The main street in Almeria is a busy place where early 20C buildings stand next to modern tower blocks. Note the Merchants' Circle, part of which was decorated in 1920, the Cervantes Theatre, the Basilica of Our Lady of the Sea, the School of Fine Arts in a petty 18C cloister, the 19C building that houses the local government, and the Montoya house, a typical northern Spanish building.

The salt flats (salinas) spread out over 300 hectares south-east of the little village of San Miguel de Cabo de Gata, forming a reserve for water birds. These migrate here in their thousands and can be peacefully observed through binoculars.

The square is the nerve centre of Sorbas. Surrounding it are the 16C Iglesia de Santa María, the town hall, the 19C house of Francisco García Roca and the 18C palace of the Dukes of Alba. From lookout points you have fine views of the river bed, the agricultural plain and the houses clinging to the edge of the gorge.

The parish church is a 16C brick building. In the nave, note the fine Baroque altarpiece adorning the high altar, and an Immaculate Conception by Alonso Cano (1601-67), a painter from Granada and a contemporary of Zurbarán and Velásquez.