Places of interest
The Medina (Walled Town)
Emblematic sites
This is the original centre of the city. Abderramán III, Almería founded in 955 (10th century), by constructing a wall around the heart of the town, building a fortress to defend the city, and provide a mosque for prayer.
It extended from the Avenue of the Sea to Queen Street. The route crossed diagonally from the main gateway (at the beginning of Queen Street ) to Sortida or Socorro (at Socorro Street), pssing through Pechina or Real de la Almedina street, which were within the preserved route of Caliphate medina.
Other principal streets lead from the streets of Cruces Bajas, Santa Maria, San Anton and San Juan. In these main roads with a minimum width (not exceeding 3 m), some even more narrow, winding side streets were created, which in turn divided into branches of alleys through corners and ends (like the one located in the Santa Maria street).
This area can be best described as streets and alleys, where there were no free spaces for squares nor little squares. The squares are found around the Great Mosque, whereas the shopping district was formed for alhóndigas, souks and bazaars. Within here the Alcaicería (luxury shopping district) stood. The shipyard, located in the area of the current Atarazanas street, occupied an important space at the south-eastern tip of the medina. There were many neighbourhoods around this area, each with its small mosque, as in the case of existing in the current Hermitage of San Antón.
