Get your bathers, togs, swimmers & beach umbrellas ready because today “Costa Tropical” is on our radar!….Envisage swaying palm trees & soft, snow white sand!……

“Costa Tropical” is the name of the coastline of Granada province & it takes us an hour to drive south to get there. Playa(beach) Granada is in Motril & the closest beach to Granada city. The anticipation of the tropics & shaded palm trees spurs Bruce along the motorway. All hot & sweaty we race to the beach ……not quite what we had imagined!

However, the water is crystal clear & our swim is refreshingly cool (cold), on such a warm day. There’s only small stones & pebbles so we could enter & exit the sea with dignity! Ha! Sorry no photographic evidence…..

Continuing north east, near the coastline, the landscape is extremely dry, arid & desert like!

We’re intrigued as we pass by thousands of “white structures” dominating the landscape & realise they are greenhouses.

These are the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world! They are highly productive & can harvest several times a year, selling fruit & vegetables to Northern Europe during winter. The over 80,000 acres of farms & greenhouses is known as “Europes garden” & Spains Mar Del Plastico, or plastic sea!

Spectacular coastal views of villages among the arid landscape.

In beautiful Roquetas de Mar, Bruce is able to rest as the sun sets at a free overnight stay,  which overlooks the beach too.

This a super high lifeguard lookout! I think they should have a fireman’s pole for quick descent!

We admire the wide, long, beautifully tiled promenade & past stylish Spanish buildings, probably holiday homes .

Breakfast here is really brunch as the Spanish don’t appear to eat their first time of the day until at least 1030am. Mark chomped into his delicious tostada! ….a toasted 1/2 bread roll with whatever you like on top. Mark is having both halves of the tostadas – “tostadas entera”, — {took us pictures and diagrams with the waitress to work out if we wanted one piece or two (entera) – ie the whole roll}