If you are coming to
Spain for the
first time, be warned: this is a
country that fast becomes an
addiction. You might intend to come
just for a beach holiday, or a tour
of the major cities, but before you
know it you'll find yourself hooked
by something quite different - by
the celebration of some local
fiesta, perhaps, or the amazing
nightlife in Madrid, by the Moorish
monuments of Andalucia, by Basque
cooking, or the wild landscapes and
birds of prey of Estremadura. And by
then, of course, you will have
noticed that there is not just one
Spain but many. Indeed, Spaniards
often speak of
Las Españas
(the Spains) and they even talk of
the capital in the plural -
Los
Madriles , the Madrids.
This regionalism is an obsession
and perhaps the most significant
change to the country over recent
decades has been the creation of
seventeen autonomías -
autonomous regions - with their own
governments, budgets and cultural
ministries. The old days of a
unified nation, governed with a firm
hand from Madrid, seem to have gone
forever, as the separate kingdoms
which made up the original Spanish
state reassert themselves. And the
differences are evident wherever you
look: in language, culture and
artistic traditions, in landscapes
and cityscapes, and attitudes and
politics.
The cities - above all - are
compellingly individual. Barcelona,
for many, has the edge: for Gaudí's
splendid modernista
architecture, the lively promenade
of Las Ramblas, designer clubs par
excellence , and, not least, for
Barça - the city's football team.
But Madrid, although not as pretty,
claims as many devotees. The city
and its people, immortalized in the
movies of Pedro Almodóvar, have a
vibrancy and style that is revealed
in a thousand bars and summer
terrazas. Not to mention three of
the world's finest art museums. Then
there's Sevilla, home of flamenco
and all the clichés of southern
Spain; Valencia, the vibrant
Levantine city with an arts scene
and nightlife to equal any European
rival; and Bilbao, a new entry on
Spain's cultural circuit, due to
Frank Gehry's astonishing Guggenheim
museum.
Monuments range just as widely
from one region to another,
dependent on their history of
control and occupation by Romans and
Moors, their role in the
"golden age" of Imperial
Renaissance Spain, or their
twentieth-century fortunes. Touring
Castile and León, you confront the
classic Spanish images of vast
cathedrals and reconsquista
castles - literally hundreds of the
latter; in the northern mountains of
Asturias and the Pyrenees, tiny,
almost organic Romanesque churches
dot the hillsides and villages;
Andalucía has the great mosques and
Moorish palaces of Granada, Sevilla
and Córdoba; Castile has the
superbly preserved medieval capital,
Toledo, and the gorgeous Renaissance
university city of Salamanca; while
the harsh landscape of Estremadura
cradles the ornate conquistador
towns built with riches from the
"New World".
Not that Spain is predominantly
about buildings. For most visitors,
the landscape holds just as much
fascination - and variety. The
evergreen estuaries of Galicia could
hardly be more different from the
high, arid plains of Castile, or the
gulch-like desert landscapes of
Almería. Agriculture makes its mark
in the patterened hillsides of the
wine- and olive-growing regions and
the rice fields of the Levante.
Spain is also one of the most
mountainous countries in Europe, and
there is superb walking and wildlife
in a dozen or more sierras - above
all in the Picos de Europa and
Pyrenees. Spain's unique fauna boast
protected species like brown bears,
the Spanish lynx and Mediterranean
monk seals as well as more common
wild boar, white storks and birds of
prey.
One of Spain's greatest draws is
undeniably its beaches although with
infinitely more variety than you
would be led to believe from the
sun-and-sand holiday brochures. Long
tracts of coastline - along the
Costa del Sol, in particular - have
been developed into concrete hotel
and villa complexes but delightful
pockets remain even on the big
tourist costas. On the Costa Brava,
the string of coves between Palamos
and Begur are often overlooked,
while in the south there are superb
windsurfing waters around Tarifa and
some decidedly low-key resorts along
the Costa de la Luz. In the north,
the cooler Atlantic coastline boasts
the surfing sands of Cantabria and
the unspoilt coves of Galicia's
estuaries. Offshore, the Balearic
islands have some superb sands and,
if you're up for it, Ibiza also
offers one of the most hedonistic
backdrops to beachlife in the
Mediterranean.
Wherever you are in Spain, you
can't help but notice the Spaniards'
infectious enthusiasm for life. In
the cities there is always something
happening - in bars and clubs, on
the streets, and especially at
fiesta times. Even in out of the way
places there's a surprising range of
nightlife and entertainment, not to
mention the daily pleasures of a
round of tapas, moving from bar to
bar, having a beer, a glass of wine
or a fino (dry sherry) and a
bite of the house speciality.
The identity and appeal of each
of the regions is explored in the
introductions, where you'll find a
rundown on their highlights.
