THE SWEAT washed off their faces onto their immaculate black suits and white shirts as they inched their way down steep rutted roads.

While their burden almost floated serenely on their broad shoulders - her face an untroubled mask of peace - the men struggled to keep on their feet.

The sickly sweet, incense-laden air was stirred by a cacophony of screeching brass bands, in quasi-military uniforms, as they tried to impose a tempo on the sluggish procession.

This was a rare event in Granada, the capital of Andalucia, and it was a treat to see the prelude to the crowning of the Virgin.

Both believers and non-believers lined the tortuous route to the cathedral ceremony, five miles from the church, in the valley bottom. Looking like rattled gangsters from a Tarantino film, the smart well-built men carrying the Virgin statue in a heavy silver and glass case still had not reached the sumptuously decorated cathedral five hours later.

Their struggle looked like penance and their journey, from the Moslem palace of Alhambra to the Christian basilica, could also be seen as an illustration of the religious and cultural history of the area.

Alhambra is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world and, late in the day, a haven of tranquillity with gentle, trickling water and fountains as much a part of the decoration as the delicate Arab motifs, tiles and elegantly proportioned arches and courtyards. The scented gardens are the crowning glory.

Not wishing to follow the Virgin's never-ending procession just yet, I visited the gardens just below the Alhambra to watch the sun tint the sky strawberry pink as it glided behind the smaller mountain range opposite the snow-topped Sierra Nevada.

Here, yet another unexpected treat followed. As I drank in the fabulous panoramic view of the city and bathed in the scent of orange blossom, a wedding reception emerged from the woodland.

First, the most bewitching, dark-haired woman in Spain plainly upstaged the bride with her beauty, complete with wedding comb or Peineta, orange silk dress and black veil.

Then came the smug bride groom, the bride's father, a medal-heavy General Pinochet look-alike, and a succession of gloriously dressed relatives.

Feeling like a scruffy voyeur amid the splendour, I decided to follow the Virgin again, but only got as far as the Alhambra Palace balcony bar, surely the best located hotel in Europe.

From there I could still see the procession and the reminders of when Andalucia was the religious, cultural and artistic capital of Europe, where Jews, Christians and Moslems co-existed and collaborated.

Tourist officials are now keen to drag tourists off the Costa del Sol beaches to experience the rich culture inland. Few people are aware of the rewarding and contrasting attractions not too far from Malaga, Benidorm and the rest.

A new tourist route called the Route of the Caliphate, the name of the former Arab rulers, has been set up by the Spanish tourist boards to celebrate this aspect of Spanish history.

The route links Granada with the town of Cordoba in the west through spectacular countryside, with ever-changing scenery of hills covered in olive groves in white soil, and sheer jagged rocky outcrops studded with architectural gems of white-washed villages and castles.

It is well worth making a detour to see one of these villages. Zuheros, half way between Cordoba and Granada, is reached via a twisting mountain road awash with the blues, yellows and reds and scents of wild flowers. This seemed the essence of Andalucia to me.

Then, as if planted there by the tourist board, a dejected donkey with sun and wind-blackened farmers in black hats emerged out of the olive trees dragging along a harvest of blanched branches up the steep fields.

Strangely, Zuheros seemed to be a village with no men, perhaps they were all scattered on the sun-dappled groves reaping the rich olive harvest.

One of the highlights has to be a visit to Europe's first organic olive oil factory in Baena.

You can smell the sweet/peppery golden/green oil before you see it in the Nunez de Prado factory. Paco Nunez resembles a globule of his own fruity liquid, he is a gleaming bright eyed man, one of three brothers who nurture every bottle as if they were their little children.

Before he died last year, his brother Andres was the undisputed master of what has been judged by the most refined taste buds as being among the best olive oil in the world.

There's a sadness in Paco's eyes as he tells of his brother's expertise and how he is trying to live up to his precious legacy.

Pacos is a good advert for olive consumption, with his skin having a healthy sheen. He cheers up by proudly showing off the Heath Robinson olive-pressing machinery, with its gigantic nuts and bolts.

The extra virgin oil is painstakingly corked and wax-sealed, then each bottle is numbered and recorded in books, in an earnest, reverent way.

No visit to Spain is complete without indulging in the worship of food. There is, however, nothing reverent about the long tapas meals, they are celebratory in the evening and a relaxing way of keeping out of the heat in the afternoon.

The British habit of rushing meals would be an insult to the food here, downed with olive oil and Montilla wines and aided by chat and song.

The Andalucians know they are on to a good thing and you feel almost grateful they want to share their obvious enjoyment of life with tourists.

As a foreign visitor you are never made to feel unwelcome. From the black-clad men quietly chatting in packed small back-street bars, to the nuns peering through shutters with all but their eyes covered when you buy their honeyed sweetmeats, they all make an effort to be very welcoming. Whenever I get back home from any far-flung trip I am always relieved to regain domestic familiarity. But for the first time, in Spain I genuinely felt as if I had been seeing relatives home from home.

FACTFILE

Iberia Airlines reservations: 0870 6062032

Spanish Tourism Office, London: 0207 4868077

Hotel Alcazar de la Reina, Plaza de Lasso Carmona, near Seville: 0034 954196200

Hotel Husa Santo Domingo, El Agua, Lucena, near Cordoba: 0034 957511100

Hotel Alhambra Palace Pena Partida, Granada: 0034 958221468

Tourist route Internet addresses:

The Legend of Andalucia http://www.legadoandalusi.es

Granada tourism http://www.dipgra.es

Cordoba tourism http:www.eprinsa.es/Turismo

Andalucia http://www.e-ol.net/and name of town and www.andalucia.com