As you arrive in the city, look out for remnants of ancient stone walls marooned in the centre of busy roads, plus an impressive, well-preserved 400-metre section in Macarena, near the Andalucian parliament building. These are the remains of the city walls, or murallas, dating from the 12th century - Seville was once the most strongly fortified city in Europe.
La Alcazaba is Malaga's most important landmark, and overlooks the city from a hilltop inland. It is one of two Moorish fortresses in the city, the other being the Castillo de Gibralfaro, situated above. The Alcazaba is the best-preserved Moorish fortress palace in Spain. It received about 1 million visitors in 2016.
The English Cemetery in Malaga holds the distinction of being the oldest Protestant cemetery on mainland Spain. This garden cemetery offers a glimpse into the lives of past residents, including notable figures from Málaga's history.
English Cemetery Malaga - News events calendar and the English Cemetery in the news.
The magnificent Castillo de Gibralfaro sits on a high hill overlooking Malaga city and port, and dates back to the 10th century. The image of Gibralfaro is well known: you can see it in both Malaga city and province's seal and flag.
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 Alcazar (of the Christian Kings) features a castle, its own delightful gardens and a moorish bathhouse. This is a very popular monument.
The Gate of Seville is of considerable historical interest standing as an original fortified tower and an early entry gate to the Alcazar or fortress from the west. Fragments date back to the 10th century. The wall here was erected by Christians in the 14th and 15th century along with the barbican and moat.
Córdoba's old Jewish quarter consists of a fascinating network of narrow lanes, more atmospheric and less commercialised than in Seville although souvenir shops have emerged.
This Palace, which was declared a National Monument and important Artistic Garden, has a surface of 6,500 m2, more than half of which is occupied by the garden and the rest by a building with two floors and two little entresols.
The Tower of La Calahorra rises up at the south of the Roman bridge, the far end from the city centre. It is a fortified gate originally built by the Moors (Almohads) and extensively restored by King Enrique II of Castile in 1369 to defend the city from attack by his brother Pedro I the Cruel from the South. It was origionally an arched gate between two towers. Enrique II added a third cylindrical shaped tower connecting the outer two.
At the north end of the Roman bridge formerly used to enter the city enclosure near the Mosque, rises the Puerto del Puente or Bridge Gate. It was completed in the days of Philip II. The present triumphal arch is the work of Hernán Ruiz III and replaces what was first a Roman gate mentioned at the time of Julius Cesar and later a Moorish gate. A documented restoration took place in 720 AD. Today it is a traffic island.
The walls which used to mark the boundaries of the Jewish quarter extended virtually to the Arab walls. The latter enclose the Alcazar gardens and continue along the river bank. These stretches of wall are among the better conserved in the city's fortified enclosure, although they are from a later period.
You can walk over the Roman bridge in either direction. It is close to the great Mosque and leads to Torre de Calahorra at south end. The Roman bridge which, according to the Arab geographer, Al-drisi 'surpasses all other bridges in beauty and solidity', reflects little of its Roman roots, owing to frequent reconstruction over many decades.
Just a few minutes away from the Mezquita, to the east along calle Luis de la Cerda/Lineros, is the Plaza del Potro (Square of the Colt), a long, rectangular square which slopes down towards the nearby Guadalquivir river to the south. It is named after the 16th-century fountain in the plaza (1577).
Built in the 11th century by Jairan (or Jayran), the first ruler of the Almeria taifa (1012-1028), the wall descends the valley on the north side of the Alcazaba and climbs the Cerro de San Cristobal on the far side. The walls have three square towers dating from the Islamic era, plus four circular ones from the Christian period.
The city of Antequera contains a wealth of fascinating monuments. Visit the recently excavated Roman baths, the magnificent Renaissance church of Santa María la Mayor Church, the Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, the 19th century bullring, and the Arch of the Giants, built in 1585, which leads up to the 13th century Moorish castle.
Sulphur is the ninth most abundant element of the universe and is one of nature´s great jokes on the human race. Known to the ancients as "Brimstone" it is one of the elements essential to life as a constituent of various biologically active compounds. Pure sulphur is odourless, but fun-loving nature frequently combines it with hydrogen to produce hydrogen sulphide, which has the odour of rotten eggs.
The ancient site at Rio Verde may have been part of the Roman town of Cilniana. It now houses the remains of a late 1st century AD Roman villa. Sadly all that is left is the floor and a small portion of the walls of the villa (the highest at 1.2 metres). However, fortunately for us it is a floor unlike any other - embellished with black and white mosaic tiles in patterns never before seen in a Roman Villa.
Somewhere along the way, Ronda became known as "the Eagles' Nest". There was deliberate irony in the name. On the one hand a simple, mildly poetic reference to its perch high in the mountains above its famous gorge; on the other an ironic reference to its inhabitants' reputation for canny ferocity.
