Andalucia and the Magic of the South - A Brief Introduction...

Redolent with its historical past, blessed by the sun and a magnificent landscape, loved by its own people and by so many of we visitors to Spain, Andalucia is proud of its past and its present. And rightly so.

Much of what we think of as Spanish culture has its roots in Andalucia. Flamenco, bullfighting, sherry. They all have their origins in this beautiful area, the largest of Spain’s autonomous regions.

Stretching from the Portuguese border in the West to the Sierra Nevada in the East and on to Valencia, Andalucia has a wonderful coastline to the Mediterranean with a fascinating hinterland of old Moorish cities, white villages and dramatic Sierras. There is a huge range of contrasts in this absorbing country, which will delight the visitor.

The Andalucians are passionate. Passionate about their country, their region, their music and their food. There is a richness about life here that, to Northerners, used to a more sombre attitude to life, can be very exhilarating. There is colour here, pleasure in life in all its aspects and a warmth to strangers that is very welcoming.

The exuberance and passion of the Andalucians comes out in their fiestas and their music. Just watch them party all night when the local festival is taking place or joining in with an impromptu drum beat on their bar stools when the Sevilliana is being performed.

All this exuberance needs its counterweight though. The pace of life is very different. The afternoon can be too hot to do very much other than sleep or sit with your family and friends in the shade-perhaps with a bottle or two of chilled wine. You will probably not have lunched until 2 or 3 O’clock anyway and you are not likely to dine before 10 (although you may well graze on tapas and sherry in the interim). So what? Enjoy the difference. You are in the land of sunshine and shady courtyards now. A land of azure seas and dazzling villages, a land of cascading bougainvillaea and geraniums in clay pots. Enjoy!

So here is Andalucia, and this rather lyrical introduction will be followed by a more practical guide to some of the things you can see, enjoy, eat and drink in the area.