Amazing facts about Spain
1 — It rains. Especially in Asturias and the Basque Country in the north.
2 — There’s snow, too. In fact, you can ski in the Pyrenees and also take to the slopes down south near Granada.
3 — Not everyone eats paella. It’s a Valencia based dish.
4 — While we’re on the subject of food, Spain has some of the best restaurants in the world. According to Spaniards, of course, but influential outsiders tend to agree.
5 — It takes over 100 years to make fino sherry in the stacked black barrels of Andalucia.
6 — And the heart of the sherry region, Jerez, also specialises in dancing white horses.
5 — No one speaks Spanish. Castellano refers to what most of us think of as Spanish, while more than five other languages flourish across the rest of Spain.
6 — There’s no word for deadline in Castilian Spanish. There are plenty for relax and take it easy.
7- Come Christmas, children wait til January and the procession of the Three Kings (or Reyes Magos) to open their presents.
8 — While naughty children receive lumps of black coal (it’s a sugary treat called carbon dulcé)
8- Pointed hats and self-flagellation mark the run up to Easter in Seville; polka dot dresses and fiestas take place afterwards.
9 — Spain has a Royal Family.
10 — And also had a military dictatorship — Franco ruled as a dictator until his death in 1975.
11 — People drink tinto de verano rather than sangria, especially in the summer
12 — And eat twelve grapes at midnight when New Year’s Eve rolls around (try it one day, it’s harder than it sounds.)
13 — You can find papier maché models the size of houses in Barcelona’s Festival de Gracia
14 — And aerial rotten tomatoes at the ludicrous Tomatina.
15 — The world’s “first true novel” hails from Spain, through Don Quixote written by Cervantes
16 — So too, does the first large scale civilian bombing, via Franco and the Nazis, embodied by the painting Guernica from Malaga born artist Pablo Picasso
17 — Hot chocolate comes thick enough to support a standing spoon. (It also comes with churros, as a late night kebab-equivalent snack.)
18 — Gustave Eiffel (of the tower of the same name) made his mark here in Girona before letting loose on the skyline of Paris.
19 — While an ex boxer has made it his mission to create the world’s most creative pizzeria.
20 — Students spot the frog in Salamanca to wish for good luck in their exams.
21 — And waiters pour cider from a great height in Asturias.
22 — Black sand and mystic stone pyramids wait on the island of Tenerife.
24 — And the world’s largest olive oil region still gathers its produce by hand.
25 — Spain has more festivals than there are days in the year.
26 — And specialises in innovative architecture like the lollipop building in Avilés.
27 — And the shark fins in Valencia.
28 — You can stay in a castle.
29 — Or on a vintage-inspired train
30 — When the Christians defeated the Moors at the Alhambra, the defeated Sultan’s mother responded with the words “Do not weep like a woman for what you could not defend as a man.” Ouch.
31 — A deserted Wild West film set lives in the sands of Andalucia
32 — Along with a bandit museum
33 — And the original cigar factory building that inspired the opera Carmen
34 — That Spaniards rub garlic and tomato on their bread in the morning instead of butter or margarine
35 — And talk on mobile phones during solemn religious processions
36 — There’s an outpost of Spain on mainland Africa
37 — And a diverted riverbed in the heart of Valencia (it’s now a park you can walk though — or Segway if you’re feeling brave.)
38 — Siestas are real. At least in the south.
39 — So are the late nights, late lunches and flamenco
40 Bullfighting, too, though it’s a pastime that splits the nation
41 While flamingoes flock to the water’s edge at the Doñana National Park.
42 El Rocio has a bar you can ride up to on horseback. Drink cerveza at the table without needing to dismount.
43 — Salvador Dali built a fantasy castle in Figueres to showcase his eccentric taste (look out for melting clocks and a golden statuettes looming overhead.)
44 — Bull heads without an ear mark the sign of a good fight (traditionally, the victorious matador slices it off and offers it to a beautiful woman as a token of romance.) 46 — Famous people hailing from Spain who have made their presence felt on the global level. Who is the Most Famous Personality from Spain?
45 — On the night before marriage, the groom must serenade his bride at her window
