The One With Southern Spain

Torres de Serranos at Sunset

         Valencia - Granada - Malaga - Sevilla

Torres de Serranos Overlooking Valencia

Preface: This post is pretty long so I completely understand if you give up on it part way through.

This past week I traveled along the coast of Southern Spain with a couple friends visiting the cities of Valencia, Granada, Malaga, and Sevilla. After class last Monday we hopped on a train and traveled a few hours to the city of Valencia. Valencia is actually the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell by walking around. I am not sure if it was just because we were visiting during the week, but Valencia seemed like a ghost town at night while we were there.

During the day though we were able to see a lot of great sites including the Historic Central Market, L'Oceanográfic, and Towers of Serrano. I would highly recommend seeing each of these attractions especially the Towers at sunset.

Historic Central Market

L'Oceanográfic: The largest oceanarium complex in Europe 

Buñuelos are Incredible

Buñuelos de Calabaza

We also ate a ton of great food in Valencia including the famous regional dish: Paella (pictured below). We found an authentic restaurant and while it was not my favorite dish, it was still really good and something that you must try while in Valencia. If you do go to Valencia, another food you absolutely must try are the buñuelos de calabaza (Spanish pumpkin fritters) from Moltto in Plaza de la Reina; it was definitely one of the best desserts I have ever had. I also tried rabbit for the first time while in Valencia, which was quite delicious. 

After Valencia, we took an overnight train to Granada which was quite a cool experience. The trip was an eight hour overnight train ride which sounds horrible, but the train departed at 1:00am which allowed me to sleep through the entire trip. When I awoke from my bed on the train, we were in the beautiful city of Granada! On our first day there we decided to go on a free walking tour that was set up by our hostel. It turned out to be more of a hiking tour than a walking tour, but the hike was well worth the effort because of the breathtaking views along the way. From the mountain we were climbing, we were able to clearly see the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Our guide explained that often times in the Spring people will go skiing in the mountains and then later that day go down to the beach where it is nice and warm. Along our hike we were also able to see how many people, including Gypsies, lived in the mountains in this area by digging caves into the mountain to create homes.

We spent a majority of the second day in Granada at Alhambra. The Alhambra is a gigantic Palace and Fortress situated on a mountain overlooking the city of Granada. It is truly an incredible specimen that is filled with history and culture. It is the top tourist attraction in Granada and was in consideration to become the 8th Wonder of the World at one point. Check it out:

Went out for drinks and tapas with friends from our hostel

The Stained Glass Entryway of the Central Market of Malaga

After Granada came the pretty beach city of Malaga. While Malaga does not necessarily have the major tourist attractions, it does possess a great culture and vibe. Malaga seems like the perfect place to spend a week at the beach during Spring Break. It's city center is great for anyone that enjoys shopping as well. While we were here, we stopped to get the famous Churros y Chocolate from Casa Aranda, which were to die for. Malaga is also the hometown of Pablo Picasso. While we did not go in the Picasso Museum, we did get to hang out with his statue that is situated at the location where he once lived in Malaga.

The last city on our trip was Sevilla, which in my opinion was the prettiest city of the four. I think that Sevilla possesses the perfect cultural yet modern city combination. Even though we did not have a ton of time in Sevilla, we still got to see a wide variety of sites. First we went to see the stunning Plaza España. I don't think my words can do it justice so instead just check out these pictures:

Tapas at Taberna Coloniales were Fantastic

After Plaza España we ran over to the Catedral de Sevilla and made it inside five minutes before it closed. The Sevilla Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral and third largest church in the world. Once you go inside it is easy to see why, all you have to do is look up. This church also happens to be the burial site of Christopher Columbus. The bell tower of the church is called Giralda and instead of stairs, you take ramps up to the top. After looking through the cathedral, we went on a walking tour of the city with the most energetic tour guide ever. He literally had a story to tell about every single object in the city of Sevilla. While the tour was long though, he really did share some great stories with us that I otherwise never would have known. For example, there is still a debate over who was responsible for founding Sevilla between Hercules and Julius Caesar.

Deltasig sighting at the top of Giralda!

Overlooking Sevilla at the top of Giralda          

Flaming Shots!

Since our flight departed at 7:05am on Sunday morning, we decided that it would not be worth it to go to sleep. Instead we went out all night! Along the river in Sevilla there is a string of bars that goes on for what seems like a mile. We went from one bar to the next taking advantage of the special drink deals at each place. After the night was over we quickly went back to the hostel to grab our stuff before we left for the airport at 5:00am. To my surprise, we had no issues at all. I had been warned many times to expect the worst when taking RyanAir, however everything went smoothly.

Overall I really enjoyed my time visiting other cities in Spain. Every city is truly so unique which is why I loved the trip. Each city has something different to offer and brings new perspectives and adventures to your life. I would highly recommend traveling to all of these cities if you decide to visit Spain in the future.

Not sure if anyone actually reads this, so if you do feel free to leave a comment.

The Journey