The Rough Guide to Andalucia, 6th Edition (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

656 Pages·2009·16.56 MB·English

by  Rough Guides, Mark Ellingham, Geoff Garvey

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About this book
Rough Guides are designed to be good to read and easy to
use. The book is divided into the following sections, and you
should be able to find whatever you need in one of them.
The introductory Yebekhi[Yj_ed is designed to give you a feel
for 6cYVajX†V, suggesting when to go and what not to miss,
and includes a full list of contents. Then comes basics, for
pre-departure information and other practicalities.
The ]k_Z[ chapters cover 6cYVajX†V in depth, each starting with a
highlights panel, introduction and a map to help you plan your route.
The Yedj[nji section fills you in on history, flamenco and
books, while individual Yebekhi[Yj_edi introduce Andalucian
cuisine, Moorish architecture and Semana Santa.
The book concludes with all the icWbbfh_dj, including details of how
to send in updates and corrections, and a comprehensive _dZ[n.
This sixth edition published May 2009.
The publishers and authors have done their best to ensure the accuracy and
currency of all the information in The Rough Guide to Andalucía, however,
they can accept no responsibility for any loss, injury, or inconvenience
sustained by any traveller as a result of information or advice contained in
the guide.
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US$19.99 CAN$22.99
I S B N 978-1-84836-037-2
5 1 9 9 9
9 7 8 1 8 4 8 3 6 0 3 7 2
EDGIJ<6A
The Rough Guide to
Andalucía
written and researched by
Geoff Garvey and Mark Ellingham
with additional contributions by
Pam Lalonde, Pau Sandham and Chris Stewart
NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI
www.roughguides.com
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Andalucia color Intro&TNTM secti2 2 12/16/08 3:44:15 PM
Contents
Colour section 1 Contexts 571
Introduction ............................... 4 History ................................... 573
Where to go ............................... 9 Flamenco ............................... 591
When to go .............................. 12 Books .................................... 598
Things not to miss ................... 15
Language 613
Basics 25
Spanish.................................. 615
Getting there ........................... 27 Food and drink ...................... 617
Getting around......................... 33 Glossary................................. 623
Accommodation....................... 38
Food and drink ........................ 41 Small print & Index 627
The media ................................ 47
Festivals................................... 49 Andalucian cuisine
Bullfights.................................. 52 colour section
Football.................................... 55 following p.120
Travelling with children............. 56
Travel essentials ...................... 57 Semana Santa
colour section
Guide 65 following p.248
1 Málaga and Cádiz ............... 67
2 Seville and Huelva............. 243 cMooloourris she Actniodna lucía
3 Córdoba and Jaén ............ 371 following p.472
4 Granada and Almería ........ 463
3
왗왗 Osborne bull, Cádiz province 왗 Street, Almonaster La Real
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| CONTENTS |
Introduction to
Andalucía
Andalucía is the southernmost territory of Spain and the
part of the Iberian peninsula that is most quintessentially
Spanish. The popular image of Spain as a land of
bullfights, flamenco, sherry and ruined castles derives
from this spectacularly beautiful region. The influences
that have washed over Andalucía since the first paintings
were etched on cave walls here more than 25,000 years
ago are many – Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks,
Romans, Visigoths and Vandals all came and left their
mark. And the most influential invaders of all, the Moors,
who ruled the region for seven centuries and named it
al-Andalus, have left an enduring imprint on Andalucian
culture and customs.
The heartland of Andalucía is the fertile valley of the mighty
Río Guadalquivir, fowing across the region from its source
in the Cazorla mountains in the northeast through the
magnifcent cities of Córdoba and Seville, before draining
into the marshes and wetlands of the Doñana National
Park and the Gulf of Cádiz. North of this great artery rise
the undulating hills of the Sierra Morena, from where was gouged the
mineral wealth – silver, lead and tin – sought by successive waves of invaders
from Phoenicians to Romans. The Moors, who arrived in the eighth
century, were more interested in harvesting Andalucía’s natural wealth and
turned the region into an orchard rich in olives, citrus fruits, almonds,
4 safron, fgs and vines – still the major products of the land today. In 1492
the Christian reconquest, after centuries of struggle, fnally succeeded in
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
wresting Spain from its Moorish
Fact file
occupiers, the victors symbolically
planting their fags on the towers • Andalucía’s land area of 90,000
of the Alhambra, the emblematic square kilometres is about the
monument of Andalucía. size of Ireland or Indiana. With
a population of seven million, it
The Moorish legacy is the most
is the second largest of Spain’s
striking feature of Andalucía today,
seventeen autonomous regions,
not only in the dazzling historical with its own administration and
monuments such as those of Seville, parliament based in the regional
Córdoba and Granada but also in capital, Seville.
the whitewashed houses of many of • Physically, Andalucía is a land
of stark contrasts. To the west
its smaller medieval towns such as
the dunes and wetlands of the
Ronda or the fat-roofed villages of
Coto de Doñana National Park
Las Alpujarras. The Moorish love of
comprise the largest roadless
water is to be seen in the pleasure area in western Europe, whilst in
gardens of the Alhambra, and the the east the province of Almería
has Europe’s only desert. The
typical Andalucian patio – tiled
province of Granada has the
plant-bedecked courtyards often
Iberian peninsula’s highest
with a central fountain – is another
peak, the 3483m Mulhacén.
Arab legacy as are the ubiquitous
• Andalucía’s economy is based
wrought-iron window grilles which on tourism and agriculture,
lend character to any village street. the main products of which
The dances and music of famenco, – sherry, olive oil and jamón
serrano (cured ham) – are prized
throughout Spain.
• Despite its sunny image
Andalucía contains an area
with the highest rainfall on the
Spanish peninsula, the natural
park of Grazalema.
• Love it or hate it, Andalucía
is devoted to the bullfight.
This multi-billion euro business
employs thousands of workers
both in the rings and on the
ranches where the fearsome toro
bravo, a beast descended from
an ancient species of fighting
bull, is raised. In the poverty-
ridden backstreets of Seville and
Málaga, the route to fame in the
corrida is a fabulous temptation
for young men (and sometimes
women) and big name toreros 5
are idolized and wealthy.
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| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO
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whilst probably not of Moorish origin, display the soul of Andalucía and
can be an electrifying spectacle when dancers in brilliantly coloured
dresses drill their heels into the foorboards in a frenzy of emotion or, in
cante jondo (deep song), turn the art form into a blues-style lament. The
Muslim infuence on speech and vocabulary, a stoical fatalism in the face
of adversity, and an obsession with the drama of death – publicly displayed
in the spectacle of the bullfght – are also facets of the modern Andalucian
6 character. Contrastingly, the andaluzes also love nothing more than a party,
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and the colour and sheer energy of the region’s countless and legendary
festas – always in traditional famenco costume worn with pride – make
them among the most exciting in the world. The romerías, wild and
semi-religious pilgrimages to honour local saints at country shrines, are yet
another excuse for a jamboree.
Despite the region’s abundant natural wealth, poverty is widespread, a
legacy of the repressive latifundia landholding system of large estates
with absentee landlords. The Christian monarchs who ousted the Moorish 7
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farmers doled out the conquered land to the Church, the military orders
and individual nobles. These new proprietors often had little interest in
the land nor personal contact with those who worked their estates, often
leaving an overseer in charge, and an atmosphere of resentment built
up towards the wretched pay and miserable conditions that this system
entailed. It is perhaps not surprising that many inhabitants emigrated to fnd
work in northern Spain or abroad, or that anarchism found many converts
among the desperate braceros (farmhands) of Andalucía before the Spanish
Civil War. Two percent of the landowners still possess ffty percent of the
land today, and in the 1960s alone a million Andalucians left their native
region to seek a better life elsewhere.
Whilst life for many in the countryside remains hard, new industries,
particularly tourism, have had a major impact on the region’s economy.
Apart from the petrochemical industry around Algeciras, mining in Huelva
and aircraft manufacture in Sevilla, Andalucía has little heavy industry and
those not employed in agriculture are usually working in fshing or tourism.
One growth industry of recent years is servicing the population of mainly
northern European emigrants who have come to the south of Spain to
live, retire or do business. Now numbering close to half of a million, these
expatriates have funded much building and development particularly along
8 the coastal strip of the Costa del Sol, earning this zone its new nickname,
the “California of Spain”.
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왔 Alcázar, Córdoba
| INTRODUCTION | WHERE TO GO | WHEN TO GO