Well December has arrived but my climbing rose doesn’t seem to realise and is blooming and budding again. Nice and cheery, certainly not as profuse as its spring flowering but  should I tell it that it is almost winter now?

Friday night saw hubby and I on our last escape of 2019, except the works Christmas ‘do’ in Fuengirola, does that count? This being our first year working with Inland Andalucia estate agents in the Martos office up in the north of Andalucia in my home province of Jaen.

I keep saying one of my favourite cities, I seem to have a lot but this one really is special! Granada touches my soul. The steep, narrow, characterful and full of characters Albaicin area is one I can explore and explore. I think I could live there – if I had to live in a city. On this trip we actually got to drive the car into the ancient area of the Albaicin to get to the hotel car parking, think ‘No Entry’ signs that you ignore and automatic bollards that you hope will stay down!

The gorgeous, ancient Hotel Santa Isabel la Real is right next to the monastery of the same name. A beautiful small hotel with an wooden-gallery patio. Charm and warmth, cosiness and age mellow into one delightful little place to stay. Family owned, lovely staff, good breakfast, big comfortable bed and shutters onto our internal patio window, as well as a bar crawl up and down those streets for supper meant one of the best nights sleep I’d had in a long while.

So, keep watching this space – very soon Hotel Santa Isabel la Real will be live on Only Spain, the last one for this year. I’m plotting and planning, researching and drooling over some fabulous little places to stay for the coming year – Let’s see what 2020 brings and roll on spring time! I am not a fan of winter at all. The roses are helping though!