18th ECIS Conference____________________________________________________________________________
SOCIAL PROGRAMME
A guided tour to the Cathedral and the Alcazaba (City of Almería) is planned for wednesday afternoon. Registration and payment (price to be confirmed) should be done during the Conference to the Organizing Committee.
The city of Almeria is located at the foot of a mountain range which is crowned by the magnificent Alcazaba, an Arab fortress built by the Calph of Cordoba, Abd-erRahman III with three huge walled enclosures (in the second of which are remains of a mosque, converted to a chapel by the Catholic Kings). From here, there is a good view of the city's famed cave quarter, 'Barrio de la Chanca' and of the strange fortified Cathedral with its gothic style construction and renaissance façade. Dating from the 16th century, it was built during an era when the southern Mediterranean was terrorised by the raids of Barbarossa and other Turkish and North African pirate forces, its corner towers once held canons.
The Almería coast is a land of contrasts and artful contradictions, where every mile offers a new discovery. With 3.000 hours of sunshine per year and a mean annual temperature of 20 ºC, the Almerían littoral contains treasures of rare beauty; one such is the Cabo de Gata-Nijar Natural Park.
Further information in: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/almeria.htm
____________________________________________________________________September 19-24, 2004 Almería