Malaga – Heading to Alhambra in Granada

Tick Tick Tick, this is another new port crossed off our list of places we have not visited before.

Beautiful first glimpses as we stepped upstairs on the open decks

As the sun rose, so did the city right in front of our eyes

Malaga is a lovely port city on the Costa Del Sol. It would be easy to spend the day in this beautiful Spanish seaside city, with its spectacular buildings, parks, and sandy beaches. And if there is a next time, that is exactly what we will do ….

But today we decided to travel further afield and visit historical Granada and the amazing Alhambra.

We booked another great tour with Spain Day Tours, and they married the six of us up into a group of about 18 people and gave us a large 40-seater bus to take us on the 2-hour drive to Granada.  Stopping after an hour at a roadside café/souvenir store for a comfort stop and coffee.

The countryside was amazingly green and the agriculture just seem to spread out over mountain after mountain.

Constant little reminders of home.....

Hello Granada

Once arriving in Granada our bus climbed the hilltop until we reached our goal for the day.

“The Alhambra is Granada’s – and Europe's – love letter to Moorish Culture. Set against the brooding Sierra Nevada peaks, this fortified palace started life as a walled citadel before becoming the opulent seat of Granada’s Nasrid emirs”. This is how it is described by Lonely Planet.

And they were not wrong, it does not take much imagination to envisage how grand the area would have been.  With spectacular views and the magnificent “Generalife” gardens, it is the Nazaries Palace that has pride of place.

Through the centuries and the ever-changing occupations, you can still see signs of Roman and Christian influences in the structures within the complex.

Alhambra

Generalife Gardens

Pictures from the Palace of Nazare

Sorry for all the photos.... well no I am not as this place is so beautiful, I couldn't choose

one of the many tessellated tiles that can be found on the walls and floors of the palace

so ornate

spectacular views from the palace

After touring Alhambra, we were taken down to the town centre of Granada where we were left to explore on our own. 

hmm... look what everyone rubs for luck!

Everyone vying for the only bits of shade waiting for the bus

Heading back to the ship we were not left much time to do any other exploring in Malaga and we will have to leave that for our next visit.

Back in Malaga

On our return, we found out that we would be spending another couple of hours in port whilst divers cleaned any parasites that attached themselves to the hull of our ship.  This was an issue last year and there were a few ships that missed ports as certain port authorities would not allow them to sail in their waters.

Divers at work