Spain (Spanish: España) is a diverse country sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. It's the second country with the largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites after Italy, and the first with the largest number of World Heritage Cities also by the UNESCO. Spain is seen as a exotic country in Europe due to its friendly inhabitants, its relaxed lifestyle, its mostly warm weather (compared to other European regions) and especially by its cuisine, the vibrant nightlife, and its world-famous folklore and festivities. Among many places worth visiting are Spain's thriving capital Madrid, the vibrant coastal city of Barcelona, the famous "Running of the Bulls" at Pamplona, major andalusian cities with moorish architecture, like Seville, Granada and Córdoba, the Way of St. James and the paradisiacal Balearic Islands and Canary Islands.

Quick Facts

Capital  Madrid 
Government  Parliamentary Monarchy  
 Area  Total: 504,782 km2 
Population  44,708,964 (January 2006) 
Language  Castilian Spanish (official) 100%, Catalan (also official in Catalonia, Comunitat Valenciana and Balearic Islands) 17%, Galician (also official in Galicia)7%, Basque (also official in Basque Country and Navarra) 2% 
Religion  Roman Catholic 72%, none 20% other 8% 
Electricity  230V/50Hz (European plug)
Currency: Euro 
Calling Code  34 
Internet TLD  .es 
Time Zone  UTC + 1 

Climate

Temperate; Mediterranean with hot, dry summers and cool winters.

Cities

Spain has hundreds of interesting cities, here are nine of the most popular:

•  Madrid - The vibrant capital, with fantastic museums, great food and nightlife

• Barcelona - Spain's second city, full of modernist buildings and a vibrant cultural life, nightclubs, and beaches.

• 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.

• Zaragoza - recently held a Expo and is the 5th largest city.

• Seville - a beautiful, verdant city, and home to the world's third largest cathedral.

• Valencia - paella was invented here, has a very nice beach.

By plane

Spain's national carrier is Iberia.

The busiest airports are Madrid, A Coruña, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Murcia, Barcelona, Jerez de la Frontera, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, Alicante, Santiago de Compostella and Vigo. All are listed on the official airport governing body website:

Madrid and Bilbao have the most beautiful airports, designed by famous architects.

Low cost carriers operating to Spain include: ClickAir, a discount subsidiary of Iberia, operating from Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia, Vueling, easyJet, RyanAir, and Blue Air.

Warning: If you buy an e-ticket from Iberia or ClickAir over the Internet with a credit card, you may have to show the original credit card upon check-in. If you fail to do so, you will have to purchase another ticket for the same fare, and the original ticket will be refunded many weeks or even months later.

Specialties to buy

• Cheese: Spain offers a wide variety of regional cheeses.

• Queso Manchego is the most famous one.
• Cabrales,Tetilla,Mahon are also popular.

• Chorizo: Spain's most popular sausage is made from pork, ham, salt, garlic and pepper and is produced in multitude of varieties, in different sizes, shapes, short and long, spicy, in all different shades of red, soft, air dried and hard or smoked. Frequently contains emulgators and conservatives, so check ingredients if you feel sensitive.

• Jamón (air dried ham): Jamón Serrano (Serrano ham): Is obtained from the salt meat of the back legs of the pig and air dried. This same product is given the name of trowel or paletilla when it is obtained from the front legs. Also it receives the names of jamón Iberico (Iberian) and jamón of bellota (acorn). They are specially famous jamones that takes place in Huelva (Spain), in Guijuelo (province Salamanca), in the Pedroches (province Cordova) and in Trevélez (province of Granada). Jamón Iberico is made from free range pigs.

Judging by Boqueria in Barcelona, Jamon Iberico starts at €80/kg, and Jamon Serrano is about €25/kg.

• Morcilla: Sausages made from pig blood flavoured with anise, it comes as a fresh, smoked or air dried variety.