Essence of Andalusia

A phone snap through a reasonably clean car window, somewhere between Granada and Jaén. This was the best weather of the day — for most of our seven-hour drive it was cool and overcast, and we were even inside clouds around Granada.

We’re now ensconced in our usual aparthotel in a suburb of Valencia. It’s a very convenient and comfortable overnight stop. For this trip we got a tranquilising gel from the vet for Mystère. I’m not sure it made a lot of difference; he was sick within ten minutes of setting off, so the usual clean-up operation was required. But he was very quiet for the second half of the drive. He’s hiding behind the floor-length curtains, and we’ve cracked open the bottle of white wine we brought with us for a leisurely apero.