There are Python ports of ggplot (e.g. plotnine (https://github.com/has2k1/plotnine)), but agreed, Python is behind here. I'm not the best at data viz, but I can usually piece together a way to make ggplot do what I want it to do without that much trouble or looking at documentation.

Matplotlib, though ... that's a harder beast to internalize. I know it's possible to make high-quality matplotlib plots, but it's much harder for me. Like pandas, it's a library that I don't want to denigrate because I know people put lots of effort into it, but I can't lie -- I'm not a fan.