Granada
Last night we walked down to the main restaurant area for dinner. It only rains 5 days per year in Alicante, and we experienced 2 of them! Just as we were about to order our meal, the skies opened up and it poured torrential rain for almost two hours. I have never seen rain so heavy. Every patron dashed inside where we all ate amongst much hilarity and watching and waiting for a break in the storm. Thunder and lightning were constant, until eventually about 11.00 pm we were able to trudge home in the lighter rain. Good fun.
This morning we collected our hire car when we eventually found Europcar (at the train station, would you believe?). It is an acceptable FIAT, diesel, 5-door, and quite comfortable. Managed to find the Expressway without difficulty, and travelled quickly along a very good freeway which is well signed. Then we made a mistake - left the highway to travel into the town of Lorca for lunch and a short break. No luck - travelled through the town and out the other side, followed by a 50 km treck through desolate country - barren, dry and hilly. The trusty GPS tried very hard to get us back to the freeway, and we had no idea where we were. The directions took us to a dam wall marked ¨Forbidden entry¨or something like it, but since we can´t read or speak Spanish we crossed over the dam wall and continued to accept the directions from the GPS. Without it we would have been totally lost - it was our lifeline!! Once back on the highway route we saw many vineyards and almond orchards, and fields of green vegetables.
Arriving at our destination was a strange experience - the directions took us through very narrow winding cobbled streets (more like footpaths than streets), ending at a T intersection with the hotel in front. No room to turn, or turn around, and with cars behind and in front of us, it was a major exercise to reverse out of the laneway. Eventually the receptionist took pity on us and escorted us to a carpark not too far away, where we were allocated a teeny weeny space to park. The car will stay there whilst we are in Grenada - no desire to try to find our way around the city by car.
Hope to see a Flamenco Dance whilst here, and also the Palace. Perhaps even a bus trip up to the high Sierra Nevada Range.
Thanks to Mel and Ryan for the footy scores