Day 64 – 11 September 2023 – Granada, Espana

Bags out & breakfast at 8.00 am & watching the sun rise over the Mediterranean then on the bus at 9.00 am for our next adventure off into the mountains.  Our first stop is at a small town called Colmenar & here Chad shouts us a coffee with the local brandy which is a local speciality. Others could have the coffee with Baileys Irish Cream if they wanted. This was a good opportunity to stretch our legs & have a short break. As we walked in the local Police walked out, they had just finished their coffee break. The coffee must be good, or maybe it is the only place in town.

Our next stop is an even smaller town called Alfarnate where we visited the local olive oil co-operative mill & the local guide took us through the complete process from picking to unloading to cleaning to weighing to sampling the olives for chemical analysis of the oil content. Next we moved into the crushing & extraction shed where the olives are crushed & the oil extracted. It is a simple process, however, a process that extracts the most oil from the olive. No part of the olive is wasted in any of this process. The olive oil is stored in large stainless steel vats & bottled then boxed for shipment. After tasting the oil with some bread we each received from Chad a 500ml bottle to take home & try.

Next we drove the short distance to the next small town called Alfarnatejo, full of whitewashed old style houses with narrow clean cobblestone streets. We were shown through an old house furnished as they used to be, it has low ceilings & gives us a great insight into the simple life these farmers led. Then we are broken up into groups of ten & each group was taken to the house of a local woman for a local traditional lunch.

The whitewashed house outside is absolutely beautiful, inside is very modern, neat & tidy. Our host cannot speak a word of English & our Spanish is very poor, however, we got on well & had lots of laughs with our host. We started with a shot of the local brandy, then salad, salami, Jamon ham, cheese & bread, then a large plate of pork meatballs was brought out & a plate of baked potatoes, all delicious. The meal was washed down with either vino blanco or vino tinto. The meal finished with slices of sweet juicy watermelon, all very tasty. A coffee, homemade biscuit & liquor topped it all off, we were all so full it was difficult to walk. It was so lovely to be invited into her home & have her cook a meal for us. It was cuddles all round when we left & a cheerful good bye.

Driving back out of the mountains is very scenic & as we get lower down the olive groves spread as far as the eye can see. A couple of hours further along the road we drive into the city of Granada, the capital of this region of Spain. We drive through the city & up the hill overlooking Granada to the Alhambra, the old Arabic fortress where the Arabs ruled the Iberian peninsula for many years.

The Alhambra was commenced in 1238, building on the top of former Arab & Visigoth structures. The Alhambra was a fortified fully self-contained city containing at least six palaces that overlooked the city of Granada. At the Alhambra’s western end is the Alcazaba fortress, supported by many smaller towers & fortified gates along the walls that surround the Alhambra. This is another UNESCO world heritage site.

Our tickets to enter were booked & paid for months in advance, with all our Passport details also required as there is a limit on the number of people allowed to enter per day of 7,500. It is a long walk from where the bus drops us off to the entrance & along the way we spot a bride waiting to get married in the gardens, she is a Spanish beauty dressed in white. Our first stop is the Spanish Royal Palace that was begun in 1527 but never finished. It is unusual in that it has a rectangular shape on the outside, but the large inner courtyard is circular. We walk through some more gardens then walk inside the first building.

Wow, the Alhambra is amazing, the tiles, the ceilings, columns, geometric patterns, the window arches & doorways, all stunningly beautiful & different. Each part of the building we walk through is another WOW moment, the detail on the walls & ceilings are amazing, the tiles & patterns of tiles are stunning. Our local guide, Alberto, does an excellent job of explaining all the interesting & best parts of the Alhambra, he has been guiding here for more than 40 years. The pool of reflection in the main courtyard is wonderful as is the fountain in the Palace of the Lions, marble lions are holding a large water fountain on their backs with water spurting from their mouths, beautiful. Some of the ceilings have such intricate detail & are stunningly beautiful, they amaze us. One ceiling has a painting of all the rulers of the Alhambra on it, again, beautiful.  Room after room continue to amaze us with the sheer beauty of the designs.  He showed us the Sultan’s quarters, his four wive’s & concubines quarters.

We move outside & get to admire the gardens & the views over Granada. We walk out through the gardens & spot the Spanish bride again, this time with the groom getting photos taken. The gardens & water features are another beautiful feature of the Alhambra, we walk away tired but very pleased we have finally visited this wonderful location.

Thanks to Chad & Antonio while we were enjoying the Alhambra they had our bags already in our rooms when we get to the hotel & we went for a walk down to the river then turn for a walk back into town. The church next to the hotel is beautiful inside & the old town of Granada is ornately beautiful with all of the beautiful old architecture. We call into the Granada Cathedral, it was nice but not stunning inside. Next door there is a science museum so we walk in & have a look, the building has more Islamic doorways, ceilings & artwork, beautiful. The streets of Granada are beautiful to walk in & we take our time enjoying the amazing buildings, the parks, the trees & the atmosphere of the city. Another great day.