traveldk.com

Andalucía’s most famous pottery celebrates the symbol of Granada, the pomegranate, and is glazed in turquoise and cobalt blue over white.

Granada’s Moorish-inspired marquetry uses bone, mother-of-pearl, amber and marble in the finest inlays, although humbler objects employ coloured wood chips. You’ll find chessboards, tables and boxes of all sizes.

Also dating from ancient times, cultivation of the vine remains a vital part of life.

If you want to ingest a little less oil, a la plancha (grilled) and asado (roasted) are the options to choose.

A guided tour of these marvellous caves – Spain’s largest – will wind through beautiful chambers with naturally coloured formations and names such as the Hut, Organ, Cathedral, Quail and Twins. The last room is a notorious crowd-pleaser – the Sala de los Culos (Chamber of the Buttocks). In addition to the twelve caverns, there are also six underground lakes, which create stunning visual effects. The “Great Lake” lies under a 70 m (230 ft) high vaulted ceiling.

This ancient town is famous for its cave dwellings, inhabited for centuries. They were developed after the reconquista by local Moors who had been cast out of society by the Christians. The Barrio de las Cuevas is a surreal zone of brown hills with rounded whitewashed chimneys sprouting up here and there. To learn more, visit the Cueva-Museo or instead stay in a cave hotel (see Cuevas Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, Guadix).

The six-stringed flamenco guitar can be traced back to the medieval lute. Compared to the classical guitar, it is lighter, shallower and less resonant, so that it can be played extremely fast, and also features a thick plate below the soundhole for tapping out rhythms.

You can go for a studio, an apartment or a grand suite in this 18th-century country mansion. It’s a garden of loveliness, cultivating olives and honey, and there’s a beautiful pool. If you like, you can take painting classes.

Trajan’s successor (117–38) was a great builder, emphasizing Rome’s Classical Greek roots.