Spain is one of the best tourist destinations in the world because it witnessed several civilizations as well as it had and even today still has strategic importance and great history. Spain is located in the southwest of Europe. Tourist attractions, there, vary including a variety of monuments and historical places, in most of the Spanish cities, which all deserve a visit, especially the Arabic and Islamic historical monuments.
Cordoba, “the capital of Andalus”
Cordoba is an outstanding and important Spanish touristic town which is 400 kilometers away from the capital Madrid. Cordoba also has an international airport making it easier for tourists to directly go there. Also, it can be reached by car or train from Madrid, if you landed at Madrid International Airport. Cordoba is famous for its important attractions such as the ancient Islamic mosque “Al Masjid Al Jama” and Al-Zahraa city.
Madinat Al-Zahraa “The Royal City”
That famous Andalusian city lies about 30 kilometers away from Córdoba North River Guadalquivir. Al-Zahraa is a prestigious city in the history of Andalus renowned by remarkable architecture. Its buildings and palaces, built and studded with marble and gold, are on par with the very unique palaces of Damascus built during the period of the Umayyad caliph Abd Al-Rahman III (El Naser). It has been historically said that the city was one of the finest and brightest royal cities that Europe ever had in terms of prosperity, comfort and luxury as well as decorations, cabinets and palaces. The buildings in the city included The Caliph headquarter, the offices of the state and its safes. El Zahraa city remained buried till 1911 when part of it, an estimated 10% of its total area, was rediscovered. The excavations, held to restore the city, reveal towering columns decorative, carvings, courtyard connected to the royal palace guardhouses and other houses. The other houses likely belong to the harem, Prime Minister and some Princes who were close to Cabinet. Those housings were characterized by its tiles of marble and walls inscriptions that have survived until now to be strong evidence on the welfare of the Andalusian rulers.
Cathedral Mosque of Cordoba
This cathedral stands as an outstanding architectural masterpiece in which the Islamic art of architecture mixes with the Christian one to give one of the most marvelous architectural buildings in Cordoba and perhaps in Spain as the building is listed as a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The bricks of the building have some fabulous inscriptions as well as the giant gates and the engraved towering columns that belong to the Andalusian Era.
Granada
Granada is located just 267 miles south of the capital, Madrid. You can get to Granada via bus from Madrid and you can also go by train on a journey may take nearly four and a half hours or you can book one of the flights that take off daily from Madrid to Granada as well as the possibility of booking a direct flight to the international airport. The Kingdom of Bani El-Ahmar settled in Granada in the period between 1233 and until the year 1492.
Alhambra Palace in Granada
Alhambra Palace was built in the period to be one of the World Heritage Sites of UNESCO in1984. Alhambra Palace is one of the most important sites in Spain and the most attractive for tourists. The building consists of a defensive zone, known as the Kasbah and houses for the rulers and people. It also contains the Palace of the Caliphs, rulers of Bani-El-Ahmar, and the palace itself in addition to several green parks, most notably Al Areef Paradise. Alhambra Palace is located at the top of a small hill on the southeast border of Granada. The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed a stop of maintenance works for the palace. Then, the place lasted without maintenance for a period of a hundred years during the French control of the palace.
Seville
Seville is also one of the most famous cities in southern Spain and the capital of the province of Seville in Andalusia. You can get to Seville directly by a flight to Seville International Airport. You can also reach there, if you are in Madrid, by train (two hours a half) or via the bus (about five hours), as it is away from the Spanish capital 550 kilometers.
Gold Tower in Seville
Gold Tower is one of the most important landmarks in the city. Gold Tower is a military watchtower was built in the wonderful Islamic architecture style on the banks of the Guadalquivir River for the purpose of controlling traffic to and from Andalusia. Gold Tower has become now a museum of Islamic architectural art that is visited by tourists from all corners of the globe. The tower has also some optical equipment, belonging to the middle ages, which were used by the Navy in the discovery of the Americas. There are also models of the famous ships that discovered the Americas in the fifteenth century along with some guns dating back to the seventeenth century.
Toledo
Spain, especially Andalusia, is full of significant tourist attractions in which both Islamic and Christian art mix up to express the glory of this European country. Toledo, 75 Km south Madrid, also contains unique landmarks such as Toledo ‘s Cathedral with its library has thousands of historic documents and manuscripts. Also in Toledo, you can visit that famous historical building, Alcázar, and Algrecu Museum.
Malaga and Marbella
Malaga is also one of the most attractive cities in Spain. It is located in the province known as Costa Del Sol (The sunny coast). In Malaga, you find Pablo Picasso Museum and Croton Tyson Museum. Malaga port also is the second crowded port in the Iberian Peninsula. In Costa Del Sol province you may also find the most famous and marvelous shores in the whole of Europe, they are located in Marbella city, which is considered one of the most famous coastal touristic destinations in Spain.
