Granada in January

[Jocla]

Coming over shortly to my place in the sun in Gran Alacant    Got Tres Besos booked for Christmas evening dinner and Molly Malones booked for New Years Eve .... so excited 😆
Looking forward to lovely walks in the sun along the promenade at Arenales and Santa Pola.  Also thinking of a short trip to Granada in early January.  Has anyone got any recommendations for hotels and places of interest ( aside from the Alhambra which is first on my list!)
Best wishes to everyone on the forum for 2022.  Let’s hope it’s better than the last couple of years .

[kevinb]

Good luck Jocla, hope you have a good time, we are going out to GA in early January, looking forward to our visit.

[wilson]

Granada is a lovely historic city, outside of palace there are lots of churches and museums but I would check opening times as it’s winter. It will also be cold so take suitable clothes as the surrounding mountains should be snow covered.
Seems a few GA restaurants doing Xmas day meals some quite pricey at €65 in my opinion but maybe they know there audience.
I would say not many visitors in the area GA is quiet so was Alicante and Benidorm.

[gaveteran]

I don't want to be the voice of gloom, but if you want me to take up you New Years dinner at 5-1 on I am game. €50? Who books a Christmas meal in the middle - and it's certainly the middle - a pandemic?  The school will shut in the next couple of days since cases are spiralling, rapid tests are selling out of the chemists, the hospitals are filling up, but hey! Crack on!

[wilson]

I do agree Gaveteran this is far from over and caution is key. The Wilsons are extremely careful both in the uk and in GA. Whilst we’re out and about all the time we keep our distance and just won’t do inside venues always outside. We wipe tables and chairs and do our utmost to stay safe. We have seen some locations in GA which have been busy inside with the doors shut and everyone having a jolly time, average age about 70 in my mind bonkers so we walk on by and leave them to it.
Your also correct about an apparent shortage of tests at the moment, we leave our surplus boxes with our lovely Spanish neighbour.

[kevinb]

Went out to dinner last night at a restaurant on the marina near our house in the UK, there was only a dozen people eating, had a chat with the waitress, they had bookings for 140 for tonight ( Friday) but over the last week had 110 cancellations, depressing.

[Spurs]

We all have to make decisions about where we go and who we see over Christmas. But the messages coming out from all of our leaders both Boris and the EU make no sense at all . We still have about 20% of the over 12s not vaccinated in Uk , in some countries they now have restrictions on them but not in the uk. The govt don’t seem to have a will to push this issue in the uk .
France have banned brits from their country but leave a huge 300 mile border with Germany that is in a worse position than the uk wide open . I get it’s all about the schenegen agreement but from a virus point of view it makes no sense.
We wear masks in shops on trains on buses etc but not in the pub or restaurant , people ask for a lockdown without working out they can easily have one if they want by staying indoors.

The virus as far as I know doesn’t realise it must not affect people in pubs and restaurants or that it is only allowed into France from another EU country.

We all have to individually look at our own situation look at the risks of who we mix with and where , you will certainly make a more sensible decision than the grown ups in power who all seem to be in headless chicken mode again

[wilson]

Being in Spain is quite surreal, sat at Sebas corner in the sun, all the tables out, quite busy everyone having lunch the global pandemic seems another world.
Flying back over the weekend into the eye of the storm. fortunately my neighbors in Shropshire have signalled the beginning of the end.
On a different note the demolition of the Arenales hotel is complete, whilst I’m no structural engineer it looks to me that a base is being created, who mentioned the Mayors brother was a builder so watch this space literally.

[sunseekers]

I only saw a load of rubble still being cleared and the digger still taking down the walls of the pool. Would be nice to see it either restored to beach or a low level seating area that wouldn’t spoil the view that’s going to be seen from the lovely little square opposite. Was there two days ago

[ian-steele]

what has happened to this Granada thread, have we got crossed wires !

[wilson]

what has happened to this Granada thread, have we got crossed wires !

In all fairness the initial thread was multi faceted the trip to Granada being part of it. I gave half an answer as not been there in recent years. That leaves 780 members to give further assistance which judging by the tumbleweed is not going to be forthcoming anytime soon hence you get thread drift.
On a separate note a great time was had last night at the London Tavern Xmas afternoon tea a packed house in and out, great food and the energetic Kim Peters belting out classics whilst stood on he bar, many sore heads today.

[Mallard]

Back to Granada. I drove down a few years ago now and stayed at the hotel Los Angles which was very good  central , and mountain view from balcony.  Worth looking at the cave houses in Guadix on the way.
In Granada the cathedral burial place of the catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella not to be missed as well as the rest of the old centre.  In the evening a walk or drive up to the Albacin area with very narrow streets gives lovely views of the Alhambra.  One warning in narrow roads they had horrible metal barriers that pop up from the road if it’s no entry or only buses and taxis .Not always clear from signs so a good city plan needed.

[Jocla]

Hi everyone ...thanks for your varied replies.  I don’t mind if the topic wanders - to be fair I did talk about Gran Alacant (of course!) and Granada. 
Thankyou to Wilson for mentioning the temperature.  I might need to bring my puffa jacket and woolly hat from Scotland.  Only got thin jackets in GA 😎
Thankyou to Mallard for your Granada tips and hotel recommendation.  I’ll enjoy googling that later.
My husband is in GA already so I know how quiet it is. 
Things are not looking great here in UK and with France closing her borders ( and just heard about the Netherlands) I will be delighted to even get on the flight to Spain !
I’ll keep you posted when ( hopefully) I get to GA .

[Tony Gillam]

In order to remain on topic, I remember when Granada was a TV company. 

[Aficionado]

Looks well

https://www.booking.com/hotel/es/hotellosangeles.html?aid=311076;label=hotel-91663-es-2TXU7iPyImC6rzDgFMMhygS466329437996%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap%3Aneg%3Afi%3Atikwd-328057892325%3Alp1007288%3Ali%3Adec%3Adm%3Appccp%3DUmFuZG9tSVYkc2RlIyh9YX-SVbABBf1_TwNC0YE2R9c;sid=c95d6f2cfe21aaa827d79c16c2f89738;dest_id=-384328;dest_type=city;dist=0;group_adults=2;group_children=0;hapos=0;hpos=0;no_rooms=1;req_adults=2;req_children=0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;sr_order=popularity;srepoch=1639906459;srpvid=c458434cecc502c4;type=total;ucfs=1&#hotelTmpl

Only ever in Granada once, on a trip to the Alhambra and staying overnight in the Parador there, so never really saw the city other than from the bus. Would love to go back some day and have a proper look.