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Spain is more than
bullfights, flamenco dancers and crowded beaches. It's a spectacular and diverse
country, the north resembling the rolling, green hills of Ireland and the south
giving you a taste of Moroccan landscapes and architecture. Its tremendous
history is reflected in its prehistoric cave paintings, Moorish palaces,
crumbling castles, Roman ruins, Gothic and Renaissance cathedrals as well as
some very distinctive modern architecture.
 The
uniqueness of Spain lies in the separate kingdoms which made up the original
Spanish nation. These regions remain diverse in their language, culture, cuisine
and art.
Excellent and quiet beaches can be
found near Malaga, Huelva and Almería in the south as well as near the coasts of
La Manga, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and Euskadi. If you do enjoy extremely
developed resort towns, there are plenty of crowded beaches on the Costa de la
Luz and the Costa del Sol. Interesting is the harbor of Almerimar with cozy
bars, just south of El Ejido (Almeria).
Very unique architecture can be found in Cordoba, Salamanca, Granada, Toledo,
Madrid... The visionary architecture of Antoni Gaudí and the Picasso museum are
in Barcelona while Madrid is home to Spain's top three art museums.
If you would rather get some fresh air, Spain is filled with opportunities to
visit wildlife parks as well as trekking. The Pyrenees, especially around the
Aragon area, are the best areas for trekking. Andalusia has its Sierra Nevada
mountain chain with luxurious skiing resorts near Granada. Ski-sports are
possible from November up to May.
Between Guadix and Baza (famous horse market) one can find cave-dwellings, cave
hotels, and beautiful natural parks. North and between these towns still are
unexplored desert sceneries, with hamlets not even found on maps! The highway
infrastructure in this "wild" part of Andalusia is excellent.
Spanish people are very open-hearted and communicative. You won't have any
problems to get to know someone, especially in the big cities like Madrid or
Barcelona. It's often said that the Spanish living room is the bar where the
people usually spend a lot of time in the mornings and in the evenings.
Not only Spanish is spoken in this country, but five languages and a lot of
dialects. In Catalonia on the northern coast to the Mediterranean Sea people
speak català; in Valencia and its region, people speak valencià; in Basque
Country in the north of Spain people speak euskera (which isn't even a
Indo-European language); in the west in Galicia galego is spoken and in the rest
people normally speak castellan (Spanish).
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