Andalusia
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50 free Andalusia trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Andalusia (Andalucía in Spanish) is the southern edge of mainland Europe, a region where Roman, Islamic and Christian Spain are layered on top of one another. Flamenco was born here, and so were some of the best-known painters, poets and film stars the country has produced. This quiz turns the most surprising fun facts about Andalucia into multiple-choice questions. Expect palaces and cathedrals in Seville, Granada and Córdoba, deserts that doubled for the American West, rare wildlife, festival traditions, and the stories behind what the region eats and drinks. Every answer comes with a short explanation. It suits travellers planning a trip, students of Spanish and anyone who likes knowing why a place is the way it is. Questions run from easy openers to a few deep cuts for people who know the region well.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Scientists study Andalusia's highly acidic Rio Tinto as a stand-in for ancient waters on which planet?
Mars
Mars rocks at Meridiani Planum formed in water whose chemistry scientists have compared directly with the Rio Tinto, which runs deep red with dissolved iron.
Q 02Which Italian director shot his Dollars Trilogy westerns in the Tabernas Desert of Andalusia's Almería province?
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone made the desert stand in for the American West, and more than 300 films have been shot there since the late 1950s.
Q 03What covers the land around El Ejido in Almería, Andalusia, forming a 'sea of plastic' visible from space?
Greenhouses
Greenhouses blanket the plain so densely that they show up clearly from orbit, and the area is also nicknamed the Garden of Europe.
Q 04Bitter oranges picked from the trees of Seville, Andalusia, are shipped to Britain mainly to make what?
Marmalade
Marmalade makers prize the Seville orange because it holds more pectin than sweet oranges, which gives a firmer set.
Q 05Whose remains were moved from Havana to a grand tomb in Seville Cathedral, Andalusia, after Cuba's independence?
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus's bones in Seville were DNA-tested in 2003 and matched his brother's, though Santo Domingo has never allowed tests on the remains it holds.
Q 06Which co-founder of Cubism was born in 1881 in Málaga, Andalusia, where a museum now holds his work?
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso left Málaga as a boy in 1891, when his father took a teaching post in A Coruña, and relatives opened the museum in 2003.
Q 07Which hilltop palace complex of the Nasrid sultans in Granada, Andalusia, has an Arabic name meaning 'the red one'?
Alhambra
The Alhambra takes the name from its reddish rammed-earth walls, and Charles V later planted a Renaissance palace in the middle of it.
Q 08Which fortified wine takes its English name from the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia?
Sherry
Sherry is an anglicisation of Xérès, another form of the name Jerez, and about 90 percent of the grapes grown for it are Palomino.
Q 09Which landmark in Seville, Andalusia, built for a 1929 exposition, appeared as the planet Naboo in a Star Wars film?
Plaza de España
Plaza de España played the city of Theed in Attack of the Clones, decades after scenes for Lawrence of Arabia were shot there.
Q 10The Andalusian city of Granada shares its name with the Spanish word for which fruit, shown on its coat of arms?
Pomegranate
Pomegranate is granada in Spanish, and the fruit also sits at the base of Spain's national coat of arms, where it stands for the old kingdom of Granada.
Q 11The Guadalquivir, which crosses Andalusia through Córdoba and Seville, has a name that comes from Arabic for what?
The great river
The great river, al-wadi al-kabir in Arabic, is the only major navigable waterway in Spain, and the Romans made Seville a busy port on it.
Q 12Which peak near Granada in Andalusia, named after a 15th-century Muslim ruler, is the highest in mainland Spain?
Mulhacén
Mulhacén rises 3,479 metres, and legend says the ruler known in Spanish as Muley Hacén was buried on its summit.
Q 13Which Andalusian port, founded by Phoenicians as Gadir, is often called the oldest city in Western Europe?
Cádiz
Cádiz is traditionally dated to about 1100 BC, and today it is famous for a carnival of satirical singing groups called chirigotas.
Q 21Which Andalusian province, blanketed in olive groves, is the largest producer of olive oil in the world?
Jaén
Jaén is known as the World Capital of Olive Oil, and a single mill in its town of Villacarrillo can process 2,500 tonnes of olives a day.
Q 22Which African country lies about 14 kilometres from Andalusia across the narrowest point of the Strait of Gibraltar?
Morocco
Morocco gives the channel one of its Arabic names, Bab al-Maghrib, which can be read as 'Gate of the West' or 'Gate of Morocco'.
Q 23Which Andalusian mountain range above the city of Granada is home to Europe's southernmost ski resort?
Sierra Nevada
Sierra Nevada's ski station at Pradollano averages 3.9 °C across the year, while Granada, just below it, averages 15.7 °C.
Q 14The cathedral of Córdoba in Andalusia stands inside which kind of older building, converted after the city fell in 1236?
A mosque
A mosque's vast prayer hall still surrounds the Renaissance nave that builders inserted into the middle of it in the 16th century.
Q 15Which opera, set around a cigarette factory in Seville, Andalusia, charts the downfall of a soldier?
Carmen
Carmen drew mostly critical reviews at its 1875 premiere, and Bizet died after the 33rd performance, unaware it would win acclaim around the world.
Q 16Which cold Andalusian soup is made from raw blended tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, garlic, stale bread and olive oil?
Gazpacho
Gazpacho only turned red in the 19th century, when tomatoes joined a much older mix of bread, garlic, oil and vinegar.
Q 17Which stretch of Andalusia's Mediterranean coast, once a string of fishing villages, includes Marbella and Torremolinos?
Costa del Sol
Costa del Sol tourism took off in the 1950s, when Torremolinos drew stars such as Grace Kelly, Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra.
Q 18Which wild cat, down to 94 animals in Andalusia in 2002, has since recovered around Doñana National Park?
Iberian lynx
Iberian lynx numbers passed 2,000 by 2024, enough for the species to be moved from endangered to vulnerable.
Q 19Which 1805 naval battle, in which Admiral Nelson was fatally shot, is named after a cape on Andalusia's Atlantic coast?
Trafalgar
Trafalgar cost the French and Spanish fleet 18 ships captured or destroyed, while the British lost none.
Q 20Which star of The Mask of Zorro was born in Málaga, Andalusia, and dreamed of playing professional football?
Antonio Banderas
Antonio Banderas gave up on football after breaking his foot at 15 and went on to study drama in Málaga.
Q 24Which Andalusian town is split by the El Tajo gorge, spanned since 1793 by the towering Puente Nuevo bridge?
Ronda
Ronda's bridge took decades to build, and a chamber above its central arch was once used as a prison.
Q 25Whose fleet of five ships left Seville, Andalusia, in 1519 on the voyage that first sailed around the world?
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan died on the way, and only one ship, the Victoria, came home, carrying 18 of the original 270 men.
Q 26Which poet and playwright, author of Blood Wedding, was born near Granada in Andalusia and shot there in 1936?
Federico García Lorca
Federico García Lorca was killed by Nationalist militia early in the Spanish Civil War, and his remains have never been found.
Q 27Which painter of Las Meninas was born in Seville, Andalusia, before becoming court artist to King Philip IV?
Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez was the son of a Seville notary, and most of his paintings ended up in the royal collection that now fills the Prado.
Q 28Which windswept Andalusian town on the Strait of Gibraltar contains the southernmost point of mainland Europe?
Tarifa
Tarifa lies so far south that the North African capitals Algiers and Tunis are farther north, and its winds have made it a windsurfing hub.
Q 29Which small plates, named after the Spanish verb for 'to cover', do bars in Granada, Andalusia, usually serve free?
Tapas
Tapas are a daily ritual in Granada, where locals hop from bar to bar between finishing work and sitting down to dinner.
Q 30During which annual observance do hooded nazarenos escort floats called pasos through Seville, Andalusia?
Holy Week
Holy Week floats often weigh over a tonne, so each one is carried on the necks and shoulders of 24 to 54 hidden bearers called costaleros.