16 November 2022 - La Zubia

Miles driven today = 43

Total Miles to date = 3,229

We topped up with diesel and ad-blue before we left the coast this morning.  We hadn't done the latter since we were in Galicia so I thought it was about time before we start getting dashboard warning lights coming on.  I love it though when you get rebated the tax and your fuel bill suddenly decreases by €14 simply because you use a UK debit card.

We picked up the A44 motorway which saw us cruising along the western fringes of the Sierra Nevada.  Even with some intermittent light rain the hills were absolutely spectacular.  It's crazy to think that people actually come here to ski in the winter months and we're only a couple of weeks away from that.  They are predicting temperatures to drop as low as 2 degrees around here at the weekend but we will probably be at lower altitudes by then.

Within the hour we were approaching Granada and we could see the city stretching out before us as we made a right turn to La Zubia, which lies less than 5 miles to the South.

We are in Camping Reina Isabel, which, unusually, I booked a few days in advance.  I wanted to make sure we got in here as camping options around Granada are relatively limited and this place has a bus stop for the city centre right outside the gate.

It's a mature site (as in it's been here for a while), moderate in size and costs €20 a night for two people in a van plus another €4.40 for hook up.  We are booked in for two nights and have taken the hook up option as I had no idea whether we would need it when I booked.

We went for a stroll round the town after lunch.  There's nothing particularly remarkable about it other than the views of the mountains all around.

We also took a walk down to the local Mercadona for some milk and fresh veg. Christmas is coming.  Look at all those joints of jambon.  We're seriously tempted to buy one before we leave Spain, although storing it all the way through France and back to the UK might be an issue.

The old vino tinto is still pretty cheap here.  Barely €1 per litre if you buy it in family size bottles.

We spotted a shepherd steering his flock around a fairly major roundabout but otherwise it's been a quiet afternoon.  

Tomorrow I have a ticket to visit the Alhambra.  When we started out on this trip we had no idea how far round the Iberian Peninsular we would get but if there was one place I really wanted to see before we started to head for home it's the Alhambra.  So I've spent a while this afternoon swatting up on what to expect there.  I had been forewarned to book well in advance.  They only allow 6,500 visitors per day so I reserved my slot over a week ago, while we were sitting in the shadow of Gibraltar.  Even then tickets for today were completely sold out.  We were talking to a French guy earlier who has been well and truly caught out in assuming you could just rock up and pay on the gate.  Lisa has been to the Alhambra before so she is looking for alternatives to keep herself entertained, either finding something else to do in Granada or perhaps just a Netflix day here in the van.  

17 November 2022 - The Alhambra