Granada and Sierra Nevada

We've been on a jaunt to Granada and round the Sierra Nevada, back through the Alpajarras and then, via Malaga, to Antequera.

S. was wiped out afterwards - despite my offers to take over - S. doesn't trust me as a driver - and maybe she's right - it's not in my top ten skills to boast about.

I got K. put on the insurance - so he drove for a bit on Friday.

I was impressed with Granada - full of students and quite lively. We walked round the Albaicin - even though the guide book said not to after dark - we did anyway. Found a half decent restaurant which we thought was posh authentic Spanish - until we noticed that all the other customers spoke English. Still we made the best of it. Had a seafood soup and we all shared a meaty Paella. Very nice - I've never had it before.

Then we staggered back to our hostel. I had an early morning the next morning - standing in line to get tickets for the alhambra. We thought we'd made it to Granada without seeing the alhambra for a second time, but after a bit of advice from the nice girl who ran our hostel, I decided to make the supreme sacrifice - getting out of bed before 8am.

It was worth it. S. was happy, and I was quite gobsmacked by the interior decor of the palaces.

After a meal in a nearby restaurant it was back on the road till we hit the mountains. I took us the wrong way initially, but eventually we got the map-reading sorted and made it up to the highest roads in Europe.

Windy roads, loads of donkeys, old ladies - thicker than tree trunks, walking between villages with hand-picked herbs - old men with goats - dogs with road sense - little white villages hanging from the hills - ham hanging from the ceilings - and finally a meal of traditional meats in Orgiva.

Then home.