I'm off to the UK in a few days and will be there for a while.
Over the last few months, the news about Spain has been mainly bad and the confusion over bureaucracy has deepened.
In many ways, it was making me feel much less love for Spain than we had both felt when we moved here, so I thought it was time to take stock and try to work out just why we are still living here (apart from the obvious - no property in the UK to go back to).

We had to drive to the other side of Granada yesterday - about a 40 minute drive to a suburb of Granada called Huétor Vega.
We make this trip about once a fortnight on average and I'm usually sitting in the passenger seat, listening to my iPod and letting the World go by, but yesterday I decided to take a really good look out of the window.

We take the back roads into Granada, driving through different villages until we arrive near Santa Fe and then onto the main road, followed by the motorway.
And this time I looked at the journey as a tourist.

Sure, the fields running across the back roads look almost like sand hills at the moment, they are so bleached by the sun, but they still have a certain charm. The roads between villages have more potholes than ever, but the village streets themselves are pristine clean, as are most of the houses.

The villages look to outsiders as sleepy as ever (even though I know they are not). There are a few unfinished village buildings, but there always were, as having an open top room is supposed to bring some tax benefits (so I have been led to believe anyway). Most of the village houses have colourful curtains across their front doors and even the poorest homes can have a certain charm when bathed in sunlight.

One of the villages has fiesta signs in place already for the coming weekend. I wish I was attending as last year's was excellent.

The newish road through Santa Fe makes the town itself look a little squalid, in that all you get to see are the backs of flats built during the housing boom, but Santa Fe itself is still charming and quite busy.
The A92 into Granada does have a few more closed-up businesses either side of the road, but I would guess that some of this is down to the buildings being virtually cut off by the bypass.
And yes, there is more graffiti of all sorts, but most is non-offensive.

But driving into Granada itself is still a pretty awesome sight, with the city and its villages flanked by the mountains and stretching to your left and right as far as the eye can see.
At night the view is even more spectacular, coming over the last bridge into the city you see lights stretching for miles.

The motorway around Granada is pretty busy any time of the day, but driving along you do get to see just how much bigger this city is than visitors to the Alhambra realise. And you see many new buildings, some pretty prestigious. Admittedly some of those buildings remain unoccupied, and there are some shabby bits where building work has stopped, but the overall image given to the tourist is one of a modern city with a great deal going on. In that sense, whatever you may think about needless spending, the planners did well.

Once you drive in Huétor Vega, you get the sense of a mainly opulent suburb. Large white houses line the main road, there is very little rubbish and on the whole the area looks clean and tidy, and of course very sunny.
Driving up the hills to the main part of Huétor Vega, you see the smaller houses, most of which are lived in. There are a few ruins hoping to be modernised, but not as many as you may find in other towns. Mums with pushchairs walk along the main roads, or sit together chatting in the shade at one of the many viewpoints, some of which have well-kept play areas. The usual groups of elderly men gather in various parts of the town where seating has been set up for this purpose. Most of the shops are open and the outsides of the town hall, library and health centre all look as if they have been tended recently by cleaners and gardeners.

This is just one example. I could write about several other towns in the suburbs of Granada. Some, like Armilla, are similar in many ways to Huétor Vega, others, like Maracena, are less opulent-looking, but still have thriving communities with a great deal going on.

And then there is the truly awe-inspiring view driving along the motorway from Granada to the coast. We didn't do that yesterday, but it is worth mentioning here as the views along that road always take my breath away.

Looking at Granada with the eyes of a tourist reminds me of why we decided to move here in the first place.
Admittedly I wish we had chosen an area nearer to the city itself, but apart from that, I still see why we were so taken with this place.

As I said, I was just putting things in perspective a little.
Sometimes, amid all the confusion and depression which is going on right now, it pays to take stock.

We needed a break from Bembibre, and are in Barcelona for couple of weeks, then we are headed to your neck of the woods, Granada...we only came to Barcelona because everyone seemed to think that was the only place in Spain, the wife now has her collectable spoon and we can say we did that...but I still love the ringing of the bell when one leaves a tip...and we always tip.

It really is a beautiful city. I used to live there and when I returned this year, I was impressed by how well-kept it still is despite the crisis. I lived there for well over a year and I never really stopped seeing it with tourist eyes. It's so charming and has so much character. Granada is by far my favourite place in Spain.

I don't blame you for loving it there Solwriter it was my first experience of a City in Spain, years before I went to places like Bareclona and Madrid and I will always feel affection for it, we are long overdue a visit there.

I'm glad others here like Granada too.
Thanks for the comments and the likes.
I'm now in the UK and definitely missing home already.
But at least it is sunny here.... for now!