Algeciras

Algeciras sits on the western shore of the Bay of Gibraltar, at the southern tip of Spain, with the Rock of Gibraltar about 8 kilometres away across the water. Its port is the busiest in Spain, handling container ships and the ferries to Tangier and Ceuta, and cruise ships berth inside it. The Moors founded the town in 711 and called it al-Jazira al-Khadra, the Green Island. Stretches of its medieval Merinid walls are on show in an archaeological park in the centre. Plaza Alta, a short walk uphill from the ferry terminal, has tiled benches around a tiled fountain and the 18th-century church of Nuestra Señora de la Palma on one side. Nearby, the Mercado Ingeniero Torroja is a working food market under a thin concrete dome that the engineer Eduardo Torroja built in 1935. Parque María Cristina is the town's shaded garden. The flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía was born in Algeciras in 1947. Getares beach lies south of the centre, and further on the Punta Carnero lighthouse looks across the Strait to Morocco. Inland, the Río de la Miel trail climbs through cork oak woods to a string of waterfalls and pools. Gibraltar is reached by road around the bay through La Línea, and Tarifa is about 20 kilometres southwest.