Andalusia boasts such attractive cultural destinations as Seville, Marbella, Granada, Cordoba, Cadiz, Úbeda and Baeza. Cities that you will always enjoy rediscovering. Still, Andalusia is big enough to host other towns that deserve a place on your list of pending trips. These cities might persuade you to discover even more of southern Spain.
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Écija, Seville
On the banks of the Genil River, you can find the well-known city of the sun, or city of towers: Écija. due to its climate, you should visit it in the cold months of the year.Écija is like an open-air art gallery, a great exhibition of the Baroque through convents, palaces and churches from the 18th century with towers that stand out in the sky. And it is considered the most Baroque city in Andalusia.You can start your visit with a walk through the Plaza de España, surrounded by some of the city's monuments (for example, the Church of San Juan or the Valdehermoso Palace). The palatial houses are of great cultural interest and architectural beauty, as is the case of the Palace of Justice (a neo-Mudejar style building, similar to the famous Alhambra in Granada). Or, for example, the Benamejí Palace with its History Museum. It features several rooms displaying local archaeological findings, such as Roman mosaics. In fact, Écija was built on a territory that belonged to an ancient Roman colony: Astigi.
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Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cadiz
Sanlúcar de Barrameda is a city with a little bit of everything: from the historical monuments of its Barrio Alto to the restaurants with sea views of the Barrio Bajo. If you walk the steep streets of the Barrio Alto, you will find stately buildings such as the Castle of Santiago and the Ducal Palace of Medina Sidonia. There you can enjoy a coffee in its beautiful interior garden. This Renaissance palace is also used for accommodation.As you leave the Barrio Alto, you find streets decorated with tiles in homage to Magellan and Elcano's trip around the world. When you arrive near the Plaza del Cabildo, the atmosphere is much more bustling with areas full of bars and shops, the city's food market and wineries where Sanlúcar wine is produced (protected under the Manzanilla-Sanlúcar de Barrameda Designation of Origin).If you want to eat at some of the best restaurants in Sanlúcar, you might want to visit Bajo de Guía. An old fishing neighbourhood where you can enjoy the most traditional dishes of Sanlúcar cuisine (seafood stews, seafood and exquisite fish).
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Antequera, Malaga
Antequera deserves much more than a stop on the way to the Caminito del Rey or to nearby cities such as Cordoba, Malaga, Granada or Seville. Since it is located between all these famous destinations in Andalusia, you can add it to your route without much of a detour. One of the most important monuments in Malaga is the Alcazaba de Antequera. This is an 11th-century Arab palace and fortress made up of walled enclosures and a multitude of towers that rise above the horizon. These include the castle keep, the tallest tower in the Alcazaba and where the bell rings.Other places of greatest tourist interest are the old town, the Renaissance Royal Collegiate Church of Santa María la Mayor and the Dolmens of Antequera. The latter is an archaeological complex awarded the World Heritage designation by the UNESCO, where you can also find the Peña de los Enamorados (a legendary landscape with a statue dedicated to its lovers located in the Plaza de Castilla).Andalusia still has many more charming cities, bursting with rich heritage and fun leisure offerings. Fortunately, there is no lack of daylight hours to take everything in!
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