We visited Granada, travelling up (430Km) on Wednesday. Grenada is quite high up and the weather was very cold and wet - only 1 degree, pretty miserable! Once we had checked into the hotel we went to explore on foot. Look into the cathedral and the surrounding souk like streets with tiny wee shops selling everything you don't need and some stuff that you might like warm jackets. After that we went to the tourist office and were directed on a steep climb to St Nicholas Mirador which gives a magnificent view over the city. We were glad that we did this as the following day we couldn't see very far. After our climb we headed back to the centre of town and the hotel for a glass of wine and some crisps before setting out once more for an evening meal. We ate in a rubbish restaurant where the food was totally indifferent. The meal was amusing in two respects, 1 - mum trying to make herself sick in the loo to dislodge a piece of bread that had lodged in her throat and 2 - Iain standing up to get a menu from another table not realising that he had tucked the table cloth and his napkin into his trousers. He took two glasses of wine and two glasses of water and some plates with him - it was very funny, even that waitress was amused! We all got absolutely soaked heading back to the hotel, Me especially as I had no umbrella, I did find a piece of cardboard that I used but was soaked on arrival, this is when trouser presses prove their worth and trousers were dried in no time.
The next morning, Thursday, we awoke early as we had booked a 09.00 visit to the Alhambra Palace which was the main reason for our visit ti Granada. After some coffee and croisant we took a taxi through the rain to the Alhambra (see Wikipedia). We had a brilliant walk round this amazing place, the architecture is fabulous and the details in the plasterwork quite breathtaking, plenty of pictures when we return. We were lucky in our early booking as it meant round unimpeded by large parties of disinterested schoolchildren that appeared later. The only blot on the horizon was the cold and wet. We left Granada at about 13.00 to return to Casa Rhodes, driving through snow and sleet and snowploughs on the high mountain roads. The main roads in Spain are really excellent with some tolls but not too many. Riches satnav works well so we didn't get lost.
