The Alcázar was built in the 14th century on ground that had held earlier fortifications. Ferdinand and Isabella used it as a base, and it later served as a seat of the Inquisition and, for a long stretch into the 20th century, as a prison.
⭐ What people come for now is the gardens: long rectangular pools stepping down between clipped hedges and cypresses, with fountains running the length of them. From the tower walk you look straight down the whole sequence.
The interior holds Roman mosaics lifted from elsewhere in the city, and a set of baths. The rooms are sparse — this is not a furnished palace, and it is better approached as a fortress with a garden attached.
Climb a tower first for the layout, then walk the gardens from the bottom end upward.
Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, photographed
