Andalusia

Andalusia is the soul of southern Spain — a region of 87,000 square kilometres that concentrates everything the collective imagination associates with deep Spain: flamenco born in the tablaos of Seville and the caves of Granada's Sacromonte, the Moorish palaces of the Alhambra and the Alcázar, the mosque-cathedral of Córdoba whose forest of bicolour columns is unique in the world, the Pueblos Blancos (white villages) clinging to the cliffs of the Sierra de Grazalema, and the sherry of Jerez best tasted in cool bodegas under the shade of olive trees.

Five major cities structure the discovery of the region. Seville, the Andalusian capital, dazzles with its Gothic cathedral (the largest in Spain), its Alcázar royal residence and its Plaza de España, a jewel of neo-Moorish architecture. Granada, dominated by the Alhambra and nestled at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, offers one of humanity's greatest architectural masterpieces. Córdoba and its mezquita-catedral — a palimpsest of history between Islam and Christianity — are listed as UNESCO World Heritage. Málaga, Picasso's birthplace, is the gateway to the Costa del Sol and reinventing itself as a first-rate cultural destination. And Ronda, suspended above the Tajo gorge, may be the most dramatically sited town in Spain.

With 320 days of sunshine a year on average, Andalusia is also the sunniest region in continental Europe — a fact that explains its exuberant agriculture (olive trees, orange groves, sherry vines), the dazzling whiteness of its villages and the meridional torpor that grips the cities between 2 pm and 5 pm, replaced each evening by nightlife of incomparable intensity.