Lifestyle & Culture

Modern and Contemporary Andalucian music bands, singers and artists. The is an up and coming cohort in Andalucia to watch out for.

This is a new edition of an account of the contribution of the Gypsies of Andalucia to the development of flamenco. It provides a fuller explanation of some of the technical terms and a biographical dictionary of the foremost Gyspy flamenco artists of the past.

This title features: dynamic two-colour layout for clear navigation; magazine style, combining stunning photography, itineraries and the authors' personal take on the country; extensive listings of hotels and restaurants - all personally visited and recommended; top 'Don't Miss' sights at the start of every chapter, plus new 'Author Choices' of personal favourite places to stay and eat; clear, designed two-colour maps throughout for increased ease of use; and, the only guides with full-colour touring maps of the whole region.

Between 1920 and 1934, Gerald Brenan lived in the remote Spanish village of Yegen and "South from Granada" depicts his time there, vividly evoking the essence of his rural surroundings and the Spanish way of life before the Civil War. Here he portrays the landscapes, festivals and folk-lore of the Sierra Nevada, the rivalries, romances and courtship rituals, village customs,

In this masterly book, now in a revised and updated fourth edition, Michael Jacobs looks with fresh eyes at all the traditional delights of Andalucia while doing full justice to the lesser-known aspects of the region. He examines the underrated local food and drink, the extraordinarily varied natural scenery, the composers and writers who created the romantic myths and legends of the nineteenth century, the strange legacy of Lorca and the Spanish Civil War.

Gerald Howson went to Cadiz in Andalusia, Spain to learn Flamenco in the 50's. There the gaditanos (as the people from Cadiz are known) first regarded him as an oddity but gradually came to accept him.

Books about the history and culture of Andalucia: The Duchess of Rio Tinto by Martin Murphy, Granada, the seizure of the sultanate, Andalucia by Michael Pauls and Dana Facaros, South from Granada by Gerald Brenan, Andalucia by Michael Jacobs and more.

Inspired by writing a magazine article Chris Chaplow founder of Andalucia.com has created the Andalucia.com Kiva team and donated €5000 of advertising to KIVA and have created an Andalucia Kiva Team so that friends of Andalucia.com can join the Kiva project.

Imagine that you hire a new employee and the first thing he does is stake out a comfortable area for his afternoon nap. That is precisely what happened to Englishman Terry Clear when he hired a construction company to build his country home in rural, inland Andalucia in 2003. "Before they did anything on the house, they looked for the perfect place to set up a plastic shield for shade and tie their hammocks between the olive trees," he remembers with a good sense of humour.

In these days of international travel, the world often seems to be a much smaller place, while, in many senses it is much larger. Many people move from one country to another without a second’s thought and without so much as a word to friends or family who may wonder where they have moved on to.

An historical overview of Andalucia from the prehistoric beginnings through the Romans and the History of Spain, Jews in Spain, Moors, through the Dark Ages, the Reconquest, Christian rule, Christian rule, Spain's First Constitution, the Bourbons to Andalucia moves with Europe.

When tourists arrive on the Costa del Sol for their summer holidays or mid-winter break they soon discover that some of their fellow countrymen are so enamoured with the place that they stayed behind when their group went home or organised a move, lock, stock and barrel, or made elaborate plans to retire here when the time came.

When tourists arrive on the Costa del Sol for their summer holidays or mid-winter break they soon discover that some of their fellow countrymen are so enamoured with the place that they stayed behind when their group went home or organised a move, lock, stock and barrel, or made elaborate plans to retire here when the time came.

Flamenco is a passionate and seductive art form, a mysterious and misunderstood culture that has been burning in Andalucía for nearly five hundred years, and today flamenco has thousands of aficionado’s worldwide.

There is no better way to get to know Andalucia than through their many and fascinating traditional festivals. The local fiesta is the moment when every town and village strives to put on a splendid show, not only for themselves but also for those who come from afar to admire and enjoy.

Andalucians are well known for their style – think of Andalucian fashion, and you think of a woman in a swirling, spotty flamenco dress, with matching earrings and necklace, co-ordinating shoes and flower, and the finishing touch: a fan.

A set of interesting cultural essays about Andalucia in a variety of different topics.

Andalucia people, both those native to this region and those who have a relationship with southern Spain. From Roman emperors to Moorish caliphs and poets, from movie stars to models, singers, dancers and authors, the names and faces do much to tell the story of Andalucia.

Bullfighting as we know it today, started in the village squares, and became formalised, with the building of the bullring in Ronda in the late 18th century. From that time, it began to follow a particular sequence of events: the entrance of the bull, the picador, the banderilleros, and finally the matador (bullfighter). Many of the picadors' horses were injured in the early days, so these heavy horses now wear protection.

“Botellón” literally translates as “big bottle” and comes from the bottles of alcohol that young people typically bring with them to unofficial celebrations that take place in city streets, plazas, car parks, beaches, waste ground and around the most popular pubs and discotheques.

Andalucia is best known for its beaches, sunny weather and flamenco. But food is a hugely important part of southern Spain - indeed, the Mediterranean diet was recently recognised as being part of UNESCO's world cultural heritage.