Day trip to Granada

<p>Granada is a long day from Gibraltar, three hours each way if the traffic behaves, but it is the kind of place that makes you forget you have a drive home. The Alhambra alone justifies the trip, and Granada has enough beyond the palace to fill a second full day if you ever come back with more time.</p> <p>The Alhambra is a 14th-century Nasrid palace complex built by the Moorish sultans of Granada, and it is one of the most extraordinary buildings in the world. The Nasrid Palaces, the residential heart of the complex, are covered floor to ceiling in carved stucco, geometric tilework and intricate muqarnas vaulting. The craftsmanship is so precise and so delicate that it looks computer-generated even though it was built by hand six centuries ago. Book tickets well in advance; the Nasrid Palaces have timed entry slots and they sell out days or weeks ahead, especially in summer.</p> <p>Below the Alhambra, the Albaicín neighbourhood is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in its own right, a Moorish quarter of white-washed houses, narrow cobbled streets and carmenes (private gardens with views of the palace). Walk up to the Mirador de San Nicolás at sunset for the defining view of the Alhambra against the Sierra Nevada backdrop. It is a cliché for a reason.</p> <p>The cathedral is impressive, built directly over the site of the main mosque after the Reconquista, and the Capilla Real next door contains the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella. The tapas culture here is different from the rest of Spain: order a drink and a free tapa arrives with it, which is either quaint or revelatory depending on how long you have been living elsewhere.</p> <p>Start early, book Alhambra tickets in advance, and accept that you will not see everything. A 7am departure from Gibraltar gets you there by 10am, enough time for the Alhambra, lunch in the Albaicín and the cathedral before heading back.</p>