Alhambra remains one of the most extraordinary and rewarding collections of buildings and gardens on the continent. The Alhambra complex started life in the 11th century as a basic structure of bush coloured walls and fortified towers. Its strategic location on the inaccessible hill of al-Sabikah attracted Mohammed I, the founder of the Nasrid dynasty, who set-up a hydraulic system of aqueducts and cisterns to support an independent township. The most spectacular period of Nasrid architecture came in the 14th century and introduced the Palacio de los Leones and the Palacio de Comares. The Palacio de Carlos V and the Convento de San Francisco are undeniably beautiful in their own right and heighten the Alhambra’s sense of history. After Carlos V left in the mid 16th century the whole site gradually fell into ruin and went on to suffer terrible abuse at the hands of Napoleon’s troops, who were stationed in Granada in 1812. After the release of Washington Irving’s book ‘Tales of the Alhambra’, put Granada firmly on the tourist map and the Spanish government finally allotted funds for the restoration of the site (this project remains on-going).