Did you know that Spain’s oldest cities are in Andalusia? Furthermore, you can visit them with our agency, as they are part of our tours, or we can add them to a personalized itinerary through southern Spain. It is, therefore, a perfect option for History and Archaeology enthusiasts, who will find many pioneering places to discover in this region. We tell you all about it in the following lines.
Cities with a Passion for the Ancient
At Andalucía Exclusiva, we bring you all the attractions of this region, including archaeological sites and their respective museums or interpretation centers. This is a characteristic of the agencies in our group, Mandala Tours: with Jordan Exclusiva, you can discover Amman and Petra; with Egypt Exclusivo, Thebes/Luxor; and even with Turkey Exclusiva, we take you to Athens (on a cruise) and to what is considered the oldest city in the world, Çatalhöyuk, in southern Anatolia.
Although Spain’s oldest cities are not as ancient as those we have mentioned, they stand out for their rich history and, moreover, for being living cities. Therefore, a visit to them combines archaeology with other tourist experiences, such as gastronomy, flamenco, or any other aspect of modern life.
Before listing them below, it is worth remembering that this is not a closed or definitive ranking, as archaeological findings often change dating, and furthermore, they can be interpreted differently, as the concept of a city is not unanimous. In any case, antiquity is an added bonus in all of them.
Cádiz or Gadir: a very ancient silver cup
It is generally considered that the first true cities arrived with foreign colonizers during the Iron Age. Specifically, with the Phoenicians, who reached the south of the Iberian Peninsula, attracted by its mineral wealth. For this reason, around 1100 BC, they established an enclave called Gadir, from which the current name of Cádiz derives. Therefore, some venture to say that it is the oldest continuously inhabited European city. Much remains to be discovered about that Phoenician Gadir, as the coastline was also different, and many of these places could be submerged or yet to be located in the Bay of Cádiz, such as perhaps the famous Temple of Hercules Gaditanus, in honor of the god Melkaart.
In any case, Cádiz boasts numerous vestiges of its ancient past, such as the Gadir archaeological site, beneath the Títere Theater, where eight dwellings, among other structures, have been interpreted.
Huelva, by Phoenicians and Tartessians
When we speak of minerals in the Iron Age, Huelva and its surroundings step forward and claim their place among Spain’s oldest cities. With archaeological remains datable to the V-III millennia BC, it was also the Phoenicians who founded Onuba in the 10th century BC, maintaining its presence into the Tartessian era, a civilization closely related to the Phoenicians that reached its splendor around the 8th century BC and is currently being rediscovered. Among its main vestiges is that of Cabezo de la Joya, which is still being excavated.
Other Very Ancient Cities
While Cádiz and Huelva can be elevated as Spain’s oldest cities, Andalusia has others of very ancient dating. This is the case of Málaga, of Phoenician foundation (Malaka), for the same exploratory reasons as the previous two (Cerro del Villar site). And even Cástulo, a site on the outskirts of Linares (Jaén), created at the end of the 3rd millennium BC: an Iberian-Roman city, capital of Oretania, although this enclave eventually became depopulated in the Middle Ages.
