The girl who travels the world in a dress
I live in the wonderful city of Granada, Spain. This is one of the most visited cities in Spain and yet I find that I often take it for granted. Doing photoshoots like this remind me of how lucky I am to have this experience. I recently found this little black dress on sale and thought it would be perfect for a photoshoot a sunset.
If you travel to Spain, you have to visit Andalucia. It’s a must. When I see people talking about traveling to Spain, they always seem to list Madrid and Barcelona first. I get it. I mean if you only have a limited time in Europe, you just try to hit the largest cities. You think “well I can at least say I’ve been to Spain if I go to Barcelona.” And I’m not knocking either of these cities. I’ve been to both several times and they are quite enjoyable. However if you just stick to those two cities, you miss out on a lot of the charm and character of Spain.
Andalucia is the southern-most region of Spain. It’s also the largest autonomous community in the country. Flamenco dancing was born in Andalucia. Tapas are severed free with beverages in many restaurants. Things are cheaper and the weather is nicer.
One piece of jewelry I always wear are earrings. I love to have a wide variety of fun earrings to add to different outfits. When I saw the earrings from Happiness Boutique, I was excited. In fact, it was hard to pick just a few as there were many I liked. These Happiness Boutique statement earrings were what I decided upon.
Happiness Boutique is an online shop based in Berlin, Germany. All of their pieces have a vintage flair to them. Their goal is to spread happiness and joy through their jewelry. On their website, you can find necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings. They made this cute video about spreading happiness.
Happiness Boutique also offers free shipping worldwide and a 60-day return policy. So it doesn’t matter if you’re in Berlin or all the way over in California. It will still be the same cost. They also have a super cool reward program where you can earn points for things like joining their newsletter, writing reviews and sharing photos on social media.
Even though I have been in Granada for a year and a half, I find that I’m always discovering new things. Several weeks ago was the perfect example of that. I had never been to Granada’s Atarfe despite living only a short bus or car ride away. It’s a small town close to I have been working with a new photographer named Miguel and he has a friend who just opened her own boutique called La Boutique de Lulú. He thought connecting the two of us would be a good idea. I always love to support small and local businesses, so I was down.
These looks were created from La Boutique de Lulú. She has a good selection of clothing and accessories in her shop. I was immediately drawn to the blue dress. I paired it with this vest and added the purse. We grabbed a handful of dresses and accessories, and headed to shoot some photos before the sunset.
I did it. I finally had my Alhambra visit. I can finally check it off the list.
What’s the Alhambra? Well it’s one of the must-see sites in Granada. Last year I was a failure because I never visited it. Isn’t that how it always works? We often don’t spend enough time being a tourist in our own city. Every weekend last year I meant to go but things came up. A weekend away or a friend’s birthday. I just kept putting it off even though it’s amazing. However when I heard that I could go for free, I was all about it. I had to finally do it.
An Alhambra visit is normally not free. However on Sundays they offer free tickets to Granada residents (if there are tickets available). All you have to do is go to the Alhambra office the week before the Sunday you wish to go. All I needed was to present my NIE that indicates my address in Granada. If any of you live in Granada, you have to take advantage of this! Many Granadinos simply don’t know that they can get free tickets.
I have always been someone who gets cold easily. As many of you also know, I wear dresses year round. When winter hits, this simply means I switch from sundresses to warm dresses. That’s why when I saw this flannel dress from Zaful, I had to get it! It looked perfect for the colder months. When it gets cold out, flannel is always a good choice.
The other thing I was really wanting was a nice, big sweater. This is one I can pair with a lot of looks. Or I can just throw it on when I’m hanging out at home in my sweat pants.
Today I’m very excited to show you my winter dress style! Yes, I wear my dresses all through the winter. I love dresses as we all know and it would make me sad to have to stop wearing them when it got cold. So I thought in today’s post, I would do two things:
Also today I am excited to be co-hosting another linkup. These days I seem to be co-hosting a lot of them, right? Well linkups are one of the first ways I really met and connected with other bloggers. I have learned so much from all the other fashion bloggers I regularly link up with. And I must say, they are all so nice! So why not co-host? Today’s linkup is called Start the Week Stylish. It’s weekly hosts are Michelle’s Pa(i)ge and Northwest Blonde. The theme is “winter chic.” And if you’re a fashion blogger, feel free to go ahead and link up with us below! Join the party!
Last weekend, I spent the day exploring old Granada. For those of you who do not know, I live in Granada, Spain. I’m an American and I moved there to teach English. And I must say, I absolutely love it in Granada. Some days I catch myself taking it for granted. Then I walk to meet a friend for a coffee and am stunned by my surroundings. I live in one of the prettiest cities in all of Spain. It is simply amazing.
Last weekend, I teamed up with a friend of mine in Granada who volunteered to do my hair, makeup and take my photos (thanks Kat!). Friends like that are the best! Kat lives in the historic area of Calle Elvira.
An olive oil tour in Granada, Spain is the perfect way to spend a girls weekend! This past weekend, I saw a new side of Granada with three of my fellow English teachers who live in different parts of Andalusia. For those of you who are first timers to A World of Dresses, I’m an American girl who now teaches English in Granada, Spain. Granada is a nice city in the South known for free tapas (with the order of a drink), the Alhambra and the beautiful architecture. That is the city that I live in. However Granada is also a province with many cute towns and lots of olive trees. My fellow English teacher friend Sharifa organised a little outing for us and I could not say no. I’ve always loved olive oil and olives.
Through an online search, she found Olive Oil Tour in Granada. The tour includes a bit of history and a bit of tasting. And for a little extra, you can sample some Spanish wines and eat tapas.
The tour starts out in Granada. They will arrange to pick you up somewhere central in the city. There were four of us Americans on the tour and a family of three New Zealanders. The tour was led by a nice French woman and she gave it in English. According to the website, the tour can be given in English, Spanish and French.
From Granada, we drove outside of the city for about 30 minutes. Our destination was the lovely town of Niguelas, Spain. However we first stopped to take a look at the olives and the view.
So has anyone attempted to taste an olive right off the tree? Apparently they taste horrible. What we eat is after it has been cleaned and prepped. However she opened it up for us to try. Sharifa stepped up to the plate. She said it was way more awful tasting than she had thought.
So pro-tip if you find yourself in the countryside of Southern Spain: don’t just go grabbing olives off of olive trees.
Many Spaniard families in this area have a group of olive trees that have been passed down through the generations. A plot of maybe 20-30 is sufficient. Here is an example. They are watered through and old but efficient irrigation system.
Next, we all piled back into the van and drove into the town of Niguelas. I just love little Spanish towns. They are so cute and so different from the bustling city life. Once in the town, we parked and walked over to the old mill where they use to make the olives and olive oil up until the 1920’s. It’s so neat being around things and spaces that were used long ago.
Here is where they separated the olives by family.
Then we walked inside where they’re created a small museum. We got to see how the oil was broken down and processed many years ago. They would use these huge stones and would work for many hours. They even had a few beds for when people wanted a quick siesta.
It was neat to see what they used so long ago and just imagine life in the mill. I’m sure it was such hard work.
This part may have been my favorite. I love any opportunity to eat and drink. I was especially excited for some olives and may have eaten a few too many black olives.
The tasting was guided. Each participant had a placemat and little cups of olive oil numbered 1-5.
We each got a few gifts to take home. I’m excited to try my olive oil. They also had various wines, olive oils and other olive-based products available for purchase.
Overall, the wine tour was a fun experience. If you are in Granada for a bit, it’s a neat way to see a different part of the region. Oh and I snapped a few photos of the town on the way out.
Did you know about Spain’s history with olive oil? Did you know that olive oil in Spain was such a big deal? What do you normally eat olive oil with?
Oh and if you find yourself in Granada, Spain, here are the details of the tour:
Name: Olive Oil Tour in Granada, Spain
Duration: About three hours
Cost: 38 euros a person and an extra 15 euros if you want to taste the wines
Languages: available in English, Spanish and French