I’m out in southern Spain in February and am currently waiting on the Spanish footie fixture release before working out which match(s) I can make it along to. Depending on which teams are at home that week I have a few options such as Malaga, Granada or even over to Sevilla or Real Betis. For obvious reasons my instant attraction was for Granada but just wanted to check if any of you fine folk have visited Los Carmenes? If so would you recommend a visit? And if so any pointers/advice/tips/recommendations would be much appreciated. Also if anyone has been to any of the other grounds any negative/positive feedback would be good. Cheers.
Might be worth PMing Roji. I'm sure a few have been out there but as far as Granada goes, Roji knows best.
Not enough information to help. What was the atmosphere like within the said car? What was the parking situation like around the park? Were the park locals friendly? And so on and so on…
Been to a few games in Spain. Down South.....in 98 I think at Malaga and more recently in Mooney's spell went to Marbella but he wasn't playing. I love the open Spanish grounds in the sunshine. But choose a good game with meaningful (big or local) opposition. My limited experience tells me that the crowds and atmosphere are really poor if the game is not a big one, and then flip to being magic when they are. Mind you I'd be at a pre-season match for us in Granada like a flash. And not football related, get to walk the crumbling walkway at El Chorro, probably the single most scariest moment of my life (bar a heavily outnumbered 'friendly chat' with some locals in Luton once). A true life experience.
Where abouts in southern Spain? As someone said above Rojicoblancohorizontal on here is your best bet. He was very helpful. I have a lovely story with that. Went to Gib last year with my family and we attempted to go to Granada. I say attempted because the train network in Andalucia is horrendous. There's only 4 trains a day that run from near Gib to Granada and the journey takes 4 hours, so we decided to take the early morning one so we could see all of Granada (Estadio Los Carmenes, Alhambra etc.). However the train was cancelled and since there were no taxis we were stranded at the station at 5.30am. The station was also an hours walk from the border and with parents who are pretty old in pitch black darkness, and with none of us able to speak Spanish, it wasn't the best of walks. Best bet is to hire a car because at least you're in control. It might cost you a bit but it's better than having to face my situation. Roji told me though that the people in Granada are very friendly and from when I was looking up things on the internet their bus network is very good and cheap. Not football related but you have to see the Alhambra, it;s got some of the best architecture in the world IMO. A recommendation for when you go to the stadium (it's what I intended to do) is to have a Watford flag and to just go into the main reception with it saying you'd like a tour and that you're on a friendship-building holiday between the Pozzo clubs. If they are helpful then you should get a very good tour.
Cheers for the feedback folks, Nisman94, we’re staying in a place on the coast called Nerja (a 60 min drive to Malaga in one direction and an hour and half to Granada the other direction). We’ll be hiring a car whilst out there so should be ok with regards to train travel etc. Even if the fixture gods doesn’t give me a Granada home game we’ll be heading up there for a mooch so will definitely check out Alhambra. Just googled it and it looks like a must. Also just checked out some google images of the El Chorro walkway and can safely confirm I’ll be staying well away from it as I am pretty fond of life and would hate to miss our championship promotion open top bus parade in May.
Worth a try. If anything it would just be funny to see the stereotypical English tourist shouting words like "Pozzo" and "Udinese" and "Watford" slowly whilst waving the Watford flag around. Even still I believe they do do tours of the stadium if you ring ahead and pre-book or something like that
Yeah you should be fine with travel then and I've just looked Nerja and it's almost perfectly situated between Malaga and Granada so you've got 2 great cities to go to. If you have the time, you could possibly go to Gibraltar as well. I know it's quite a distance away but if you set off early and get to the border between the rush hour times, it'll be an easy passage into Gib and it does have some lovely sights.
walk around Granada in a Watford shirt I'll guarantee you will get a lot of attention ... especially if we start nicking their best players
If you like the mountains when visiting Granada worth driving up the Sierra Nevada the highest road in Europe, spectacular views but be careful with the clutch if you do go, I nearly burnt one out when i went but I was driving a little Fiat with 4 in the car.
Definitely not really the highest road in Europe but maybe the greatest height from it's base. I've driven up small roads in the alps so high that the engine cuts out.
Oh yes it is... 3380m http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_paved_roads_in_Europe and this hasn't been changed on twitter
Oops .... got my feet and metres mixed up ... it is the highest and by some way. I can't see how a normally aspirated car could run up there or if it can it must be dog.
Seville is worth a visit if they've got a big game. A decent atmosphere is generated there. The city is very nice as well.
