After living in the city of Granada for over 10 years I did something I should have done years ago. No. it´s not visiting the Alhambra. That is something I still have not done.
(Credits: PixaBay)
But I have been looking at those snowy mountains you see in the background for the same period of time, and yesterday I finally got a chance to actually go up the Sierra Nevada and get a taste of the Andalusian snow.
You might wonder what took me so long, well it´s kind of a long walk up. It´s also a really small and winding mountain road, so I did not want to do that with public transport.
And I ain´t driving up there myself, as I still do not have a driving license it would be just a tad dangerous if I would give it a try. But after watching those snowy mountains from my balcony for the last 4 years, and my girlfriend asking time and time again if we could go... I found a way.
We rented a car and we rented a friend. A rent-a-friend with a driver's license, and a girlfriend, that would not mind driving all the way up there.
The way up
So yesterday we finally started on our way up, my girlfriend was very excited at first....but soon when we got to the winding road up the mountain the excitement dwindled.
Steep curves every other minute took the fun out of her, and replaced it with feeling nauseous. That already started when we were at 1000 meters, and the village of Monachil, where we were headed, was another 1000 meters up the hill.
Imagine this, it is a beautiful sunny day, 26 degrees Celsius in Granada city, and we are headed up the hill to a ski resort just an hour away, where people were still able to ski. I mean can you imagine, in the morning you are sitting in your t-shirt looking at the snow and 90 minutes later you are wearing weather or two walking on real snow?
It truly is a very beautiful drive, if you do not feel like puking all the time. The good news is she made it without puking, although it was a very close call.
Looking forward
She was so looking forward to this trip, but the carsickness kinda spoiled it already. Maybe taking the Cabin ride up to the actual skiing area would take away that horrible feeling in her stomach.
She had never been at an altitude of 2000 meters, and now we would go even higher. We would end up just below the 3000 meters by taking the Al Andalus cabin up the mountain. It´s a steep ride where you go up about 800 meters in less than 20 minutes, and it is an amazing ride with spectacular views....but too much for someone already not feeling too well.
Just before the doors opened at the base station she felt like blacking out, still, she managed to get out...but that was pretty much all she managed to do. The plan of having a nice little walk around the area, shooting pics high up the mountain, and enjoying the beautiful view died during that near blackout.
The carsickness probably induced acute mountain sickness due to reduced air pressure and oxygen, or maybe she would have felt that even without the sickening winding trip up. All she could do was sit and try to regain some strength ....strength needed just for one thing....the trip back down.
The cabin ride back down went okayish, we spend a bit of time taking at least some pics at 2000 meters and she was able to enjoy it just a bit....still the feeling did not pass....it even got worse.
The way down
On the way down all those nice little curves in the road finally did the trick and the rent a friend was just able to pull over in time for her to throw up outside of the rental car.
The good news was that it was a very good spot to take a picture of the Embalsa de Canales and just minutes away from the last turn that would lead to the normal straight road home.
It was a very special trip, one we probably never forget and never take again.
At least not the two of us....as she for now will just keep admiring the snowy view from the balcony.
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(Credits: PixaBay)
