April 16, 2024 – Malaga and Granada

Today we arrived in Malaga.  Last November, this was the only port in Spain before they cancelled the rest of the ports.  I was lucky to get one of the few spaces for a trip to Granada to see the Alhambra and the gardens.   We got on the bus at 815am.  Unfortunately 3 couples hadn’t read the instructions that we needed our passports to enter the Alhambra.  We finally left the port at 845am.
It takes 2+ hours to drive to Granada from Malaga. We first passed almond tress and then miles and miles of olive trees.  They say there are 500 million olive trees in Spain.   We got to Granada at 11am and after a short drive through the city arrived at our first stop – the Alhambra Gardens.  We spent an hour in the gardens and then headed over to Nasrid Palace.  The Palace was beautiful .  We walked over 4 miles.  A surprise for me was finding out that Washington Irving had spent time in Granada.

We had lunch at a hotel near the Palace and had time to rest before heading back to the ship.  We arrived back at 545pm and were the last to board the ship.   I had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill.   I had planned on having grilled halibut but the Filet with Lobster Dumplings was too tempting.  It was delicious. 

My friend Jordan lives in Malaga. He took a quick trip home today to drop off his big luggage and visit with his dog.

Tomorrow is Cartagena. I’ve been there before so will just do a bus tour.