4 September 2019

We woke refreshed, in our rather large bedroom surrounded by tiles, wallpaper and antiques. The old window shutters kept the light out for as long as possible, but now the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. Time to get moving.

We popped into our own private chapel on the way to the kitchen, as one does when one has the means.

A wander round the garden was in order before we sadly took leave.

We headed towards Granada but stopped off in Alicante to explore Castelló Santa Barbara. She was a monster in comparison to the one yesterday. And she was free!!

The views were spectacular. Perched high above the sea, we could look down on those keeping cool at the local beach, and also take in the amazing views.

The drive south west took about 3 hours and it all happened without mishap. (So glad we visited our chapel earlier).

The scenery was pretty ordinary for the first half of the trip and I may have dozed off once or twice !

Then we stated heading alongside the Sierra Navada Mountains. What an amazing landscape. It was barren and rocky and crazy.

Given my recent good fortune with Airbnb bookings, I scrolled through a potential list for tonight. Once again we jagged a beauty, but this time, not for the accommodation, nor for the setting (outer suburb of Grenada) , but for the wonderful Juan, our host. His English was pretty good and he spoke at a million miles an hour. That’s because he had so much information to give us and only 24 hours to do so. What a gem!

Armed with everything we needed, we headed for the light rail (with over 20 stops and many, many kilometres long!!) and made our way into the city centre!

We wandered towards the old quarter, below the Alhambra and managed to lose ourselves in the narrow streets and lanes.

Once again the streets were relatively empty at 5 pm. Several hours later, the streets were teeming with people. The Spanish certainly like to come out to play once the heat of the day passes. Or in today’s case, the thunderstorm.

Dinner was wonderful: croquettes, ham, bacon , prosciutto, tomatoes, beans, cheese, smoked salmon, bread!!! And washed down with Sangria and beer, of course! Grahame was in his element.

What’s a visit to a city without stepping inside another cathedral? So we did!!

“Home” (bed!) was calling!!

Juan was waiting at the door for us, eager to give us more information!! We listened politely, and excused ourselves 10 minutes later.

Sleep came quickly!