Phil Mercer's Home Page 2010

Alhambra_20111114_057, originally uploaded by Phil Mercer.

I've always had a bit of an issue with Spain.

On the one hand I hate beach holidays and hate the idea of the British invading the Costa s and turning them into the equivalent of Blackpool and Skegness!

On the other friends have an apartment there!

I love going to out to see them. Nico and Mike are always great company, the food is fab and the drinks flow. We spend time setting the world to rights and looking at the stars.

Of course, there is also a ton of history in Spain and this week, Nico and I turned our back on the tacky coast and headed off to Granada.

It's quite a long drive from La Zenia through to Granada, over 300km. What surprised me was the changing geography. Around Alicante it's pretty flat and very dead looking. Even in the fruit growing areas everything is dusty and baron apart from the actual citrus trees.

Leaving the coast and heading in land it's completely different. Stunning mountains and gorges and the thing I crave most... greenery.

One minute I was looking at something like Drumheller in Canada, the next Nevada in USA then a smattering of South Oxfordshire and then the Alps.

Once we arrived in Granada and checked in to the hotel, we climbed up to the Alhambra. The guide book says 'if you see one thing in Spain, then this is it' and I'm tempted to agree. Once you got through the agro of the limited tickets etc a walk around the complex is really breath taking. The main The Nasrid Palace is beautiful and the planting stunning. Even on a damp and dreary day, it was very atmospheric. The cooler weather probably helped as it wasn't over run with tourists.

Having walked around Angkor Wat and plenty of ancient places around Europe, it stands up very well. It could have done with a lot more interpretation though. You had to buy an audio guide to get much sense of the locations... I'm a cheap skate, so just made it up as I went.

The rain really put the mockers on everything towards the end of the afternoon, so we headed back down the hill to the Hotel and then out for food.

Granada seems to be the place for free Tapas. Every bar we went to gave us a plate with our drinks.

TBC...

Labels: Breaks, Spain

# posted by Phil @ 9:57 pm

Tuesday, November 15, 2011