Valle del Zalabí. A primitive landscape< MORE ARTICLESThere are places whose landscape speaks volumes. In the north of the province of Granada, scarcely two kilometres from Guadix, the Valle del Zalabí (Valley of Zalabí) unfolds in a singular historic scene that...

From the al-Andalus that still survives< MORE ARTICLES  “By the middle of the last century (referring to the 19th century), a German historian pondered the fascination that in its time was produced by the mere mention of Granada, remarking that even those who had...

The african deed of Judar Pasha < MORE ARTICLESThere are some discoveries we search for and others that are found by chance, such as mine with Judar Pasha, a conqueror of a standing equal to Cortés and Pizarro and of a similar era, although inconsequential given...

Walks in Washington Irving’s Antequera  Dear brother, It is three days since I have arrived here (Granada) after a delicious trip from Seville to Granada, accompanied by the prince Dulgorouki. We spent five days travelling through Osuna, Antequera, Archidona and...

Antequera: art, history and culture< MORE ARTICLESBetween the Torcal Mountains and a vast fertile plain, along the Route of Washington Irving, lies the millennial city of Antequera. Cradle of illustrious characters, forerunner of the Renaissance in southern Spain,...

Napoleon’s encyclopedia, the richest museum in the world< MORE ARTICLES“Paris has the weight of a lead cloak to me! Your Europe is a molehill! Only in the East, where six hundred million of souls live, can be found great empires and to undertaking great...

Marchena, an inheritance with no waste< MORE ARTICLESPascual Madoz, in his Diccionario geográfico-estadístico de España y sus posesiones de ultramar (Geographic-statistical dictionary of Spain and its possessions oversea) from the mid-nineteenth century, provided...

Malta’s Mediterranean sayings, a linguistic conundrum< MORE ARTICLESIn the most frequently travelled islands in the Mediterranean, as is Malta, language picks up the echo of every tongue that has been heard in its lands. And from that linguistic alchemy, adages...

Arcos de la Frontera, a dragon made in lime and stone< MORE ARTICLESArcos de la Frontera, on the Route of the Almoravids and Almohads, stands out between the mountain range of Cádiz and the fertile plain of Jerez as if it was a stranded ship. Romans called it Arx...

​Ali Bey, or Domingo Badía, a spanish traveller of the enlightenment around the Arab world< MORE ARTICLESIn the early 19th century, after the scientific expedition to Egypt organized by Napoleon to document the encyclopaedic work Description de l’Egypte, a Spaniard...

Almería < MORE ARTICLESAlong the Route of the Alpujarras, Almería counted itself the most important seaport in al-Andalus; hence its defence had to be extraordinary and, consequently, Abd-er-Rahman conceived its citadel as a palace-fortress that became the most...

The gold of the Alhambra < MORE ARTICLES The gold of friendship is priceless; even more if it leads you to know genuine gold. And in Granada, there is such a possibility. A friend of mine revealed to me this well-known secret, perhaps the best kept of all in a...

Castillo de Locubín. The anvil of time ​< MORE ARTICLESIn the Route of the Caliphate, nestling against a hillock, Castillo de Locubín offers a breath-taking view that overlooks its adjoining provinces: Granada, Córdoba and Jaén. From its fortress, a sight of the...

Gerald Brenan, and the literary spirit of Bloomsbury in the Alpujarra< MORE ARTICLESGerald Brenan is considered the most outstanding Hispanist of the last century for works like The Spanish Labyrinth, The Face of Spain or South from Granada. However, aside from...

Medina Sidonia, a crown without a king  < MORE ARTICLESThere are spots whose mere location foretell its long existence, where its horizon has not changed: same mountains, same plains, or valleys… Yet, man has registered in them their history throughout time....

The Blind Man of Cabra and popular lyrics in al-Andalus Part III< MORE ARTICLES  For a long time, Spanish medieval poetry was long believed to have had European influence, as its birth was attributed to the appearance of the Occitanian poetry in the south of...

Osuna, landscape and figures< MORE ARTICLESThe flat profile of the Sevillian countryside goes along interrupted by the verticality of its towers, which rise over the cubist design of its urban layout. Whitewashed façades and stone are the supports over which the...

The Blind Man of Cabra and popular poetry in al-Andalus Part II< MORE ARTICLES  For a long time, Spanish medieval poetry was long believed to have had European influence, as its birth was attributed to the appearance of the Occitanian poetry in the south of...

​Fondón, kingdom of El Rey Chico according to legend< MORE ARTICLES​When we speak of the end of al-Andalus, after the disappearance of the Kingdom of Granada, and the subsequent exodus of the last Moorish inhabitants, the Alpujarra region appears to us as the site...

The Blind Man of Cabra and popular poetry in al-Andalus Part I< MORE ARTICLES  For a long time, Spanish medieval poetry was long believed to have had European influence, whose birth was attributed to the appearance of the Occitanian poetry in the south of...

Jerez, city of three worlds< MORE ARTICLESJerez de la Frontera is something more than wine, flamenco and horses -either thoroughbred or those of power in motorbikes. Its records get across far different periods, the most outstanding of which, al-Andalus, becomes...

Grazalema, en el envés de la Historia< MORE ARTICLESThe National Park of the Grazalema Mountains is home of the famous Pueblos Blancos (White Villages), of great natural beauty and long history. Grazalema, in The Route of Almoravids and Almohads is included in the...

Beyond the pillars of Hercules Part II< MORE ARTICLESThe Arabs knew the Canary Islands through Ptolemy, and called them Jaza'ir al-Khalidat, "The Eternal Isles," presumably a version of the Greek name. Some sources speak of these islands as if they were legendary,...

Beyond the pillars of Hercules Part I< MORE ARTICLES"Where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic Ocean meet are found the lighthouses of stone and bronze built by Hercules, the great king. They are covered with inscriptions and surmounted by statues, which point as if...

Baeza, oblivion and presence< MORE ARTICLESThe Route of the Nasrids is home not only to genuine art relics from the Al-Andalus period; cities like Baeza are the quintessence of the Spanish Renaissance   I reached Baeza after having read a historical account as...

Bibarrambla, from al-Andalus to the Christian era< MORE ARTICLES​Bib al-Rambla, Bib-Ramla, or Bibarrambla, as this square was called with different names by one or the other. The Christians, after their conquest of Granada, must have been attracted by the mystery...

Loja, amid snow and wheat< MORE ARTICLES ​As we follow the Route of Washington Irving and we get to Loja, it is hard to imagine it sheltered by gorges so admiringly described by Andalusian poets and the Romantic travellers.   It is harder still to go back to...

Al-Andalus and Occitania< MORE ARTICLES Arabs chronicles from the 8th century noted the increasing in Arab settlements in Septimanie whose intention was to remain this fertile land in southeastern France. However, the political upheavals and the famine that hit the...