Granada

Granada sits beneath a red hill crowned by the Alhambra, the fortress and palace of the last Muslim rulers of Spain. Inside, the Nasrid Palaces run from pool to courtyard under plaster ceilings cut like lace. Across the valley an old quarter of white lanes climbs the opposite slope, and the Mirador de San Nicolás gives the view everyone comes for. The city still serves a free tapa with every drink, so dinner happens bar by bar for almost nothing. The Catholic Monarchs lie in the Royal Chapel of Granada, in the middle of the shopping streets. Flamenco is still sung in Sacromonte, in caves dug straight into the hillside. The city's name is the Spanish word for pomegranate, and the fruit is carved on gates, doors and bollards all over town. Above the rooftops the ridges of Sierra Nevada National Park close the horizon, ninety minutes from the Mediterranean.