The trip to Sevilla, Sierra Nevada (a mountain range in the south of Spain) and Granada was truly great. It all started when we met Hannes, a German dude living in Sevilla who offered not only his couch to sleep on, but also for us to go camping and hiking with him and two friends for a few nights. We couldn’t let such an opportunity pass! Hannes’ apartment is the 6th floor, overlooking the river and much of the city, great view!
We hit the supermarket for supplies without a list, or any idea of what to buy.
But we managed to leave with the essential camping supplies; beer, wine, bread, tomatoes, chocolate and pasta. Turns out we had arrived in Sevilla at the right time, the Feria was on, with women dressed in Flamenco style dresses. A section of the town was alive with dancing and drinking till all hours of the morning! That night we met the rest of our road trip family, Eddy from Germany and Pablo from the Canary Islands. The next day we packed into our tiny car, and headed off to the store to grab a cheapie tent.
Then we were on our way. Kim and I discovered that getting sunflowers seeds (Pipas) out of their shells was an equivalent addiction to smoking, and had plenty of fun attempting to throw/spit the shells from the window of the car. Needless to say most of the shells ended up either back on us or stuck to the outside of the car window! We had a quick stop off on the way up into the Sierra Nevada to check out the incredible view.
We arrived in Bubion, a cute small little town clinging to the sides of a mountain with amazing views. It was here that we did our first hike, only a small one that took a couple of hours, but with a huge incline!
On our way down the boys decided to do some cross country hiking, and before we knew it we had jumped a fence into someone’s farm. There were goats with bells around their necks following us through the paddock, obviously thinking we had food. After we jumped another fence back onto a road, we noticed a sign stuck to the fence declaring there was a guard dog protecting the goats! Luckily we managed to miss it!
Then we walked into the town of Capileira. Where we headed to the info place to suss out possible hikes. Basically we were told that the hike we wanted to do wasn’t a good idea, because the next day was meant to be bad weather, and the track was still snowed and iced over. This didn’t stop the attempt however!
On the way up the hill we had scoped out a possible camp site, so we headed back in the car to set up camp for the night. After setting up the tents and getting the bonfire going, we cooked some pasta and tea. Just a few metres away was a small waterfall where we washed the dishes and did out teeth! Perrfect. The next morning we woke up to a thunderstorm, but managed to stay dry in our cheapie tents!
We couldn’t get going till late morning because of the weather, but still managed to fit in a half day hike. At the base of the mountain where we left the car (around 1500m altitude I think….Hannes’ this could be wrong??) it was 6.5 degrees Celsius at noonish. So we rugged up and hit the trail.
The walk itself was pretty easy going, but offered incredible views!
At a fork in the road we decided that the other 4 guys wanted to attempt to summit the mountain (remembering this is the one that is still covered in snow and ice!) so I bunkered down behind a rock channelling Bear Grylls. After a little while, it started lightly snowing. The others came back not long later, saying they had met a pair with all the proper hiking gear who had tried to summit earlier, but didn’t make it. Considering the weather was turning bad, we headed back towards the car.
Turned out to be the best decision so far, for about 20 minutes of walking the storm came in, with horizontal snow which stung when it hit bear skin! The entire right hand side of our bodies were covered in snow. Thank god for the waterproof jackets we had bought earlier!
Getting back to the car after zero food for a few hours was a bit of a feeding frenzy, oranges and chocolate were drowned in a spilt second! That arvo we drove to the highest town in the Sierra Nevada, Trevelez. Doing a quick walk overlooking the surrounding farms we asked a local if he knew of a possible camping ground.
He suggested a patch of grass next to the local helipad, so we headed over for a look. There was no patch of grass next to the helipad, only grass in the rocks of the helipad! So we headed up into the mountains looking for the perfect camping spot. High in the mountain we came across some cows (again, with bells) who were pretty chilled. However, we headed back down as it was quite cold that far up! The boys spotted a track that offered possible camping grounds and went off to check it out. They managed to find one that even had a small river, perfect for cooling the beer!
The next morning we packed up and headed back to the car for a breakie of scrambled eggs, thanks chef Eddy! Whilst we were waiting for the food to cook, we heard some bells ringing. A few minutes later an old man walked up the hill, followed by about 25 goats, all with bells around their necks! What a site! He said for us not to move anything, but to watch the food, the goats might eat it!
Passing us, the goats looked at us as if to say ‘what the hell are you doing?’ as if we were the odd ones out of this picture! Next we headed back to Trevelez for our biggest hike yet, 16km’s of the steepest terrain I have ever encountered I swear! After about 2km’s of struggle town, Hannes told the biggest lie of the day, ‘don’t worry, that was the hardest bit’. YEAH RIGHT!!!! Liar! Lol. We continued onwards and upwards, with Eddy leading and myself bringing up the rear….a long way back! Finally the terrain flattened out, but then we had another obstacle, crossing snow with a massive drop! I don’t have a great track record with snow, so it was a little daunting, but hey, this is what travelling is all about right??? After another few km’s, we stopped for a bit of a rest
Again we keep going.
Eddy and Hannes attempted the summit again (this time with much better weather), they didn’t quite get there but made it very close!
The way down was much quicker, walking straight pass Bulls that didn’t even acknowledge you existed! The drive to Granada that night through the mountains was what roadtripping is all about. Pablo attempting to teach Kimmie and myself Spanish (Kimmie doing a much better job than myself!), but Kimmie had to teach me the basics of English first! We watched the sunset over the mountains, and finally reached the hostel in Granada where we smuggled a fifth person into the rooms. For a second night in a row, the boys would all share a bed. Lol. The following day was our only full day in Granada, in the ‘morning’ (aka from 11am onwards) we went down into the city, where we had Kebabs for breakfast and then went to Alhambra at 2.30. Walking the gardens was very beautiful, and provided views over Granada and the palace. We even met two of Hannes’ previous couchsurfers by coincidence! The palace itself was very beautiful, with incredible architecture and detailing.
Passing us, the goats looked at us as if to say ‘what the hell are you doing?’ as if we were the odd ones out of this picture! Next we headed back to Trevelez for our biggest hike yet, 16km’s of the steepest terrain I have ever encountered I swear! After about 2km’s of struggle town, Hannes told the biggest lie of the day, ‘don’t worry, that was the hardest bit’. YEAH RIGHT!!!! Liar! Lol. We continued onwards and upwards, with Eddy leading and myself bringing up the rear….a long way back! Finally the terrain flattened out, but then we had another obstacle, crossing snow with a massive drop! I don’t have a great track record with snow, so it was a little daunting, but hey, this is what travelling is all about right??? After another few km’s, we stopped for a bit of a rest
Again we keep going.
Eddy and Hannes attempted the summit again (this time with much better weather), they didn’t quite get there but made it very close!
The way down was much quicker, walking straight pass Bulls that didn’t even acknowledge you existed! The drive to Granada that night through the mountains was what roadtripping is all about. Pablo attempting to teach Kimmie and myself Spanish (Kimmie doing a much better job than myself!), but Kimmie had to teach me the basics of English first! We watched the sunset over the mountains, and finally reached the hostel in Granada where we smuggled a fifth person into the rooms. For a second night in a row, the boys would all share a bed. Lol. The following day was our only full day in Granada, in the ‘morning’ (aka from 11am onwards) we went down into the city, where we had Kebabs for breakfast and then went to Alhambra at 2.30. Walking the gardens was very beautiful, and provided views over Granada and the palace. We even met two of Hannes’ previous couchsurfers by coincidence! The palace itself was very beautiful, with incredible architecture and detailing.
For anyone who is visiting Granada, you will not forget a visit here! P.s. buy tickets a few months in advance. That night we cooked a dinner at the car, one way looking towards the city, and the other overlooking the snow covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada. Later, we walked to the other side of the city to catch a view of the palace by night. Sitting on a ledge overlook the entire city was incredible, even if it was very high!
The next day was our last road tripping day. A final walk through the city provided yet another perfect day of sunshine.
