Quote:
Originally Posted by Keyzer Soze
 If you get a chance visit Barcelona,you won't regrett it. Enjoy.........Feliz Viaje |
Barcelona is without doubt an amazing city. But, it is also full of tourists, a modern city and the major attraction is Gaudí and the "La Sacrada Familia Church" IMHO, although it is a beautiful city, it does not represent the true culture of Spain and its people.
Being a Spaniard, and knowing my country and it's history, I can guarantee that anyone visiting Spain would be amazed if they were to visit the non cosmopolitan cities and towns of my country. Places where you can experience, learn, feel and live the true culture of Spain.
South of Spain
Andalucia Where I live and offer personal tours.
Sevilla Seville is approximately 2,200 years old. The passage of the various civilisations instrumental in its growth has left the city with a distinct personality, and a large and well-preserved historical centre.
Granada The region surrounding what today is Granada has been populated since at least 5500 BC and experienced Roman and Visigothic influences. The most ancient ruins found in the city belongs to an Iberian oppidum called Ilturir, in the region known as Bastetania. This oppidum eventually changed its name to Iliberri, and after the Roman conquest of Iberia, to Municipium Florentinum Iliberitanum.
Cordoba The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 42,000 to 35,000 BC.
Córdoba is a city in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was an important Roman city and a major Islamic center in the Middle Ages. It’s best known for La Mezquita, an immense mosque dating from 784 A.D., featuring a columned prayer hall and older Byzantine mosaics. After it became a Catholic church in 1236, a Renaissance-style nave was added in the 17th century.
Cadiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in western Europe, it was founded by the Phoenicians.
Cádiz is sometimes counted as the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe and has been a principal home port of the Spanish Navy since the accession of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network.
Jerez de la Frontera This is where I live.
Traces of human presence in the area date from the upper Neolithic, and humans have inhabited Jerez de la Frontera since at least the Copper or Neolithic Age, but the identity of the first natives remains unclear. The first major protohistoric settlement in the area (around the third millennium BC) is attributed to the Tartessians. Jerez later became a Roman city under the name of Asta Regia.
Jerez de la Frontera, usually called Jerez, is a city in southern Spain's Andalusia region. Its old quarter surrounds the Alcázar de Jerez, a Moorish fortress founded in the 11th century. The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art is a famed riding school with horse shows and a carriage museum. The city is also known for flamenco music and sherry production in the so-called Sherry Triangle lying to the west.
Pueblos Blancos-White Villages
Ronda is a mountaintop city in Spain’s Malaga province in Andalusia that’s set dramatically above a deep gorge. This gorge (El Tajo) separates the city’s circa-15th-century new town from its old town, dating to Moorish rule. Puente Nuevo, a stone bridge spanning the gorge, has a lookout offering views. New town’s Plaza de Toros, a legendary 18th-century bullring, is one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks.
Arcos de la frontera There is local evidence that Stone Age cave-dwellers used rocks to form living chambers. Roman ruins also exist in the area.
Arcos became an independent Moorish taifa in 1011 during the protracted collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. Arcos was associated with the Jerez by 'Abdun ibn Muhammad who ruled from c. 1029/1030 to 1053. The region was overtaken by the Almoravid dynasty in 1091. From 1145 to 1147 the region of Arcos and Jerez was briefly a taifa under dependency of Granada, led by Abu'l-Qasim Ahyal.
The town was a bulwark of Christianity after king Alfonso X of Castile 'the Wise' (1252–1284) expelled the Moors. He constructed a Gothic cathedral which remains on its high ridge.
It is famed for its ten bells, which tolled throughout the war with the Moors. Several Moorish banners were taken in the nearby battle of Zahara and have been on display in a church in Arcos since 1483.
Zahara de la sierra is a municipality in the province of Cádiz in the hills of Andalusia, southern Spain. It is perched on a mountain, overlooking a valley and a man-made lake formed by the dam that must be driven over to access the town. It is considered to be one of the pueblos blancos or "white towns" because the overwhelming majority of the buildings are white.
The town was originally a Moorish outpost, overlooking the valley. Due to its position between Ronda and Seville, it was a perfect site for a castle to be built to serve as a fortress in case of attack. The remains of the Moorish castle are still existing. It was ruled by Arabs till 1407. It was recaptured by Emirate of Granada in 1481. This capture gives pretext to Castile war against Gırnata. It was finally captured by Castillean troops under command of Rodrigo Ponce de León, Duke of Cádiz in 1483.
Castelar de la frontera A town and municipality located in the province of Cádiz, in Andalusia, Spain.
A village within a castle surrounded by the walls of a well preserved Moorish-Christian fortress .
On clear days you can see the North African coast, Gibraltar and the villages on the mountains near Málaga to the north.
Castellar is in an isolated location, at the end of a mountain road
Bolonia The ruins of the Roman town of Baelo Claudia are located near the beach, considered to be the most complete Roman town ruins yet uncovered in Spain.
Standing in the middle of a 2000 yr old town.... the feeling is indescribable.
Toledo in central Spain.
Toledo is an ancient city set on a hill above the plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain. The capital of the region, it’s known for the medieval Arab, Jewish and Christian monuments in its walled old city. It was also the former home of Mannerist painter El Greco. The Moorish Bisagra Gate and the Sol Gate, in Mudéjar style, open into the old quarter, where the Plaza de Zocodover is a lively meeting place.
San Sebastián. North of Spain, Basque region, where I am originally from.
Not only beautiful and rich in culture, but also considered to have the best gastronomy in the world.
San Sebastián is, tastes and smells of culture. And since June 2011, when it was named European Capital of Culture 2016 its cultural heartbeat has been sounding out all over Europe
Besos,
Francisca
On Vacation (Spain) June 12-27. See you at next social June 29rh!
Have a Wonderful Trip
My Bio Page - Texas - San Antonio
