Andalucia

Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! We have over slept and are now rushing to get ourselves and three children breakfasted, presentable and out the door so we can get across the Gibraltar boarder to pick up our higher car in Spain. So, bus stop. Where is the bus stop...Hmm, I could have sworn it was on the corner here... Anyway, we walked the length of Main Street and found the number 5 to take us across the airport runway and to the Gibraltar-Spain border. We walked straight through customs, no line up yet. Then on into Spain. La Linea is definitely a border town. There does not appear to be much tourism here, except for the tourists coming through to get into Gibraltar, or locals coming to Spain to buy cheaper groceries. 

Car keys in hand, thank you Gold Car Hire, we were off in the general direction of Granada. A few things that would have helped speed our journey time up and make the camping even more comfortable: 

a road map of Andalusia

a basic idea of campsite locations

possibly a guidebook for the region

a ground tarp for under the tent and for Adam to crawl on

our Peanut Butter Jar of Light

The Peanut Butter Jar of ligh is just an empty peanit butter jar containing one string of battery operated fairy lights from Ikea. Thank you Jane for showing us the light this summer:) 

Anyway, not having the above when we set off were not deal breakers but once we had bought a map navigation was a lot easier and faster. Go figure.

Over all, though the trip was really nice. We were all awed by the beauty and magic and attention to detail found in the Alhambra. It took us two tries to get in, but it was worth these repeated tries. 

The garden, where the royal family played and relaxed away from the eyes of their court.

The fortificatied walls around part of the Alhambra

Gorgeous flowers in the garden

One of the many ornately plasted ceilings

The Sisters doors in the palace

Reflecting pool in the palace. According to the audio guide we were listening too, they believe that the king's wives each had a room off of this courtyard where they lived with their children. All around the pool sented plants were positioned to create a lovely perfumed air.

Our little Granadians

Other highlights of the trip were:

Playing in the snow in the Sierra Nevada

Skiing:P

 A Snow Penguin

We camped for a few nights on the southern side of the Sierra Nevadas. The weather was gorgeous and this thankfully allowed for one long hike with the kids. Below Adam is showing off his sun protection. He kept taking his hats off, so we resorted to a pair of shorts over the head, much harder to get off and throw on the ground. 

While the first half of the hike up the valley was a rather dull plod on a dirt road, the later part was on a winding path back out the valley through old terraced farms. We found a number of old walnut trees along the path, quite tasty.

Not the best picture, but you can make out some of the terraces on the left side.

John and Adam waiting for the slowpokes.

We left the Sierra Nevadas and joined the highway on the north side. Just before we came to the highway we came across the below castle. We couldn't find anythng in our travel guide but it would certainly appear to be a fort protecting a road up into the Sierra Nevadas. The whole area had once been controlled by the Moors and was in fact the last strong hold for them before the were completely removed from the landscape.

A town on the way to Ronda. 

You can see three countries in this picture. Spain, Gibraltar and Morocco. The bird flying is a gryphon vulture. We were onour way down a secondary highway when we spotted a sign saying "Lookout to Africa" we attempted to get up to the lookout but only managed get our wheels stuck so off John scampered up the steep dirt track to capture this picture. Below Adam was sleeping and Lucy and Ruth were colouring. 

So, that was what we got up to in Andalucia. It was a fantastic week and we returned to the boat refreshed and ready to tackle our jobs.