Ronda and Alhambra

It was a dull, cloudy day as we hit the road again.

On the way to our new abode near Granada, we stopped to visit the hilltop town of Ronda with its famous plunging Puento Nuevo bridge that connects the gorge separating the town.

I don’t know if it was sightseeing fatigue or just the greyness of the day, but we both found it quite difficult to get excited about Ronda which makes no sense as it really has much to offer.

As with Cadiz, http://www.voyagetips.com provided a great little circuit of all the highlights which we dutifully followed. The Arab baths were probably my favourite bit. So clever how they heated them and the air vents cast pretty star-shaped shadows.

We had a very late lunch at an extremely busy cafe, and as the waiter had told us the empanadas (Spanish Cornish pasties) were quite small, I ordered two and Steve had three. They were actually quite large and came with chips – all on separate plates. The looks we received from passers by were priceless.

The 2 hour onward journey to Granada felt like quite a slog, luckily our accommodation was easy to find. It’s fabulous, especially the outside space, definitely too big for us but a party house for sure.

The town or suburb (I’m not quite sure which it is) is no great shakes though.

Today we hit Alhambra. A very convenient 6 minutes drive away from our house, it was definitely worth navigating the most complicated website in the world to buy advance tickets. The few upsides of Covid meant that, although the Palace was busy, it wasn’t chockablock and there were plenty of photo opportunities and time to meander. The gardens here are superb, worth coming just for that. I remember how much my mum and dad had enjoyed their trip here years ago. It made me a bit sad, I’m glad I could follow in their footsteps.

Tomorrow it’s back to hiking mountains – this time in the Sierra Nevada. We are aiming for scenery rather than scaling heights. At least that’s my aim.