Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada

From the reddish walls of the Alhambra, the palace-fortress of the Nasrid emirs who ruled this corner of Spain through the 13th and 14th centuries, Granada unfolds below: the whitewashed lanes of the Albaicín on the facing hill, a living archive of Moorish vernacular building, and to the east the water gardens of the Generalife, the rulers' country retreat. Together the three form the medieval city, inscribed by UNESCO in 1984 among Spain's first World Heritage Sites.