Time Out in Andalusia with Mother
- Guy Collins
- Dec 19, 2025
- 10 min read
Updated: Dec 20, 2025
My contract on the Norwegian Joy was over on the 20th October and I thoroughly needed a rest after being on tour since the 11th June. My plan was to have a month off and start back up with a gig at the Iconic Mohonk Mountain House on 21st November. So what did I do, I stayed at home for two weeks and mostly did the garden! I am battling against Buckthorn (which is a nasty invasive species), and planning my vegetable patch, I also had a nice big bonfire. On the 4th November, I took an overnight flight from New York City to London where I arrived on the 5th, Bonfire night, which was also the day of Pepe's memorial service at St Paul's Church, Covent Garden.
Pepe's memorial was everything that it should have been, there was even a can of Stella Artois in front of the vicar for the service. His ashes are now truly well spread over the West Piazza and some are also on the High Street of Edinburgh, the locations of his greatest shows.
And then I went to see my Mum! My mother is now 84 years old and lives in a very nice little cottage in Heligan, Cornwall. It's very picturesque and a lot like where Agatha Christie's Miss Marple would have lived. It's also very cutoff from the rest of the United Kingdom and getting there takes 4 and a half hours by train from London, but once you do get there it really is very lovely and the little fishing village of Mevagissy, which I often walk to, is truly charming.
My eldest daughter Emily is also coming to visit her grandmother (and me), so I am very excited. Living in the USA means I am often missing my children, and I am very proud of all three of them. Emily is very kind and always has time for people and the less fortunate, she is continually giving up her free time to care for the homeless. My train is a little late, so when I do arrive at St Austell station, Emily and Mum are waiting for me in her little car. We spend a very nice couple of days wandering around the gardens at Heligan and walking on Cornwall's pretty beaches. But seeing Emily is really just a bonus to the main event, as I am taking my mother on a little holiday to Spain to visit the Alhambra.
When mother and myself first discussed going away we were quite set on going to Thessaloniki in Greece, that was until Mum told me she only wanted to travel from her local airport, Exeter in Devon. In November Exeter doesn't really have much choice of destinations, the warm weather choices were limited to Alicante or Malaga Spain or Faro Portugal. So with that in mind I informed her that we were going to Spain, and as both of us like a cultural adventure, a fight to Malaga and then a trip to Granada and the Alhambra was our number one option. We dropped Emily off at the station on Monday morning, and then we set off for Exeter airport. I have arranged everything as best I can, so my octogenarian travel companion will be as comfortable as possible. Airport parking at Exeter is never going to be too far away from the terminal, and it is indeed a very short walk. Exeter really doesn't have much, there is a small cafe / bar area, a convenience store and a small duty-free shop. I have a beer and mother as usual has a Gin and Tonic and in no time at all we have boarded and are on our way to Malaga, a number of our fellow travellers are most definitely into the holiday spirit (or should I say spirits)! As I have to drive when we arrive, I turn down a second on board drink. Malaga is a bigger airport than I imagined, and I am very glad the car hire company sent me a detailed video showing us exactly where to find the shuttle bus to the garage. Without too much fuss, we are installed in a very cute Fiat 500 and are driving into the centre of Malaga, our first night is to be spent at the Palacio Miramar, which I am informed is the best hotel in the city and used to be the courthouse.
It certainly didn't disappoint us. On arrival our bags were swept up to the room and a reservation was made for our dinner, it was about 9 pm and both of us were a little hungry. Dinner was excellent, I had a very nice piece of pork whilst mother had a tasty fish, all washed down by a very nice bottle of local red wine (Seis + Seis from Ronda). We then retired to the atrium and did a bit of people watching.
I got up fairly early and opened up the curtains to a nice view of the Mediterranean and a pristine swimming pool. Now to find some tea for mother. I made her a cup and went down to find the gym, much to mother's amusement. She has never really seen the appeal of such things, in fact she sees athletic training as unsportsmanlike! Gym done, I headed back upstairs to shower, and then we went to breakfast. Breakfast was lovely, plenty of choices, I found some interesting cheese and some very nice Spanish sausage, but there was also a nice local honey and more types of bread than I have time to list. But enough of this fine hotel, we are on our way to Granada and of course the Alhambra.
We decided to take the coastal road, which looked a little more interesting, and off we went in our little car. Mother was in fine spirits, and she was particularly excited about the hotel we were going to stay in, which was a Parador.
Paradores are Spain's unique network of state-run luxury hotels, housed in beautifully restored historic buildings like castles, monasteries, and palaces, or set in stunning natural landscapes, offering guests an immersive cultural experience with regional gastronomy and high comfort standards, promoting tourism in less-visited areas and preserving Spanish heritage. They combine history with modern amenities, serving as bases for exploring Spain's rich history, art, and diverse regions.
The Parador de Alhambra, where we were staying for the next two nights, was originally the Nastrid Palace of Los Infantes, and was then converted by the Catholic conquerors into a Christian monastery. Also, it is within the walls of the Alhambra complex, which makes it very special indeed.
For those of you who don't know, Spain, or certainly large parts of it, was ruled by the Muslim Berbers and Arabs from North Africa called the Moors for some 800 years prior to 1492 and their capital was the Alhambra which is located above the city of Granada. It is an amazing place. As we are staying at the Parador we have special permission to drive into the complex, and we have had to inform the staff of our car licence plate so the automatic cameras will let us in. It's a beautiful sunny day, and we arrive mid-afternoon, it was a little odd being in one of the very few cars allowed into the complex and I drove at less than 5 miles per hour so not to scare any of the other tourists who are on foot. I park right outside the Parador and help mum with her suitcase. The building is beautiful and surrounded by gorgeous gardens and waterfalls. "Wow" I exclaim, "I didn't think it was going to be this nice"! The receptionist was a very pleasant man who happily took the car keys, telling me not to worry about the car as he would take care of it, and then showed us our rooms as there were two of us I had booked a junior suite so we would have a bit of privacy. I am very glad I did, as our suite was on the upper floor and had a wonderful view of the rose gardens from either of our two balconies.
Dinner is eaten late in Spain in these parts, it is normal to start the evening meal at around 9 pm. So with that in mind we decided upon a little snack which we ate in the outside café of the Parador which had a lovely view of the Generalife Gardens (The pleasure gardens of the Nastrid rulers), I had a local beer and Mum (being Mum) had a gin and tonic, we both had a sandwich, and it was all very pleasant. Mum decided she needed a rest and went to lay down in our suite. I decided I would go visit the Palace of Charles V, which I could do without a ticket and was only a short walk away. One very good reason for staying at the Parador was that we were right inside the Alhambra complex and therefore Mum didn't have far to walk and could also nip off for a rest whenever she became tired, and at 84 years old and being a cancer survivor, she needs a rest quite often. The Palace was interesting to say the least, it is unlike any of the other structures in the complex as it is a massive Renaissance building. It has a spacious circular inner courtyard with huge stone columns all around it. In actual fact, the palace was never finished, but you really wouldn't know that unless somebody told you. It is very impressive and there was an interesting exhibition, showing the timeline of the complex occupying the lower floor as well as the Alhambra museum proper. I arrived back at our rooms just as the sun was about to set, and we had a wonderful view of it from our balconies, which we enjoyed with a little cocktail from the bar downstairs. Dinner was excellent, a great choice of local delicacies and again some very fine local wine, the Parador really was living up to our expectations. Tomorrow was our big day to visit the Nastrid Palaces and the Generalife gardens, access to these locations are strictly controlled to avoid overcrowding, and we had a 3 pm time slot at the palaces. So we spent a very pleasant morning wandering through the Generalife Gardens, the Moors were masters of engineering and there is an abundance of water features, I could have spent a whole day or more just relaxing in those beautiful grounds.
Mum needed a little rest after the gardens, so we walked the short distance back to our accommodation. We also had a bit of lunch and as I wasn't driving anywhere I enjoyed a glass of red wine. The Nastrid palaces were all of a 5-minute walk away, so we weren't late, even in November there were still a number of people, but it certainly wasn't too crowded. The Palaces are beautiful, the Moor's certainly knew a thing or two about building and architecture, so much so in fact that when the Alhambra was reconquered by the Catholics they did not sack and destroy the buildings, but kept them pretty much just as they were with the occasional Catholic religious motif placed above or next to an Islamic one. One of my highlights was standing in the hall of the ambassadors, where in 1492 Christopher Columbus had been given his contract for his expedition which landed in the Americas later that same year. There was also the magnificent Palace of the Lions with its incredible fountain and so much marble!
The Nastrid palaces are truly amazing and the photos I took do not do them justice. The whole Alhambra complex is phenomenal from it's position overlooking the city of Granada to it's wonderful architecture and Islamic art. So much history is here, it is confounding to think that the whole place was abandoned for years and much of it had fallen into ruin.
Mum needed a little rest again so I dropped her back at the Parador as I wanted to climb the Torre del Homenaje ('Tower of Homage') in the Alcazaba which is the oldest part of the Alhambra complex, the view was amazing with the city of Granada below and the Sierra Nevada mountains in the other direction, I imagined I was an ancient Sultan surveying my kingdom.
We had one more thing to do before our dinner and that was to see a Flamenco performance. When the Romani people moved from India to Europe a number of them settled in the caves of the Albaicin and Sacromonte districts of Granada. And it was in one of these caves that we were to see the show. The show was due to start at 7 pm and we had a taxi booked to take us there at 6.30 pm. I'm glad I didn't attempt the drive myself, I may be used to the narrow country lanes of the West of England, but the narrow and ancient street of Granada are certainly not for the faint hearted. We arrived at the cave, which from the outside looked like a cafe, and upon entering we were shown a large long back room that had quite literally been carved into the rock. There were chairs for about 50 people but as this was out of season there were only 20 or so of us patrons. I choose us seats as close to the performers as possible, as I had been told to immerse myself.
You can see from my photo how close to the action we were! What a great performance, the dancing was wonderful, I loved the way the dancers banged their feet on the ground and at times slapped themselves to create a hypnotic rhythm whilst the guitarist played beautifully and the singer wailed. Truly amazing, I was very excited and I would recommend the experience. At the end of the evening the owner called us a taxi and we returned to the Parador for dinner.
The following morning after breakfast and a little last walk around the Alhambra it was time for our final destination, Nerja. I decided to deliberately not take the main roads, which turned out to be a good choice, and in no time at all we found ourselves driving through the Sierras de Tejeda mountains on the A-4050. I noticed several hiking trails, but as I was with my 84 year old mum, I am going to have to return to walk them. The views were absolutely incredible and the pictures I took completely fail to convey the magnificence of the terrain.
Nerja is a nice little seaside resort on the Costa Del Sol, there is an old town and several little coves set among sea caves and cliffs all with small sandy beaches. We stayed in a pretty little guest house that was right in the centre of the old part of town and also very close to the beaches. Unfortunately it rained most of the day, but we did enjoy some coffee and cake, as well as a little souvenir shopping. I wanted Tapas for dinner, but mum wanted something a little more formal, so we found a nice little restaurant which catered to us both and made friends with a couple from Cheshire.
Our flight wasn't until late afternoon and we were less than two hours away from the airport in Malaga, which meant that I could enjoy a walk about the town and a late breakfast, overlooking the Mediterranean. It had been a nice few days. And without anymore particularly interesting incidents we dropped the car at the airport and boarded our flight to the international hub that is Exeter Airport. We were back in Cornwall by 10 pm.
What a great trip that was, Granada had given me a taste for Andalusia and I am already planning on a return trip to include Seville and Cordoba as well as some serious hiking in the mountains.
I wonder where Mum and I are going to go on our next adventure?
