Grenada - july 2016

Eric took me on a surprise week end away to Grenada in july (celebrating 10 years together ! First week end away without the kids* !)
(* the kids were safely and happily staying with their grandmothers).

It was beautiful, it was hot, the tapas were great.
We were staying in the Albaicin, or old city, and set out to explore the narrow and cobbled streets, surrounded by white houses and palaces and tantalising mostly hidden gardens.

Of course, we went and visited the Alhambra. The gardens are lovely, and, although the outside of the buildings are quite bare, the inside is nicely ornementated.

We were of course reminded, a lot, of the mughal architecture and artwork in India.

The views over the city were great.

El Generalife.

Us !

To escape the heat in the afternoon, we decided on a whim to go and hike a bit in the Sierra Nevada. Oh, the joy of spontaneity and impromptu and careless decisions !
We drove to the end of the road and then went for a walk. The rain started as soon as we arrived and we spent some time hoping for the sky to clear.

.. but clear it did !
We set out to walk towards a summit, from which people were climbing down at this late hour ; we did not know at the time, but the Hoya de la Mora (2515 m) - Pico Velata (3397 m) hike is actually a classic. We did not actually go all the way to the peak, as the walk is really long (23 km) and the evening was getting on, but we went to about 3150 m / 18 km. 
The landscape was bare and rugged and quite beautiful ; the air was cool and pure and very refreshing.  

 

On the sunday morning, before heading back, we visited the royal chapel and the madrasa accross the street - the one tiny room preserved there from arabic times is truly a jewel.