Gran Canaria

We took a ferry from Tenerife to Gran Canaria.

We stayed at Playa del Ingles. Yep. It was everything you imagine.

We visited the dunes (Maspalomas) as the sun was setting. 

They were pretty surreal and spectacular, despite getting sandblasted in the wind.

Puerto de Mogan ('Little Venice')

Tenerife

As mainland Spain got colder, we took advantage of the Canary Islands warm winter.

Opera house in Santa Cruz.

View from our balcony.

Not as big as the ones in Leon.

From Santa Cruz, we hopped on the bus to nearby San Cristobal de la Laguna. 

 Narrow cobbled streets and colourful colonial buildings are examples of the influence Europe had on American cultures such as Havana.

Black volcanic beach.

Leon

From Burgos, we travelled west to the city of Leon. 

Gaudi's Casa de los Botines.

Farmers market.

Santa Maria de Leon Cathedral.

ñam! ñam!

Burgos

Travelling a couple of hours west on the train, we reached our next destination and home of morcilla, Burgos. A buzzing little place that is the current gastronomic capital of Spain. Its definitely worth a day visit.

Situated North of Madrid and is underrated in our opinion.

It's a very historic city and home to the first Europeans, which lived in the area 800,000 years ago.

Gothic Cathedral.

The whole complex is a UNESCO world heritage site.

The walk up to Castillo de Burgos. Well out of breath...

...but was worth it for the view.

Monument to El Cid.

So Cid statue in the city centre.

Hmm... looks a bit like Blighty, doesn't it?

Zaragoza

We spent the week in Zaragoza for Fiestas del Pilar. Amazing place well worth a city break visit.

The streets are lined with hundreds of thousands of people (mostly in traditional dress) queuing to bring flowers to the Virgin in Plaza del Pilar.

A huge pyramid structure quickly fills with flowers that remain there for the duration of the festival.

Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar.

We also had a special visitor... Nadim! Here we are, looking sexy in our festival scarves.

This is the ancient Muslim palace Aljaferia.

Beautiful interiors, with Islamic and Spanish influence. Probably best to do a guided tour as I can't really tell you much more about it.

Here we are having a song and dance inside.

Pablo Serrano Museum of Contemporary Art.

There was cool exhibition of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American design.

It also has impressive views off the city from the rooftop.

Took a photo of this on the roundabout - it looks pretty ancient.

Thanks for coming to see us Nads. Stay classy.