It was time for the first hiking holiday in a while.  Lukasz had the idea of hiking in the Sierra Nevada in the south of Spain so off we went.  We flew into Malaga, picked up a hire car and drove to our accommodation at Cortijo La Vinuela which was located near to Portugos.  Here they had a collection of cottages to rent out.  It was really beautiful and peaceful and it was in an ideal location to base ourselves for some hiking in the Sierra Nevada.  There was also a resident dog who didn’t miss a single meal if we were eating outside!

On our first day we did a wee “warm up” (20km) hike, the Banco de Poqueira circuit.  This route started in the village of Capileira and went around lower slopes of the mountains to the north of the village.  The idea was that this would warm us up for the more challenging hikes to come and let us get a feel for hiking in this part of the world.  We stayed below the snow line today but I’m not going to lie, the snow capped mountains we would be climbing over the next few days looked pretty intimidating. 

The next day we started our hike towards Mulhacen, the highest mountain on mainland Spain at around 3482m.  Today we would be hiking to the Poqueira Refugio to break up our journey to the summit.  The weather was quite variable but when there were views they were amazing, lots of snow capped mountains all around. 

The refugio was really cool too and catered well to all the hikers.  When got there we relaxed with a few beers on the terrace with mountain views before dinner.  It was super busy and I’m pretty sure we were the only non-Spanish people there!  I was quite pleased to get by with my very basic level of Spanish speaking.

Today was the big day, when we would summit Mulhacen and we honestly couldn’t have a wished for better weather with bright blue skies and only a slight breeze at the top.  The hike up was a tough slog but it was definitely worth it with superb views in each direction.  It was also the highest either of us had hiked up too before so we were pretty chuffed with that. 

After three days of hiking we took a rest day today.  We pretty much just lounged around in the sun drinking Spanish beers but we did take one trip to Tervellez just to explore one of the other villages in the area.

On our last hiking day we tackled Veletta, the second highest peak in the Sierra Nevada at an elevation of 3394m.  We got another cracking day with clouds only coming in as we got to the summit but other than that it was pretty clear for most of the day. 

On the way back to the cottage along the twisty mountain roads, we stopped at a few of the viewpoints we didn’t have time to stop at until now.

We both had a great time hiking in the Sierra Nevada in some different terrain, getting really lucky with weather and hiking higher than we ever had before.  What’s next????

With travel restrictions pretty much gone it was time for our first non-Spanish foreign holiday since COVID and Lisbon was our place of choice. We checked into our hotel and took a walk to Praca do Comercio and then along the waterfront.  It was a beautiful evening for a walk and also having a few sangrias with a sea view.

For dinner we went to our first of many vegan restaurants.  This one was called Kong and it didn’t disappoint a couple of hungry travelers.

The next day in the morning we went for breakfast at Manjerica which was so good we went back again two days later!  We of course went on a donation-based Sandman’s walking tour of the city centre which was really interesting.  The guide was also very knowledgeable and funny!

In the evening we went up to Miradouro da Sehora do Monte for the sunset but unfortunately it was a bit cloudy but did get a nice view of the city and the castle.  After this we found a craft beer bar near our hotel called Canil which had great selection of interesting beers.

Today we took a trip to Belem to visit a few places outside the centre of Lisbon.  This included the Torre de Belem, Padrao dos Descobrimentos and Mosteiro dos Jeronimos which were all really cool.  Along here we also got some pretty good views of Ponte 25 de Abril.

After all this exploring and tourism we decided that we had earned ourselves a wee break.  We headed over to LX Factory which was a really cool collection of bohemian shops as well as bars and restaurants.  We found ourselves a nice roof top bar on top of LX Hostel and enjoyed some beers in the sun.

The next morning we had breakfast at Manjerica again which was even better than the last time.  This then gave us the fuel for walking around Alfama area which was really beautiful and we wandered from terrace to terrace again enjoying drinks in the sun. 

In the evening we went up Miradouro da Sehora do Monte again and this time got some nice sunset views! And again we followed this up with a visit to Canil for some craft beers.

And on our last day before our flight, what did we do, went for drinks on a terrace of course, this time at Praca do Comercio so of course they were pricy but it was a pretty good spot.  We both really loved Lisbon and it was great to get some winter sun.  It’s a very beautiful city and fun to explore and would definitely recommend it to anyone.