why you need to visit this town in southern spain

as i mentioned in this post, before morocco we were slowly making our way to tarifa to catch the ferry. the original plan was to just check out tarifa for a few nights before leaving spain – but after chatting with locals and doing some research, this place popped up on our radar. vejer de la frontera [never ever heard of] was absolutely worth the detour. this hilltop village is in the province of cadiz and is straight up cool. perched on top of a small mountain, 20 minutes from great beaches with surf and its coastal sister town [conil de la frontera]... we instantly fell in love. the entire city is painted white and is so unbelievably charming – filled with awesome restaurants & bars, tons of rad little shops, nice people & all around really good vibes. we did not want to leave.  

to get there we tried "bla bla car" for the first time [which is essentially organized hitch hiking] and were so happy with the experience – you basically type in where you're going and it links you up with other people going that same direction. we ended up riding with a cool young spainard who dropped us off right at our airbnb and recommend a great spot to see flamenco guitar. we stayed for three nights and here are a few of our favorite spots. you can also view the << FULL TRAVEL GUIDE HERE >> [below seville!]

VEJER: mercado de san francisco: very cool indoor food market that is pumping on weekend nights - tapas of all different types and they serve all the local bebidas | meson juderia: traditional spanish restaurant with delicious food, craft beers, extremely cozy vibes and epic views [also 100 feet from THE arch]

TARIFA [we quickly stopped here for a few hours before the ferry]: bar el frances: the tastiest tapas and drinks, and a very fun atmosphere spilling into the streets | El LOLA fun spot for tapas and live flamenco at night

spain + tapas + tinto de verano = we <3 and miss you!
 

^^ the wind here was insane || perfect for windsurfing 

^^ TARIFA

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72 hours in seville, spain

SEVILLE WASN'T REALLY ON OUR ORIGINAL TRAVEL PLAN: 
we just knew that after portugal we would eventually be going to morroco by way of ferry from southern spain [tarifa]. timing wise we had about 5 days until we wanted to get to morroco, and after looking at the map it was obvious that seville was our perfect next stop – i've always wanted to go, and it was directly east [a 4 hour bus ride] from [faro] the algarve. 

i'm so happy we ended up here because it was such a fun visit. despite the HOT HOT daytime temps (known as the one of the hottest cities in europe), we really enjoyed wandering the streets bopping into little shops and bodegas, walking along the river, eating countless tapas and seeking out flamenco guitar & dancing. we stayed in an airbnb private room [with a traditional tapas bar right downstairs!] for 3 nights and here are some of our favorite things: 

EAT || casa morales [a dusky, time-honored tapas joint] ||  mercado lonja del barranco [local food & drinks hall with riverside seating]  || torres y garcia or el pinton [more modern/hipstery] || cafe bar regina [coffee & breakfast, OG and authentic] ||  sal gorda [fun for tapas, but there are hundreds of options!]

DRINK || tinto de verano [the drink to order – anywhere!] || alameda de hercules [dozens of bars/cafes, great for the weekend and going out at night] || hotel inglaterra [classy old hotel with roof terrace and views] || buen trago [fun patio where people drink after dinner before going out]

EXPLORE || mercado de feria [one of the city's oldest mercados] || metropol parasol [newest viewpoint in the city // really cool local fish/meat/produce market down below // interesting modern architecture] ||  santa cruz [explore the cobbled streets of this historic quarter] || plaza de toros [we don’t support bull fighting, but the arena is incredible and you can’t deny the spanish history here] ||  plaza de españa [stroll through maria luisa park to the plaza where tiled alcoves represent each of spain’s provinces] 
 

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travel pitstop: galicia, spain

when we were researching flights from berlin to portugal, we noticed it was actually much cheaper to fly to spain and take the train south over the border. kyle ended up finding a cool little surf town not too far from the airport, so we ended up booking one night at this airbnb // surf hostel. after a bus and a bus and a taxi to get there, we realized this might not have been that easy of a "pit stop" en route to portugal. but regardless, i'm so happy we ended up here. when we got settled in, it was clear arteixo wasn't on the usual backpacker trail which is always a fun experience.

after our first day we were already asking fernando, the awesome owner of the hostel / surf camp, if we could stay for another night. luckily he had availability. the town was so cozy and cute with a very strong community vibe. fernando brought us fresh bread in the morning and let us use his surf and SUP boards plus wetsuits at the pristine beach a block away. the waves weren't big enough to surf while we were there, but kp was sold on the potential when the conditions are right. the local restaurants were cheap, delicious and overall just felt home-y. we indulged in the local galician delight – pulpo – aka octopus, sipped 1 euro glasses of wine, and tuned in for the olympics (en español!) on our first evening. the next day was spent beachside again followed by cooking dinner in our cute little kitchen.

we also stopped by costa da morte surf club, another surf hostel up the hill where they offer "surfing, SUPing and skating". we hung out on their lawn while drinking beer, chatting with locals and other visitors while watching the guys take turns on the halfpipe. i think i would have liked to stay here a little bit longer ... 
 

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