So the question is why Granada as the destination for my trip? Apart from the fact that Granada is known all over the world for the Alhambra Palace (recently nominated to be one of the 7 Wonders of the World and finally end up in position number 8) is there anything else worth visiting? Almost everyone who visits Spain has Granada as a destination because the Alhambra is a MUST SEE, but not a lot people realise what else this mysterious city hides...the Alhambra is not the only wonder we have in Granada. Don't just follow the crowd, make the best of your trip. Let's take other similar examples, imagine you went to Rome and just visited the Coliseum, to New York just to see the Statue of Liberty or to Paris just to admire the Tour Eiffel? Come and really discover for yourself all the rest of hidden wonders we have in Granada.

Granada is special, small and as sweet as a pomegranate (the meaning of the word "Granada" in Spanish) which I think is the best way to describe my city. Being one of the most cosmopolitan cities of Spain, it's like visiting a lot of different places in one go, you almost feel you are in the Arab world because Granada helps you experience new sensations of farther places without losing the real Spanish character.

There is lots to see. First and foremost there is Granada`s old Muslim quarter called the Albayzín, declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO, with its ascending alleyways leading to the most fascinating places, difficult for tourists to find because it is a labyrinth - even the people of Granada get lost in there! It is an indispensable complement to the Alhambra/Generalife, you shouldn't go to one of them without visiting the other. The Albayzín has narrow and mysterious streets with white-washed houses decorated with jasmin and Andalusian ceramics. Then there are the Arab Baths; the best old public Muslim baths you can visit in Spain, the Archaeological Museum; a traditional Granada house with a beautiful view of the Alhambra plus lots of different remains from various past settlements. There is also the Casa del Chápiz, a wonderful example of Mudejar architecture with a beautiful garden and patio in which we can enjoy the smell of all the different plants and fruit they have there. We can see the present entwined with ancient times as well, such as the construction of the Great New Mosque of Granada (2003) financed by the King of Arabia to be one of the most important mosques of the new times, and the main street in Granada, recently renovated following the modern arts style. In the Moorish market you will feel like you are in Morocco, where you have to buy things by haggling with the sellers. And all of this without forgetting the Christian part of the city, with the impressive Cathedral.

Granada is one of the most beautiful places in Spain, come and feel like a local, enjoying the nightlife with the amazing tapas, watching the sunset of the Alhambra when the pink light still hovers around the shadows of the mountains while listening to the peaceful sound of a Spanish guitar at the Plaza de San Nicolas. A lot of people come to Granada and just visit the Alhambra in a rush, please do not do that, let us capture for you a bit of the "El Duende" spell of Granada, based on the well-known legend. As our most famous poet, Federico Garcia Lorca, said: ''There are neither maps nor exercises to help us find the duende. We only know that it burns the blood like a poultice of broken glass, that it exhausts, that it rejects all the sweet geometry we have learned, that it smashes styles, that it leans on human pain with no consolation. . . ."

There is no better place to try to get some of this duende magic than in Granada.