If your holidays in Spain are about sun, sandy beaches and a little alcohol, you still lack many things.
While many other people come to Spain to relax, millions more come to Spain to soak up its impressive culture.
The country has been the center of the Roman, Islamic, Christian and colonial empires that have reshaped the country into an open-air museum of wonders that move, motivate and send home with a new life.
There are 43 UNESCO in Spain, the third largest country in the world, adding the highest outstanding pilgrimage in the Christian world, the only Islamic (imperial) palatine city that is preserved, the revolutionary contributions to the Industrial Revolution and the original documents in which the colonialists planned the discovery and conquest of the New World.
Along with the remarkable beauty of the herbs, there’s enough time, even on a year-long trip, to see all that the country has to offer.
So, so you can scratch the surface of enchanting Spain, we’ve put together nine UNESCO World Heritage Sites that you can’t miss on your next holiday in Spain.
Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada
Location: Granada, Andalusia
Entrance fee: 14 € (check the internal ebook of the palace in advance)
Hours: 08:30-20:00 in high season and 08:30-18:00 in low season (night visits possible)
The Alhambra Fortress in Granada houses the finest Spanish example of Islamic art and architecture and is among the first Spanish monuments inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984, along the residential domain of Albayzin, allowing for valuable insight into everyday life in Muslim Spain. .
The Alhambra, the home of the Nasrid kings, who ruled southern Spain for 250 years and were the last Muslim dynasty before the fall of Granada in 1492. The structures are remarkably intact, with ancient irrigation systems still functional and impressive Islamic epigraphy architecture known throughout the world. for “speaking” to visitors of the religious, political and poetic world of Muslim Spain.
The Alhambra was the last site of Islamic rule in Western Europe, which once reached the south of France. When Abu Abdullah Muhammad XII handed the keys to King Ferdinand and Queen Elizabeth, he said that “these are the keys of paradise. “Legend continues that when Boabdil – as he is called – fled to Morocco in exile, he broke his last view of the magnificent capital at a viewpoint called Suspiro del Moro (the sigh of the Moor). well, my son, cry like a woman so you can’t protect like a man. “The debate continues as to whether Muhammad XII freed other tolerant people from persecution and bloodbath in Christian Spain, or whether he took a stand in cowardice. for this day.
Cathedral, Alcazar and Archive of the Indies of Seville
Location: Seville, Andalusia
Entrance fee: Free
Hours: 09:30-17:00 (closed on Mondays and public holidays)
The Archive of the Indies is located in one of the 3 buildings that make up UNESCO in the center of Seville, capital of southern Andalusia, the buildings are the Cathedral of Seville, the Royal Alcazar of Seville and the old Lonja de Sevilla, which houses the General Archive of the Indies.
Each of the 3 buildings is magnificent in itself: the Cathedral of Seville is the largest Gothic building in Europe that has a minaret from the Islamic era (1238) and houses the tomb of Christopher Columbus; the Alcázar dates from the tenth century as the house of the Almohad Islamic ruler and housed the Hall of the Admirals and the House of Commerce from where Spain controlled the colonization of the Indies; La Lonja houses the maximum documents of the Spanish discovery and colonization of the New World.
The 3 buildings space the history that shaped the global, from the prestige of Seville as a commercial port with the Indies from 1503 to 1718, to the corridor where Magellan and Sebastián El Cano planned the first global excursion from 1519 to 1522. they come with the bull of demarcation when Pope Alexander VI divided the New World between Spain and Portugal, as well as the first maps and plans of the Americas, as well as the diary of Christopher Columbus when he detailed the first documented encounter between Europeans and local Americans on an island in the Bahamas today.
In addition to being one of the main UNESCO sites in Spain, Seville also hosts the catholic country’s most prominent processions, Holy Week at the end of Easter.
Routes of Santiago de Compostela: French Way and Roads of Northern Spain
Location: Basque Country, La Rioja, Cantabria, Asturias, Galicia
The Camino de Santiago de Santiago is an extensive network of trails in northern Spain that lead to the tomb of the Apostle Santiago el Mayor in the Church of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. The church and the old city of Santiago de Compostela are some other UNESCO in Spain.
The Camino de Santiago is the highest outstanding pilgrimage in the Christian world. Pilgrims have been walking towards the Church of Santiago de Compostela (Santiago Santiago in Spanish) since the discovery of a tomb in the ninth century. Tradition says that after Herod Agrippa. Executing the apostle and brother of John the Evangelist, the disciples transported his body across the sea to Padrón on the Atlantic coast of Galicia, before entering inland to be buried in Santiago de Compostela.
The UNESCO site includes cathedrals, churches, hospitals, inns and even bridges built for pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela. Traditionally, pilgrimage was a form of penance for sins, and today more than 200,000 people walk the path of non-secular expansion or simply as a beautiful hiking and biking route.
Any hike on the Camino de Santiago comes with a stopover at the magical site of Las Médulas UNESCO, with honey-colored peaks in a mountainous region near Ponferrada with intact remains of Roman-era gold mining.
Works of art through Antoni Gaudí
Location: Barcelona, Catalonia
Whether you know his call or not, you’ll get to know him through his work: Gaudí’s Sagrada Familia is the most visited monument in Spain from year to year, attracting 4. 6 million in 2018. plans, and is expected to be completed when the centenary of his death in 2026 is celebrated.
Seven houses built by Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) in Barcelona or Nearthrough, the capital of Catalonia, are part of the UNESCO list. The buildings are: Park Güell; Güell Palace; Casa Milá; Vicens House; Gaudí’s paintings on the nativity façade and the crypt of the Sagrada Familia; Casa Batlló; Crypt of colonia Güell.
Gaudí’s paintings are related to modernist architecture, his paintings are an aggregate of handicrafts such as ceramics and stained glass, as well as the non-public passions of nature and religion. The sublime nature of Gaudí’s paintings led him to his nickname of “Architect of God”, Gaudí. maximum commonly sought to build public spaces as well as residences of its own, allowing the citizens of Barcelona free and unlimited access to arguably the most beautiful architecture in Spanish history.
Ancient city of Segovia and its aqueduct
Location: Segovia, Castilla y León
The Roman Aqueduct of Segovia, built around 50 BC. C. , is one of the most remarkable and preserved examples of ancient Roman engineering in the world.
The magnificent layout is built entirely in mortar or cement, with a duration of 813 m, with 128 pillars and a height of 28. 5 m above the ground at its lowest point. Despite its location in the center of the town of Segovia (50,000 inhabitants), the Roman aqueduct is almost entirely original and provided water to the neighboring Rio Frio until the mid-nineteenth century. The Romans even built special sections to allow the sand to settle and supply the population of the Roman city with natural and new water.
Spain has two other notable UNESCO sites in Roman times: Merida, the former capital of Lusitania remarkably intact in eastern Extremadura, and Tarraco, the main imperial and mercantile city of Roman Spain; however, the Roman aqueduct of Segovia is right in the middle of a fashionable city is the ultimate emblematic symbol of the continuing influence of the Roman Empire in the world of fashion.
The domain of Castilla y León is more than an hour’s drive north of Madrid and a bit far away, so lovers of Roman history definitely explore all 3 UNESCO sites before making the trip.
Bizkaia Bridge
Location: Ibaizabal River, Basque Country
Price: €0. 45 per single passenger, up to €15 per truck over 6000 kg
The Bizkaia Bridge extends 160 m from the Ibaizabal estuary, west of Bilbao, and in 1893 became the first bridge in the world to carry other people and traffic in a gondola suspended at the top. It has the style of similar bridges in Europe, Africa and Europe. America, and it is one of the few that has survived and functions.
The Vizcaya Bridge used a new generation of light weight braided metal cables and is considered to be a remarkable iron architectural structure of the Industrial Revolution. wide estuary without the need for ramps or elevation or lowering of the bridge. Since its inauguration in 1893, the bridge has operated frequently ever since, except during the Spanish Civil War from 1937 to 1941, when damage caused the platform to fall into the estuary.
The Vizcaya Bridge is the only industrial-era structure on this list, yet it stands out as a remarkable example of design ingenuity that will fascinate engineering enthusiasts. It is also preferably located in the Basque Country near San Sebastian, which stands out for having the maximum Michelin. -Restaurants with stars according to the square meter in Europe.
Site of the dolmens of Antequera
Location: Antequera, Andalusia
Price: 1,50 €
Hours: from nine to 18 hs. (closed on Mondays)
The dolmens of Antequera includes 3 giant prehistoric stone monuments built in the Neolithic and Bronze Age (10,000 BC. C. -1,200 BC. C. ) and are among the greatest vital exponents of European megalithism.
The 3 dolmens (Menga, Viera and Tholos) are built from giant blocks of stone that resemble herbal formations, but create chambers underneath, which are used for ritual and funerary purposes. They are almost indistinguishable from the surrounding herbarium environment among the herbal monuments of La Peña. de los Enamorados and El Torcal.
Spain is home to many prehistoric sites recognized by UNESCO, such as the Altamira Cave Paintings in northern Spain, as well as 758 sites in the Mediterranean basin. However, rock art is charming and values time, you can not stop at all of them due to deterioration or lack of easy access. The dolmens of Antequera, on the other hand, are only an hour’s drive from the Malaga town of the popular Costa del Sol and are well valued as a stopover for lovers of prehistory.
Palm Grove of Elche
Location: Elche, Valencian Community
The palm grove or palm grove of Elche is home to the palm grove in Europe and the bureaucracy a desirable formula of agricultural production transmitted from Muslims to Christians intact to this day.
The Palm Grove was originally planted in Roman times, but it was in the tenth century when Arab rulers built the oblong orchards and irrigation systems that still serve today. Elche is one of the driest regions in Spain, with less annual rainfall. of 250 mm in keeping with the year, and the agrarian techniques of North Africa have reshaped the dry land into an oasis worthy of a city. In addition to offering an exclusive and rich food source, date palms provided shade for the cultivation of grains, fodder plants and fruit trees such as pomegranates for human and animal consumption.
During the reconquest of the thirteenth century, Christian leaders passed legislation that protected the irrigation systems of Muslims and extended them to supply drinking water, industry and agriculture in the center of the city. beautiful ornaments, which each and every year, on Easter Sunday, are sent to the royal circle of relatives of Spain and to the Vatican City for the celebrations of Palm Sunday. Elche also hosts an annual palm weaving contest on Palm Sunday, where the competition turns a white palm leaf into a biblical level for first place.
The Palm Grove of Elche is one of the many Muslim contributions to medieval Europe, adding the production of sugar from sugar cane, the production of paper and pulp, silk, advances in perfumery, translations of the works of classical Greek philosophers and mathematicians, water mills and Archimedes. ‘ screw.
Pyrenees – Mont Perdu
Location: Pyrenees Mountains, Aragon
The UNESCO of Mont Perdu, on the border between Spanish Aragon and France, is much more than a peak of 3,352 m: it includes two of the innermost and largest canyons in Europe in the Spanish aspect and maintains an ancient pastoral culture between seven border crossings -Mountain Communities.
The Mont Perdu site is a domain of 30,369 ha with striking geological forms, with meadows, lakes, caves and forests. The network of trails, paths, bridges, houses and hospices is in the middle of an agropastoral formula in which to this day shepherds and shepherds take their farm animals to the tall pastures during the summer months. While those lifestyles have all but disappeared across Europe, it would possibly not be uncommon to find endless flocks of sheep blocking the road here.
The region of Monte Perdido joins the Doñana National Park in southern Andalusia, the paradisiacal volcanic peak of Teide in Tenerife and the forests of Garajonay on the island of La Gomera as Spanish spaces of remarkable herbal beauty to be on the list of UNESCO sites in Spain. In addition to its inherent beauty and ancient lifestyle, the Monte Perdido region is a glorious position for enthusiasts, while also being close to Spain’s number one ski destination, Baqueira-Beret.
We hope this UNESCO site in Spain will motivate you to immerse yourself in Spanish history and culture on your next visit.
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