Alhambra

Apart from the massive walls of the Alhambra, which are reminiscent of the Krak des Chevaliers crusader castle in Syria, Granada most impressed me by the quality of its air. Just spending a day strolling around the battlements is better than a two-week detox programme in a place like London.

These are the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and when I looked out of my hotel window first thing in the morning the panorama of the town with its magnificent cathedral under a few densely white clouds in the shape of zeppelins or party balloons drifting down from the mountains was stunning.

There was also this couple of young American buskers having an idyllic year out before the grind inevitably set in back home in the shape of mortgage, job, kids and the rest of the dreary baggage. I’m sure they’ll always remember their year in Granada as the happiest of their lives, when they were foot-loose and fancy-free and had all the time in the world before them.