Fodor's Expert Review Palacio de La Aljafería

This is one of Spain's three best-preserved Moorish palaces. If Córdoba's Mezquita shows the energy of the 10th-century Caliphate and Granada's Alhambra is the crowning 14th-century glory of al-Andalus (the 789-year Moorish empire on the Iberian Peninsula), then the late-11th-century Aljafería is the middle child. Originally a fortress and royal residence, and later a seat of the Spanish Inquisition, the Aljafería is now the home of the Cortes (Parliament) de Aragón. The 9th-century Torre del Trovador (Tower of the Troubadour) appears in Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore.  Visits by online reservation only.