Day trip to Granada and the Alhambra

Today's plan was very simple, at least by our standards - we'd bought tickets for a day trip to Granada to see Albaicín and the Alhambra.

It's about three hours away by bus - which is one reason why we didn't just take ourselves there; we looked at the options and costs and the tour seemed to be the most effective - which unfortunately meant a very early start as we had to meet the bus a few minutes' walk from our apartment at 7.10 am.

Fun fact: it's still quite dark in Seville at 7.10 at this time of year.

We got there in plenty of time and, when it arrived, we got on and off we went. After just over an hour we stopped at a road house for breakfast and a toilet stop. After maybe half an hour we were on the road again.

Eventually we got out in Albaicín and had a wander around.

The view of the Alhambra. We'd go inside later on.

An oddly-shaped thing that had a drinking fountain at the other end.

A fruit tree of some sort.

There's a mosque at the top of the hill we were on.

After we left there we wandered down the hill to a restaurant for lunch. I wanted something light - the previous day we'd had a heavy lunch and that, combined with the heat, left me very sluggish; I didn't want to go through that again. So we went with meats and cheeses, with a side of bread. Half the bread had what turned out to be a kind of tartar sauce made with olives on it, which I'd never seen before.

Oh, and we had a slice of the local tart thing, kind of like a leche flan, with cream.

Then we made our way to the Alhambra. The group from the bus was split up into smaller groups and we went with a different guide. 

First stop, the gardens.

I think it was at this point we moved into a different section - it's hard to tell exactly.

Fun fact: you have to show your passport and ticket at the gate to every section. This seemed a bit excessive.

Now we got to go inside - and that's where stuff got very decorative.

The attention to detail is quite spectacular.

This sort of carving is every. It must have taken years.

The throne room was, of course, the most detailed.

I've now completely lost track of where we are at this point.

They're very fond of American writer Washington Irving here - he wrote a book, 'Tales of the Alhambra',  about the place. Hence the plaque.

And then we jumped back on the bus for the three and a half hour drive back to Seville. We did have a stop at the same road house we stopped at on the way there, but much shorter - though some people did take the opportunity to get food.

I wasn't especially hungry, but Rochelle wanted something so we stopped at a place (Bar Ratón) we saw had tinto de verado (the red wine + soft drink we'd had elsewhere) and ordered two of those - but then it all got a bit confusing; we once again ended up with an unwanted plate of prawns. But, rather than try to explain we hadn't ordered them, Rochelle ate them. I had the bread and mayonnaise that come with them. As it was way more than we wanted to eat (or spend), and given that this was the second time this had happened (and with prawns), I found myself a bit annoyed. A learning experience, I guess.

And that was it for the night.