29- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
i. Andalusia
Guitar wieldinggitanos, posturing matadors, ebony-
haired dancers – you’ll find all of the best Spanish
stereotypes in Andalusia.Yet, despite being flogged into
clichés by decades of tourism, all of the above remain
intrinsic to an undeniably sensual region.
For nearly 700 years Andalusia was ruled by the
Moors, a tenure that lives on in the region’s Islamic
architecture, best seen in the recurring arches of
Córdoba’s thousand-year-old Mezquita and Grenada’s
delicate Alhambra palace. In regional capital Seville,
modern day hedonism rubs along with Roman, Moorish
and Renaissance design. Green, olive-heavy hills
support the famouspueblos blancos, still painted white
with limestone wash as per the local by-laws. Along the
Costa del Sol between Gibraltar and Malaga, the jarring
developments and golf courses are more modern
but no less popular. Andalusia’s diverse natural
charms are equally enticing. Having dispatched
themeseta, southern Spain rises up in two
mountain chains separated by the fertile but
often searing Río Guadalquivir valley, home to
Seville and Córdoba. Granada is overlooked by
the snow-capped Sierra Nevada, south of
which the ravines and dusty villages of Las
Alpujarras seem to have opted out of modern
life.The extensive wetlands of the Parque
Nacional de Doñana, north of Cadiz, provide
soggy sanctuary to flamingos, imperial eagles
and lynx.The Andalusian Atlantis
Nurtured by Phoenician
and Greek traders, the
city or state (no one’s
quite sure how big it was)
of Tartessos developed
near the mouth of the Río
Guadalquivir nearly three
thousand years ago.
Herodotus and Pliny the
Elder later wrote about it,
laying on thick the stories
of wealth, opulence and
mighty sailing fleets.
Apparently Tartessos
disappeared abruptly in
the 6thcentury BC. Some
claim it lies buried under
the Doñana wetlands.