Mon, Mar 21, 2005
Andalusia, the legendary "Al-Andalus", is considered a bridge between the Occident and the Orient, the cradle of fiery flamenco and passionate fiestas. Spain's southernmost province attracts millions of visitors every year to the beautiful beaches of the Costa Tropical and the Costa de la Luz, to the rugged mountains of the Sierra Nevada and to the fairytale sultan's palaces of Cordoba and Granada. In the south of Andalusia, the legendary palace "al-qal'a al hamra", the Red Citadel, towers over the legendary royal city of Granada. In mid-June, when the Granadinos celebrate their legendary Flamenco Festival within the walls of the Alhambra, we go on a discovery into the fairytale world of the largest Moorish fortress on earth. The Alhambra is regarded as the epitome of Arab architecture and if the legendary Sultan's Library of Cordoba could tell this "eighth wonder of the world" stories, it would hardly be enough to tell about the 700-year heyday of its rulers. In the winding streets of Granada's old Moorish quarter Albaycin beats the heart of the legendary royal city on the Rio Darro. Here in the Bazaar still much Arab blood flows and nowhere else in Spain live so many Gitanos. Thanks to the influence of Arabs and Gitanos, the Albaicín, Granada's oldest district, is considered the cradle of the Andalusian soul: flamenco. In the world of the Gitanos we go on discovery in the bullring of Granada with a concert of the probably most legendary flamenco virtuoso of our time: Paco de Lucia.