On 2 January, 1492, just beginning the year of the Discovery, the last Andalusian kingdom fell into Christian hands. It had survived to other kingdoms of Al Andalus because of its emplacement in a mountainous land that harbours the highest mountain of the peninsula, the Mulhacén peak. The name of that kingdom was Granada, and its city capital grew around a magic citadel, the Alhambra (qal'at al-hamra', the Red Castle).

The group formed by the palace of the Alhambra and the gardens of the Generalife is the best example of Andalusian royal architecture coming almost intact to present times. It's surrounded by the walls of the citadel, which harbours also the Renaissance palace built by the Emperor Charles several years after the conquest of Granada by his grandfathers, the Catholic Kings. We have few to say about the Alhambra, everything has been already said by the best European and American writers, just recommend a quiet visit at spring, a time when gardens explode in colours and fragrances.

At the foot of the citadel's walls, the city of Granada has grown for centuries under the indelible sign of the Andalusian culture, which meant tolerance and mixing of traditions. From the narrow streets of the old Jew district to the caves of the gipsy Albaicín, the people's history is printed forever on the skin of the city. And facing the Alhambra's towers, those Isaac Albéniz described in musical keys as the Torres Bermejas (Reddish Towers), the villas of the district of Los Cármenes make us remember that Al Andalus was noble and Roman before being noble and Arab, and that such a circumstance was a main key of its success.

But Granada is much more than a beautiful city, and Sierra Nevada awaits for you outside. So that take your car and climb the road going to the valley of the Alpujarras, where everything is different from anything you may have seen before. Walk by Capileira, Bubión and Pampaneira and watch the roofs and chimneys spread on ground as if no buildings were placed below. Then, take again the road and try to see the coast of Africa from the viewpoint of the Veleta peak, close to 3.500 meters over the sea level. Finally, drive back on the same road and spend few more than one hour in reaching the warm beaches of Salobreña and Motril, where the Mediterranean looks at the high mountain. Art yesterday, high mountain today, beach tomorrow; can you ask for more?.

We will not say Granada is the most beautiful place in the World, we will just say it might be. That was, at least, the feeling of Boabdil, the last Andalusian king, who cried like a child when giving the keys of the citadel to the Queen Isabela ("yes, cry like a woman for what you didn't know to defend like a man", tell him his wife). Go there and take your own conclusion.