Peninsula with Portugal. For most visitors, Spain evokes images of paella, bullfights, flamenco dancing and siestas. And, of course, don’t forget the annual Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona. Spain is also 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 show. While all are a part of traditional culture, Spain’s regions offer a variety of landscapes based on geography, climate and culture.
Spain also offers 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 of Madrid has open plazas and top art museums, from The Prado to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia. In Seville, traces of its 500 years of Moorish occupation remain. Its cathedral is the largest Gothic building in the world and is the burial place of Christopher Columbus.
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 on the African mainland.
Spain’s Mediterranean beaches are one of its top attractions. The resort areas lining the Mediterranean coastline through Catalonia and Andalusia are Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca and Costa Brava.