We find ourselves in unprecedented times. It has been disconcerting and saddening to see empty squares and shuttered streets around the world, and our hearts go out to all those affected, wherever they are.

For a while, we may all need to stay grounded. One day, piazzas will fill with selfie-takers again and bistros will brim with animated chatter.

While we wait, we reflect on what draws us to the places we love.

Just over 50 years ago I drove into Andalucía’s greatest city, Seville, in a green Austin 1100. As I drew up outside the large ground-floor apartment that was to be my home for the next eight months, several members of the family came out to greet me.

Andalucían hospitality is legendary and in no time I had been accepted by the family and their large circle of friends of varying ages. I soon fell into the easy pace of life, sherry and tapas being a far cry from the London pubs I had left behind. All talk was of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and the Seville Feria which followed.

Life in Seville then, as with other cities in Spain, was very different from what you find now. Apart from a few cinema-goers, everybody was at home by 9pm, so the feria was an explosion of celebration and joy when it finally came around in April, seven months after I arrived.

What a carnival, what an atmosphere, what stamina was needed! Immaculately groomed horses, with the prettiest imaginable ladies in their beautiful flamenco dresses perched side-saddle behind their riders, paraded between rows of small tents, each hosting a party within a party. At night it became a spectacle of flamenco dancing. Never had I seen so many people engrossed in enjoying themselves.

That is the essence of the Andalucían character, born out of centuries of hardship, demonstrated in the ability to make the most of life and enjoy it at every opportunity.

The following month, I dragged myself away from Andalucía besotted and in love with this magical land.

Thirteen years later, in 1982, having spent most of the interim period working in the jungles of South East Asia and South America, I had the opportunity to return to Andalucía to work. Spain was by then starting to undergo dramatic changes with the extraordinarily successful transformation from a dictatorship to a thriving democracy. It was fascinating to live here during this period.

I never tire of driving through its breathtaking countryside and visiting the great cities of Seville, Granada and Cordoba, the capital of Al-Andalus, the great Islamic civilisation which was so more advanced than the rest of Europe until the Moors were ousted from Spain in 1491.

There are the great cultivated areas around the sherry capital, Jerez, which the Romans called the granary of the Roman Empire, the cork forests of the Province of Cádiz, the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, the vast olive plantations of Jaén, the rice growing areas south of Seville and the wild beaches of Andalucía’s Atlantic coastline. Wildlife is abundant with great National Parks like Coto Doñana, the stopping-off point for the bird migration between Africa and Europe, an essential part of Andalucía’s natural beauty.

As tourism has grown and become so vital to the local economy, more and more people have flocked to Andalucía and love it. Of course it has changed from the Andalucía I first knew but its essential character remains the same, its people happy and welcoming, proud and hospitable.

Here where I live in Sotogrande in Southern Andalucía, I look out from my terrace over the Mediterranean to North Africa almost at Europe’s southernmost point. The climate is wonderful, the surrounding countryside tranquil and peaceful but above all I am living among my favourite people. That’s why I love Andalucía.

Further information

View properties for sale in Spain 

• James and the global residential team are available remotely for any questions about the market or to simply share stories about their beloved locations.