Garden globetrotting Seville

With the cross-cultural architecture of its buildings and the gardens' diverse planting, the Real Alcázar de Sevilla has so much to offer visitors that Matt Collins has to resort to his diary to recall its every detail

- Matt Collins

It is my habit to keep a daily diary when travelling abroad: time passes quickly when on the move and details are easily forgotten. During a month-long family road trip through Spain, I managed to fill an entire notebook with such details of what was proving to be - especially for the gardener in me - a uniquely inspiring holiday: colourful cities, eclectic gardens and herb-strewn landscapes.

One entry in particular is a joy to revisit: an afternoon's escape to the Real Alcázar de Sevilla. Spending three nights in lively, citrus-scented Seville, and granted a few hours parental recess by a charitable wife, I disappeared into the regal avenues and lavish courtyards of the Alcázar's deeply immersive garden, and indulged every whim of the gardener at leisure. I paused at roses and broad magnolias, gazed through serene vistas and walked unhurried along the high garden balconies. Returning to my diary, I am reminded of jasmine-clad walls tiled green and gold, pillared and imposing Phoenix and Washington palms; and the mingled calls of resident parakeets and peacocks ('whose tail feathers match the lucid tiles'). Situated in the heart of ancient Seville -