tim

Well there are some things that shouldnt be bothered with in southern Spain. Take the Balcon de Europe in Nerja. This is a former 14th Century castle that has fantastic views up and down the coast, and it must be pretty awesome, well it has to be with a name that translates as the Balcony of Europe! The Balcon de Europe: The entirely dissappointing former 14th century castle with great views So, seriously, we must forget all the other great places that could claim to be 'balconies of Europe', as Nerja has the best one - the only one. It is the Balcony of Europe. Needless to say it was dissapointing. It is basically just a promenade that is at the top of a not particularly high cliff with a not particularly good cafe on it. It has reasonable views up and down the coast, but nothing thats going to stick in the mind particularly long...

The rest of the town is pretty nice: Nerja is the first place along the coast that doesn't have the hideously-ugly-concrete-paving-slab-up-right-package-holiday-hotel-monstrosities that characterise most of the Costa del Sol, and as a result its a rather more sedate place than, for instance, Torremolinos. The Sierra de Almijarra mountains behind give it a dramatic backdrop and the beaches are above average. Couldn't quite figure out why there were so many Italian restaurants and just one or two Spanish ones... bizarre....

But if you want to see Andalucia you have to go into the mountains, into the old Moorish towns and villages. They're great - Frigilliana was the nicest we saw. Small winding streets between whitewashed flatroofed houses literally clinging to the side of hills and perched above gorges. There's a surprisingly funny coin operated automated puppet show thingamajig welcoming tourists to the town and explaining its history (well worth the 1euro) and paintings around the town descibing the Reconqista of the town by the Christians.

Go a bit further eastwards and into the Sierra Nevada and marvel as you drive past a motorway they're building that literally winds its way like a rollercoaster several hundred meteres in the air across a huge mountain gorge (Spanish roadbuilders don't do things by halves in the 21st century it seems!) and into the Alpujarras for some decent walks amidst more beautiful villages and impressive scenery, and if you're lucky some snow! We saw some, but it was an extra few hours walk and seeing as we weren't quite wearing what you would call proper walking clothes we gave it a miss.

Snow in Southern Spain: Snow atop the Sierra Nevada mountains

My final moan will be about Granada. Who designed that town? It's impossible to drive around. Who's in charge of signposting? It's impossible to find places. Who's in charge of the ticketing for the Alhambra? It's impossible to get tickets even three weeks in advance! And finally who's in charge of the weather? It rained the whole day...