WORLD TRAVEL SERIES WITH GEORGE NÉMETH - THE MAGIC OF ANDALUSIA

Andalusia is the essence of Spain. Its virtuoso Spanish life is underpinned by Moorish architecture from Africa, flamenco, tapas and fiestas. The first stop of the one-hour film is the former Moorish caliphate centre of Malaga. We take a look at its cathedral of stunning beauty, stroll through the always bustling pedestrian streets of the old town, and see the ensemble of the Gibralfaro castle towering above us. We stop at Picasso's birthplace to visit the museum. We drive through olive groves to Granada, the last stronghold of almost eight centuries of Moorish rule in Iberia. We start our sightseeing tour in the hillside old town, passing a bazaar reminiscent of the Arab world, before visiting the cathedral, the pinnacle of the Spanish Renaissance. On the hill above Granada stands the palace city of Alhambra, the finest surviving example of medieval Moorish palace architecture in the world. Our next stop is a hilltop medieval fortress and the charming little town of Alcala la Real at its foot. From here we head to Cordoba, considered one of the largest cities in the world until the 10th century. Córdoba's main attraction is its huge mosque, built between the 8th and 10th centuries and converted into a cathedral by the Spanish in the 16th century. As we wander around the old town around the Mezquita, we pass the Roman Bridge, the charming street of flowers and the Palace of the Catholic Kings. From Córdoba, we take the Caliph's road to Castellelo de Almodovar, a medieval knight's castle crowning a 100-metre-high hill. One of Andalusia's most beautiful knight's castles, it reflects in every way the atmosphere of the mysterious Middle Ages and Muslim towns. Continue by motorway westwards to the capital of Andalusia, Seville. Tour its fabulous old town and visit the Alcazar, the royal palace built by Spanish monarchs, whose older part is reminiscent of Moorish times. The other main monument in the city is the Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. The most richly decorated part of the church is the gilded altarpiece. Here you can see the tomb of Christopher Columbus. The Spanish Square was built for the 1929 World's Fair. It is considered the most beautiful part of the city. From Seville we head towards the Atlantic coast towards the important port city of Cadiz, Spain. It was here that Columbus set out on his voyage of discovery. The 18th-century Baroque and Neoclassical Cathedral, gleaming in the sunshine with its gilded dome, is a symbol of Cádiz. Andalusia is separated from Africa by the 14-kilometre-wide Strait of Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a city-state at the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula. It is a British territory. We visit the highest point of Gibraltar, an engineering marvel built in 1890 and now a museum. Our adventurous journey ends in the almost impregnable town of Ronda, above a deep gorge, where a 70-metre-long bridge built in 1788, still a masterpiece of engineering and stone-carving, crosses the 100-metre-deep gorge separating the old town from the new town