My friends just got married in Lake Como at the legendary Villa Balbianello. We originally wanted to tag on a trip to the Alba region, but late September was still a bit too early for white truffle season. After debating between Santorini, Lisbon, San Sebastian and Bilbao, we decided on Seville and Granada. When we found out that it takes almost 4 hours to get from Seville to Granada, we added in Cordoba as a quick one day rest stop, which turned out to be fortuitous. It would’ve been a shame to miss the first capital of Al-Andalus.

While the trip was not as smooth as usual (they lost our suitcase for 3 days at the beginning of the trip), it was a great learning journey for us, both culturally and personally. Southern Spain was rich in history and culture. We were awed by the architecture, the meeting of the east and west. We had loads of fried seafood, caramelized eggplants and iberico ham. The freshly squeezed orange juice were some of the best we have ever had (and it Granada, when you order one, it comes with free tapas!). Mostly importantly, we learnt that things may not always turn out as planned, but we must move forward and not let small things weigh us down