The Spanish passion for living is deliciously contagious.
Once away from the holiday costas , you could only be in Spain. In the cities, narrow twisting old streets suddenly open out to views of daring modern architecture, while spit-and-sawdust bars serving wine from the barrel rub shoulders with blaring, glaring discos.
Travel is easy, accommodation plentiful, the climate benign, the people relaxed, the beaches long and sandy, the food and drink easy to come by and full of regional variety. More than 50 million foreigners a year visit Spain, yet you can also travel for days and hear nothing but Spanish.
A bomb exploded in a car in Bilbao on 9 October 2007, seriously injuring one person. The attack seems to have been politically motivated. Travellers should be alert when visiting large cities and monitor news services for further developments.
severity: Mid-level alert
Spain
42,700,000
Name: Euro
Code: EUR
Symbol: €
220V 50 Hz
Official: Spanish
GMT/UTC +1
+34
Metric
podcast by Ben Curtis, January 2006
Ben and Marina are in the Basque country for a evening with the Gastronomique Society. Hear the clang and sizzle in this tasty podcast. Read the full article ›
Tags: Spain
podcast by Ben Curtis, November 2006
Listen to the magical mayhem of Galicia where markets hum, bagpipes skirl and oysters are shucked like castanets. Read the full article ›
Tags: Spain
photofeature by Lisa Burns, September 2007
Want to know what it feels like to have 1000lbs of angry beef breathing down your neck? Let us put you in the picture. Read the full article ›
Tags: Festivals & Events • Spain
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