The Alcaiceria home of the Great Bazaar of Granada, was originally a series of streets between Plaza Nueva and Plaza Bib-Rambla, bursting with stalls selling Arabic silks, spices and other precious goods. Nowadays the only remaining section is Calle Alcaiceria, beginning just off the Calle Reyes Catolicos, and extending back as far as the Cathedral. It is an area rich with history and local culture, still packed with interesting, exotic things to buy.
El Albaicín is the old Moorish quarter of the city. It's located on a hill facing the Alhambra and there are dramatic views of this area from the palace's famous rose gardens. The Zirid Monarchs first established their court here in the 11th century although little remains from this era today, apart from some crumbling remains of the wall.
The Church of San José is also worth visiting close by as it is on the site of the Great Mosque of La Alcazaba and the minaret belongs to caliphal architecture, the only one preceding the Almoravid type. It is here that the 'Christ of Silence' by José de Mora is kept. All the churches in the Albaicín have Mudéjar traces in their 16th century construction.
Granada boasts one of the most magnificently positioned palaces in the world, as wondrous to behold from across the gorge, with the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada glinting behind in the sun, as it is to examine close at hand, with its elaborate symbolic designs. The city has a fascinating history, which can still be seen today in Granada´s carmens and Arab baths.
The Cathedral is located in the centre of the Muslim area and dates back to 1523. It has a nave and four aisles, a crossing and circular apse. Alonso Cano built the main façade with sculptures by Duque Cornejo, Risueño and Verdiguier while the only tower of the two planned ended up half finished. On the northern side, there is La Puerta del Perdón, a magnificent work of Diego de Siloé who also built La Puerta de San Jerónimo.
The Arab Baths are one of the most important historic and architectural aspects of Granada, as they are symbolic evidence of the city's religious turmoil all those centuries ago. The baths were built by the Muslims because they believed water was a symbol of purity, and so used it to cleanse their bodies, whilst the Christians.
This small but well-known street is the most photographed street in Cordoba. A typical narrow, cobbled alley between whitewashed houses, its balconies and walls are decked out with flowers in terracotta pots, in characteristically vivid colours, such as brilliant pink, purple and red geraniums.
This highest and most important of the city's old watchtowers is a fine place to get your bearings and affords a dramatic panorama of the city. Back in the 18th century, Cadiz had no less than 160 towers to watch over its harbours.
The archaeology museum on the ground floor. Some excellent glassware and jewelry are highlights and there is a good collection of amphorae as you'd expect from an historic port.
The grandiose Cadiz cathedral took over 130 years to build. Started in Baroque style and completed in Neo-clasical style, the dome and the towers are much smaller than originally intended.
Museo Historico Municipal de Cádiz boasts a 19th century mural depicting the establishment of the Constitution of 1812. The real showpiece is a fascinating mahogany and ivory model of the city which dates back to 1779 and which is a fascinating duplicate of all the streets and the buildings much as they are today.
This theatre is located within a wonderful neo-Mudejar red brick building and has an impressive interior as well. There is an active programme throughout the year, check the tourist office for a schedule of events.
Video of Caminito del Rey.
Before heading down the winding lane at the junction of the Gaucin road, take a look at the hill that the road curves around, which the locals call Monte Poron. This is meant to be the site of the local seat of power, whose castle dominated the area.
Inaugurated in 1785, Ronda's Plaza de Toros is one of the oldest in Spain, younger and smaller than that at Sevilla, but home to one of Spain's most famous 'schools' of bullfighting, on foot rather than on horseback as at Jerez and Sevilla.
Towering above the Almocábar gate, the monolithic church of the Holy Spirit is the Ciudad's unofficial cathedral, and certainly the place where the señoritos and their ladies from Ronda's old families can be seen at Sunday mass.
Built on Arabic foundations at the instigation of the Reyes Catolicos after the fall of Ronda in 1485, this imposing structure on the far side of the Puente Nuevo has been rebuilt over the centuries in Mudejar (post-Reconquest Arabic), gothic and Renaissance styles. It has been, variously, a Dominican convent, a private mausoleum for the Moctezuma y Rojas family and, sporadically, a tribunal for the Inquisition.
With views overlooking al Tajo and surrounded by nature, Hotel Catalonia Reina Victoria offers all the comfort and modern amenities of a 4 star hotel. A little to the south of the Alameda, and connected to it by the cliff top Paseo de los Ingleses is a garden, in the centre of which stands the Hotel Reina Victoria.
With views overlooking al Tajo and surrounded by nature, Hotel Catalonia Reina Victoria offers all the comfort and modern amenities of a 4 star hotel. A little to the south of the Alameda, and connected to it by the cliff top Paseo de los Ingleses is a garden, in the centre of which stands the Hotel Reina Victoria.
The Casa del Rey Moro is to some extent a fraud, since the house was never the home of the Moorish King. It was built in the 18th Century, when Moorish Spain was already a distant memory. Its apparently Moorish gardens are even more recent, having been designed by the French landscape gardener, Jean Claude Forestier, in 1912.
Built in the 16th century, possibly on remnants of an earlier bridge, this was the one navigable link between Mercadillo and La Ciudad until the completion of the Puente Nuevo centuries later. Cars still need good gears and drivers with steely nerves to take the steep hairpin bend on the way up to the cuesta de Santo Domingo.
