Sue Visits Granada

Ben's Mom came to visit us at the end of February to check out our new home in Granada.

They explored the city and visited the beautiful Alhambra.

After viewing the garden and waiting to enter the palace they made some cat friends who were quite interested in Ben's chorizo sandwich.

The palace was as beautiful as ever and the gardens were still quite colorful even in winter.

Of course we enjoyed our fair share or tapas. Just up our street we had berenjenas con miel (fried eggplant with cane syrup) and salmon tostadas.

We all went to Parque de las Ciencias, the science museum. We were all really impressed with it and learned a lot. It worked perfectly as the day we went the weather was a bit harsh to be exploring outside.

Our favorite part was the butterfly exhibit, we even got to see a few emerge from their cocoons.

Here we are learning about ants!

After a nice last meal with Sue at one of our favorite fusion tapa bars, Babel, we walked home in the snow.

That day was the first time we saw snow in the city and everyone was out taking pictures. Yuki was quite the star.

Sierra Nevada

This winter we took a couple trips up to Sierra Nevada, the mountain range in Granada province. 

In January we went there with our friends Maisie and Bea to go sledding.

We went again in February to go snowboarding after we finally got a good snow. 

The mountain range, the ski resort, and the little town all go by the name of Sierra Nevada. You can see the town from the gondola.

This was my first time snowboarding here, but Ben took a trip here last winter. Here are a few pictures he took then. 

When we went this year it was extremely cloudy and we could barely see in front of us. On a clear day, like when Ben went last year, you can see Africa from the top of the mountain. In these pictures you can see the Mediterranean Sea in the distance.

There is a 30 meter telescope at the top of one of the peaks (Pico Veleta) with chairlifts ending on each side.

Caminto Del Rey

El Caminito del Rey is a pathway in the gorge near El Chorro, originally built for the workers constructing a hydroelectric plant as a means to transport materials between 1901 and 1905. A narrow pathway built into the gorge 100 meters above the river, it has been known as the world's most dangerous walkway since numerous people have died trying to cross it after it fell into disrepair. Ben's has wanted to do the Caminito since before we moved to Spain, so it has been on our list for quite a while. Luckily, in recent years the government has been restoring the walkway and it opened last year to the public, so we finally got to do it!

We had to wear hard hats since it can be windy in the gorge and falling rocks are a hazard.

The view of the river below!

You can see that the Caminito is built right into the sheer rock wall.

 

Across the gorge from el Caminito were train tracks that passed through the mountain.

In some places the new pathway is built directly over the old one. Before the new one was built, people used to cross it in climbing harnesses clipped to a wire that ran along the wall. 

Towards the end we crossed over the bridge to the other side of the gorge.

After el Caminito del Rey we went to the nearby town of Alora where we camped on the lake. We were visited by a cheeky fox that stole a sandwich out of our cooler.