From Lisbon it was a quick flight over to Seville and the beginning of our trip through Andalucia. On our first day we visited the Real Alcazar, a beautiful historic complex used for filming Game of Thrones, and had some of the best tapas... probably in the world.

Another day of active wandering through Seville and enjoying all of the history and architecture in the city. A highlight was the Plaza España which besides being impressive on its own showed some interesting motifs from the other regions of Spain we planned to visit.

Having seen all there was to see in Seville we headed off to Cordoba by train to see the famous mosque.

We picked up a car to tour the rest of Andalucia and started our trek to Nerja through Ronda. Ronda is a beautiful city built across a gorge, the downtown is remarkable. We finished the day at Nerja with a dip in the crystal clear Mediterranean.

Other than the beach, Nerja's main attraction is its caves. We decided "why not" so went on the tour, and they were pretty impressive. Afterward we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach.

We travelled on to Granada, home of the Alhambra and one of the major attractions we were looking forward to in Spain. After we arrived we filled the afternoon with a Flamenco show, which was a very cool experience, and some tapas. Granada does tapas better than any other city we visited in Spain.

All Alhambra, all day (most day). There is a reason this is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world. The architecture and gardens are outstanding. We finished the day with a tapas tour around Granada, there is something magical about this city.

We wanted to take advantage of the Parador system in Spain, which converts historic buildings into high-end hotels. We picked a converted monastery in Cuenca, a beautiful town built on a cliff. Although it is a quiet spot, it was an excellent pick for relaxing in a beautiful place at a luxurious hotel.

On our way to Madrid we stopped at Toledo, a city that focuses on the medieval era of Spain's history. Although very tourist heavy it was a fun spot to walk around, and at times felt like a big renaissance fair.

Having given back the car and settled back into the big-city life, Steph was ready to hit the museums. Madrid is famous for the Prado, which was our first stop, then we visited Sofia Reina to see the Guernica. Fully museumed-out, we relaxed the rest of the day at Retiro Park. We also found a gem of a beer-shop, Cerveceria 100 Montaditos. Cheap and delicious!

Having seem museums the day before, we dedicated our last day in Madrid to our special brand of rapid wandering. We hit all the major sites including the Debod Temple, an ancient Egyptian temple transplanted to Madrid.

From Madrid we took the train to Barcelona. We hid from the rain the first night, but enjoyed some cookies, pizza, and sweet wine in the Gothic Quarter.

Our second day in Barcelona was gorgeous, and we dug deep into rapid wandering. We saw one of the best fountains of all time at Ciutadella Park, had some amazing Doner Kebab, did some window shopping of La Sagrada Familia (which we had tickets to visit the next day) and otherwise enjoyed just about every site we could find.

Raining again but we enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch at a nearby market and struck out for La Sagrada Familia. We also made sure we didn't leave Spain without some empanadas!