Trish and I took a few days out to travel up to Grenada and the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Another world heritage city, Grenada is truly fabulous with a long a varied history.

The Alhambra Palace complex, built by the Moors when they controlled virtually the whole of the Iberian Peninsula and taken over by the Spanish when they finally reconquered the area in the 1400’s.

The old monastery within the Alhambra walls has been converted into a Parador hotel.

The old city of Grenada is also really interesting and the Albacine built on the hillside opposite the Alhambra was the home of the Muslim population and is a tightly packed network of houses, narrow streets and gardens.

The Sierra Nevada mountains provide a spectacular backdrop to the city of Grenada and must look fantastic when they are covered in snow in the wintertime. Trish and I took a short detour on the return journey and drove up to 2,550 metres to the large ski complex. The air was definitely a lot cooler and a welcome relief to the mid 30’s down in the valley and there were quite a few cyclists that had made the long climb into the mountains as well as walkers of all ages headed up into the hills.