Thursday, 15 June 2017
Here, in the most southern tip of Spain:
This makes it the southernmost tip of mainland Europe, only seperated from the African continent by the Gibraltar Strait.
Andalucia is Spains' largest autonomous region, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, the Mediterranean Sea in the east and the Gibraltar Strait in the south.
Coupled with the existence of sierras (mountain ranges) in the north, making any travel to or from the rest of Spain difficult for centuries on end, this location has given Andalucia its very distinct character and culture.
Andalucia exists of 8 provinces, each having the same name as their capital (the capital of Málaga province is Málaga city, etc) and the capital of the whole region isSeville (Sevilla).
The distance from Madrid, in the heart of the peninsula, to Seville is 536 Kms, which makes a 6 hour drive by car - or 2.5 hours if you take the AVE high- speed train.
With a surface of 87,000 sq Km or almost 34,000 sqm, the region is over half the size of England - or 3 times the size of Belgium - but only inhabitated by 10 million people.
The main cities are Málaga, the sea port of Algeciras, and the 3 tourist highlights Seville, Cordoba and Granada.
The language is Spanish or, better put, Castillian. Spain is a continent in itself and boasts more languages, such as Galician, Catalán and Basque.
Especially in inland Andalucia, people tend to swallow the end of words, as well as insert different expressions - which we call 'Andaluz', the local dialect. (Of course, we say Andalu, forgetting the last letter).
By the way, in English it's Andalusia, with an s. However, this region is so well known that it's Spanish name has slipped into many languages.
We love our region, and for sure you will do so to.
'Andalucia te espera'!
(Andalucia is waiting for you).
Posted by: Graham on Thursday, 15 June 2017
Labels:
