Andalucía

The fireplace painting has been put on hold for now, while I search for the perfect shade - I'll update you all when I make some progress! In the meantime, I have been settling back into my day-to-day routine after a lovely trip to Andalucía in May. My hard-working husband had just finished his Masters in Business Administration (which he completed while holding down a full-time job) and really felt the need to recharge his batteries and I felt the need to spend some time with him again since he had been away for most weekends for the past 2 years while working on his degree!

We decided on Andalucía as our destination as we were only going away for a week and didn't want to spend too much of the holiday travelling, and it turned out to be the perfect choice. We stayed at a lovely little villa called La Bolina in the hills outside of the pretty village of Frigiliana. The location was quite remote, and despite having a look at the location on Google satellite maps the state of the roads was a bit of a shock, despite growing up in the Highlands of Scotland it has been quite a while since I have had to deal with single-track and it was quite a challenge to get to grips with especially when there were sheer drops and no crash barriers!
Although having our own infinity pool overlooking the valley with views of Frigiliana and beyond that the sea more than made up for it!

After a few trips to Frigiliana and Malaga we had developed our "mountain goat" driving skills we started feeling confident enough to venture further afield and headed out early one morning to visit the Alhambra palace in Granada. For me the best part of this visit were the beautiful gardens and fountains as well as the views which from the Generalife part were spectacular. I'm glad the we saw inside the Nasrid palaces, and although the tiling and vistas were beautiful I would have preferred to see a room set up with furniture to give you more of an idea as to how the rooms would have been used. I would also have loved to see the silk hangings that would have swayed gently in the breeze from the numerous arches that surround the walkways around the fountains.

We also managed to fit in a quick trip to Seville and even though we only saw a very small part of the city it was exactly as I had expected. As we walked through the labyrinth of streets and lanes that make up the Barrio Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter) we came across squares dotted with orange trees and lined with enticing cafes and restaurants. We also visited the Alcazar which did not disappoint and even had a peacock roaming the rooms inside (I think he was supposed to be outside but he did look very at home within the airy, beautifully tiled rooms!)

We also managed to fit in a visit to Nerja and enjoy a promenade along the Balcón de Europa which traverses the edge of the cliff and gives wonderful views down to the sea and beaches below. We are already looking forward to our next visit and there is still so much of Seville to see as well as breathtaking towns like Ronda to explore!