| Cities Spain
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| Country information |
country code: ES
continent: Europe
capital: Madrid
languages: Spanish
EU membership: yes
NATO membership: yes
GSM: 900/1800
GPS: 40 00 N, 4 00 W
electricity: 230V/50Hz
currency:
European Union Euro: EUR
1EUR = 1.2656 USD
phone code:
+34-91
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Travel advices and warnings Spain
| Transport |
We include the most important information about transportation in Spain, with information on how to get around Spain by air, train, car, taxi, waterways, and more. If you visit Spain it will be useful to know all of this because Spain is one of the largest countries in Europe, and traveling around Spain will take you some time. |
| Costs |
Spain has stopped being as cheap as it was before; however, it’s still cheaper than northern Europe. What you will spend for your holiday depends on many factors, like the province or town you choose to stay in, or the activities you decide to dothere. Entrance fee to most monuments is quite cheap. Public transport is offered at an affordable price, (excluding high-speed trains, which can be faster than some plane flights). |
| Eating |
Spanish cuisine is as varied as Spanish landscapes. Regions go hand-in-hand with their culinary culture. Restaurants and dining rooms (comedores) are the two ways to eat out in Spain. There is a wide range of restaurants around Spain; the big cities offer international, traditional and regional food; and the five-star restaurants offer large menusof all these types of dishes. Spanish food reflects the variety of traditions in Spain, although many people confuse Spanish cuisine with Latin American food, it has created its own identity that is unique around the world. |
| Festivals |
The festivals and celebrations in Spain are full of life. Although Spain is widely known by Flamenco and bullfights, this country has several festivals and celebrations and most towns have their own in addition to the national ones. The majority of festivals in Spain are religious in origin, but, these days, this religious component of every celebration is usually secondary. |
| History |
The history of Spain differs from the rest of the countries in Europe; it covers the prehistoric Iberia, the rise and decline of a global empire, and the recent history of Spain as a member of the European Union. According to the earliest record of first hominids settlements, the first inhabitants were Cro-Magnons that came from north of the Pyrenees some 35, 000 years ago. |
| Culture |
The culture of Spain is a European culture based on a variety of influences. These include the pre-Roman cultures, mainly the celts and the Iberians cultures; but mainly in the period of Roman influences. In the areas of language and religion, the Ancient Romans left a lasting legacy. The subsequent course of Spanish history also added elements to the country's cultural development.
The Visigothic Kingdom left a sense of a united Christian Hispania that was going to be welded in the Reconquista. Muslim influences were strong during the period of 711 AD to the 15th century, especially with loan words. The Spanish language, derives directly from Vulgar Latin, and has minor influences from pre-roman languages like barro -mud-, gothic guerra -war-, Arabic and basque. Other minorities includes the Jewish population in some cities, but after the defeat of the Muslims during the Christian "Reconquista" (Reconquest) period between 1000 and 1492, Spain became an almost entirely Roman Catholic country. In addition, the history of the nation and its Mediterranean and Atlantic environment have played a significant role in shaping its culture.
By the end of the 19th and 20th , the Spaniards made expressions of cultural diversity easier than it had been for the last seven centuries. This occurred at the same period that Spain became increasingly drawn into a diverse international culture.
Spain has the second highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, with a total of 42 |
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From wikipedia about Spain
Spain, officially the Kingdom of
Spain (Reino de EspañaIn
Spain, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous (regional) languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows: Reino d'Espanya; Reinu d'España; Espainiako Erresuma; Regne d'Espanya; Reino de España; Réinu d'España; Reialme d'Espanha), The term "Kingdom of Spain" (Reino de España) is widely used by the Spanish Government for national and international affairs of all kind, for example:.
Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla, that border
Morocco. Furthermore, the town of Llívia is a Spanish exclave situated inside French territory. With an area of, it is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after
France.
Because of its location, the territory of
Spain was subject to many external influences since prehistoric times and through to its dawn as a country.
Spain emerged as a unified country in the 15th century, following the marriage of the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the reconquest, or Reconquista, of the Iberian peninsula in 1492. Conversely, it has been an important source of influence to other regions, chiefly during the Modern Era, when it became a global empire that has left a legacy of over 500 million Spanish speakers today, making it the world's second most spoken first language.
Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a parliamentary government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a developed country with the twelfth largest economy in the world by nominal GDP, and very high living standards (20th highest Human Development Index), including the tenth-highest quality of life index rating in the world, as of 2005. It is a member of the United Nations, European Union, NATO, OECD, and WTO.
