Day 25 - Bike ride Granada to Alhambra Granada

Now THIS is the Spain we've been waiting to see!  We had a pretty big bike ride to warm us up, 65kms and 3 massive climbs (well by our Beach Rd standards anyway!) with the final climb finishing in town at 900m. But it didn't seem to matter; as soon as we got a bit tired or thought the hill would never finish, we'd just have a look at where we were and the surrounding scenery. It was just spectacular!  Gorgeous little farms growing wheat, herbs & olive trees as far as the eye can see.  But it gives the land scape a really intersting patchwork appearance. Even the fields that look like weeds are pretty as they're full of red poppies and then yellow and purple flowers (which could be herbs or something for all I know!)  and everything else is bright green. 

The towns are all white with caramel colored roofs and they,re just dotted across the countryside and perched precariously on hill tops in many cases.  And then of course there are the specacular, rugged and still snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada. 

We're told that Cadel Evans is training around here having just finished some local race where he came 5th, so we're in pretty impressive company!

We ride into the massively steep streets, even when you're walking! of the tiny town of Alhambra and get taken by our wonderful Dutch hosts to the natural springs just outside of town and let our legs recover after a massive day lugging our extra holiday weight around and then get taken to a great little restaurant for dinner.
We can't figure out why this place doesn't rate as highly as Tuscany; certainly the countyside is up there, perhaps the towns aren't up to comparison with Sienna, etc.