Granada & Seville, South of Spain

Escaping the mayhem of Morocco, we changed our pace and soon started to relax in southern Spain with glorious tapas, sunshine and sangria that was good enough for Emily to try.

Getting to the South of Spain from Morocco

It was supposed to be as easy as taking a ferry from Morocco, across the Atlantic/Mediterranean Ocean to reach Spain, however, it caused us a little more stress than we anticipated! The ferry was late by 45minutes as they were loading huge trucks on the ferry and once we docked in Spain, the customs officials were on siesta which meant that we could not get through customs to catch our connecting train. We missed it by 5 minutes, lost €80 and had to fork out another €55 to get a bus… but we made it!

Granada

Our first stop after the ferry debacle was Granada, a beautiful small hilly town filled with whitewashed houses and cobbled streets. We rented a private room on Airbnb (much cheaper than a hotel) for four nights, staying with some locals who were bartenders. Their apartment was modest however they were positioned at the top of the hill with a glorious rooftop terrace overlooking all of Granada (shown below) – the perfect place to eat, drink and work. We spent a lot of time here relaxing and planning the next legs of our trip.

Drinks = Free Tapas

Out in town, we were pleasantly surprised to find that for every drink you order (€1-5) you receive a free tapa of your choice. Apparently, Granada is one of only a few places left that do this. Let it be said that we took full advantage of this!

Recommended Food & Drink in Granada

You’re spoilt for choice when it comes to restaurants and bars however these were our top choices from Granada.

Poes – It’s more of a pub than a restaurant but the tapas here were spicy and full of flavour and damn good value (free!). We sampled every meat dish they had!
Mariscal Delicatessen – Great selection of meats & cheeses, wine and beer. We had the half sample plate of meat and cheese and it was sufficient for 2 people.
Other foods you must try are Jamon Iberica ham (acorn fed) sliced off the bone, which you will find at most good delicatessens and restaurants.
Try a Horchata (ground almonds and milk) which makes for a velvety smooth nutty drink.
Sangria, lots of sangria.

Flamenco

If flamenco is your thing, book a show or if you just want a small taste, try to catch a random flamenco show in Plaza Nueva, performed by buskers as shown above. A highly recommended show in Granada was Jardine de Zoraya. We missed out on seeing this as you need to book tickets a little in advance.

Other than walking around town and visiting the main tourist attractions, such as Alhambra (book a month in advance), this town was simply a great place to hang out, enjoy food, drink and a much slower pace. You need to check it out!

Book a Hotel in Granada

Booking.com

Seville

After a smooth 3-hour bus ride from Granada, we arrived in Seville. Our funky hostel, La Flamenca was centrally located and only a 5-minute walk from the bus station. This was one of the best hostels we’ve stayed in and would highly recommend it – it’s new, clean and has everything you need, including a spacious decorated rooftop that was the perfect place to enjoy an afternoon drink when the sun was going down, which wasn’t until 9:45 pm each night!

Electronic Bike Tour

We had only 1.5 days in Seville so we felt the best way to experience the city would be an organized tour. Walking around in 37 (100) degree heat wasn’t very appealing so we opted for something a little different, electric-bikes booked through Elecmove. Turn on the generator, peddle ever so slightly and you’re off. The “vacation way to ride” they say.

Although this was a cool novelty & covered way more ground than on foot, you could have used a regular bike for the tour, for half the cost, especially since Seville is so flat. Either way, it was a new experience, fun and did the job!

We covered a lot of ground, including these main tourist sites;

Maria Luisa Park Plaza
Plaza de Espana (shown above)
Santa Cruz
Giralda Tower
Seville Cathedral
Triana
The Bull Ring
Guadalquivir Riverside
Plaza de la Encarnacion

Food Recommendations for Seville

Puratasca – A designer tapas restaurant, off the beaten path, in a suburban neighbourhood. Full of flavour and great for your wallet too. Refreshing sangria to go with your meal. Ensure you get the lollypop tempura chorizo skewers with curry sauce. To die for! Shown above are the pork tacos, also delicious.

A 15-minute walk from our hostel is the popular dining area known as Alameda de Hercules. After reading a bunch of reviews on Trip Advisor we opted for Al Aljibe, which had a romantic terrace setting, friendly waiters and extremely delicious tapas! We had the duck and apple risotto, pork tenderloin and sweet potato, and bbq ribs. The first two were delicious but skip the ribs.