If ever you have the opportunity to visit Granada, nab it – for it’s difficult to imagine being anything less than inspired and enchanted by this palace and its gardens.

While history tells us that the Alcazaba fortress here dates back to at least the ninth century, it was the Nasrid dynasty that established a royal residence here in the 13th century.  Many of the sights that gave us cause to stop and admire were undertaken by Yusuf I and Mohammed V, of  the 14th century, but irrigation in the form of canals was in place here here more than a century earlier.

We took a guided tour of the Alhambra, led by the gracious Juan, and were  enthralled with the gardens and sophisticated irrigation systems. Then, as we and literally hundreds of others made our way through the Nasrid Palaces, somewhere between the Court of the Myrtles and the Palace of the Lions, I so enjoyed the sights that I had the dubious distinction of being that person who lost sight of her group amidst the crowds … for the balance of the tour.

While the sunset in this image casts a golden light to the palace walls, their true colour is reflected in the Arabic name from which “Alhambra” stems, Red Castle.