Almería: An Audio Tour of Andalucía’s Wild East

Discover this intimate museum dedicated to the figurative and realist tradition in Spanish art, its galleries showcasing works that capture the human form and everyday life with striking precision and emotional depth. Step inside to appreciate paintings that place Almería firmly within a broader national artistic conversation stretching from the 19th century to the present day.

erior built as much for defence as for worship — the towers were designed to repel the pirate raids that terrorised Almería's coastline for centuries. Explore the interior to find the elaborate choir stalls, the tomb of Bishop Villalán who commissioned the building, and a space where Christian ambition was literally built on the foundations of a former mosque.

century and still home to a community of cloistered nuns today. Listen for the quiet rhythms of monastic life behind its walls, and learn how convents like this one preserved art, culture, and continuity through centuries of upheaval in a city that changed hands more than once.

Climb to one of the most impressive Islamic fortresses on the Iberian Peninsula, its three great walled enclosures stepping up the hillside above the city in a display of Moorish military architecture at its most commanding. Walk the ramparts for sweeping views over the rooftops to the Mediterranean, and hear how this fortress once protected the wealthiest port in the Caliphate of Córdoba.

s brought together in one place, from its origins as a Moorish port city to its reinvention as a centre of agriculture and cinema. Use it as a compass for the city around you, piecing together the stories of silk traders, mining barons, and film directors who each left their mark on the streets you are walking.

during the Spanish Civil War, when Almería's citizens burrowed four and a half kilometres of passageways to shelter from Nationalist and German bombing raids. Walk through the dimly lit corridors where thousands of men, women, and children once huddled, and emerge with a visceral sense of what it meant to live through one of the 20th century's most brutal conflicts.

Step into the covered market at the heart of Almerían daily life, its stalls piled high with the vegetables, seafood, and olives that define the food culture of this corner of Andalucía. Wander the bustling aisles of a building that has been feeding the city for well over a century, and take a moment to appreciate the cast-iron and tiled architecture that makes this one of southern Spain's most handsome market halls.

ose discovery on the shoreline in the 15th century became one of the city's most cherished founding legends. Admire the ornate baroque interior and the devotion that has drawn Almerians here for generations, a thread of faith running quietly through centuries of prosperity, hardship, and reinvention.

prosperous mining era of the late 19th century when the city's newfound wealth funded a burst of civic ambition and cultural self-confidence. Learn about the performances, scandals, and social dramas that played out both on its stage and in its audience, in a city where the theatre was once the beating heart of public life.

End your tour at this charming art museum housed in the former Hotel Simón, its collection built around the bequest of Augusta Wijnen — known affectionately as Doña Pakyta — who left her personal art collection to the city she loved. Browse works by Spanish and Almerían artists displayed in intimate, elegantly restored rooms that feel more like a private home than a formal gallery.