The rain in Spain mainly falls on our long weekend

---

So we headed to Andalucia in southern Spain to soak up the last of the summer sun. Soaked we were, for most of the time. Sadly there were flash floods in the region after 6 months of no rain and some people lost their lives.

We were on a late night flight to Malaga and stayed in some cheap, but clean place walking distance to the train station. It was an airy morning; completely dark at 7.30am and very still. Half way to the station it started hammering with rain and did not stop the whole way to Cordoba about 50mins away, we could not see a thing outside. Our hotel was lovely, situated over an old Roman ruin in an old style building with beautiful designer touches inside with Arabic flare. We were able to leave our bags and borrow proper umbrella's before heading out to our pre booked walking tour, yes walking tour. It was steady rain by this stage and a touch cold. The tour took as past the old Roman walls, and wound us around the old narrow city streets. Not great for squeezing umbrellas through though. Our first stop was the Jewish quarter, we visited the synagogue and market. The next stop was the Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristianos (catholic palace fortress), before looking over the Roman bridge and back up to the Mosque. It is one of those sites that lives up to the hype. It really was special. At this stage let me mention our guide. He was an academic, even showing us one of the guide books he had coauthored. So it was excellent to get a history lesson, but it did feel a little like a lesson. The strangest bit was when he was telling us how he had guided some of the most terrible dictators in the world, and rather proudly. So this chap had taken Saddam, Gadaffi, Mubarak and Assad, who is a is in fact a good friend. Yikes! The inside of the mosque was beautiful the architecture seamlessly changing, the highlight for us was the golden Mihrab and of course the candy striped arches. After a very authentic Spanish lunch we retired back to the hotel to get dry. We took a walk around the city early evening, but could not find any Tapas bars, so had a drink back at the hotel before our dinner. Which was a strange affair. We arrived about 9.30pm and for some reason the three course meal was served at break neck pace in between the belly dancing. It was all over in about 50mins, quite the contrast to our meal in Ireland. Somewhere in the middle would be nice.

It was still raining in the morning, but by the time we were a little bit out of the city in our hire car it started to clear. The drive to Granada was lovely, rolling dramatic hills. Our hotel was just up from Nouve Plaza a few paces back from the stream, and if you jumped on a chair you had a great view of the Alhambra That afternoon after tapas lunch we wandered the old town and up to enjoy and great view of the Alhambra. It is still as wonderful as I remember some 9yrs earlier. The funny thing about the city was all the stag and hens do's going on, I think we counted nearly 8, very loud very drunk. That evening we headed off to the famous Tapas street before heading up to the mirador. The weekend was in celebration of Scott's birthday and Nicola and Quentin as a present had shouted dinner. We were booked into a gorgeous place with amazing views; Las Estrellas San Nicolas. The food was as amazing as the views, well nearly ... And food came out at a normal pace.

The following morning, even though it was birthday morning, we were up early for our visit to the Alhambra. The breakfast at the hotel was delightful, pastries and lemon donuts. Just the kind of food you need to get you up the steep hill to the castle. Somehow we managed to walk inside without tickets, I think the security weren't quiet awake. After doubling back and walking up and even steeper hill we found the actual entrance. The sight itself is wonderful, so pretty and tranquil. Scott really enjoyed the Palace, which as I also remember it was ornate and mesmerisingly beautiful. The skies cleared and it was a lovely sunny day, really a fitting last day. Another highlight was a structure square on the outside and circular on the inside, very beautiful. After our visit we has enough time to go and visit Kara, Jonson and Romey on the way to the airport. They had hired a place near the Serra Nevada, tucked away in the hills. The drive was really dramatic and it was great to see them. Next stop Malaga then back to City airport, winter awaits.
PHOTOS

---