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Sara (on the left) and Isabel on our terrace overlooking the Alhambra.
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The girls, still in front of the Alhambra. It gets lit up at night, and looks fantastic. Unfortunately none of my nighttime shots came out. :-(
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Me happily sandwiched between the lovely Sara and the delicous Isabel, again on our terrace.
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...and they've switched places! Yes, still me and the girls. I got some jealous stares around town!
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The tourist information square in Granada. The place is quite pretty, and here I'm in the old part of the town.
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I know what you're thinking. Where's the rest of the booze?
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We actually had large bottles of spirits laid on by the owners of the appartment - nice! (Note yukky blue carrier bag has disappeared - I love Photoshop!)
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An unauthorized snap catching me unawares.
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Not sure what Isabel's smiling about, she's nearly finished her drink!
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Daniel san! Look eye, always look eye! For those interested, when cheers-ing in Spain you must always look people in the eye. Otherwise there's a 7-year bad sex curse thing. Needless to say we made sure to stare each other out when making toasts. Small Medium Huge |
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More fun with the camera auto-timer.
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The girls admire the view at night. The lights on the Alhambra are switched off at 4am, and we were up to see it most nights. The Spanish "let's go out, it's 11pm" style of living took a while to get used to!
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Here we thought the Alhambra was burning down. This alarmed us as it was the morning of our visit (you need to buy tickets in advance).
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We rang the local police, and they assured us it was okay and that the gardeners were simply burning off some greenery. The smoke seemed to die down and the place was still in one piece when we went to visit. Overreaction? Nah...
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This is a lovely street cat we made friends with, and we called her "Bonita" (Spanish for pretty-girl).
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One bowl of milk later, and we've made a friend for life!
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More Bonita.
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No, we haven't swatted Bonita. The bat is propping up the table.
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Me and the cat.
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The lovely Isabel points out where our appartment is located, just across the valley from the Alhambra. Hence the great view!
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The girls in the gardens of the Alhambra.
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Sara and Isabel clowning around.
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Much more like it. Note the easy stance, nonchalant raised eyebrow, and stowed sunglasses.
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Fantastic gardens, once open only to the royal family in Granada.
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I think we'd missed the best of the flowers, but it was still lovely in the gardens.
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I do like the sky in this one - very moody. "Vista" kinda springs to mind.
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Isabel amongst the flowers.
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Palm trees and everything. This mediterranean thing is great.
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Outside the impressive Alhambra Palace.
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Sara by a window in the palace. Behind her, you can see some detail of the wall. The Alhambra is originally a Muslim palace, and their faith doesn't permit them to decorate with pictures of people or animals. Thus the walls are decorated with flowery patterns, and often text from their scriptures.
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Silly photo-of-you-photo-of-me photo.
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The Alhambra is full of water features, which make for some great shots.
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Sara takes a photo of me sprawled on the ground taking the previous shot. I can't wait to see that one. Oh no.
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Happy smiling people.
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The group separate so the fountain in the background can be seen. Since so much of the palace includes water features, there's a lot of water-damaged sculpture. Some of the pieces have been replaced with replicas, so that the fountains can be restored to their full glory.
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Awh.
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Silly photos #3: Me lying on the floor, taking a photo of the ceiling, with the girls flashing a smile.
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Amazing architecture in the palace. I took 3 shots here, angling upwards. Unfortunately they don't quite fit together!
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Arms-length reverse photo thingy, that didn't really come out right.
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Not quite sure what's going on here.
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The view from the Alhambra back towards the other side of town. Our appartment is around two-thirds of the way up the hill, towards the left hand side. We were pretty sure we could spot Bonita sunning herself while we were out.
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The gang in front of, yes, a fountain!
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A very tranquill pool.
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Sara gets arty.
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Now she gets silly.
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A brief rest from wandering round the palace.
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This would probably look more obviously arty in black and white...
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Sara and Isabel easily win our game of hide-and-seek.
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Zoom isn't quite up to it on my camera, but you get the idea...
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Dinner cooked by Isabel and Sara, featuring a Spanish Omellette (I'm serious -- it's all potatoes and funky stuff).
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Bonita takes in the view from the couch.
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Amazing weather pretty much every day -- I think moving out of rainy London would be great.
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Silly photos #5: Hold camera on shoulders, take pictures at the same time. Compare and contrast.
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Unauthorised photo of me sunning myself. I've kept it on here 'cause the view is so amazing.
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There are lots of Arabian influences in Granada, and this shot is taken in a tetteria. We had just tried some exotic teas and were feeling nicely relaxed.
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On our second-to-last day in Granada, we happened across a parade of the Virgin Mary around town. Spain is highly Catholic, and the procession was huge.
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This dude looked pretty chilled in his shades.
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The Virgin Mary herself. The statue has turned grey after centuries in a smokey, candle-lit church.
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Sara and Isabel in front of the main square fountain in Granada. There's an inscription dedicating the fountain to Saint Isabel, appropriately enough.
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Spain rocks.
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