A SAFE CHOICE: THE HISTORICAL-MONUMENTAL ROUTE.

As if it were some living, though ill preserved museum, 19th century Andalusia possessed countless well-kept buildings and urban layouts.

The ancient capitals of the Muslim kingdoms: Seville, Córdoba and Granada, apart from the various villages which made up their boundary lines, still presented an architectural richness not easily matched.

Through their image, the traveller would recognise the Andalusia for which he was searching, often heedless of the reality of the 19th Century Spain - contradictory, difficult and convulsive. The traveller was in search of the exotic, while the Andalusian was still waiting for the railroad. Thus, at the same time as the romantic image of Andalusia was being forged, its fields were being ploughed for the first time, its cities freed from their walls and Mendizabal´s disentailment was opening new urban spaces where heretofore had lain conventual orchards.

Assured that they would find lodging, travellers who chose this route could re-experience each of Spain´s eras: Muslim domination in the Alcázar and in the Mezquita in Córdoba. The riches of the Golden Age in the houses, the palace and the parish church of Santa Cruz in Ecija. Gothic vitality in the Churches of El Salvador, Santiago, San Blas, San Felipe, San Bartolomé and San Pedro in Carmona. Baroque lavishness in Seville. Bourgeois vigour in the houses of Jerez de la Frontera and Puerto de Santa María. The trading pulse of Cádiz. Moorish sensibility in Granada, and the severe elegance of Spanish Renaissance in Ubeda and Baeza.