Spain travel

Good and Bad Hotels

Granada is certainly a beautiful City. After several closed restaurants we managed to find a nice Italian place where the pasta was very good, as was the wine.

On the rooftop patio.
On the rooftop patio.

After our disappointment the previous day with waiting 45 minutes only to be told all the tickets for the Alhambra were sold-out. We showed up 30 minutes before the ticket office opened to find a couple of hundred people already in line. We waited about 90 minutes to be told that all the tickets for the main display, the Palace of Nasrid, were already sold out. It is supposed to be spectacular, I will never know. The good news is that we then got a reduced fee in. We still managed to see everything else and it was a beautiful day so all was not lost. If you are ever planning on going there make sure you buy your tickets on line well ahead of time to avoid disappointment.

The Alhambra is an amazing area for relaxation and contemplation.

Posing in the gardens
Posing in the gardens

With views that are very impressive.

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The view from the Watch Tower. With the Sierra Nevadas in the background.
The view from the Watch Tower. With the Sierra Nevadas in the background.

You can be walking along and see an opening in a hedge or wall and poke your head through to find a whole other series of gardens and ponds. It is a very cool place with water everywhere.

Even the hand rails of these steps had water running down each side with occasionally eddies built in so you could scoop water out to cool yourself. Very neat.
Even the hand rails of these steps had water running down each side with occasionally eddies built in so you could scoop water out to cool yourself. Very neat.

If you ever treat yourself to touring this place make sure to give yourself at least 3 to 4 hours once you are inside and stop and enjoy the brilliance of it’s design.

Enjoying the fountains.
Enjoying the fountains.
The flowers were gorgeous.
The flowers were gorgeous.

And just a word to the gamers out there. It is creepy walking around the Alhambra if you have ever played Assassins Creed. The architecture and layout of the towns are disturbingly famaliar.

A bit of Assassins Creed.
A bit of Assassins Creed.

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The hotels we have been staying in thus far have been excellent for the most part.  However the world is not perfect. After touring the Alhambra we headed south to Malaga in hopes of finding a hotel, and booking a scuba diving day. Not destined to happen that day. We ended up at the TYRP Malaga Guadalmar Hotel which had decent reviews. Well sometimes you get burned. This Hotel is located in the armpit of Malaga with no amenities nearby. Collectively the front desk staff were as indifferent as you could find. However the piece of work we had to deal with when the wifi connections broke down, the batteries in the room safe died, the batteries in the control for the air conditioning unit died, and not being able to find the combination for the gate into the grounds was disgusting. He was the most dismissive arrogant tool I have encountered in a long time. It is amazing how one place can cause so much grief. Due to the communication problems we were unable to get a dive trip planned for the next day. Never stay at this hotel and if you know anyone travelling to the area please pass the word.

Welcome to our travel blog. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to say, "I'm out of here?" Well we did, and in 2013 we made it a reality. We sold or gave away all of our possessions other than what fit in our luggage and we set off on an endless adventure. Part of our goal is to share our experiences with others and hopefully provide some information, motivation, or just a moments escape. The general idea was to look for a place that would be ideal to settle down in. However in the meantime it is about experiencing life in different countries amongst different cultures and learning how to understand and appreciate each other. A large part of our time is spent housesitting which provides an excellent opportunity to experience more of the "normal" neighbourhoods as opposed to the tourist locales. Though we make sure to enjoy those as well. So through plenty of photographs and a running commentary come and share with us our life on the road.

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