Granada

 18 April

As usual, our drivers were there to collect us promptly at 9.  Our first stop for the day was the magnificent city of Cordoba.  We have been blessed with beautiful weather and today was no exception, clear blue skies and a lovely mid 20 s temperature.  Spring is the perfect time to visit Spain!  Our driver said we had to line up to get tickets, but when we got to the front, they were for the castle only.  Although we would have loved to have seen the castle (next time!) we only had two hours to powered onto the cathedral.  Originally a mosque, it was re-purposed by the Catholics into a spectacular cathedral unlike any other I've ever seen, with the rows and rows of arches.  Everywhere we went it was "wow"- so beautiful.  When we finally left, Dean messaged us to say we had to visit the old  Roman bridge.  It was only 3 minutes walk away so we walked there and I was glad we did, not only a lovely bridge but  we had great views back over the old city.  Definitely a place I'd like to revisit.

After a stop for a leisurely lunch, it was a steep drive up to Archidona, a fortress that was never conquered - we could see why, it looked quite impenetrable!  Unfortunately the museum, which was previously the hermitage of the Virgen de Gracia (built in 1462 on top of an old mosque from the 9th and 10th centuries, of which the initial sections of the naves with columns of Roman and Visigothic origin and other remains at the entrance to the sanctuary have been preserved) was closed.  We had to walk up quite a steep hill to get there so that was disappointing. Apparently the building was reformed in the 17th and 18th centuries with the construction of an additional porticoed patio. It keeps an anonymous painting in the Italian-Gothic style from the  15th century.  Well worth visiting if it is open!  The Spanish government are spending about 470 million euro to fix up the walls of the fortress and we saw the stone masons at work!

Montefrio, which means cold mountain, was our last stop for the day.  The view is fantastic, Montefrío was declared a National Historic-Artistic Site in 1982. In October 2015 it was considered by the prestigious National Geographic magazine as one of the ten towns with the best views in the world.  We all agreed it was a pretty special view.  The church in the centre of town is very new - just 15 years old, as the locals were sick of the hard climb up to the old church!  Unfortunately we had spent too long lingering over lunch and we didn't have time to wander the streets - we had to hightail it to Granada to make sure we made our flamenco show that night!

We rushed like made to get to the show by 7pm... only to find it started at 7.30pm.  Whoops!  We certainly weren't late!  We entered the very atmospheric cave and while we had to wait a while for our first drink - drinks were included - dinner and the show were great and we all really enjoyed it.  Jack was worried that he'd be plucked out of the crowd to participate but his fears were groundless, we just watched the magnificent performers and cheered loudly - they weren't interested in embarrassing tourists!

19 April

We met our guide Virginia, who was charming and well educated - she did a degree on the Muslim family who built the Alhambra - and we set off walking up, up and up while she told us lots of information about the history of Granada and the Alhambra.  She was very even handed in her explanations.  She said that while religion was used as an excuse for wars, it all came down to money and power!  Which I think is so true.   The Alhambra is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world, in addition to containing notable examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture. The complex was begun in 1238 by Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar. Later Nasrid rulers continuously modified the site. The most significant construction campaigns, which gave the royal palaces much of their definitive character, took place in the 14th century during the reigns of Yusuf I and Muhammad V. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella. In 1526, Charles V commissioned a new Renaissance-style palace in direct juxtaposition with the Nasrid palaces, but it was left uncompleted in the early 17th century.  We all loved the Alhambra!

We found a cafe that could fit us all in (on various tables!) and had an enjoyable lunch at Tomate Gastrobar.  Delicious sangria and food.  The buskers sang Happy Birthday for Heather!  Jack, who had missed the earlier tour, met us for lunch - thankfully feeling a little better.

That night 13 of us set off for our Wine and Tapas tour. When we met our guide June, she said she had arranged for the 13 of us to be together which was lovely!  She  had arranged for us to go to three different bars.  The first two were in the Jewish quarter.  At the first one we asked for Sangria but June said it was something the Spanish only drank at home.  It was too full of sugar to drink regularly (whoops!).  She suggested Tinto de veranno, red wine with soda .  It turned out to be red wine with lemonade, a bit sweet for my taste, but of course we managed to drink it.  Our tapas were beautiful freshly cooked artichokes, absolutely delicious, with bread and olive oil.  Our second spot was just up the road and the proprietor here was lovely!  He had Granada red or white wine and beer.  He was very proud of his local wines and with good reason, they were delicious (I had both).  We had more tapas: roast potato with cheese and  a paprika sauce, corn chips and a delicious zucchini fried in a light tempura batter.  Then fried eggplant with a date puree.  Our last stop was in the  Christian area.  The oldest bar in Granada - opened in 1870!  We threaded through the crowded bar and the kitchen to a room out the back, with tiny tables and chairs.  We surmised that ancient Spanish were very small.  Here we had  vermout, a red wine fortified with brandy, cinnamon and orange.  It was 23% alcohol!  June said it was like drinking Christmas cake, and was prepared in the barrels we'd seen in the bar and is a bit special.  We also had more tapas!  Di and I had tomato concasse with roasted capsicum on bread; the others had a fatty looking ham with a date on bread.  Apparently the fat was delicious!  Then we had an achovy on fresh tomatoes on bread.  After June left we had another drink for Heather's birthday (June had led us in a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, and Suzy, Di and I taught yet another person Mum's second verse!).  Those that had a second vermout (as evidenced from the photo) were feeling very relaxed!  Ian and Suzy shouted everyone some special black ham, which apparently you put on the roof of your mouth to melt and savor.  It just tasted like ham to me!  Then a final plate of chorizo from June.  What a fun night.