worth it! The main reason we did the trip from Milan was that we booked our accommodations before we planned our trip (and before Ace booked her ticket) and by the time we got around to planning it we realized we wouldn’t have enough time to go from Florence and that we couldn’t make the changes to our accommodations. Luckily it worked out! Our train left at 8 am from Milano Central and got into Monterosso at 11 and we had a great view as soon as we stepped out of the train station!

After using the bathroom and getting a quick snack we headed to the trail that goes from Monterosso to Vernazza. The trail was really easy to find – you just go to the left along the water after you exit the train station, go through the tunnel, pass the small beach and there are signs that show you to the trail. It’s about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour hike and the first 30 minutes is almost straight up tons of stairs. When we were about halfway through we tried to take a nice picture of Ace on this cute bridge but she was exhausted and showed us the ‘help’ sign! At least we got a cute picture of us!

It was a super hot hike but when we started descending into Vernazza and had amazing views of the quaint town it was definitely worth it. We are definitely starting to enter the tourist season because we thought we’d be able to get lunch no problem in Vernazza but that was not the case – I’d suggest a reservation. The tiny town was overrun with tourists and there wasn’t a single restaurant with a 3 person table available so we had some gelato to try and postpone Hangry Megan but it didn’t work very well so we caught a ferry back to Monterosso for lunch.

After lunch we relaxed on the beach and Ace got a chance to swim in the Mediterranean. In case you wondered, that wasn’t Ace on the paddle board! It was already warmer than it was in Nice just a week before! Just prior to heading back on the train we grabbed some street food – fried mixed seafood with spicy marinara – so delicious! We almost got stuck in Cinque Terra. As the sign says below, a train strike was scheduled for the next day. That wouldn’t have been the end of the world.

We had to rush to our train departing Nice because our laundry had run late but so was our train so we made it for the 5 hour journey to Milano. Although I have been to Italy before, I hadn’t previously visited Milan and I was surprised by the beautiful train station we arrived at since the Florence and Rome train stations are nothing like that.

We got another beautiful surprise after taking the metro to our Airbnb stop. As soon as we walked out of the metro we were greeted with a fantastic view of the Duomo. Since we got in late our only goal was to get dinner and given that we were in Italy it was a 2 ½ hour affair with 4 courses, wine, and limoncello.

The next morning we got up early so that Drew could get to the airport. His mother, who we lovingly call Ace, arrived on time and there were no issues getting her back to the apartment and settled in. In the afternoon we went on a 3-hour tour. Our original plan was just to see the Last Supper but the local tour guides buy up all the tickets so you have to book tours through them. In the end I think we really enjoyed seeing a bit of Milan. The tour started at the Piazza di Santa Maria delle Grazie which is the plaza outside of the church of Santa Maria of the Graces. The church is connected to a convent where monks and nuns lived and where the Last Supper is painted in the dining hall. She started the tour by giving us some history about the church, which was built with the typical Milanese brick, triangle (or hat like) roof, and circular round tower in the back. The convent was bombed in World War II and so the Last Supper was damaged but luckily it was restored.

We also learned Leonardo di Vinci did not paint the Last Supper in the typical fresco style so it is deteriorating faster and requires climate control. Part of the climate control is going through little chambers where they won’t open the next door until the last door is closed. At one point the tour guide was yelling at a woman to hurry up because she was going to get locked in and unable to see the masterpiece. Drew turned to me and said ‘please tell me that isn’t my mom’. Unfortunately it was, so now she has a new nickname – ‘Quarantine Ace!’ Leonardo’s masterpiece was well worth the ordeal though and 15 minutes (which is the max you can view it for) definitely was not enough time.

The tour continued by tram to the Duomo, which took over 600 years to build! It also has all the saints decorating it and they add new ones when new saints are named so they say that the cathedral is never finished. Right next to the Duomo is the oldest mall in the world, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, and it is quite stunning. It is home to the bar Campari (where the bitter, and in my opinion disgusting liquor was first invented) and Europe’s only 7 star hotel. It costs 15,000 Euro a night to stay at the hotel and somehow both Michelle and Barack Obama have stayed there on separate occasions (I wonder who footed the bill?).

On the other side of the mall from the Duomo is the famous Milano Opera house and a nice statue of Leonardo di Vinci. From there we hopped back on a tram and road it to the Milan Castle. Although the main tower was damaged, it has since been restored and the rest of the castle was spared. Unlike many of the other castles we’ve been to, this one was located on a plain instead of a hill, which made it much harder to defend. To mitigate this, they built several rows of think walls, a moat, and underground tunnels to move troops through so they could attack enemies from behind, as well as from, the castle. Now the castle is a museum housing works of art.

Our tour ended with a free appertivo, which we enjoyed before heading to an amazing dinner at a restaurant recommended by our Airbnb. Our dinner began with a welcome beverage of Prosecco and progressed in typical Italian fashion. Our starters were homemade burrata with prosciutto and spicy marinara mussels. Our pasta course options were fettuccine and shrimp in a white wine sauce and unique anise style pasta with beef. Our secondi course consisted of pork tenderloin with a berry sauce and prawns in rock salt all paired with delicious wine. For dessert we shared a trio of tiramisu – one traditional, one coconut, and berry. We each chose a different digestive to end the meal – Ace’s was the best – a green apple grappa.

We arrived in Nice, France about an hour late and it was our first late flight of the trip! Our host, Kadri, patiently waited for us to arrive at our Airbnb and we fell in love with the cute apartment we were renting a room in. It had an awesome terrace that went around the entire place and being on the 7^th floor we had a great view. We spent 2 of our 3 nights there dining al fresco out on the terrace.

After Kadri showed us around the apartment and town we had a late lunch and then proceeded to explore Nice. We walked through a cute little public water park and then trekked up Castle Hill for the amazing views. In addition to great views, the park also has an old cemetery, archeology site, waterfall, restaurant, and children’s playground. While I rested on a bench Andrew went to get us water and got to see a proposal – he took photos for them with the beaches and Nice in the background. Afterward we strolled back to our apartment along the beach.

The next day we took a day trip to Monaco, which was only about a 30-minute train ride from Nice. We hiked up the hill where the Palace is and took in the wonderful views of Monaco. On the way we saw one extraordinary car right after another racing by us. After wandering through the small streets on the palace hill we got a chance to see the changing of the guard at the palace, which is extremely modern looking compared to the others we’ve seen on this trip. Next we grabbed lunch next to the cathedral – the waiters were quite silly at the place we went – constantly making jokes and commenting to people as they walked by. One waiter even tried to get on camera singing as a reporter walked by.

After lunch we went to Prince Albert’s car collection. They are very careful to explain that it is not a car museum but a private collection so they don’t have very many plaques explaining information about the various cars.  The collection actually isn’t limited to cars –there are carriages, one jet boat, and then cars from the 1920s on. Andrew’s favorite cars were the Lamborghini Countach (a childhood favorite) and the Formula 1 cars. My favorites were one with wicker seats and an old glamorous Bentley. Our next destination was to walk along the track where the Monaco Grand Prix is raced. The grand stands were still up since the race had just been held the month before.

Our last stop in Monaco was of course to see the Monte Carlo Casino. Although Andrew was wearing a polo shirt and I was wearing a dress, we didn’t think we were dressed up enough to go inside the casino. So Andrew had to settle for a picture of himself outside holding an ice cream cone instead of playing poker à la James Bond! I sense a Grand Prix/Monte Carlo Casino guys trip in the future!

On our last day in Nice we really just relaxed. In the morning I went for a 4 mile run on the beach boardwalk and then we laid out on the stony beach and took our first dip in the Mediterranean. The water was really cold but it felt so good in the sweltering heat. In the evening we went to an early dinner with Kadri, who is from Estonia, and is house sitting for her sister and her boyfriend. And being the awesome person she is she offered to hike up Castle Hill with us to get pictures of us at sunset so a BIG thank you to her! Apparently we were up there too long because they locked the gate so we had to go around the long way and exit on the backside but we were in the company of lots of other people and were rewarded for all our walking with a Nutella crepe!

 

Our last full day in Barcelona (and our final day in Spain after going in and out of Spain for over a month) Andrew wasn’t feeling well – it could have been a slight cold, allergies, or that our moldy Airbnb was finally getting to him but whatever it was we decided to take it easy. Just like for Park Guell we had booked La Sagrada Familia tickets online ahead of time. In June we only had to book a day in advance but doing this online guaranteed our spot at the time we wanted and allowed us to avoid long lines for tickets. So we relaxed in the morning, had lunch and then departed our apartment 30 minutes before our entry time (one of the benefits of staying in Gracia is that La Sagrada Familia is only a 15 minute walk). Along the way we stopped and took some pictures from the park where you can see the ‘Passion’ side of the cathedral.

We debated whether to purchase tickets to go into La Sagrada Familia, we’ve been to SO many cathedrals and the entrance ticket is very expensive compared to others we’ve been in. We found out later that part of the reason why the ticket is so expensive is that you are helping to pay to finish the construction of the cathedral, which was started in 1882. For that reason, and since it was unlike any other cathedral we have ever been in, we were extremely happy we bought the ticket to go inside! We’ve always wondered how these amazing and massive cathedrals were build over hundreds of years so it was interesting to see one in the midst of construction too.

One of the unique things about this cathedral is that it depicts Christ’s life in three facades on the outside. Gaudi was able to not only design but build the first façade which is the Nativity façade but was only able to design the other two. The second façade is the Passion façade, which depicts the crucifixion and ascension of Christ and although the design follows Gaudi’s original guidelines the sculptures are definitely the distinct style of Josp Maria Subriachs. The third façade ‘Glory’ is not yet complete.

The outside of the cathedral is very old and Gothic looking however the inside looks incredibly modern – complete with elevators up to the choir area and towers. They say that Gaudi liked to mix nature into his work and you can absolutely see that inside. The nave literally looks like a forest with the giant columns in different colors (trunks) supporting a roof that is overlain with itself to look like leaves. The colors of the stained glass windows help complete the picture giving the allusion that sunlight is filtering through the leaves into the church.

Feeling energized from our visit we decided to also make a stop by Placa de’Espanya, which is home to Palau Nacional (National Palace), the National Art Museum of Catalonia, and of course the Magic Fountain. In the evening the fountain is illuminated with various colors to put on a beautiful show. We were only there during the day but it was still a beautiful view.

We arrived in Barcelona and found our Airbnb in the Gracia neighborhood. Gracia is outside of the Gothic quarter and full of locals – it was a nice area with tons of people out in the park enjoying the weather and playing with their kids or dogs or both. Unfortunately, our Airbnb was a bit of a disappointment but after the place we stayed at in Sevilla I guess anywhere would have been. It took some effort but we finally let the subway noises lull us to sleep. The next day we took a Free Walking Tour of the Gothic Quarter. Our tour guide was quite funny and provided us with lots of colorful anecdotes of Barcelona.

As we read before arriving, Barcelona very much wants to separate from Spain. In fact, there was a vote about 10 years ago which won the popular vote to separate. This is because Barcelona speaks a different language (Catalonian), contributes more to the GDP of Spain than the rest of Spain combined and has different beliefs or at least a different flag. Basically they are the Montreal of Spain 😉 What we were surprised about is the intense anti-tourism sentiment there. Apparently in less than 10 years tourism has exploded in Barcelona going from 1 million visitors a year to 15 million. This has driven all the locals out of the old or Gothic part of the city and into the suburbs. It has also caused a lot of noise, trash, and public indecency issues. Don’t worry we were in bed before 10 pm every night so we didn’t contribute to these problems!

In addition to learning all about politics and tourism on our tour we also got to see some cool sites including an ancient Roman cemetery, the Gothic chocolate row, Las Ramblas (a huge street that used to be the local meeting place), the Barcelona cathedral, and much more.

But I think the most enjoyable part of the tour was learning about the Catalonian Christmas traditions. As our tour guide put it (who was Italian by the way), ‘because Spain was being led by a dictator during the time when Coca-Cola was spreading Santa Clause around the world, kids in Barcelona remain ignorant to that Christmastime tradition’. So the Catalonians came up with their own fables and traditions. One of these is the caganer which is a figurine that is pooping – literally no joke – we saw tons of stores with them and according to our tour guide you are supposed to put one with your nativity otherwise you will not have a good year – Drew took some photos of one of the shops we saw selling these, including rivals of ‘El Clasico’ Messi and Ronaldo.

So instead of a tree and Santa Clause apparently Catalonians actually get a log and put a blanket over it and paint a face on the end in the beginning of December. They then call the log ‘Uncle Poop’ or at least that’s the PG version. Then as the month goes on their parents put presents under the blanket which make Uncle Poop grow fatter and fatter. On Christmas Day the kids take a stick and hit Uncle Poop and sing a song ‘uncle poop please poop out some treats for us’ before they get to open their presents. If you don’t believe me go check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caganer – trust me I had to verify it too!

After hearing all the interesting Christmas traditions we decided we needed to experience some Catalonian food so we headed to the Mercat St. Josep which is off of Las Ramblas – it is a large and mostly touristy market but it had some amazing food! We had bread rubbed with tomato (a very popular appetizer), olives, shishito peppers, and burrata with pesto and tomato – it was delicious!

After lunch we headed to Park Guell which is what this post is named after. Park Guell was originally supposed to be a housing development for the wealthy that started in 1900 however it was never completed. We read conflicting reports as to why it was not completed one said that Gaudi (the architect) decided to devote all his time to La Sagrada Familia and another that the benefactor Eusebi Guell found it to be an unprofitable venture. Either way, luckily for us, when both Gaudi and Guell died, the unfinished project that has an aqueduct, large square, market area, porter’s house, and guest house all became the property of the city of Barcelona. Personally, the aqueduct and portico reminded me of the Flintstones while the Porter’s House and Guest House reminded me of a gingerbread house – Gaudi definitely had an interesting style – what do you think is it Gaudi or Gaudy?

In the evening we went to Sensi Mezzanine (a recommendation from Darcie) and it was absolutely amazing! We had tuna tartare, a warm goat cheese and berry salad, mussels, and according to Drew the best scallops he’s EVER had! Afterwards we walked along the marina – it was beautiful out and Drew thoroughly enjoyed the artwork and all the yachts (including one from Below Deck!)

We decided to do a day trip from Sevilla to Granada so that we could see the Alhambra, another Unesco World Heritage site. When we initially booked the trip it said it left at 7 am which we thought was early but totally doable however 3 days before the tour we received an email and text informing us that we had to be at the meeting point at 5:55 which meant we had to leave at 5:30 – no bueno as the Spanish would say. The tour organization went downhill from there; fortunately the Alhambra was absolutely spectacular so we were still happy about the decision to spend the day there.

The Alhambra is not just a palace, cathedral or castle but an entire city. It was built over 800 years ago and the first thing that was built (and that we saw) was the water supply system which included a water wheel, aqueduct and the gardens surrounding it that are fed by the wonderful water system. It was first built by a Moorish Sultan who came from northern Africa so water was not only important for life but also a way to display his wealth and importance. The gardens were absolutely beautiful but the best part about them was their fragrance. There was jasmine and honeysuckle growing everywhere – they were definitely the best smelling gardens we’ve experience thus far!

Granada means pomegranate and thus there were also many pomegranate trees growing everywhere. After visiting the gardens we walked by a hotel, which for a meager 750 Euro a night you can stay within the Alhambra (our tour guide assured us that breakfast was included). Our next stop was the Royal Complex, which is the youngest structure in the complex and was built as royal residence but never actually used as one. It is now a museum and occasionally used as a venue for opera due to it’s wonderful acoustics – they were setting up for a concert while we were there.

The next thing we saw were the ruins of the Medina (or old city where the craftsman lived) and the living quarters for the elite soldiers and their families. One of the things that was unique is that there is a hammam or Arabic bath. Because Islam requires one to wash before prayer and bath before entering a mosque not only the royal court but even the every day man bathed at least once a week. At this time in history most Europeans were bathing maybe once a year therefore many illness and plagues did not affect Granada the way they did in other areas of Europe.

Our tour saved the best for last and we finally got to see the old palace of Alhambra and the ceilings were absolutely unreal – they looked like ornate caverns. Now they are mostly white or tan but you can see remnants of color and they most definitely were painted in various vibrant colors. The windows also used to be all of stained glass but unfortunately only one remains. Another cool feature was the courtyard with the lion fountain – each lion is slightly unique.

After our 3 hour tour we got a chance to visit Granada but due to the inefficient running of the tour it wasn’t very long so we had to hurry to grab a super late bite to eat and then we took a taxi up to the Saint Nicholas view point but it was worth it!

We got back to Sevilla and packed and relaxed. The next morning before our flight we were able to go to the top of a view point and see the city one last time.

We woke up early and headed to the bus station in Lagos. Darcie’s bus left first – for Lisbon and then a flight out the next day back to San Diego. We hugged her goodbye and gave some farewell waves and then boarded our bus headed for Sevilla, Spain. With several stops it was a 4 hour bus ride from Lagos to Sevilla and I wish I could say that we explored Sevilla once we got there but we didn’t. We got to our amazing Airbnb (which was only $40/night) and bathed in the air-conditioning and super fast wifi – in fact I watched the last episodes of Girls and Big Little Lies! Drew uploaded tons of photos and called the wifi a ‘game changer’! But the next day we got up early and really had a chance to see Sevilla. As we headed to the tourist area the first thing that amazed us was the Sevilla Cathedral. We saw the bell tower first and after visiting Morocco we could definitely tell that this used to be a mosque and was since converted into a cathedral.

After taking in the spectacular views of the cathedral we headed over to the Real Alcazar which is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe and of course a Unesco World Heritage Site. Although Wikipedia will tell you it was built by Moorish Muslim Kings at the site we were told that it was not. That it was actually built by a Catholic King who happened to be really great friends with the Moorish King that presided in the Alhambra in Granada and that they shared architects and artists. Either way the architecture is absolutely stunning and amazing.

In addition to the entrance ticket we also were able to book a ticket to see the Cuarto Real Alto or the upper level of the palace that is still in use today. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of it but it was absolutely amazing to see the old architecture coupled with the decorations and furnishings.

After that we wander around the gardens which were spectacular. In fact the oldest organ, clock and combined fountain that is still in operation resides there and if that wasn’t enough to get you excited it is where the Water Gardens of Dorne in Game of Thrones was filmed. Another interesting site there are the Baths of Maria de Padilla which were named after the kings mistress since she liked to spend her time there.

After the Real Alcazar we walked down to the Plaza de Espana which is the most unique plaza we have seen in Spain. It literally feels like you are being transported to the canals of Venice. The large and beautifully decorated buildings surround you and the canal with paddle boats seem to slow life down while the large fountain cools the entire area. I literally had to tear Drew away from photographing this area because I absolutely needed lunch at this point! But I hope you enjoy the photos!

We ended our day of site seeing by walking back along the Rio Guadalquivir which had these walkways covered in grapes – I swear it was straight out of a romantic novel. Along our walk we also go to see Torre del Oro, which is an old military watch site for Sevilla that was first constructed in the 13th century. It was an absolutely lovely day filled with lots of beauty!