Alcazar de Seville, Spain

First off, a quick general history. What we call Spain was highly contested for centuries. Excluding prehistory the peninsula was occupied by the Roman Empire and eventually the Western Roman Empire. Most of the peninsula excluding the north. In the north, a people known as the Visigoths held strong against the Romans and eventually kicked out the Western Roman Empire in the 470s. The Visigoths were Germanic Christians.

The Visigoths stayed in control of Iberia until the Moors conquered Iberia in the 8th century. In the North, two nations would eventually drive out the Moors called Castile and Lyon. They would eventually unify and become modern Spain.

The Alcazar de Seville was originally the site of a Visigoth Basilica and the Moors put a fortress on top of it around 914. Seville became the capital of the Moorish region which they called Al-Andalus. In 1163 the ruler of Al-Andalus turned what is known as Alcazar into a palace.

To skip ahead a bit the Spanish ruler king Pedro I turned Alcazar into a winter residence, retaining much of the Muslim architecture. It was a beautiful site filled with history. Even in February we could see an army of grounds keepers maintaining every bush. The Palace was also filled with bitter orange trees. I've read they are considered inedible to people. Mainly used in perfumes.Read more