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Spain Trip – Part 2: Spanish East Coast

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This post I am describing the things we saw in part 2 of  our recent trip to Spain. If you have missed the first part of this trip, here it is: part 1: Barcelona.

After 3 days in Barcelona, we headed south along the coast toward Andalusia. We spend most of the rest of the trip in Granada.

Tarragona

The first stop on the way was a beautiful old town called Tarragona. It houses ruins of an amphitheater from the Roman times. Today they still perform plays and mock gladiator fights in those ruins.
It has a beautiful beach. On cliffs north of the beach there is the old fortress Fortí de Sant Jordi which was build during the succession war in the early 18th century.

Dénia

We stopped for the night in Dénia, a small historical town on the Costa Blanca. The town is very old. There is evidence of human habitation in the area since prehistoric times.
We stayed in a lovely small hotel in the downtown area called Hostal Loreto. The street next to it was only a pedestrian street and at night restaurants put out tables for dinner.
During dinner, we were lucky enough to see a parade for one of the many festivals each town in Spain celebrates frequently.

Driving through the mountains

On the way to Granada, we left the coast westward through one of the many mountain ranges in Spain. We were impressed with the quality of the streets as well as the many tunnels.

Guadix
Last stop before Granada was the little mountain town Guadix. One of the districts is filled with cave houses that are still inhabited. One of them is open to the public as a museum. That was quite impressive. In the panorama you can see the little chimneys of each of these houses peaking out of the ground. The temperature inside was very nice and cool without any air-conditioning.

It took us 2 days and about 10 hours total to get from Barcelona to Granada.
In Granada, we stayed for the rest of the trip and I will talk about its attractions and surrounding area as well as its main highlight – the Alhambra – in the remaining posts.

Next: Part 3 – Day Trips

If you have missed it, here is part 1 of the trip: Barcelona.