Llama Drama

Today combined two of my most favorite things: views of beautiful Yorkshire and fluffy Llamas.  Seriously, a half day trek with a llama may be my favorite excursion we've taken in the vicinity (despite the rain!).  A dear friend gifted us with an amazing llama excursion and we joined 12 other llama enthusiasts for a trek through the Nidderdale Valley.  The day started with a llama meet and greet...where we got to know the animals and then they "matched" us with llamas based on personality. 

When I met Chester, I knew he was the one:

After that, our group trekked out from the barn through the beautiful public footpaths and private roads of the Yorkshire Dales!  We got to spend 4 hours up close and personal with our llama friends:

We walked them down quaint paths:

We stopped for a break to grab coffee while the llamas posed for pics (how handsome is this guy?)

Chester carried the supplies for coffee!

He had lots of friends... such a star

We loved walking Chester around the blooming daffodils, but couldn't let him eat them (fun fact: daffodils are poisonous to llamas!)

<3 <3 <3 Llamas

Oxford Snaps

Our behind the scenes tour of Oxford took us inside 4 different colleges with magnificent + unique architecture.  We had a day of near perfect (for England) weather that was perfect for touring around the city. 

Breakfast tea...loved this sign

Inside the dining hall of Keble College...it really was like Harry Potter and our friend said that formal dinners inside are truly special

The main quad of Keble

Beautiful, empty greens

Bluebells in bloom in Oxford Botanic Gardens

...and daffodils made their appearance too

We wondered if the creek came first or the building...

Another taste of spring colors on Oxford's high street

What a special treat to visit!

If You Go: Oxford + Warner Brother's Studio

We had a great road trip to the Oxford area to go to the Harry Potter Studios and visit a friend in Oxford.  We lucked out with lovely weather (for March) and a line up of awesome things to do!   Here was our rough itinerary

Friday Night 
Roadtrip to St. Albans!  This is about 3.5 hours from Harrogate, so we drove down after work and grabbed dinner en route

Clarion Hotel St. Albans: Basic, but convenient hotel right in the center of St. Albans.  St. Albans is the closest city to Harry Potter Studios and was a great spot to catch some zzz's and explore in the morning before our tour.  The hotel was very inexpensive, but right across from the cathedral and was perfect for what we needed (60 GBP/night)

Saturday 
St. Albans - Gail's Bakery: This is a British chain that has an AMAZING bakery.  I highly, highly recommend the cheese + chive scones.  It's also hot cross bun season and these looked amazing.

St Albans - Saturday Market: This was one of the larger markets we have seen outside a major city.  It sold everything from cheese to meals to antiques.  It's worth a ramble on a Saturday morning and if we had time, I totally would've had lunch there!

St Alban Cathedral: Built of Roman brick, this cathedral is truly stunning.  We were treated to a concert by a string trio that was stunning and the acoustics...wow.  Definitely drop in

Harry Potter Studios: WOW! This was amazing.  All of the original sets across two huge warehouses.  The tour was very well orchestrated (Disney-like hospitality and efficiency).  We loved seeing the Great Hall and then other sets like Dumbledore's Office, the Weasley's Houses, and Griffyndor Common Room. 
Important Note: Tickets for this sell out early, you need to buy them online 3-6 months in advance of any trip

From there...we drove to Oxford...it's about an hour from Harry Potter Studios

Oxford Mercure Eastgate: This was another convenient hotel in the heart of Oxford.  It was walking distance to all of the major attractions and the modern rooms were perfect for what we needed.  Highly recommend (250GBP / night)

Vintage Bus Tour: As we wandered around the city, we ended up on a totally free vintage bus tour of Oxford.  We nabbed a seat on the top of the double decker and got a great tour around town.  While ours was spontaneous, the website has more details on date + time

Turf Tavern: This is the oldest hotel in Oxford that dates back to the 1300's!  The ceiling was so low that P could not stand up, but the drinks were great and reasonably priced.  This is also famous as the tavern where Bill Clinton smoked, but did not inhale when he was a student at Oxford

Chang Mai Kitchen: This was a lovely Thai restaurant in the center of Oxford.  The ambiance was lovely and the food was pretty good (though I imagine you could find a better spot!) 

Sunday 
Oxford Botanic Gardens: We had a bit of time before we met up with our friend, so we visited the botanic garden.  It had some neat greenhouses, though we were a bit early in the season to truly appreciate the full garden

George Street Social: Our friend booked us a table at this fun, retro spot!  We loved the vibe and the food was amazing!!!   Cinnamon French Toast was awesome!


College Hopping: Oxford is made up of 40 colleges, each of which have a chapel, library, food hall, and common grounds that are unique.  We were lucky that our friend could get us a behind the scenes tour of many of them...including Queen's College, Keble College and Magdalen College. For the most part, these were empty and stunningly beautiful.   What's amazing is that most people only want to see the most famous - Christ Church (which inspired Harry Potter).  While Christ Church was amazing, these other colleges were in some cases more impressive and allowed you to walk around uninterrupted by the hoards of tourists!

Sunny, Sunny Southern Spain

Snaps from our amazing trip to southern Spain!  I wish I could capture some of the sunshine in a bottle to bring it back to England.  Instead, some snaps:

Stunning gardens at the Alcazar of Cordoba

The orange trees were absolutely amazing (but apparently quite bitter:

The patios of Cordoba were amazing:

...and the amazing Cordoba cathedral (originally a mosque)

The inside was incredible:

Loved, loved, loved cordoba

Alcazar of Seville is just as beautiful (if not more!)

Loved the beautiful patios:

...and the beautiful food:

If You Go: Seville + Cordoba

We loved our long weekend in sunny Southern Spain.  We stayed in Seville and took an awesome day trip to Cordoba.  We had perfect weather to stroll the streets, grab delicious tacos, and check out the amazing sites.  Put this area on your list because it's perfect:

Hotels
El Rey Moro: This is in the part of the city just outside of the Alcazar where the narrow streets feel more like Morrocco than Spain.  It's a 5 minute walk to the Cathedral or the Alcazar.  We absolutely loved the location as well as the set up of the hotel, again, more Morroccan than Spanish!  All of the rooms are set around a lovely central courtyard.  The room we had was just lovely with a view of a Spanish balcony and a crazy comfortable bed ($100/night)

Things to Do 
Alcazar de Seville: This is the crown jewel of Seville. This beautiful palace rivals the Alhambra in Granada.  Full of beautiful gardens, incredible Moorish architecture, and rich tile work.  A few recommendations: (1) pre-book, the line is crazy long; (2) when you pre-book pick the Cuarto Real option.  This allows you a semi-private tour of the upstairs rooms where the King still works and the views are incredible.  Make sure to earmark a full half day to look around completely - it's huge

Plaza de Espana: Built for the 1929 Iberian-American Festival, this beautiful Plaza has tile murals of all of the major Spanish towns and cities.  It also has a lovely space to rent a row boat and paddle around.  Just beautiful!

Palace of the Countess: We took a tour of the Palace of the Countess which is richly decorated with curiousities of the 19th century and earlier.  On the bottom of the palace, there are beautiful mosaics as well as Moor-ish style decorations.  If you have time this is a well worthwhile stop

Devour Food Tour: This is our second Devour Food Tour (our first was in Madrid) and it was really well organized!  Our guide, Hailey, took us to local tapas bars in the Triana neighborhood.  It was great to learn the history and see how locals eat.  Honestly, the food wasn't my absolute favorite, but the tour was still worthwhile

Day Trip to Cordoba: From Seville, Cordoba is an easy 40 minute train ride on their crazy fast rail lines.  We had a full day where we fit in their beautiful Alcazar (stunning gardens), Palaccio Viana (amazing floral patios) and their incredible cathedral.  Also not to be missed...their food market is fantastic

Restaurants
Note: Between markets and the food tour, we did not go to a lot of individual restaurants, so the list is short, but there is no shortage of amazing food in Seville

La Bartola: We stumbled in here after arriving late, but it was probably the best meal we had for the entire trip!  A local bar with tons of locals, we grabbed two seats at the bar and had a plethora of beautiful food come our way...croquettes, grilled calamari, manchego....and of course, wonderful wine and sangria.  Stop in in you're in the area.

Bar El Commercio: Looking for amazing, authentic churros?  Bar El Commercio is the perfect spot.  On a late Saturday morning it was loud, full of tourists + locals, and crowded...but don't let this deter you.  Snag a table at the back and place your order at the bar for the most amazing set of churros, chocolate, and fresh OJ. This can look intimidating from the outside, but the rowdiness is well worth the reward!