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Half way to Murcia driving through the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas in our hire car and we come out of the pine forests and begin to drive through mile after mile of open plain. We’re still fairly high above sea level and our hire car has to struggle to get up some of the inclines (note to self – next time hire a car with a bigger engine!)

Here the scenery is more open, in spring though it can be breathtaking with wild flowers growing in huge swathes across the land, almond trees are in blossom and their perfume fills the air.

Looking back towards Granada and you will see snow capped peaks where skiing is still in full swing, yet where in an hour or two at the most you could drive back down to the sun drenched beaches around Malaga to swim in the waters of the Mediterranean sea!

In some places you’ll see small farm houses, or ruins dotted about, sometimes you’ll drive past small white washed villages but what you won’t see is many animals, at least not the domesticated sort!

One place worth stopping is the Troglodyte village just out side Guadix, where many of the houses are built into the clay hills, they dig out the clay to make pots, then live in the dug out man made caves!

Surprisingly the houses created this way are quite spacious plus being well insulated. The beauty of them is that if you want more rooms, you just dig out more space.

This place is famous for its pottery and you can get some real gems as long as you choose wisely. That is, there are a lot of very cheap ‘touristy’ stuff that is churned out which is not as good as it could be but hidden amongst all the ‘tourist’ stuff, you can find some real gems.

I found two matching beautifully decorated hand basins and a fabulous cooler dish to hold plenty of bottles of beer or wine for a BBQ. The prices were great and the workmanship good.

From Guadix you start to pass more habitations and start to see more industrialization as you approach Chirivel, then the two Veliz towns of Veliz Rubio and Velez Blanco.

Veliz Blanco is up in the hills behind Velez Rubio and boasts an amazing castle which is outlined against the sky, at night if you’re lucky it will be lit and looks like something out of legend.

So, we’ll finish the trip in part three!