The 780 years of occupation of Southern Spain by the Moors (Moslems) of North Africa from 711AD to 1492AD came close to changing the course of European history, yet most of us never really learned about this in school. The Moors crossed from North Africa and pushed steadily north until they were finally halted by Frenchman Charles Martel in 732 near Poitiers, only 200 miles south west of Paris. It took the Christians until Jan. 2, 1492 , just seven months before Columbus set sail from Palos, to push the invaders out of their last stronghold on Spanish soil.

The scent of the Orient is everywhere for the Moors left a legacy that distinguishes Andalucia from other parts of Spain. It can be seen in the delicacy of the ornamentation of mosques and palaces, the dark hair and flashing black eyes of the people, their customs, the agony of their songs, their dances and the clapping of their hands, as the Flamenco is surely a close cousin to the Arabian belly dance. The truth is this region flourished under Islamic rule when it was at its height, with glorious architecture, mosaic-tiled courtyard gardens tinkling with fountains and a serenity that was not present further north as France and the rest of Europe stumbled through the Dark Ages.

Our tour starts in Seville and includes visits south to the Serrania de Ronda mountain range in Cadiz province, Ronda, Cadiz and places in between, including the white town of Arcos de la Frontera. To visit the exuberant city of Seville is to partake of perhaps the least Occidental civilization in western Europe. It is situated on a river and because of its trade monopoly with the Americas was once the wealthiest city in Spain. The old Jewish quarter, the Barrio de Santa Cruz, is a warren of white alleyways and flower filled patios and represents Seville at its most romantic. It is a lively area of small bars and hidden plazas and a great place to wander around absorbing the sounds and smells of southern Spain. The best of the buildings are stunningly, overpoweringly beautiful; the food can be quite delicious, especially the gazpacho, another of those cliches of European cooking, like Wiener Schnitzel and Spaghetti Bolognese, that one must eat in its place of birth to understand what all the fuss is about. (Cold soup was a staple in Spain  long before the actress Carmen Maura tossed a fistful of Valium into a blender of gazpacho in Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown." Its place in Andalucian cuisine is demonstrated by the fact that for just one euro, a McDonald's meal in Spain can be supersized with a refreshing cup).

Further east Ronda sits on two sides of a dramatic gorge with a river 328 feet below. The old part of town is a delightful quarter of narrow streets and quiet squares. The architecture is a mixture of Moorish, Christian and Renaissance influences.

In this region the dazzling whitewashed towns or Pueblos Blancos lie like patches of snow amid brooding peaks and serrated crags. These towns are unique to southern Spain and are a perfect blend of Moorish and Christian heritage. Stark white, their dwellings are scrupulously devoid of any decoration to mar their blanched perfection other than black or green window grills and potted red geraniums. Ablaze in the sunlight, ashen under moonlit skies, the towns make few concessions to tourism but are wonderful for photography.

Arcos de la Frontera is considered to be the most beautiful white village in all Spain. It is first spied from the road like a white ship cresting a gray sea, with the church spires and castle towers rising vertically like masts. Sitting atop an enormous stone promontory, three sides of which drop some 500 feet to the encircling Rio Guadalete, Arcos is approached from the fourth. Running the full length of this fourth side is a balcony lookout, that is not for the faint hearted. You stand transfixed at the edge of a precipitous cliff and before you, stretching to the horizon, is one of Spain's transcendent vistas. Far below is a valley of green farmland along the banks of the river with its two bridges, and beyond that are vineyards, olive groves and ranches cupped by encircling hills. On the distant horizon, the notched peaks of the Ronda mountain range crown the view. The narrow, curving white-walled alleys of Arcos scarcely pretend to be streets and often morph into take-no-prisoners stairways or donkey steps built to negotiate the steep lanes. Narrow alleys lead to flower-filled courtyards and cobbled mini-squares, sometimes with a tiny welcoming cafe and an umbrella for shade.

As is true of Arcos, most such towns are situated in what were once strategic mountain defensive spots, often spectacular sites chosen not for aesthetic reasons but for their logistical roles in the centuries-long Muslim-Christian conflict. Many towns and villages, like Arcos and Vejer, are named ''de la Frontera'' to indicate that they once marked the frontiers of Christian territory. Above these towns, goats skitter across boulder-strewn hillsides, wild boar are sometimes seen, and oak and olive trees sink gnarled roots into fissures of limestone riddled with caves.

In all the sleepy white villages you will see vignettes from paintings by Goya and Velazquez and scenes from "Carmen" come to life. The white walls of the narrow lanes bounce sunlight and shadows off each other and create images that are graphic and beautiful. The balconies are dripping with flowers and the doors and windows are sometimes painted bright green or blue - a Mediterranean custom that is supposed to repel flies. If we are lucky to come across a fiesta we will get the chance to photograph the dark, slender horsemen of Andalucia with a sultry senorita sidesaddle behind them and perhaps taste the most famous of local dishes - Paella.

Also on our itinerary will be the coastal town of Cadiz. This is a major city of Andalucia, possibly one of the oldest cities in Europe. It is situated on a peninsular across a sand spit and is almost entirely surrounded by water. The joy of Cadiz is to wander along the waterfront with its well-tended gardens and open squares. Turning up one of the narrow lanes leads us into the old town which is very ramshackle and unchanged from the empire days. It was a sailors city and its seedy alleyways and crumbling buildings give it a fantastic atmosphere. It is THE best place in the whole of Andalucia for eating fresh fish, washed down with a glass of manzanilla looking out across the Cadiz Bay .

As a backdrop to all of these villages and towns are the mountains that, ever present in Andalucia provide some of the most spectacular and magnificent landscapes in all of Spain. In spring the hillsides will be green, lush and covered in wild flowers, and in the event of a storm the skies afterwards will be filled with spectacular cloud formations. After our last tour to Andalucia one of the participants commented, "I will never look at clouds the same way again".