Holiday in Andalucia

Although we were all ready to board, the first officer was late, so after a quarter of an hour we made our way to the buses that took us to the plane. An uneventful flight passed quickly and as we approached Malaga we could see the snowy mountains, the Sierra Nevada. We arrived at Malaga in good time and soon met up with our driver. He swept us off out onto the motorway towards Granada. All around us we could see many groves of olive trees; Andalucia is the biggest producer of olive oil in the world. Tantalising glimpses of the Sierra Nevada teased us as we drove the 150km or so before we came into Granada. Our hotel is a beautiful mansion which has an ultra modern annex in the grounds, where we are staying. It is a lovely room - lots of white fabric, marble and glass with dark wood highlights and slate floors.
Despite A's cold, we decided to walk up to the 'mirador', through the streets of Granada. The Alhambra dominates over to the south, and we climbed up the 'cuestos' on the other hillside to the viewpoint at The Plaza de San Nicolas, at the highest point of the Albaycin, is famous for its magnificent view of the Moorish palace. The view across to the Alhambra was greatly enhanced by the snow capped Sierra Nevada - quite spectacular. Lots of people had taken their Sunday afternoon constitutional up here, and the two restaurants set back from the square, were thronged with diners.
We decided to wander through Albaycin - a labyrinth of steep alleyways leading back down in the direction of the Cathedral. We came to a busy little street with a 'teteria' at the top, Los Cuevos, where we drank Egyptian tea; a mix of black tea, mint, cinnamon and roses; with a slice of date tart. The street that fell away from us was lined of small shops full of North African goods and artisan goods. It smelled of the souk in places!

We were now just at the back of the Cathedral and walked around the side to the entrance - €3.50 entry fee. Inside is beautiful, with lots of white marble and gold leaf. One window above the main entrance was lit up spectacularly, which we discovered was the setting sun. When we walked around the outside to the front facade, it was bathed in evening sunlight. As we walked around we noticed that there were different Christmas decorations for each street.

The temperature was dropping quickly, as was A, so we headed back to the hotel to review the day's photos, book dinner and have our feet up for a while. Our dinner was beautifully presented and consisted of: prawn ravioli stuffed with mushrooms, apple and prawns olive oil; scallops over sesame oil noodles and crispy veg; veal chop with rustic garlic mashed potatoes; acorn pork served with scallions and romesco sauce. We shared a bottle of Isabel Negra Pedes 2005 cabernet sauvignon/merlot from near Barcelona - Manuel Raventos.