I’ve just returned from Central America and I’m tempted to skip ahead and share those photos next, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t recap last September’s trip to Spain and Portugal. So I’m here today with a highlights reel of my time exploring cities in southern Spain.

Spain is the first country — ever— to lure me back for a return visit. I’m always more interested in seeing a new place than returning somewhere I’ve already been, but my 5-day visit to Spain in 2003 (Gibraltar, Madrid, Barcelona) was enough of a tease that I knew someday I’d come back for more. Madrid in particular roused a certain enchantment and I couldn’t wait to see that city through fresh eyes and a DSLR camera (back in 2003 I shot on film).

With just 10 days allotted for this expansive country, I have to really narrow down where to visit. If I want to see all of Spain’s highlights it would take about a month — two weeks in the north and two in the south. Since the cities I am most looking forward to (Granada and Seville) are in the south, that’s where I decide to focus. And while it would be nice to return to Barcelona — with a day trip to Montserrat, as that was a highlight back in 2003 — it’s just not as important as returning to Madrid. So this is how my route shapes up:

And here’s the day-by-day breakdown of my itinerary:

DAY 1 – Arrive in Madrid

DAY 2 – Explore Madrid

DAY 3 – Day trip to Segovia (from Madrid)

DAY 4 – Early bus to Granada

DAY 5 – Explore Granada

DAY 6 – Train to Ronda

DAY 7 – Bus to Seville

DAY 8 – Explore Seville

DAY 9 – Day trip to Cordoba (from Seville)

DAY 10 – Bus to the Algarve coast of Portugal

That works out to three nights in Madrid, two nights in Granada, one night in Ronda, and three nights in Seville.

Other areas I considered along this route:

– I only had time for one day trip out of Madrid and after careful consideration I picked Segovia over Toledo. I wish I had time to do both and someday I’ll return to see Toledo. But I utterly loved Segovia.

– As for my day trip out of Seville, I picked Cordoba but could have easily visited Cadiz along the coast instead. It was cloudy that day so I picked city over beach.

– Nerja is the other place I almost went for one night, as I’d seen impressive photos of it from another travel blogger. But it’s a pretty beach town and I knew I would see even better versions of that in Portugal so I decided to skip Nerja.

– I’d already visited Gibraltar way back in 2003, otherwise I would’ve wanted to check it out this trip. It’s a British territory and you literally walk across an airplane runway to enter (there is a red/green light so you don’t accidentally cross when a plane is about to land). We took a van tour that involved seeing monkeys and visiting a cavern, and in total we spent just a couple of hours there. It’s unique and I’m glad I saw it once.

Okay, now for the best part… photo highlights from my 10 days in Spain.

Madrid

Highlights: historic plazas, cafe culture, tapas and sangria, free walking tours of various neighborhoods, art museums (FYI, the Prado and Reina Sofia are free the last hour of the day)

Segovia

Highlights: Roman arches, impressive central plaza and cathedral, castle that inspired Disney

Granada

Highlights: the Alhambra (buy your tickets months in advance!), the Albayzin neighborhood, Sacromonte neighborhood, Victor’s Guesthouse, incredible tapas culture

Ronda

Highlights: scenic gorge, pretty central square, bullfighting ring

Seville

Highlights: free walking tours of various neighborhoods, flamenco, excellent tapas restaurants, the Alcazar, Plaza de España

Cordoba

Highlights: scenic bridge, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba with its iconic candy-cane arches, historic synagogue, pretty flowerpots affixed to walls throughout the city

I’ll cover all of these places in greater detail in future blog posts, but those are the broad strokes of my trip.

Show of hands: who wants to go to Spain now?

I fell in love with this country all over again and can’t wait to return to visit the north (and then perhaps continue into southern France). Spanish culture is vibrant, the people are friendly, the food is outstanding, there’s a lot of interesting history, and the natural beauty of its countryside is swoon-worthy. I can’t recommend Spain highly enough.