SPAIN

For thousands of years Spain has been one of the cultural centres of Europe. It has many beautiful cities and towns, offering thousands of monuments as well as a tremendous mix of architecture. Its various regions are all vary from one to the next by cultural, language, geographically, climatically and even in personality differences. Spain is about life, music, and “Carpe Diem” to seize the day. In each region of the country you will find many different versions of this philosophy being played out. That is the one unique thread that holds the Spaniards together and why Spain is such an enjoyable country to study abroad in and learning Spanish here is so much fun. 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.

Events

In true Spanish style, cultural events are almost inevitably celebrated with a wild party and a holiday. Among the festivals to look out for are La Tamborrada (Festividad de San Sebastián) in San Sebastián on 19 January, a short but rowdy event where the whole town dresses up and goes berserk. A march to the deafening sounds of drums, as groups of drummers parade through the city on the night of the first day of the year. The next morning, the "Tamborrada Infantil" (Child Drummer's Ceremony) is celebrated. Carnaval takes place throughout the country in late February; the wildest are said to be in Sitges and Cádiz. In March, Valencia has a week-long party known as Las Fallas, This Fiesta dates from the Middle Ages, but it did not acquire the personality we know today until the middle of the last century. The festivites include a nighttime parade; a procession of the old towns of Valencia; the offerings of flowers to Nuestra Senora de los Desamparados (Our Lady of the Forsaken), patroness of the city; and the famous "Nit del Foc" (Night of the Fire), on which all the "fallas" (grotesque and humorous scenes made up of carboard figures) are burned. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is the week leading up to Easter Sunday, and is marked by parades of holy images through the streets; Semana Santa is one of the most popular festivals in Spain. It’s also the oldest and the most significant in Spain, in which the people think of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ after his coming to Jerusalem. Since the 5th century, the processions represent an essential part of these festivities and are regarded very highly in cities like Seville, Valladolid and Malaga. On Palm Sunday palms, olive leafs and other trees are consecrated for the following procession in memory of Jesus Christ’s triumphal procession into Jerusalem. Those customs were initiated during the 4th century and are maintained until today. During the whole week they held special celebrations which are remimesant of the Last Supper of Jesus Christ. All fraternities of different churches show the images of Jesus Christ in the streets and they can be viewed during the processions from Monday until Friday, the day on which the old church is dedicated to penitence, abstinence and prayer.Seville is the place to be if you can get accommodation. In late April, Seville's Feria de Abril is a week-long party counterbalancing the religious fervour of Semana Santa.The last Wednesday in August sees the Valencian town of Buñol go bonkers with La Tomatina, in which the surplus from its tomato harvest is sploshed around in a friendly riot. Surely the worlds' biggest food-fight: every year around 30,00 people descend on the Spanish town of Bunol (in the Valencia region of Spain) to throw more than 240,000 pounds of tomatoes at each other. The Running of the Bulls (Fiesta de San Fermín) in Pamplona in July is perhaps Spain's most famous festival. Along the north coast, staggered through the first half of August, is Semana Grande, another week of heavy drinking and hangovers.

Bullfighting:one of the most popular event of Spain.

Best places to go

The Alhambra, Granada:The Alhambra (literally "the red") is a true expression of the once flourishing Moorish civilization and is the finest example of its architecture in Spain. The Alhambra is an ancient palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, in southern Spain It was the residence of the Muslim kings of Granada and their court, but is currently a museum exhibiting exquisite Islamic architecture.

Modernisme, Barcelona:Located on the Mediterranean coast, Barcelona is the historical capital of Cataluña and Spain's second leading city in both size and importance. In terms of charm, however, Barcelona yields first place to no one, with its rich history, Mediterranean vistas and unique culture making it an especially rich and rewarding city to experience.At the end of XIX century, Barcelona was quaked by anarchism together with catalan nationalism. The catalan modernism movement aimed to gather every artistic skill and wanted to get out of the steady and leisurely historicism like other european Art Nouveau movements. It starts from the 1880 wiyh the painter Ramon Casas and the theoriser Cirici Pellicer.Some of Spain’s more famous Architects are: Gaudi, Domenech i Montaner, Jujol, Puig y Cadafalch. The sculptural forms of Barcelona's modernista architects - most famously Gaudν – define the city's exuberant architectural heritage. Barcelone gathers more than 150 modernist buildings including the Sagrada Familia.

Sagrada Familia.

Below some pictures of the park guell:

A night on the tiles, Madrid: The traditional way to end a night of bar hopping and clubbing in Spain is to have a chocolate con churros (thick hot chocolate with deep-fried hoops of batter). Just what you need after a night on the tiles!

The Mezquita, Cσrdoba:The Mezquita (Spanish for "mosque), is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Cσrdoba, Spain that was at one time the second largest mosque in the world. The Moslem emir Abderrahman I ordered construction of the temple in the year 785 on the ruins of the old Visigoth church of St. Vincent.Cordoba's Mosque has a mixture of different architectural styles, that have occurred over the past nine centuries. Today the Mezquita as it is known can be visited throughout the year for 6 Euro entrance fee. The approach is via the Patio de los Naranjos, a classic Islamic ablutions courtyard which preserves both its orange trees and fountains.

Aqueduct, Segovia:The Aqueduct of Segovia is one of the most significant and best-preserved monuments left by the Romans on the Iberian Peninsula.The Roman aqueduct of Segovia, probably built c. A.D. 50, is remarkably well preserved. These feats elevates this construction as a masterpiece of engineering of which 20,400 stone blocks are not united by mortar nor concrete. The Roman aqueduct bridge of Segovia is about 2950 feet long although the section where the arches are divided in two levels is about 900 feet. The workings of the Segovia Aqueduct extend for 14 kilometers under an urban complex that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Coto de DoρanaDoρana National Park (Parque Nacional de Doρana), also called Coto de Doρana, is a national park and wildlife refuge in southwestern Spain. Lying in the delta of the Guadalquivir river, between the southern Spanish city of Seville and the Atlantic Ocean, the Doρana National Park is one of the world’s most valuable wetlands.Coto de Doρana is located in Andalusia, in the provinces of Huelva and Sevilla, and covers 543 km², of which 135 km² are a protected area. Doρana is also home to one of the last surviving populations of the world’s most endangered cat species, the Iberian lynx.

Las Alpujarras: The Sierra Nevada is a rugged and extensive mountain range, the highest in Europe after the Alps and the most significant section of the Cordillera Penibιtica. It was declared a Unesco Biosphere Reserve in 1986, in recognition of its exceptionally diverse plant, bird and animal species. Designated a national park in 1998, it is one of only two in Andalucia, the other being the Doρana National Park.Between the highest mountains in Spain and the Mediterranean Sea, La Alpujarra is one of the most enchanting and beautiful regions in the world. La Alpujarra is a mountainous district in Southern Spain, which stretches south from the Sierra Nevada mountains near Granada and the eastern of the region lies in the province of Almerνa. In older sources the name is sometimes spelled Alpuxarras; it may derive from Arabic al Busherat meaning "the grass-land".

Toledo:Toledo is one of the most important centers of european medieval history. It was capital of Spain from the Gothic epoch until 1560, fact that explains its really impressive medieval architecture. However, this symbol of religious tolerance during the Medieval Age has changed little since its depiction in El Greco's paintings.Toledo is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. In fact, walking through Toledo’s streets one feels like having stepped back into the Middle-Ages. If you go to Toledo, see and buy some of its fine artisany and enjoy of its highly recommandable cuisine.

La Mancha & Don Quixote:Don Quixote is often nominated as the world's greatest work of fiction. Many artists have drawn inspiration either directly or indirectly from Cervantes' work, including the painter Honorι Daumier, the composer Richard Strauss, the writer Henry Fielding and the filmmaker Terry Gilliam.Don Quixote's importance in literature has produced a large and varied cultural and artistic legacy. The autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha has used the fame of Cervantes's novel to promote tourism in the region. Many places in La Mancha are linked to the novel, including windmills and an inn upon which events of the story are thought to have been based. Culturally, La Mancha includes the Sierra de Alcaraz, Montes de Toledo, northern Sierra Morena and Serranνa de Cuenca, parts of Tajo river valley, and it is administrative divided among the comarcas of Campo de Calatrava to the south and Campo de Montiel (Don Quixote himself started his adventures in Campo de Montiel), the eastern Mancha Alta, the central Mancha Baja, the western Valle de Alcudia, and Parameras de Ocaρa y Manchuela to the north.

When to go

Spain can be enjoyable any time of year. The ideal months to visit are May, June and September (plus April and October in the south). At these times you can rely on good-to-excellent weather, yet avoid the extreme heat - and the main crush of Spanish and foreign tourists - of July and August. But there's decent weather in some parts of Spain virtually year round. Winter along the southern and southeastern Mediterranean coasts is mild, while in the height of summer you can retreat to the northwest, to beaches or high mountains anywhere to escape excessive heat. The best festivals are mostly concentrated between Semana Santa (the week leading up to Easter Sunday) and September to October.

Transportation

Spain is dotted with international airports, and connections with the rest of Europe are good. If you're coming from the UK or from Morocco, you could consider a ferry. Otherwise, bus is the cheapest option, unless you're a whipper-snapper with an under-26 rail pass.