Almeria, Spain

April 14, 2010

This place was a complete surprise for me.   Was raining in the morning and gloomy and didn't know what to expect, but had so much fun wandering through town and through the fort with Reba, Don, Phil and Nancy (you have now been officially named).    Really turned out to be a very memorable day.

For anyone interested in a little context or history, I've included some background.  I can't take credit for the writing or information, only for my ability to google, consolidate, copy and paste.

I honestly wasn't looking forward to this day.   If I recall, I was way over tired and seriously thinking that hiking around an old fort was the absolute last way I wanted to spend my time.    I was very pleasantly surprised.    It would definitely be on my list of recommended stops should you ever find yourself in Almeria.

Before we get to the history, just a note on pictures from today.  I am really not happy with them.   For the most part, my lens had a really hard time capturing just how neat this place was.   My favorites by far are the one with friends I posted a couple of days back, the one looking through the cross shaped opening in the wall and the one overlooking the city with the ship in the background.   Other than that, not happy with them, so just posting to give you an idea of where I was.   Now on to the history...

Oh and a map for anyone that might be interested.    Testing out my new blogger skills here.  Now I need to figure out how to fix all of the bad formatting ... that's next on my list.  Almeria Spain Maps


The city of Almeria is Andalucia's most eastern capital.  Almeria holds a great deal of charm and is steeped in history. It is located at the foot of a mountain range which is crowned by the magnificent Alcazaba, an Arab fortress built by the Caliph of Cordoba, Abd-erRahman with three huge walled enclosures (in the second of which are remains of a mosque, converted to a chapel by the Catholic kings).

THE ALCAZABA

In times of war, the Alcazaba could hold an army of more than 20,000 men.The Alcazaba dominates the city and is the main reminder of Almeria's heyday when it was the major port of the Cordoba caliphate. It grew wealthy on trade and the textile industry with silk woven from the silkworms of the Alpujarras.