Splendid Spain

HOW best to sum up the spirit of Andalucia - with a horse dancing on its hind legs while its rider somehow stays in the saddle, or a ruined castle tower perched on a cliff above a whitewashed mountain village?

Perhaps instead one should choose the splendour of the Alhambra in the afternoon sun, or a traditional Spanish wedding getting into swing as that same sun sinks slowly over Granada.

Or perhaps the answer is that no single image captures this region, which can also offer sights such as the bizarre mixture of styles and religions which is the cathedral at Cordoba, once the centre of an Islamic-ruled world whose civilisation outshone anything in contemporary Western Europe.

Although the Muslim kingdoms and caliphates were wiped from the political map by the Spanish Reconquest of the late Middle Ages, this heritage, celebrated by modern Spaniards as a fusion of Islamic, Jewish and Christian cultures, is now being used to draw visitors to the south of their country for something other than sun, sea and sand.

At this point I must confess that this journey along the "Routes of the Caliphate" was my first visit to Spain - I had never been to any part of Iberian peninsula or the islands, so this was all a new experience.

We arrived at Seville Airport, but saw nothing of the city as we were whisked away to our first nightly stop at the village of Carmona, placed like much else in this historically fought-over region in a fine strategic hilltop position.

Then it was off to Cordoba and the first real encounter with "The Legacy of Al-Andalus", of which the most striking example is the cathedral.

If anything can be said to encapsulate the curious after-effects of religious conflict this building must be it. It started out as a Visigoth church, then became a massive mosque extended by successive Muslim rulers, before the Christians returned and decided to convert it into a cathedral, making their own contrasting additions.

The result is hardly an ideal architectural mix, but it is undoubtedly compelling. There are the magnificent arches of the mosque, some of the earlier ones being of particularly high quality, set against the cathedral treasury, with the spectacular processional monstrance used during Corpus Christi.

Cordoba offers much more beside this, with its great Roman bridge and Arch of Triumph, the Jewish Quarter, the Calahorra Tower where the city's diverse cultural history is celebrated, and an old inn mentioned by Cervantes in Don Quixote.

The city, in Islamic times a great centre of learning with a population of one million which far outstripped Paris or Rome, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

From there it was on to Lucena for the night and thence to Dehesa del Colmenar, a stud farm for Andalucian horses which is also a centre of celebration of all things equine.

It was here we saw the demonstrations of man (and woman) working together with horses to dance, and demonstrate the traditional Spanish riding skills of the Garrocha.

Next stop was Zuheros, a delightful whitewashed village on a mountain side. There was no time to see nearby Neolithic cave paintings, but we did scale its medieval tower for a spectacular view of the village and its surrounds.

Before the day was out we had sampled what is reputedly the best virgin olive oil in the world at the Almazara Nunez de Prado in Baena, a mill which produces oil by traditional methods - involving massive granite grinding stones - from organically grown olives.

By next day we must be in Granada, which despite the splendours of Cordoba proved a fitting climax to our short but packed itinerary.

First came the Royal Chapel, resting place of Ferdinand and Isabella, the monarchs who united Spain and sent Columbus to the New World, and the cathedral.

But the real attraction of this city is the Alhambra, one of the most visited buildings in the world and a place of true beauty and balance, since its Islamic centre was largely left alone by later conquerors.

Here one can appreciate such aspects of Muslim architecture as the use of water within the complex, typically in front of the splendid Tower of Comares, which along with the harem forms the heart of the Nazrid Palace.

Sadly some parts of the Alhambra have been closed to visitors for urgent refurbishment, but a visit to the palace is surely one of this region's defining experiences.

Two particular additional memories linger from this day. The first was the sight of a procession of 40 strong men straining in their smartest suits as they carried a massive statue of the Virgin Mary down a winding road from the church at the Alhambra to Granada's cathedral.

Then there was the aforementioned Spanish wedding in a former convent near the Alhambra, an unscheduled event as far as we were concerned, but nonetheless a fascinating spectacle, with ultra smart woman in traditional mantillas, and a scattering of male guests in military uniform complete with medals.

There was so much more to talk about from just three full days in the country - the food and wine, the hotels, the people. But the joy of the "routes" concept is that people can pick their own itinerary, method of travel, where they stay, and how long they take to do it.

My advice would be to allow plenty of time for your holiday, to take in properly the cultural, historic, scenic and culinary delights to be had.

And, after my fist visit, would I return to Spain? Try and stop me.

Andrew Hitchon travelled with Iberia airlines from Heathrow to Seville, and from York to London on Great North Eastern Railway.

Accommodation: Good

Food: Excellent

Value for money: Good

Things to do: Plenty

More information:

For more information about the Routes of Caliphate contact the Spanish Tourist Office at 557-558 St James' Street, London SW1A 1LD, telephone 020-7499-0901, fax 020-7629-4257.