Castles and palaces

Towers, battlements, grand salons and gardens all feature as part of this most majestic tour.

Almodóvar Castle. We are in 8th-century Al-Andalus, in the European Middle Ages. Abderramán I is anxious about his borders and builds defensive fortresses at strategic points throughout the peninsula. Thus is born Almodóvar Castle in the Hornachuelos Natural Park, between Cordoba and Seville, a unique setting for this most striking of castles – the best preserved in the whole of Andalusia.

Madinat al-Zahra. Two centuries later, Caliph Abderramán III ordered the construction of the most beautiful palatial city the West has ever seen, Medina Azahara, “the dazzling city”. Symbol of the grandeur of Al-Andalus, the broad-minded court that established itself here embodied the highest levels of refinement in an era of Christian strife and attracted diplomats and students from all over the world. Officially nominated for the status of UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016, its romantic ruins still speak to us of its glorious past.

Moratalla Palace & Viana Palace. Travelling again into the past takes us back to 20th-century Cordoba. The marquises of Viana have their private hunting estate at Moratalla Palace, a delightful building hidden among verdant trees and Versailles-like gardens 40km from Cordoba. There they entertained European royal families – including Spanish King Alfonso XII and King Alfonso XIII – providing them with a place to relax and rest in private. The same marquises of Viana were the owners of the stunning Viana Palace, in the city of Cordoba. This 15th-century building was declared an official Asset of Cultural Value in 1981 and is preserved to this day as a palace-museum where visitors can admire paintings, silverware, mosaics, tapestries and tiles from a variety of eras and provenances. It provides the most comprehensive example of aristocratic gardens and patios accessible to the public anywhere in Andalusia.

In order to enjoy this tour of striking and singular places to the full, we will combine a variety of venues depending on the season. The tour involves a return to childhood, where we remember that dreaming is a necessary part of contentment.