Autumn in Andalucia

You are going to see fantastically blue skies and a sandy beach in a minute.  So just to prove that I'm not kidding, here's a conker tree.....j u s t about on the autumnal turn.  And evidence that it is doing the autumnal seed dropping exercise.....

 But I can't show you the conkers.  Because some silly souvenir hunting softie brought them back with him to try to grow a Chestnut tree all the way from the Alhambra.  I so hope they take!

So this is Granada in early October.  Beautiful architecture, not so busy as I suspect the summer months were, but still basking in glorious soak-me-up-and-make-me-healthy sunshine.  I loved it. Oh the romance of the place. It's not on the coast line, but north east of it, and quite high up.  Indeed the road signs have you travelling toward the Sierra Nevada, and Granada is home to a fair few snow sports shops.  

I don't think I'd get sick of it.  A land where Autumn means the pomegranates ripen, shadows are long and coffee and cake are to be eaten outdoors watching the world go about it's business and wondering why trainers the world over need to be so erm, well hung.

I'm not foolish, I know a city at altitude and with a backdrop of Sierras is going to have a winter, and probably, some very cold ones.  But oh, to have a blue sky autumn and hang on to the greens and golds for as long as possible.  Bliss.

We did, in mid morning Granada, fidn ourselves stepping into sunshine to avoid cool shadows cast by spectacular architecture.  More pictures of that to come if you're interested.  But I really wanted to show you how beautiful Autumn is..because since I've been home, it's been grey and wet and its hard to see the beauty through the gloom.  

I don't expect you can experience the distant haze during the summer..it creates wonder in the lens of your camera, adding dimension depth and mystery to the scenery. Well, I think it does. And I can't hep but wax lyrical.  It was lyric inspiring.  Yep, Mr Dunnit was coughing at my inspiration too by the time I'd been through these pictures.  It's OK.

And then, as if the first notes of Autumn in higher Andalucia weren't enough...here's the colour to be found on the coast.  Not a season or a million miles apart.  No 24 hours and a couple hundred kilometres.  You can see why I like Spain can't you - I don't even have to make a decision about a favourite season...I just have to turn around! 

 This was Fuengirola.

And this beauty was planted right outside our apartment. Why didn't I stand back and take a picture of the bed full of these floral birds?  I have no idea.  Over excited as usual!

I don't know if it's mis-placed or not, but because I'm still smiling over these pictures, I'm going to link up with Annie at Friday Smiles. If it's all too braggy and in-your-face for you - sorry.  You may have find another blog.  I do this quite often.
Have a lovely weekend!