As the setting for the seductive exploits of Don Juan and Carmen, the enchanting city of Sevilla inspires romance in even the most reserved traveler. Few could fail to fall in love with its narrow, meandering streets, small plazas bedecked in bright flowers, the sweet fragrance of orange blossoms on a balmy night, and the mysterious Moorish architecture of Andalucía's capital city.

Sevilla's best example of Moorish design is also its most-photographed site: the Giralda, a 308-foot-tall minaret presiding over the city. Completed in 1198, the Giralda was so treasured by the Moors that they wanted to burn it down during Spain's Reconquest rather than let it fall into Spanish hands. But the Spaniards recognized the beauty of the tower and preserved it, building around it the third-largest cathedral in Europe. Visitors can climb the spiral ramp (built for guards on horseback) all the way to the top of the minaret for stunning views of the city, made especially beautiful at sunset when the beige stones of the Giralda blaze warm sienna.

Walking distance from the Giralda is the Barrio de Santa Cruz, the former Jewish quarter. Described by some as almost too beautiful to be real, the neighborhood has a network of twisting streets bordered by whitewashed houses festooned with hanging baskets of flowers. In small squares, men strum guitars and wail flamenco songs, whose echoing strains are heard throughout the quarter.

Follow the Guadalquivir River northeast from Sevilla to Córdoba, once the most powerful city of Islam. Córdoba was the seat of advanced learning in the 10th century and had street lighting 700 years before Paris or London. But the city's splendor wasn't left in the past: With the Sierra Morena mountains to the north, rolling fertile countryside to the south, and one of the most spectacular mosques in the world, Córdoba carries an enduring magical attraction.

The city is ideal for strolling. During first half of May, Córdoba's famous Moor-inspired patios are open to the public. Walking along labyrinthine streets and alleyways, follow the sound of gurgling fountains to find dozens of private patios blooming with roses, carnations, geraniums, and tropical plants--a true oasis from the sun's heat. The yearly event closes with a contest for the best patio.

In the center of Córdoba's old quarter stands the monument that represents the city, La Mezquita. The Moors built this mosque in 785 on the ruins of a Roman temple, connecting the remaining Roman columns with double tiers of horseshoe-shaped arches candy-striped in red and white stone. When the Christians occupied La Mezquita in the 16th century, they built a jarringly out-of-place cathedral in the mosque's center. Luckily, they retained the mihrab, a sky-lit niche decorated with colorful mosaics and flourished inscriptions of the Koran.

High above the traffic-choked streets of Granada--the last city to fall to the Reconquest--is the Alhambra, the best-preserved Arab palace in the world. The sheer size of the palace and its grounds is magnificent enough, but when coupled with the fact that much of it is nearly intact, you'll feel like you've entered an Arabian Nights fantasy. No Arab structure has fascinated historians, poets, and writers like the Alhambra.

Highlights include the Royal Palace, a huge maze of rooms with wooden ceilings and stucco walls inscribed with Arabic calligraphy. To get to the Royal Palace's harem where the sultan and his wives lived, you pass through the Patio de los Leones (Lion's Courtyard). Here, 12 stone lions feed a bubbling fountain, and delicate stone columns topped with arches support a shaded gallery. The Alcazaba fortress, which served as a lookout point for guards protecting the palace, protrudes over the Alhambra hill for commanding views of the city. The Generalife gardens offer the best of Arabic design: terraces, patios, fountains, flowers of every color, long reflecting pools, and rows of cypress trees, one of which is 700 years old.

The rugged valleys below the south flank of the Sierra Nevada are only 19 miles away from bustling Granada, but it seems a world apart. Clusters of remote villages cling to the hillsides of the Alpujarras--once a flourishing Muslim community of silkworm farms--14,000 feet above sea level. Little has changed since Muslims occupied the area; hikers follow a centuries-old, stone-paved network of donkey and mule tracks that links whitewashed villages with verdant valleys and snakes around deep ravines. The Alpujarras' residents still practice terraced farming--watered by the melting snow of the Sierra Nevada--and live in typical cube-like North African flat-roofed homes. Hiking on the narrow trail to the highest Alpujarras peaks, you can glimpse a deep-blue patch of the Mediterranean Sea far in the distance.

Spain is rarely associated with great wildlife viewing, but the 315 miles of salt marshes at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River are a sanctuary for hundreds of bird species and endangered animals. Visitors explore the beach, dunes, marsh, ponds, and forests of Doñana National Park in a safari jeep led by a park guide. The five-hour excursion starts at the beach, where oystercatchers and sanderlings scamper near the waves, and continues on through the pine forests inhabited by skittish deer, wild boar, feral camels, and the endangered Egyptian mongoose. Past the forests, the tour stops at a large pond, where 80 percent of Europe's wild ducks and geese take their winter holiday. Storks settle in the trees at the edge of the marsh, and the endangered Spanish imperial eagle (only 40 are left) occasionally roosts in the highest branches. Leaving the marsh, the convoy climbs over undulating dunes back toward the ocean.

Precariously perched above Tajo Gorge, Ronda earned a place on the map for its superb bullfighting and unique setting. The town bills itself as the home of bullfighting, having the oldest and largest bullring in the country, the Plaza de Toros. Built in 1784, this bullring is where Pedro Romero--arguably the best bullfighter who ever lived--killed more than 5,000 bulls. The romance of bullfighting attracted the likes of Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway, who based his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls on his adventures in Ronda. The Plaza de Toros is open to visitors; you can attend a fight, tour the stadium, or check out the artifacts in the bullfighting museum.

The steep, 328-foot-deep Tajo Gorge effectively splits the town in half. An 18th-century stone bridge spans the ravine and links the old, Muslim part of the city with the "new," post-Reconquest part. The bridge itself is a feat of engineering (it once housed a prison), though the bridge's architect fell to his death when attempting to inscribe the completion date on it. From the top of the gorge, the view is awe-inspiring: The Guadalevín River rushes far below and the Serranía de Ronda mountains encircle the area like an amphitheatre.

Introduction   |   Where to Go   |   Culture & Cuisine   |   Featured Trips   |   Slide Show