Spain - overview
Spain is a diverse land, where visitors can
ski down a snow capped mountain, cycle through
a lush green valley, cross arid desert lands
and relax on a golden sandy beach all in
the same twenty four hours. Spain is over
a quarter of a million square miles of enormous
variety ? terrain, climate, religion, art,
culture, and history, even language all vary
widely throughout the vast country.
The country’s two largest cities, Madrid
and Barcelona, are further evidence of this
diversity. Madrid is open and appealing.
Bustling, and unpretentious, its old quarter
is a winding maze of simple harmony, surrounded
by elegant civic buildings, parks, boulevards,
and landmarks of the modern city. Barcelona
is the Mediterranean metropolis of excellence
and yet at the same time open to all cultural
influences flowing in from beyond the Pyrenees.
Its well-ordered and proportioned town grid
has given it quarters of unrivalled beauty,
such as the Gothic Quarter, Las Ramblas and
the modernist Paseo de Gracia.
Alicante, the capital of the Costa Blanca,
one of the country’s most important seaside
resort areas, is a picturesque city which
retains the appeal of its relaxed, easy-going
lifestyle, while Palma, capital of the Balearic
Isles, unites an old quarter, rich in Moorish
remains and Gothic art, with a modern yacht
basin, marina and tourist trade, and Ibiza,
originally founded by the Carthaginians,
is today a world-famous tourist destination,
with a stunning Old Quarter of winding alleys
and streets huddled inside its walls. Going
from north to south, mention must be made
of: Bilbao, fundamental industrial centre
and pioneer in urban reclamation and Art
(the Guggenheim Museum); Pamplona, the capital
of Navarre, which combines its medieval quarters
with the universal attraction of the annual
running of the bulls during the fiestas of
San Fermin. |
