Our beach holiday is behind us with Easter memories of one last procession, Paella & calamaritos for lunch & yummy steak for dinner as well as the white capped Mediterranean blowing salty sea sparay goodbye kisses. (that was cheezy!!)  
The drive to Granada is short and sweet so we decided to lengthen it a bit by driving up to the local ski hill. With a 30cm base (just heard Big White back home got a 30cm powder snowfall) the hill didn't look too appealing with rocks and dirt showing between the runs. However this hill is bigger and much more inviting than the one we saw in Portugal. Set in the north part of the Sierra Nevada National Park this area has pine trees, not just desert scrub like the area we drove through a few days ago. The village was packed with people carrying their skiis from various hotels and parking lots, through the sun baked roads wearing full on ski gear, towards the lift lines. Above the village there was a small area where renting snow sleds was big business (as well as selling gloves, wool hats and sunglasses). Here there were at least 100 people having a great time on dirt/snow hills that were, at the same time, being carved up by back hoes busily collecting snow to distribute on the slowly eroding ski runs. The amazing thing is that they were all cold and loving it. Shane and I were in t-shirts feeling warmer than we did when the wind was blowing at night off the Sea. All in all it was a great diversion. The drive up was pretty, though busy as it is still Easter holidays, overlooking the valley below with steep cliffs of burgundy and mustard coloured rock.  
Then we got to Granada. We thought the ski hill was busy! The hotel we booked is in a great location right across from the entrance to La Alhambra. Unfortunately that also means cars, motorbikes & tour buses all use the same road. Pulled in to a 10 minute parking spot while we checked in then tried to find out how to do a u-turn (yes Anne & Bruce, I know it's easier with a bike!) so we could park our car. Finally, after gently explaining to a weary policeman that we were yet more haggared tourists, we made our way to the lot(s). Lot 1 & 2 are close to the hotel but they were full, as was lot 3. So we wearily made our way back to Lot 4 and found a spot.  
Then there was the news that the tickets we had asked the hotel to book were no longer available. Sold out.  "You will have to go in 2 days". That's not gonna happen. (Big note to fellow travellers....book tickets on line!) Turns out she was able to get us nights ticket to the palace (10pm - 11:30 the next night) but we'd have to take our chances getting tickets for the garden & General life. Found out they were sold out for that day so we wandered down to the old part of town for the afternoon. It's actually a very pretty town with a unique center and lots of young hippies. Honestly I thought I'd gone back in history to the 60's. Turns out this is a haven for artsy types which explains the macrame, leather work, sketching, dread locks & clothing straight from Marrakech. That wasn't the history I was looking for but interesting never the less. There is a very strong Moroccan influence here in 'bazzar' type of way. All the souvenir shops are full of Moroccan leather goods, weaving, clothing, jewelery etc. There are also a lot of middle eastern restaurants which makes the "Tapas tour" route on the map an interesting novelty.  
Up bright and early the next morning we joined the queue, and met some delightful people, all waiting to get one of the 500 tickets not already booked. Some people were there at 4am! We didn't get there until just before 8 and I was very glad to find a place for take out coffee (behind the credit card only line up). By the time we got tickets the general admission ones were sold out. Good thing for us we can see the palace at night. So we picked up two tickets for the garden & general life. (Another note to tourists...the lineups are confusing. One to pick up pre paid tickets, one for cash only & one for credit cards only. The credit card line goes faster...we know this because some of the people we met had one person in each line keeping track by cell phone).
The tickets we got were well worth the price. The gardens are beautiful, full of spring flowers and immaculately manecured. Views over the city were stunning in the sun as was the view back to the glacier & ski hill we visited the day before. I can't think of a better way to spend a morning than wandering through a garden, peeking in to a church or a palace, then wandering back through a garden stopping along the way for photos or a sit down. Climbing up the steps here seems so easy after a week in La Herradura.  
A rest and a good meal before setting off for our night visit to La Alhambra. (**Another note to travellers..... When you get a night ticket to the palace it doesn't mean you can enter at the same gate that everyone else does. At night, only, you must go down to the road... Take the corner,..go past the first turn and turn on the second...no English signs. If we hadn't been there earlier in the day we would have joined the masses looking confused as they tried to find out where they should go. We found the line up for the palace and proceeded to stand in line until 10:30. Apparently your 10 - 11:30 ticket only starts at 10:30 by which time you are slightly frozen and actually tired of the enchanting evening view from the mount). It was a very good thing that the palace was worth the visit. Stunning is the only word to describe the delicate carvings, reflecting pools, ambience and opulence of this once vibrant Moorish palace. It was a fitting end to our two days in Granada. Tired and satisfied we wandered the quiet streets back down the hill, past two roads on our left to the hotel we thought was right across from the entrance. Comfy bed & a good sleep.