GRANADA WAS BUT ALMERIA'S FARM
The city's heyday was in the 11th century (just after the Alcazaba was built), when the taifa (small independent state) of Almeria was second only to Seville, its port was the most important in Andalucia humming with silk and ceramics exports, the city was a centre for philosophy and poetry, and merchants from Egypt, Syria, France and Italy filled its streets. It is said that at the height of its power, "When Almeria was Almeria, Granada was but its farm". Almeria means "Mirror of the Sea" in Arabic.
Apart from the Alcazaba, the second most important Arabic fortress in Spain after the Alhambra, other must-see Arabic remains are the Aljibes de Jayran, brick-built Arabic cisterns which once supplied the whole city with water, today used for exhibitions.
- Fact 1 - In the 1880s, two Belgian engineers discovered the largest Copper Age settlement in Europe, just outside Almeria
- Fact 2 - Almeria is rich in minerals, which brought new wealth and revived the city´s fortunes in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Fact 3 - John Lennon sojourned in Almeria - and wrote one of his most heartfelt, personal songs here
- Fact 4 - In Arab times, Almeria was the richest and most important port in Andalucia
- Fact 5 - La Chanca is the Sacromonte of Almeria, but without the cheesy flamenco tablaos
