Favourite spots:



Lake Bermejales

Beautiful Lake Bermejales is dramatically set against a backdrop of jagged mountain peaks. Much of the lake is surrounded by sandy beach and pine trees offering restful shade. You can picnic at the weekends with local Spanish families or find a deserted spot of your own. It’s a great spot for fishing, canoeing, swimming, windsurfing, walking and relaxing and the small settlement next to the lake has a handful of pleasant bars with shaded courtyards offering local wine and cuisine. The Sierra Nevada National Park is a further 45 minutes from Granada. Lots of snow in the winter months, particularly from January to April with opportunities to tobogan/sledge and learn to snowboard or ski. A nice, user-friendly website is granadamap/sn/, with a good overview it's better than the official website. However, you can see the webcam and pre-book passes on www.sierranevada.co.-uk.


What's really great:



Los Tajos

The town of Alhama offers history dating from Roman times through Moorish reign and up to modern days. Alhama is very attractive, traditional, bustling and precariously positioned running along the edge of an enormous limestone gorge, Los Tajos. Along the bottom of the gorge run the Rios Alhama and Merchan. Nearby, hot springs gurgle into four thermal pools next to the Rio Merchan. The town has grand, imposing Medieval architecture and lively bars surrounding attractive squares. Surrounding Alhama are soft, pastel shaded rolling hills, attractive small villages and stunning views extending to looming mountain ranges.



Accommodations:



Casa Navidad

Casa Navidad (Christmas House) is a fantastic little village house - cosy, cute, eclectic, beautifully restored - lovely accommodation and the best bargain in Alhama! The delightful, sunny double height sitting room has a traditional sloping ceiling, an elegant Moroccan banquette with stacks of comfy cushions, antique terracotta floor and a woodburner for those chilly winter evenings.
A flight of stairs leads up to the wooden mezzanine; tucked under the eaves, this cosy little space houses lots of books, DVDs and CDs.
There are two comfortable, pretty double bedrooms both with traditional beamed ceilings. The hand-crafted kitchen is modern and stylish and well-equipped for your stay with lots of essentials including teas/coffee, local olive oil, herbs/spices, dried foods and we will leave you a welcome pack to help you settle in and enjoy your holiday.


Nightlife:



Carnaval

Carnaval: The feast before lent is celebrated in style in Alhama. The big day is on Sunday 1st March in 2009; but always six weeks before Easter Sunday. The people of Alhama love to dress up and this is a day for the weird and wonderful to party! Men dress as women and women dress as men with often quite disturbing faces painted onto pillowcases to complete the disguise. They parade the town speaking in high pitched, squeeky voices so you could quite easily have a very strange encounter with someone who's your friend or neighbour and have no idea who they are! This was a tradition banned by Franco as the disguises were used to satirise and criticise and the only places in Spain to uphold the tradition on this day are Alhama and Sevilla. You'll need some stamina for this one as the bars are packed til the small hours .....


Restaurants:



Alhama deGranada In May

Bar Achoa that puts burning plates of embers under your table to keep you warm in the winter; this best loved bar in town also has fantastic tapas, an easy-going, child-friendly atmosphere and impromtu flamenco sessions in the back room.







Gazpacho, served in summer, it's refreshing, healthy and delicious. Locally, you can also choose garlic soup (the predeccesor to gazpacho, from Morocco) or picadillo - a mixed broth.



Other recommendations:



Grapes

Vegetables and Vegetarians: you may have gathered by now that rural Andalucia is pretty meat & fish orientated but don't despair, there are quite a few options as long as you know where to go. Here are some ideas: For tapas, Bars El Tigre and Ochoa do lovely grilled oyster mushrooms with garlic; Bar Ochoa also does a grilled mixed vegetable plate (delicious!) with oil, garlic, mayonnaise and lemon and El Tigre does grilled aubergines (with honey!). Everywhere does salads, tortillas, gazpacho and some bars do red pepper salad (ask for it without tuna!), the best is Meson Diego. You will often get cheese and olives as a tapas and, if you say you are vegetarian, all bars will try their best to cater for you (you may need to explain that means you don't want tuna or ham!!). For main meals Al Dente is excellent with a good choice of vegetarian salads, pasta and pizza dishes. The pizzeria on Calle Picasso does excellent vegetarian pizza (and, away from the main square, is cheap and a great little eatery often packed with locals). Bar El Rincon has an English speaking chef who will do you good vegetarian food if you ask him although it's not on the menu. Finally, you can buy soya products and frozen veggie meals, sausages etc in the big supermarkets in Granada or the coast, try Carrefour, Hipercor, Super Sol and Eroski.