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Spain is one of those countries where you can still enjoy driving, the roads are very good (much better than the UK generally) and unless you’re in the cities or driving on the autovia (motorway) around a city, the roads are not too crowded.

We visited the area between Granada and Murcia up in the mountains of Andalucia and were amazed at the majestic scenery. Because we were visiting friends we were unsure whether to hire a car, how glad we were that we did!

We flew into Malaga airport and after checking our hire car we drove up towards Granada, on the way we passed the beautiful little town of Antequera and stopped to have lunch in the restaurant under the bull ring. Rabo de Buey (oxtail) is their specialty and I have to say it is one of the best I’ve tasted in Spain.

It’s a very rich dish so salad is a great accompaniment along with (if you’re not driving) a bottle of full bodied Spanish red wine, lots of bread to soak up the delicious sauce and if you have room after some home made flan.

As we were driving and had a couple of hundred kilometers to go, we did without the wine and the flan!

Once past Antequera you drive through rolling hills of olive trees and rich red earth, this is the land of olives and large haciendas. The road up to Antequera is not so good but after, well after that it’s a dream to drive on, well surfaced and little travelled.

Being on the autovia of course means that you bypass the small and interesting villages and small towns, although there are many that lay close to the autovia and so you can decide to drive through if you wish.

In these villages you’ll find many a little local bar/restaurant that will serve delicious local food at very reasonable prices. In many it’s still the custom to serve a small tapa with a glass of wine or beer, but not with coffee or hard liquor.

Granada itself is a very large inland city with it’s own airport and as you approach it you find more traffic on the roads, be warned the Spanish, like the Italians are in the main very fast drivers! They seem to ignore the speed limits in many cases but if you’re in a hire car you really are better off keeping to the speed limit. Especially if the car is unfamiliar to you and it’s your first time driving in Spain because you’ll need all your attention on the roads!

As for speed limits, you need to watch for them as they can be different for different road conditions, slower if there’s snow and at night. So keep your eyes open.

Once past Granada you drive through gorges in the mountains and here you can see fantastic colours in the earth, from grey to ochre, deep vibrant red or deep purple and subtle combinations of any of them.

The hill sides are covered in pine, wild olive and almond and the ground abounds with wild herbs, mostly rosemary and lavender. Take a breath and you can smell the clean fragrant tones of earth, sky and water.

The road passes rivers and areas of nature reserve, with the clear blue of a Mediterranean sky, the fierce yellow of a Spanish sun and not very much traffic you could almost persuade yourself that you’ve entered a time warp – until of course a huge truck passes you going in the other direction or a local driver comes up behind you and passes so fast you almost don’t have time to see him!

All this and we’re only half way to our destination!

Part two coming shortly!