1. La Mezquita de Cordoba (Cordoba, Spain)
I visited La Mezquita de Cordoba on a two-week trip around Southern Spain, and seeing the mosque was one of the highlights, and definitely well worth adding Cordoba into your trip for. The mosque has been used as both a mosque and a church and the interior is filled with red and yellow arches. You’ll be best to prebook tickets, which you can do on the website here: Tickets and opening hours | Web Oficial – Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba. Entrance will cost you around 13 euros, but check any discounts you can get beforehand – they’re labelled very clearly on the top of the site.
2. La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Spain)
La Sagrada is most likely to be the one you’ve heard of here. And with good reason. It’s in a stunning city with great nightlife, has amazing architecture, still unfinished and there’s nowhere in the world quite like it. As a budget traveller myself, I do have to warn you that entry is not cheap. However, if you’re in Barcelona, going inside La Sagrada is a must (as are pre-booking your tickets!).
3. Sedlec Ossuary (Kutna Hora, Czech Republic)
From one of the most famous ones, to a place that I had genuinely never heard of until arriving in the Czech Republic. Sedlec Ossuary is underground with all the decoration (including lights) made of human bones. While I wasn’t so sure before going in, I have to say Sedlec Ossuary was stunning in a weird kind of way and I’m so glad I made the trip to Kutna Hora for it. You aren’t allowed to take photos, however you can find some to know what you’ll be expecting on their official website. For Sedlec Ossuary, you can buy tickets from the tourist office about two minutes walk away, no pre-booking needed (and you don’t need an official tour unless you really want one). They do accept some discounts and European students cards so it’s always worth asking.
4. Saint Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (Sofia, Bulgaria)
Like La Sagrada, you’ve probably heard of this cathedral. The outside is the main draw to this cathedral, with the unique golden domes. It is one of the highlights for Sofia, and I would highly recommend viewing the outside of the cathedral at least once during the day, once at sunset, and once at night. If you really want to look inside (you don’t NEED to), have a look online to see when the doors will be open as they are sometimes closed. However, you can wander around the outside of the cathedral at all times.
5. Monastries of Meteora (Meteora, Greece)
Adding this one in for it’s uniqueness, but also for any hikers or nature lovers too. You can add an extra 20km hike onto this trip if you fancy it. The monasteries of Meteora were one of my highlights of mainland Greece and I have never seen anything like the combination of buildings and rock before. You can take day tours from Thessaloniki (and potentially Athens?) but my recommendation would be staying 2 nights in the village of Kalampaka and doing a full day hiking between them and seeing the monasteries.
Please be aware that to enter the monasteries you do need to be dressed modestly, so much so they are strict on that women must be wearing skirts that cover their knees (trousers not accepted). However, if you’re hiking you can shove a pashmina and skirt in the rucksack or they do offer free-of-charge scarves and skirts at the monasteries themselves.
