Blogs from Granada, Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 4

Yes you guessed it we did not get our on-line ticket purchase done in time so, faced with the unacceptable prospect of not visiting La Alhambra while in Granada, we toughened up to the reality of a 6:30 start to get in the ticket sales queue at the gate. Aah part of the experience! The advice to grab a taxi for the few minutes drive up the major hill was well placed as you will see shortly. Presented with two queues, one for cash and the other for credit cards we were able to team up with a couple from Ocean Grove of all places, to split up and cover both queues not knowing which would move faster. The resulting conversations and exchange of trip experiences helped pass the time until ticket sales commenced at 08:00. ... read more

13 mai 2017 : Nous quittons Cordoue pour nous rendre à Grenade réputée pour ses bâtiments à l'architecture médiévale datant de l'occupation mauresque, en particulier l'Alhambra. Nous y passons une bonne partie de la journée dans les jardins de l'Alhambra, avant d'aller visiter la ville l'après-midi. Nous ne pouvons pas visiter l'Alhambra proprement dite, car il faut réserver plusieurs mois à l'avance sur internet, et çà, nous ne le savions pas. Nous retournons à l'Alhambra faire des photos de nuit des jardins du Généralife, puis nous regagnons notre hôtel. Après une bonne nuit de sommeil, nous retrouvons notre maison à Benidoleig.... read more

The trip from Sevilla to Granada took about 3.5 hours; approximately 2 hours were by train but then we had to switch to a bus for the final part of the journey due to track improvement / upgrade works (which seem to have been going since about 2015 according to various blog posts). After arriving in Granada we walked about 20 minutes until we reached our AirBNB which was in the old city of Granada, adjacent to the Albayzin neighbourhood. Granada, which was previously inhabited by the Romans and Visigoths, was conquered by the Moors in 755 AD. In the 11th century, following a civil war, a Berber chief established an independent kingdom called the Taifa of Granada in the region. The Almoravids ruled Granada from 1090 followed by the Almohad dynasty from 1166 until 1238 ... read more

Geo: 37.1765, -3.59793On Saturday we left Valencia at 8am. The streets were very quiet at that hour and we were soon out and on the road. We headed south and for a while were close to the coast. We stopped about 10am at a seaside town, Villa Joyioso where we walked along to the beach and then had a coffee at the local yacht club which was very pleasant. This town was just past Benidorm one of the big resort towns with huge buildings overlooking the seaside and jamming into any high spots .I preferred the small seaside village in which we stopped. Back on the road again we drove through agricultural land with Moorish castles which had been converted by the Christians in later years, dotted along the high ground. Granada and its surrounds was ... read more

Geo: 37.1765, -3.59793Seeing RedDAY ELEVENThursday, October 6, 2016Today was the highlight of our sightseeing-laden Tauck itinerary in Spain. We visited The Alhambra (Al-HOM-bra), famed Moorish palace constructed in the 13th century to be "paradise on Earth". The Palace and grounds are breathtaking. I can't imagine the Taj Mahal being more impressive.The translation of Alhambra literally is "the red one", constructed from clay. Only the Generalife, the Sultans summer palace, is white. The Alhambra was originally constructed as a fortress in AD 889 on the remains of Roman fortifications, and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by a Moorish emir. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. After the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabell... read more

Geo: 37.1765, -3.59793Help Me, RondaDAY TENWednesday, October 5, 2016We were sorry to learn this morning that we have had one couple on our trip return home. John and Carol Diehl from St. Louis flew back to the US this morning. There has been a virus moving around the coach; perhaps a third of the people have been taken ill, each for a period of 24 hours. But I'm told John was running a fever and feeling quite ill. Sorry for them and sorry for us. They were a welcome addition.From Marbella, we headed to the cliff-top city of Ronda, population 40,000. Our guide was Pepe, head of the tour group Tauck uses in Ronda; in fact, he wrote a guidebook on visiting the area. Set high on a plateau divided by the Tajo Gorge, Ronda offers ... read more