Almería, Spain

Almería is a Mediterranean city of roughly 200,000 residents in the Andalusia region of southern Spain and ranks as the sunniest city in Europe, recording about 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. The 10th-century Alcazaba, built in 955 by Abd ar-Rahman III, covers 35,000 square metres and is the largest Moorish fortress in Spain after Granada's Alhambra. The 1524 Almería Cathedral combines Gothic design with thick fortified walls built to defend against Barbary pirate raids. A 152-metre iron ore loading pier known as the Cable Inglés was constructed by English engineers in 1883, while the Tabernas Desert 30 kilometres to the north served as the filming location for numerous Spaghetti Westerns.