11 October 2019: Granada to Alhama de Granada (36 miles-320 total)

October 12, 2019

We targeted 8:30 am to start and were rolling by 8:45 am, one of our earlier starts. We exited Granada using maps.me without significant confusion. Once we cleared the central city streets, we found a bike trail that ran through the outskirts to a nearby town.

The terrain was flat across the broad river valley before climbing several ridges. The air was dry and the roads are dusty. The last rain was probably 3-4 weeks past. Road surfaces today were excellent, as with nearly every day. Michael and I agreed that the roads in Spain are better than what we found in France last year. Winding roads, good surfaces, minimal traffic, courteous drivers, and multiple small villages offered ideal touring. Big historic cities are interesting but not that great for our style of bike touring.

Unpicked field corn and asparagus was evident in the lower portions of the river valley where irrigation water was available. Many of the crops have been harvested, the fields tilled, and the farmers are waiting for rain before re-planting. As we climbed out of the river valley, agricultural land transitioned to olives, almonds, and then oak trees with acorns. We saw a few covered garden structures that appeared to have been planted in trellised tomato plants.

Today’s weather was cooler, with high cloud cover and cooling light wind. John saw a forecast of rain east of Granada but none for our area.

We could not find lodging listed for Alhama, our planned overnight stop, so we booked a spa/resort several miles outside Alhama by a lake. I much prefer to stay in the town center with nearby stores and restaurants. After stopping for lunch in Alhama, (Seeing a small hotel next to our restaurant), we had a sharp, 1.5-mile climb then descent to our lodging. The hotel featured a hot spring/spa, their slight claim to fame. We booked 2, twin rooms, quite adequate. It’s early to bed, with no internet and Spanish TV.

Tomorrow, 12 October, is a national holiday, the Fiesta Nacional de España is the national day of Spain. It commemorates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first arrival in the Americas.

Perhaps we will encounter free drinks and street dancing. The hotel restaurant is closed this evening, so we had to eat before 6 pm. Breakfast is included, a buffet, but it does not open until 10 am, to they agreed to give us something at 8:30, probably coffee and toast. The internet is slow and only available in the bar, not the rooms, so I’m writing this in Word and will add photos and post it tomorrow.

Our Granada Apartment. Nondescript entry to our 5th floor apartment (4c), , as "0" is the 1st floor.

Harvested and tilled.

Cat of the Day

Village Market. They said that people would be purchasing them to place on graves.

Calvin Klein's made in China.

Many roads have signs like this.

Long steady descent above a reservoir.

A group of perhaps 30 runners passed. They had Australian accents, no idea why they were there. The age range seemed to be 30-50.

Looking down from the dam.

Acorns.

Almonds

Fixer-Upper

Great little lunch stop in Alhama, before the climb to our hotel. That's the tapas included with our drinks, the best shrimp we have had in Spain. I barely got this photo, that's John's hand in the foreground and Robin with his glove on.

In Spain, Washington Irving wrote "Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada" (1829) and his best known work "Tales of the Alhambra" which was first published in London in 1832 under the title "The Alhambra; a series of tales and sketches of the Moors and the Spaniards". He came first to Madrid called by the ambassador of his the USA to study in El Escorial the documents related to the discovery of the New World (1826-1829). Much like "George Washington slept here," many people come to Andalusia to retrace his route between Seville and Granada.