Granada

On Monday we moved on to Granada, by train from Ronda and then were transferred to a bus at Antequera as the rail line has been out for some time due to track works. It was a nice trip through the Andalusian countryside, olive plantations being the main agricultural activity. The trains and stations we have been to in Spain have all been very clean and well maintained. Antequera St. Ana, where we did the bus transfer is brand new, and it looks like the new track work is for high speed trains. It is a good mode of travel in Spain.

Granada is a bustling city, with many young people as it is a university town. It is quite noisy and there are lots of motorbikes. We are staying at an NH Collection hotel, as we did in Seville, and appreciate the sound proofing, they have both been lovely places to stay. That night we went to dinner at an Andalusian restaurant and had an amazing feast of seven courses. It was a struggle! You certainly do not go hungry in this part of Spain.

The next day we hardly ate, apart from the free tapas you get whenever you order a drink in Granada.

We visited the Alhambra, one of the great sights of Europe. Beautiful gardens, a Moorish palace and a fort. It is well worth seeing, the highlight being the Palacios Nazaries. It is such a popular sight, you need to buy your tickets days ahead, and are allotted a specific entry time. The palace was built in the 14th century and gives an insight into the civilisation of Al-Andalus - rooms decorated with carved wooden ceilings, stucco 'stalactites', ceramic tiles, filigree windows and molded plaster walls; open air courtyards with ponds. 

The cathedral in Granada is very grand, but at the Monastery of St Jeronimo we saw a very striking church with fresco covered walls.

Ronda

Our next destination was Ronda, two and a half hours from Jerez by bus. It is a picturesque ride, with stops at several white hill towns and views of the peaks of the Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema. Ronda has a spectacular location on a gorge and the Puente Nuevo joins the old and new towns.

The bull ring is an interesting visit, being the oldest and largest in Spain. The history of bull fighting is told in an exhibit - a famous matador of the 1700s, Pedro Romero, killed nearly 6000 bulls, and he lived to be over 80.

Our hotel, Enfrente Art, is a real gem. We have a spacious room with a terrace which leads out to a swimming pool that we have appreciated on the hot afternoons. They have a help your self bar, even with draught beer. In the evening you can walk through the gardens to a terrace that overlooks the countryside as the sun sets enjoying complimentary sangria and tapas. We will be sad to leave.

Cadiz

We visited Cadiz on Thursday, a comfortable half hour train journey from Jerez. Situated in the Bay of Cadiz, the city is surrounded by water. The inner city has many lovely plazas from which narrow streets sprout with closely packed Moorish style homes. It claims to be the oldest city in Europe and one of the sites we visited was the excavation of a Roman Theatre. The cathedral is very striking with its yellow tiled dome. We said good bye to Michael and Claire who are staying there for a few days, as we returned to Jerez for one more night.

We went to our favourite restaurant again, and had grilled sea bass. There is a lot of variety in the sea food available and it is very good. Buskers perform for you if you dine on the street, there is a good flamenco guitarist, an average piano accordion player and a dreadful gypsy pair that sing and dance flamenco. He sings and she dances in a dirty pair of leggings. Fortunately that night we missed out on the gypsies. 

Arcos de la Frontera

On Wednesday we caught the bus for a half hour journey to Arcos, a white washed hill town. Jerez has a large bus station but it was very quiet with few passengers. Signage was minimal but locals will readily help out if you are looking uncertain. The bus drops you off in the lower town and then it is a bit of a climb up to the old town. There are two churches, both with very ornate interiors and many statues, some of which are used in the Easter parades. They also both have the mummified remains of Saints from the third century on view. A bit macabre.

In the evening we had a tour of a small craft brewery, La Jerezana Cerveza Artesana. It has very small scale production but he makes 11 different brews. It was interesting to learn that he buys his malt from a company in Bamberg, one of our favourite Bavarian towns. We did a tasting where we rated the beers by sight, aroma and taste. They were very good.

Olives and olive oil are in abundance here. Drinks are nearly always accompanied by a bowl of soft and tasty green olives. Food is cooked and served in liberal amounts of oil and bottles are left out on the table in case you want to add more. Anchovies are also very nice, quite different to the tiny ones we get back home. Not as salty and they combine very well with tomatoes. We also have had pork tenderloin, which is a very tender cut we are unfamiliar with.

We are keeping later hours than we normally do when we travel, you certainly need a quiet afternoon when the heat beats down. The streets are very quiet mid afternoon, but as evening comes on people emerge and even babies and children are up late in to the night.

Jerez de la Frontera

Our next destination was Jerez, a town in the sherry triangle. Our Seville hotel was conveniently situated to the San Bernadino train station and we had a pleasant one hour trip on a Media Distancia train that went up to speeds of 160 km/h. The Jerez train station is very decorative.

We had temperatures in the low 30s today, it seems a little cooler than Seville as it is closer to the Atlantic. In the afternoon we visited Bodegas Tradicion for a sherry tasting and tour. We learned about the painstaking process of producing fine sherry through the solero system. The end product will be a blend of many years and is very labour intensive with the transferring of different vintages between the barrels of sherry. Palomino fino, pedro ximenez and moscatel are the varieties grown in this area and used for sherry. They are hand picked at night according to our guide.

The long days seem to fly by here and we are soon on Spanish time, dining late. We went to a recommended restaurant, Reino de Leon, and it was superb with a great choice of tapas and raciones (larger serves), also a good selection of wine by the glass or bottle, and of course, sherries. Food highlights were melt in your mouth croquettes, beef carpaccio and tender steaks. We will return. As we walked back to our hotel, the plazas were full of people enjoying the balmy summer evening.

Tuesday we attended a show at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art to see the dancing horses, it was a marvellous show. It is actually a university so the performers are a mix of students and their professors. Then around the corner to Sandemans which is a large sherry and port producer. Their tour and tasting was very informative. We found the medium and sweet sherries more approachable than the fino which is very dry.

Seville continued

Lunch was at a tapas restaurant in the Barrio Santa Cruz. This is the old Jewish quarter and is a charming jumble of narrow shady streets and plazas. Then a visit to the  Alcazar which dates from the 10th century and is built in the Mudejar style which is a mix of Christian and Islamic elements. It is a stunning palace with lush, sprawling gardens.

We enjoyed a flamenco show followed by another great meal. There are many tapas restaurants in Seville and the food is very tasty including a lot of seafood - pan fried baby squid is delicious, as was the seafood paella. Washed down with sangria or the local beer, Cruzcampo.

Seville has the largest cathedral in Spain and it is a major landmark of the city.

Seville is a fine city to visit with interesting sites, great food and friendly locals. We have been fortunate to have Claire to help with translating issues, particularly at restaurants. We are starting to learn some of the foods that appear on the menus, there is quite a selection.

Seville

We flew out from Gatwick airport, which is an easy 1 hour train ride from Witley. Seville welcomed us with clear blue skies and temperatures in the 30s. Time to pack the umbrella away and bring out the sun hat. It is a comfortable city of tree lined boulevards and pedestrian only zones around the main sites. The narrow streets and plazas in the older parts are particularly attractive. 

Our first sightseeing destination was the Plaza de Espana, a massive complex built for an exposition in 1929.

Surrey

Singapore Airlines delivered us comfortably to Heathrow Airport, arriving ahead of schedule. It was pretty quiet at 5.30 am. We had booked a pickup through minicabit and the driver also turned up early so we were soon on our way to Michael and Claire's home in Wormley, Surrey. We were happy to be driving against the main traffic flow as there was a lot of congestion on the motorways heading in the direction of London. The drive took less than hour, and was a much better idea than using the combination of bus and train which was the alternative. Minicabit offer very reasonable rates, you just book and pay ahead online. We had a friendly driver and a roomy Ford Galaxy.

Michael was working from home that day so he was there to welcome us. It was very exciting to see his new home for the first time. It is in a very peaceful area with attractive homes and gardens, fields and ancient forests. The great asset they have is being only a 5 minute walk from Witley train station.

We have enjoyed watching the local bird life visiting the garden, including a woodpecker.

Today we did a14 km circular walk through some of the local villages and woodlands. It is very picturesque countryside with some spectacular homes also. In Hambledon we had tea at the village shop looking over the cricket green on which they were preparing for the bi annual fete. The friendly locals invited us to attend. Everyone is very friendly around here and will always greet you as you walk past. By lunchtime we were in Chiddingfold, where the Crown Inn dates from 1365, making it the oldest licensed inn in England. A nice place to stop for lunch and an ale. The rain came down as we approached the end of our walk but fortunately we were prepared with coats and umbrellas which you always seem to need handy here.