Page 467 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

SOUTHERN SP AIN  465

ANDALUCÍA

Huelva • Cádiz • Málaga • Gibraltar • Sevilla
Córdoba • Granada • Almería • Jaén
Andalucía is where all Spain’s stereotypes meet.
Bullfights, beaches, flamenco, white villages, flashy fiestas,
religious processions, tapas and sherry are all here in
abundance. But each is part of a larger whole, which
further lists great art and architecture, nature reserves,
excellent cuisine and a charming, easy-going way of life.

The eight provinces of Andalucía, plus the and the splendid palace of the Alhambra
British territory of Gibraltar, stretch across in Granada. Inevitably, perhaps, the most
Southern Spain from the deserts of Almería visited places are the great cities and the
to the Portuguese border. One of Spain’s busy Costa del Sol, with Gibraltar, a
longest rivers, the Guadalquivir, bisects the geographical and historical oddity, at its
region and the mainland’s highest peaks can western end. But there are many attractions
be found in the Sierra Nevada. Andalucía is tucked into other corners of the region.
linked to the central tableland by a pass, Many of the sights of Huelva province,
the Desfiladero de Despeñaperros. bordering Portugal, are associated with
Successive invaders left their mark on Christopher Columbus, who set sail from
Andalucía. The Romans built cities in this here in 1492. Film directors have put to
southern province, which they called good use the atmospheric landscapes of
Baetica, among them Córdoba, its capital, Almería’s arid interior, which are reminiscent
the well-preserved Itálica near Seville, of the Wild West or Arabia. Discreetly
and Cástulo, once the largest city on the concealed among the countless olive
peninsula. It was in Andalucía that the groves that cover Jaén province, but not
Moors lingered longest and left their to be missed, are Andalucía’s two lovely
greatest buildings – Córdoba’s Mezquita Renaissance towns, Úbeda and Baeza.

The city of Jaén surrounded by olive groves, seen from the Castillo de Santa Catalina
Pedestrians strolling on the seaside promenade in Marbella, Costa del Sol

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