Land & Folk

The highest mountains and two oceans - bullfighting and flamenco - Movida, Marcha and Paseo

No other region in Spain is so rich in contrast as Andalucia.

Sunny coasts and snow peaked mountains only a few hours drive apart from each other. Rich in beautiful views and fabulous experiences in only a fein steps. Alternation is to be guaranteed in Spain's most charming travel region, which has characterized Spain's image abroad. A lot of things being and still are regarded as "typical Spanish" are actually "typical Andalusian". Andalusia is the home of Flamenco, Sherry and modern bullfighting, Carmen and Don Juan are andalusian. Just taking some of the most common stereotypes Andalusia means old men on donkeys, red blooded gipsies, the sound of gitarres and castanets, patios decorated with typical flowers and bulls grazing and fighting in fields. As often as these stereotypes have already been preferred to, they are still applying, but, as typical for stereotypes, they are in fact not even telling half the truth. Andalusia is that oppositional as a region can be. The fact that the deserts of Almeria are the doughtiest region in Europe just fits in the common image and therefore it is hardly believable that only 50 km away from the Costa del Sol, at the sierra de Grazalema, the highest rainfall of Spain is annual measured. You will find people skiing down the hills of Sierra Nevada, if one can still or already go for a swim at the coast. Dozy white villages, tourist resort Torremolinos (kenn ich nicht!), all of these things make Andalusia that special. And we didn't even mention the awesome mosque in Cordoba or the admirable castle Alhambra in Granada yet..

Landscape and Geography
Andalusia is the most southern region of the European mainland and also the closest one to Africa. Located at exactly the 36th parallel, the city of Tarifa is only 14 km away from Morocco. The regions geographical structure is dominated by two mountain ranges. The valley of the Rio G. is lying in between the mountains and ends in an extensive lowland towards the Atlantic in the west. Spanish neighbouring regions are the autonomous communities of Murcia in the East as also Castilla la Mancha and the Extremadura in the North. Andalusias western border is Portugal and it is marked off by the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea in the South. Sierra Morena, the northern mountain range, forms the edge of the Castilla plateau. It drops steeply towards the Rio G. and is run through by its tributaries. Though the Sierra M. has a maximum height of only 1323 meters it is declared to be the natural northern border of Andalusia. The valley of the Rio G. and its tributaries is considered to be Andalusias lifeline where most of the population lives. The area is blessed with very fertile, sandy and loamy soils, irrigated by rainfalls in winter. More or less triangular, the region is characterized by its very opposite landscape: On the one hand there are the small hills surrounding Cordoba, on the other hand there is the absolutely plain, partly marshy lowland west of Sevilla. The Rio G. is stretching over 650 km from its origin at Sierra de Corzola to its mouth into the Atlantic and is navigable as far as Sevilla. The southern mountain range is the Cordilla Betica. It is the clearly more wide-stretched and the higher one of the two ranges, lasting all the way up to Gibraltar from the border of the district Murcia. Its foothills are dropping softly, close to the coast. The Cordillera Betica reaches its maximum height south of Grenada at the Sierra Nevada with Mulhacen (3481 m) and Pico de Veleta as the highest mountains of the Iberian peninsula. Andalusias coast is stretching over 630 km and is distributed between two oceans.
The Costa del Sol at the Mediterranean Sea is sprawling from the province of Granada to Gibraltar and is quite popular. Actually that popular, that it has reached a very inglorious way of fame: The sunshine coast is renown as a striking example for the reckless overload of a tourist region.
Only the Costa de Almeria, a part of the sunshine coast claimed by the province as a private area makes a difference to the extensive urbanisation. West of Almeria the coast is also characterized by tourism, but the eastern part is still more untouched and remained natural, which makes it way more attractive.
The Costa de la Luz, the andalusian Atlantic coast, has mainly been spared by urbanization yet. A couple of apartments and hotels, that's it.....

The area is becoming more and more attractive as an alternative to the Costa del Sol.

Located between Algeciras and Huelva, it is fitted out with a lot of more cultural and historical places compared to its far more touristically orientated counterparts. Further on the regions landscape is extraordinary attractive. The gigantic nature reserve at the valley of Rio G., the architectural charm of Sevilla, the wide spread forests of pine, the attractive formation of the Atlantic coast with its large and still lonely sandy beaches - these are just a couple of examples for the huge amount of advantages this untouched region has to offer.

For those who enjoy sports, the Costa de la Luz offers a couple of very good and delightfully designed golf links. Though most of them have just recently been built and are still quite unpopular, the list of architects designing them includes four of the most famous names in golf course architecture: Severiano Ballesteros, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jack Nicklaus and Garry Player.

Apart from the preferences already mentioned, the region also offers awesome culinary delights. Contrary to the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic is very clean and provides the area with a huge amount of fresh fish and seafood, offered in several variations in the numerous restaurants and also the smaller bars for very reasonable prices. The regions wine is considered to be another culinary delicacy. Grown at Jerez as Fino it is renown all over the world as Sherry. The Costa de la Luz is characterized by a lot of typical, real spanish culture and a landscape which still remained very natural. Just in the beginnings of its career as a tourist region the area has (hopefully) learned of the mistakes made by the tourism industry at the Costa del Sol.