Christmas and a visit with friends

Jose and I have been on our Christmas vacation now for almost a week and it feels like we have taken advantage of every moment. Things have been busy to say the least. Pre-Christmas we cleaned and prepared for both the holiday and our visit with our friends, Erica and Ernie. Then we spent the 24th and 25th with Jose's family, one day with his mom's side and the second with his dad's. Santa even came to visit!


On the afternoon of the 25th we stopped at the train station on our way home to pick up Erica and Ernie. They came back to our apartment where we relaxed before heading to visit Seville the next day. We went to the Cathedral, had a big lunch at one of our favorite restaurants and walked around enjoying the Christmas atmosphere. We ended our day in the best place in Seville, the Plaza de Espana.

The next day we headed out to Cordoba to go to a winery because our friends really enjoy wine tasting. Ernie is basically a self-taught expert and one of the things he was looking forward to on their trip around Spain was being able to sample a lot of different varieties. We went to the Bodega Toro Albala where we had a great tour by a guy named Antonio who was super down to Earth and we tried a bunch of different kinds of sweet wine. My favorite was the Pedro Jimenez which was over 100 years old.


Later that day we drove into Cordoba the city to visit the Mezquita and to walk around the city center. The Mezquita is an old mosque that was later converted into the cathedral of the city. It is incredibly beautiful and the pictures you can take inside don't do it justice.

Yesterday we took Ernie and Erica to a typical market and then to Dos Hermanas, the town where we live. We then ventured back into Seville at night so they could see it all lit up. Though it is a beautiful city by day, right now with all the Christmas lights there is something incredible about the atmosphere in the center. We also crossed the river into the Triana neighborhood and did a lot of walking around.

So far we are having a great time with our friends. I love it when people visit and we are able to show them where we live. The south of Spain has so much to offer, to taste, to drink and to see. There is so much history and so many monuments, churches, castles and museums to visit. In the next few days we are planning on finishing up with seeing the rest of the sights in Seville as well as a visit to Ronda (today Ernie and Erica headed to another wine tasting in Jerez since I am not feeling to hot). Then we will all take the train together to Madrid before Jose and I head to...ISTANBUL!!!

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