Aranjuez

Visiting Andrew’s cousin Beth and her partner Diego in Aranjuez was a huge highlight of our time in Spain (and the trip as a whole!). The hospitality and generosity they showed us was overwhelming.

The Aranjuez Palace just down the road from Beth’s house.Beth’s beautiful treelined street.They live in a fantastic house that used to be a restaurant.On our first night, Beth & Diego did a gig at a local restaurant. It was amazing to see them perform together. Plus the food was fantastic!Mickey! Such a sweet and cheeky pup. If we left our bedroom window open she would jump in and be on the bed in no time!Beth’s amazing turkey…
…and her beautiful cats Ramon and Pearler.Diego put on a nice BBQ the first weekend we were there. We felt like we were getting a real taste of Spain now!
They also took us horse riding at Diego’s family’s stables. Riding through the olive groves as the sunset over Aranjuez was simply amazing and was one of those moments we’ll never forget. I didn’t take my camera on the horse for fear of dropping it or falling off while trying to take pictures but here are some I took before our ride.Beth and her gorgeous horse.Isn’t he beautiful?!Some lovely Spanish countryside.The bull bar in town.Diego’s solution to no carparks being available in town…mount the curb and put on your hazard lights! Then walk across the road for a beer naturally.Mickey…loving it.Sadly our stay had to come to an end but on the final night Beth and Diego had a little housewarming party. Ten minutes before people started arriving Diego told Beth there would be 14 people for a sit down dinner. I would freak! But the hostess with the mostest managed to find enough chairs, make the table look fabulous and together with Diego put on an absolute feast.
What a fantastic way to end our time in Spain. We’re looking forward to seeing Beth back in Australia in December too!

Madrid

We had a quick stop in Madrid where we dropped off our car, wandered some lovely streets and ate lots more delicious food 🙂 Plaza MayorArtists in Plaza MayorParque del RetiroProbably our favourite part of Madrid was Mercado de San Miguel.Such a wide range of delicious food!Can you believe someone went to the effort of arranging cherries like this?! They’d want to be tasty for that price!Next stop is Andrew’s cousin Beth’s house!!

Granada

Wow! Granada was just amazing. We adored this lovely little place in the south of Spain.

Our house in Granada in Albaicín, the old Arabic quarter located on the hill opposite the Alhambra.
The area is known for its cobble stoned streets with white washed houses. The view of Alhambra from our bedroom! Amazing sight to wake up to each day 🙂Alleys and alley cats.Alhambra dogsIt’s a shopper’s paradise in downtown Granada.The strong Moorish influence is seen in many of the amazing shops hidden down tiny little streets.Alhambra from our room at night.And looking in the other direction from our room wasn’t too bad either 🙂There’s so many gorgeous cafes and shops scattered through Granada.A cute little florist in one of the main squares.Bit of a tight squeeze…How cool is this street lamp?!Views towards the mountains framed by the white washed houses.I couldn’t get enough of these picturesque little streets (as I’m sure this blog post shows).Until next time Granada…xo

Oliva

Our next stop was in Oliva, a little beachside town just south of Valencia. Sadly it rained most of the time we were there so I didn’t take many photos. But the beaches are lovely and our Air BnB host was one of the sweetest people we’ve ever met even though we speak no Spanish and she spoke about 5 words of English. Warmth can definitely be communicated without language! Here’s a picture of her awesome cat Jaguar to commemorate our time in Oliva.

Barcelona

Next stop – Barcelona!

Sunset from our apartment window. Thanks again to our lovely host Valerie for her hospitality.
Fruit in Santa Caterina Market.Barcelona’s beach.I love all the colourful clothes hanging out to dry in the streets.There’s so many great little cafes and restaurants in all the little backstreets.Cuines Santa Caterina – gorgeous interior and fantastic food right across from our accommodation. Paella!!Barcelona CathedralNow that’s a dog!
Gaudi’s Park Güell = AMAZING!How great are these gingerbread houses!Backstreets of BarcelonaAnyone who is a fan of Fawlty Towers will know why I found this so funny!

San Sebastian

Hello Spain!!

We were so excited to arrive at the beach and to explore San Sebastian as our first stop in Spain. Arriving and trying to order food we quickly realised how much French we knew in comparison with Spanish. The beautiful blue water and the mountains were gorgeous and we quickly fell in love with this place…I’m sure you can see why 🙂Soaking up the sun…One of the lovely streets in the old part of town.It’s a good place to just sit and watch the world go by.Lots of steps but the view is worth it!Please click on this panorama to view a bigger version – it makes it better I promise!Now THAT’S a busy beach! Coming from Australia we’ve never seen anything like this at all. But somehow it works!View from Monte Igueldo.We were treated to plenty of spectacular sunsets.Mmmm….tapas. Pretty much the best thing about San Sebastian in our book!

Pau and The Pyrenees

Next stop – Pau!

The setting sun hit the church at just the right time for this shot.Dining in Pau.The French do castles and gardens like no one else!While wandering around Pau we came across this fabulous little cafe. Deck chairs in the sun overlooking the Pyrenees in the distance and a fantastic old school roaster inside.This dog was awesome! He had jumped into a water feature outside some sort of official building and was having the time of his life. He would splash the water with his paws and then jump in the air, barking and biting at the water.The PyreneesA little village market we came across.The road to Spain! Farewell France…until next time!

Sarlat-la-Caneda

During our stay in Domme we did a trip to Sarlat which I absolutely adored last time I visited. By the number of visitors that afternoon I can see that it is adored by many! It’s a gorgeous place with lots little back streets to explore.It’s the home of foie gras so there are geese everywhere.
Proof of how integral bread is to the French lifestyle.Ending the night with a delicious nutella crepe…mmmm

Domme and the Dordogne

Our next stop was the enchanting little village of Domme.

This first shot is the view looking out from this bastide town.The view from our room at sunset.We went for a bit of a canoe journey on the Dordogne!The view I had right before we got caught on the reeds.Our lunch stop!Amazing houses of La Roque-Gageac.
Canoe pup 🙂This little guy came for a ride with us.A gorgeous sunset in Domme.Goodnight Domme, it’s been wonderful x

Le Grand Bourg

After travelling hard for the last 3 months it was such a blessing to have the opportunity to stay put at my sister’s house in the south of France. It was so relaxing to spend a couple of weeks in the countryside. We were also lucky enough to be there during the annual festival which saw the whole town come to life! Needless to say I took LOTS of photos in the time we were there so this is just a small selection of our time in Le Grand Bourg.The outside of Brom’s cute little house.I spent many hours in this sunny little corner reading books and drinking tea 🙂Some of the back streets.Sunrise…such beautiful light at this time.We took so many walks down lovely little lanes like this, exploring the countryside. Our visit to nearby La Souterraine coincided with their brocante.Another nearby town, Benevant l’Abbaye.Time for Tea in Le Grand Bourg, a gorgeous little English style tea and cake shop.And the resident dog, Pongo, with her stone (she always carries one – isn’t that cute!).Aren’t they gorgeous!Time for the festival!!A stall at Le Grand Bourg brocante.Musicians in the parade.Beautiful Bolivian dancers. The costumes were sensational!Andrew rained in confetti.And some fireworks to end a great weekend in Le Grand Bourg!Thanks again to my lovely sister Brom for letting us stay for as long as we needed. It was a wonderful time 🙂