ANDALUCIA

Here one expects every woman to be a Carmen in gypsy dress, a carnation behind her ear, and every man a swaggering Don Juan. Every cliché of course has an element of truth, and in Andalucía there is so much colour and contrast, vivaciousness, variety and imagination that fact and fiction are constantly blurred. There is a special beauty to such images, and Andalucía is indeed spellbinding with its air perfumed by jasmine and orange blossoms, its soulful flamenco music and its thrilling bullfighting tradition. Andalucía was a jewel in the Roman imperial crown, and much the same occurred when the Muslim invaders established a glittering court first in Córdoba and then in Granada.