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SPAIN
Alcazar de Segovia, a castle-palace, lies in the walled city of Segovia. It's one of the most famous castles in Spain due to the fact that a lot of Spanish kings resided here and because of its beautiful exterior. The Alhambra was a palace, a citadel, a fortress and home of the Nasrid Sultans, high government officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers of the Nasrid Dynasty (1238-1492), the last Islamic sultanate in the lberian Peninsula. The Wall of Ávila is almost one and a half miles long, and still in good condition. Fourteen meters high and as much as 3 meters thick, these walls have about 90 towers and 9 entrance gates. The wall was constructed in 1095 for protection. The windmills of La Mancha were made particularly famous by a scene in Cervantes' Don Quixote de La Mancha where the title character mistakes them for giants sent by an evil enchanter, giving rise to the phrase "tilting at windmills". The Segovia aqueduct constructed around A.D. 50, is one of the best preserved Roman aqueducts in Europe. Above ground, 120 pillars supporting its two-story arcade are preserved, which runs about 91/2 miles long and still to this day carries water. The Royal Palace in Madrid is actually used (but not owned) by the King of Spain. The Palace was built on the site of a former Alcazar that burned down in 1734; it took 26 years to complete. A visitor to the Palace today gets to see 50 of its 2800 rooms. La Granja is a Royal site in Spain that includes a Royal palace, gardens and sculptural fountains. It is located in the town of San Ildefonso (Segovia), 80 km north of Madrid. A place designed for leisure and quiet retreat thus became an important meeting place for the King, his Ministers and the Court. The Mezquita (Mosque), takes up a good city block. It is the last untouched mosque, which was converted to a cathedral, still standing today. The inside is filled with over 850 arches and pillars. El Escorial was a vowed promise by Philip II to build a monastery dedicated to St Lawrence. After careful preparations, the little town of San Lorenzo was chosen as the site of a huge complex which was to include a monastery, a church, a royal palace, a mausoleum, a library and a museum and was conceived as a monument to Philip and his reign. La Sagrada Familia is a large Roman Catholic basilica under construction in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is the last, and perhaps most extraordinary, of the designs of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí.
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