The Alhambra was an Arabic fortress built while the Moors (Muslims from North Africa) still laid claim to this part of Spain - back in the c13th or so.
"Alhambra" is a Spanish rendering of the Arabic words "qa'lat al-Hamra", meaning "red castle". The significance of the "red" part is easy to see, as it comes from the dusty red stone that was used to build the thick walls around the castle.
The entire site has got a magic feeling to it - a raise-the-hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck kind of buzz that envelops you from the moment you begin the steep climb to its entrance-way.
The Alhambra rustles with incredible Arabic myths, and is filled with the whispers of ghosts from times gone by. It's staggeringly beautiful, and feels like a creation from an old story-book, miraculously brought to life.
The setting is also like something from a picture postcard. The Alhambra stands proudly atop of one of the steep vantage-points of Granada - a hill called La Sabika.
The castle lurks behind blood-red boundary walls, and is framed against the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain-range, some distance behind.
