Post offices (
Correos )
are generally found near the
centre of towns and are normally
open from 8am to noon and again
from 5 to 7.30pm, though big
branches in large cities may
have considerably longer hours
and usually do not close at
midday. Except in the cities
there's only one post office in
each town, and queues can be
long: stamps are also sold at
tobacconists (look for the brown
and yellow
Tabac sign).
You can have letters sent poste
restante ( Lista de
Correos ) to any Spanish
post office: they should be
addressed (preferably with the
surname underlined and in
capitals) to Lista de Correos
followed by the name of the town
and province. To collect, take
along your passport and, if
you're expecting mail, ask the
clerk to check under all of your
names - letters are often to be
found filed under first or
middle names.
Outbound mail is
reasonably reliable, with
letters or cards taking around
five days to a week to the UK
and Europe, a week to ten days
to North America, New Zealand
and Australia.
Phones
Spanish public
phones
work well and have
instructions in English. If
you can't find one, many bars
also have pay phones you can
use. Cabins and other phones
have been adapted to take the
new euro currency but you're
best off buying a phone card
(from a
kiosko or
tabac
) of ?6 or ?12 which avoids
hassles finding the right
change. All cabins should
display instructions in a
variety of languages. Spanish
provincial (and some overseas)
dialling codes are displayed
in the cabins. The
ringing
tone is long,
engaged
is shorter and rapid; the
standard Spanish response is
digáme
("speak to me"),
often abbreviated to
diga
, or the even more laconic
si
.
For international calls
, you can use any street cabin
or go to a locutorio ,
an office where you pay
afterwards. Phoning within
Spain is cheaper after 6pm and
all weekend for metropolitan
and inter-provincial calls.
International rates are
slightly cheaper between
midnight and 8am; the reduced
rates apply all day on
Saturday and Sunday. If you're
using a cabin to call abroad
and don't use a phone card,
you're best off putting at
least ?2 in to ensure a
connection.
Email
One of the best ways to keep
in touch while travelling is
to sign up for a free internet
email address that can
be accessed from anywhere, for
example YahooMail or Hotmail -
accessible through
www.yahoo.com
and
www.hotmail.com .
Once you've set up an account,
you can use these sites to
pick up and send mail from any
internet café or hotel with
internet access.
www.kropka.com is a
useful website giving details
of how to plug your laptop in
when abroad, phone country
codes around the world, and
information about electrical
systems in different
countries.
The internet
The internet has made
great inroads into Spanish
life and access is widely
available at internet cafés
(more commonly referred to as cibercafés
in Spanish), some computer
shops and many locutorios
. Prices vary; in cities
hourly rates can be as little
as ?1.80, rising to around ?6
in some smaller towns.
Media
Of the
Spanish newspapers
the best are the centre-left
El
País and the centre-right
El Mundo , both of
which have good arts and
foreign news coverage,
including comprehensive
regional "what's on"
listings and supplements every
weekend. Other national papers
include the solidly elitist
ABC
and Barcelona's nationalist
La
Vanguardia . The regional
press is generally run by
local magnates and is
predominantly right-wing,
though often supporting local
autonomy movements.
Nationalist press includes
Avui
in Catalunya, printed largely
in Catalan, and the Basque
papers
El Correo Español
del Pueblo Vasco, Deia and
Gara , the last a
supporter of ETA.
British newspapers
and the International
Herald Tribune are on sale
in most large cities and
resorts. There are also
various English-language
magazines produced by and for
the expatriate communities in
the main cities and on the costas
; all are of limited interest,
though occasionally they carry
details of local events and
entertainment.
