About #1 Spain
Spain (Spanish: España), officially the Kingdom of
Spain, is a Western European country. The country consists
of Peninsular Spain which is located between the Mediterranean
Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and two archipelagos, one in each
sea, and two autonomous cities in North Africa.
The Spanish mainland is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea
to the south and east, by the Cantabric Sea that includes
the Bay of Biscay to the north, and by the Atlantic Ocean
and Portugal to the west. Spanish territory also includes
the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands
off the African coast. It shares land borders with Portugal,
France, Andorra, the British colony of Gibraltar, and Morocco.
It is the largest of the three sovereign states that make
up the Iberian Peninsula — the others being Portugal
and Andorra. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the
second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).
Spain is a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary
democracy, and has been a member of the European Union since
1986. It is a developed country with the ninth largest economy
in the world and fifth largest in the EU.
Source: Wikipedia
Travel
Regions
* Andalucía
* Aragón
* Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias)
* Balearic Islands (Spanish: Islas Baleares, Catalan: Illes
Balears or Ses illes)
* Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco, Basque: Euskadi)
* Canary Islands (Spanish: Islas Canarías)
* Cantabria
* Castile-La Mancha (Spanish: Castilla-La Mancha)
* Castile and Leon (Spanish: Castilla y León)
* Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya)
* Ceuta
* Extremadura
* Galicia (Spanish: Galicia, Galician: Galiza)
* La Rioja (Spain)
* Madrid - the region includes the second, fourth and current
capital of Spain Madrid with three world class museums (Prado,
Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza), and Aranjuez, the Escorial,Salamanca,
Segovia, Toledo, and the Valle de los Caidos are also nearby
* Melilla
* Murcia
* Navarra (Spanish: Navarra, Basque: Nafarroa)
* Valencia (Spanish: Comunidad Valenciana, Catalan: Comunitat
Valenciana)
Spain is now divided into autonomías or autonomous
regions/cities. Some of the autonomías - notably the
ones with languages other than Spanish as co-official (Basque
Country or Euskadi -Basque language-, Galicia -Galician language-,
Catalonia or Catalunya, Valencian Country or País Valencià,
and Balearic Islands or Illes Balears -Catalan language-)
and Andalucía - are historical regions. Travelers to
these parts of the Iberian Peninsula will do well to respect
their history and language. The Canary Islands are actually
off the coast of Morocco and are properly in Africa and so
are the two Autonomous cities: Ceuta and Melilla.
Major cities
Spain has hundreds of interesting cities. In addition to its
vibrant capital, Madrid, here are 11 of the most popular destinations:
* Barcelona - lively cosmopolitan city that is capital of
the Catalans, and famous for the architecture of Antoni Gaudi
* Bilbao - former industrial city, home to the Guggenheim
Museum
* Cadiz - oldest city in Western Europe, celebrates a famous
carnival
* Córdoba - The Grand Mosque ('Mezquita') of Cordoba
is one of the world's finest buildings
* Granada - stunning city in the south, surrounded by snow
capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, home of La Alhambra
* Jerez de la Frontera - a beautiful ciy of Andalusial.
Jerez is the capital of flamenco, horse and wine.
* León - used to be a roman colony, great monuments,
nice food.
* San Sebastián - wealthy city with a large sandy
beach bay
* Santander - well-styled city with beautiful coastal parks
* Seville - a beautiful, verdant city, and home to the world's
third largest cathedral
* Valencia - paella was invented here, has a very nice beach
Source: Wikitravel
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