Tourist Attractions & Monuments Spain

This Plaza Mayor has existed since 1461, but it took its present form in 1532, when the church of Saint-Michel (at that time the square was called Plaza San Miguel in reference to the church), which was in the centre, collapsed and had to be rebuilt on one side. All around the square, the granite town hall (1610), the Juan Bravo theatre (1917), and in the centre a music kiosk where concerts are regularly held. This is also where you will find the tourism office, very professional and well documented.

Founded in the 17th century, it currently houses the municipal library. Its beautiful interior courtyard lined with wooden balconies and the neoclassical style sculpture of Poseidon who presides over it are remarkable. Old kitchen utensils and photographs can be seen. The church of Santa Ana, built in the 16th century, was rebuilt after the eruption. It houses the image of the merciful Jesus from Mexico and the 17th century marble baptismal font.

After eight years of closure, six years of work, this museum has just opened its doors in May 2018. This required an investment of € 640 000 from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and the Andalusia junta. Located in the House of Castril, a renaissance palace of the sixteenth century, it proposes to show the daily life of the various societies that inhabited Granada. Through three rooms and a patio, a course is proposed at a semi-permanent exhibition presenting nearly 120 pieces constituting the "treasure" of this museum. This will include the tooth of Orce, a tooth that belonged to a child born more than 1.4 million years ago, making it the oldest human being found in Europe. Starting from this object, we will go back to the fifteenth century to reach the astrolabe of Ibn Zawel, dating back to 1481. An instrument of navigation which in the Muslim world was also used to exercise religious practice by allowing to know exactly the hours of prayer, the beginning of Ramadan or the appropriate position to pray towards Mecca. To note, a very nice view on the Alhambra from the patio.

He exhibits Spanish-Muslim art from the th to the th century (ceramics, wood wood, oriental Muslim art…). Notable works include a superb tablero of nazari ajedrez (walnut and birch wood board, metal and bone) or carved wood jealousy for a window of the Lions Palace (Alhambra).

You will be given documentation in French: different thematic brochures (ecotourism) or dedicated to a precise destination (Betancuria), very synthetic but which gives a first idea. Pleasant welcome and in French.

In a th century building, rooms on two floors give witness to numerous testimonies of rural and urban life in the province of Málaga during the past centuries.

The magnificent Cala Agulla, a bay with a dense pine forest that is part of an Àrea Natural de Especial Interès, is located just under two kilometres from Capdepera. Surrounded by rocky terrain and composed of fine sand, this beach, despite its fluctuating dimensions, which can vary by 10 metres according to the seasons and marine currents, is one of the most beautiful in Majorca and its easy access (on the Capdepera-Cala Ratjada road) results in a high number of visitors in summer. Paid car park open every day from 9am to 7pm.

This viewpoint offers a spectacular view of the valley of La Orotava and Teide. The landscape, which opens in front of the traveller from the east and extends up to 3 700 m, is particularly beautiful in the morning, when the volcano is in sunlight. The clouds of the trade winds make the landscape blurred. From there, we admire the extensive banana plantations in a vast circus, probably due to a huge landslide, similar to the one that formed El Golfo Bay on the island of El Hierro. This lookout bears the name of Alexander von Humboldt, the geographer and German naturalist who, in 1799, wrote enthusiastically: " I saw hot areas where nature is more majestic, and its richer forms, but, after wandering along the banks of the Orinoco, cordilleras of Peru, beautiful valleys of Mexico, I confess that I never met, in any part of the world, a more varied, more attractive, and more harmonious view of the disposition of rocks and green spots. " Today, La Orotava Valley has lost a bit of its charm, invaded by urbanization in the th century, but nature still offers a beautiful panorama.

The visit of this cellar, which has existed since 1835, lasts about 2 h (with the generous tasting), it is a great mass in honor of Tio Pepe and his founding father. The family brand markets not only a fino that sells very well, it is one of the Spanish products most exported in the world (more than 115 countries), but also a multitude of other beverages (different wines and brandys). A small train leads visitors to cellar cellar through vineyards and beautiful gardens to the shop. The guided tour includes a variety of explanations on the breeding of wines, a slide show and a passage in rows of barrels signed by different personalities: from Orson Welles to Ayrton Senna through many crowned heads. For the anecdote, Cocteau visiting the scene said a good thing: " Here I drank the blood of the king! " ". The highlight of the show remains the unusual encounter with a colony of mice, great tasting finishes.

The rooms and the small council room show the portraits of all the mayors of the city. Fun and informative.

Dating from the 11th century, these Moorish baths are among the oldest and best preserved in Spain and constitute one of the oldest structures in Muslim Granada. They consist of several rooms reproducing the layout of Roman baths: entrance courtyard, vestibule, cold room, central room, and hot room. The vaults with octagonal star-shaped dormers and the arcades of the last rooms, which are decorated with Roman, Visigoth or Caliphate capitals, are noteworthy.

Located on Plaza Vieja, or Plaza de la Constitución, whose final appearance dates back to the middle of the 19th century, this building was built in 1899. Its cream and pink facade is charming. Access, strongly recommended, is via a small street or passages in arcades. In the centre, we will find the monument to the martyrs of freedom, an obelisk dedicated to the 24 liberals fighting against the despotism of Fernando VII and shot on 24 August 1824. If you spend this day there, you will be surprised to hear the Marseillaise accompany this commemoration.

Built in a baroque style in the th century on an ancient mudéjare mosque in front of the shaded square. It is surrounded by colonial buildings.