Moorish architecture is what brings most visitors to Granada, but the city's Mediterranean gardens are what many visitors remember most.
Although the present Duke of Northumberland still calls this British estate home, it has doubled as both Hogwarts and Brancaster Castle.
Large sections of the mud-brick complex collapsed in the 2003 earthquake, but work is underway to rebuild the UNESCO World Heritage site.
Irish folklore has it that a kiss on the Blarney Stone would make you an instant wit.
This haunted castle from the 12th century in the remote Transylvanian countryside is said to have been the inspiration for Bram Stoker's horror book, Dracula.
The Islamic fort formerly housed Egyptian pharaohs for 700 years, but now it welcomes tourists to its three mosques and many palaces.
The château in the Loire Valley was used by French monarchs as a hunting lodge beginning in the 16th century.