It was Easter Sunday, we had exchanged our cards and gifts yesterday and in the morning it was time to wave my family off to the airport, we then made our way to Granada through the stunning scenery of the Seirra Nevada. We were under pressure as it was a long day of driving but we couldn't help absorbing the beautiful landscape. It was just over an hour and half to Granada from the Costa Del Sol, upon arriving we drove through the busy streets before finding secure parking which would cost a few Euros for the duration. We took a stroll through the old world atmosphere of the compact streets of Granada before finding ourselves at the bottom of a long walk up to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is an 11th century Islamic palace and fortress complex. Now we knew already there was a good chance we wouldn't get inside as you need to book at least 1 month in advance, I had looked at booking online a few weeks before we left but it was already fully booked. However we also read that if you turn up on the day there may be tickets, there had been but they'd sold out within 20 minutes of opening, bearing in mind this wasn't even in peak season! I've been lucky enough to have visited Alhambra before back in 2003 on a cruise and still remember how spellbinding it looked, Shannon was happy to just visit the gardens, so we were not dismayed, but if you want to visit you must book well in advance!
We then drove along more stunning landscape to Valencia which was a further 500km and over 5 hours journey away.
Our hotel was the Ilunion 3 located 20 minutes from the city centre, upon checking in we thought we were at the wrong place as the lobby was amazing and posh, we had paid £50 for the night which had been discounted from over £100 on expedia. However getting to the room we realised it was the right place after all, the room was big but basic kitted out exact same as munich hotel with an all plastic bathroom. We took the metro from just round the corner from our hotel, Metro station Beniferri to Àngel Guimerà for €3.50 return (within zones 1 and 2). We knew Valencia had lovely architectural buildings but didn't know much else, we started wandering, stopping for tapas and local cerveza before falling upon a plethora of stunning buildings, including the iconic Valencia Cathedral, which could easily have been used in Game Of Thrones.
As it was Easter, we decided upon the Valencian paella, which is snails, chicken and (easter) rabbit. (sorry).
And for the footy buffs- our hotel Ilunion 3 was located next to the new Valencia football stadium which is still under construction.
