Sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal in the west, Europe’s second largest country, Spain, inevitably evokes images of paella, bullfights, flamenco dancing and siestas. Let’s not forget the annual Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona either.
Spain is also well known for its relaxed lifestyle, late night evening meal of tapas and sangria and all night party scene. You can dance in the clubs or watch a flamenco dance show. While all are a part of traditional culture, Spain’s regions offer a variety of landscapes based on geography, climate and culture.
There are five snow capped mountain ranges for skiing, Galician green estuaries, shepherd wandering with their flocks in the interior, a rugged Atlantic coast and parched central plains, punctuated with prehistoric cave paintings, temples, Roman aqueducts and churches, Moorish baths, mosques and fortresses and medieval castles.
A stay in Spain is not complete without an overnight stay at some of the paradores, hotels in restored castles, convents or palaces, or pensiones (inns).
The historic cities of Spain are entrenched in the past, but offer modern amenities. The capital Madrid has open plazas and top art museums, from The Prado to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. Seville has traces of its 500 years of Moorish occupation. Its cathedral is the largest Gothic building in the world and Christopher Columbo is buried there.
In Granada, buy tickets in advance for the popular Alhambra, a palace/fortress built in the 13th to 14th centuries. Valencia is famous for its orange groves and enormous vegetable market. See Don Quixote’s windmills in La Mancha.
Highlights of Barcelona are its Gothic Quarter, Seu (old cathedral) and Las Ramblas, the main shopping and dining thoroughfare. The Balearic and the Canary islands are also part of Spain, as are Ceuta and Melilla.
Spain’s Mediterranean beaches are its top attraction. The resort areas lining the Mediterranean coastline through Catalonia and Andalusia are Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca and Costa Brava.
Film historians love to point out how the landscape is always a major character in a classic John Ford film. Likewise, travelers in Spain will find that the land is always a significant companion on their journeys, because compelling as the big Spanish cities are, none of them outshines the...Read More
Where would you go if you wanted to visit a Central European destination with well-preserved landmarks, a prominent place in European history, cultural diversity, unhurried provincial charms and easy accessibility? A great choice is Krakow, Poland, which just happened to be one of the...Read More
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For some, the Czech Republic is synonymous with a foaming mug of beer, since the country is home to three major beer-producing cities: Pilsen, in western Bohemia; Budejovice, in southern Bohemia; and Prague.
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Trafalgar’s “Spanish Wonder” tour is the company’s most popular itinerary in Spain, providing a satisfying sketch of the destination. The itinerary is well designed so that it hits many of Spain’s most notable sites, starting in Madrid and drawing a counterclockwise...Read More
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