The Alhambra is a red fortress on a hill, and inside its walls is the most delicate architecture in Europe. The Nasrid rulers of Granada, the last Muslim dynasty in Spain, built and rebuilt it from the thirteenth century, and in the fourteenth century they made it a palace city, with courtyards, fountains and rooms covered in carved plaster and glazed tile, all lit by the sun reflecting from water. The Court of the Lions, with its twelve stone lions holding up a fountain, and the Hall of the Ambassadors with its wooden dome are the most famous, though many visitors say they remember the small, quiet courtyards best.
The story ends in 1492, when Boabdil, the last Nasrid sultan, handed Granada to the Catholic monarchs, who made the city a Christian one. The Emperor Charles V later built a Renaissance palace inside the walls, a round courtyard inside a square block, which sits oddly against the Moorish rooms but has its own dignity. In the nineteenth century the American writer Washington Irving lived here for a few months and wrote his Tales of the Alhambra, and so helped to bring it back into fashion.
Granada lies at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, whose snow-capped ridge, with Mulhacén at nearly 3,500 metres the highest peak on mainland Spain, rises behind the city. In winter you can ski in the morning and walk in the Alhambra gardens in the afternoon, which is a luxury few cities offer. The ride from Granada north to Baeza crosses olive country, with mountains rising on the right and long, gentle bends.
The practical side needs thought. Tickets for the Nasrid palaces are timed and sell out well in advance, so book before you travel, and bring identification. The city has a low-emission zone and a complicated one-way system, so use a car park near the Alhambra hill or leave the bike on the edge of the centre. The streets around the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter, are narrow, steep and cobbled.
Granada is a city of nearly a quarter of a million, so there are petrol stations and restaurants everywhere. The bars still serve a free tapa with each drink, a tradition that makes an evening cheap and generous.
Visit in spring or autumn, when the gardens are lovely and the heat is bearable.