Almost eight centuries of Arab rule still influences the specificity of the region. Andalusia is still Europe, and yet sometimes it is hard to believe. The most famous monuments are based on Islamic architecture and bear traces of the historical turmoil: both the Alhambra palace complex in Granada and the Mezquita in Córdoba were not destroyed after their conquest by Christians but adapted to the new needs. And so the palace chambers gained new decorations and functions, and the mosque prayer room was turned into a cathedral. Giralda, once a minaret and now the belfry of the Cathedral of Seville, the capital of Andalusia, has undergone a similar metamorphosis. The extent to which the coastline was exposed to invasions is evidenced by the defensive walls of Alcazaba in Almeria, Malaga and Puerta de Tierra in Cádiz, a fortified “gateway to the land” guarding the only border of the city with the land. The province of Huelva became famous as the one from which Christopher Columbus set off, and Jaen boasts of Úbeda and Baeza, two cities recognized as gems of the Spanish Renaissance.
Spaghetti westerns from the 1960s and 1970s were shot in the province of Almeria in the desert of Tabernas
[Almeria] [Malaga]
Thanks to olive oil, the people of Jaen live longer than other Spaniards and Europeans
The scene in which Halle Berry emerges from the water in the film about agent 007 “Die Another Day” was shot on a city beach in Cádiz.
