|
 If
you are coming to Spain for the first time, be warned:
this is a country that fast becomes an addiction. You
might intend to come just for a beach holiday, or a tour
of the major cities, but before you know it you'll find
yourself hooked by something quite different - by the
celebration of some local fiesta, perhaps, or the
amazing nightlife in Madrid, by the Moorish monuments of
Andalucia, by Basque cooking, or the wild landscapes and
birds of prey of Estremadura. And by then, of course,
you will have noticed that there is not just one Spain
but many. Indeed, Spaniards often speak of Las
Españas (the Spains) and they even talk of the
capital in the plural - Los Madriles , the
Madrids.
This regionalism is an obsession and perhaps the most
significant change to the country over recent decades
has been the creation of seventeen autonomías -
autonomous regions - with their own governments, budgets
and cultural ministries. The old days of a unified
nation, governed with a firm hand from Madrid, seem to
have gone forever, as the separate kingdoms which made
up the original Spanish state reassert themselves. And
the differences are evident wherever you look: in
language, culture and artistic traditions, in landscapes
and cityscapes, and attitudes and politics.
The cities - above all - are compellingly individual.
Barcelona, for many, has the edge: for Gaudí's splendid
modernista architecture, the lively promenade of
Las Ramblas, designer clubs par excellence , and,
not least, for Barça - the city's football team. But
Madrid, although not as pretty, claims as many devotees.
The city and its people, immortalized in the movies of
Pedro Almodóvar, have a vibrancy and style that is
revealed in a thousand bars and summer terrazas. Not to
mention three of the world's finest art museums. Then
there's Sevilla, home of flamenco and all the clichés of
southern Spain; Valencia, the vibrant Levantine city
with an arts scene and nightlife to equal any European
rival; and Bilbao, a new entry on Spain's cultural
circuit, due to Frank Gehry's astonishing Guggenheim
museum.
Monuments range just as widely from one region to
another, dependent on their history of control and
occupation by Romans and Moors, their role in the "golden
age" of Imperial Renaissance Spain, or their twentieth-century
fortunes. Touring Castile and León, you confront the
classic Spanish images of vast cathedrals and
reconsquista castles - literally hundreds of the
latter; in the northern mountains of Asturias and the
Pyrenees, tiny, almost organic Romanesque churches dot
the hillsides and villages; Andalucía has the great
mosques and Moorish palaces of Granada, Sevilla and
Córdoba; Castile has the superbly preserved medieval
capital, Toledo, and the gorgeous Renaissance university
city of Salamanca; while the harsh landscape of
Estremadura cradles the ornate conquistador towns
built with riches from the "New World".
Not that Spain is predominantly about buildings. For
most visitors, the landscape holds just as much
fascination - and variety. The evergreen estuaries of
Galicia could hardly be more different from the high,
arid plains of Castile, or the gulch-like desert
landscapes of Almería. Agriculture makes its mark in the
patterened hillsides of the wine- and olive-growing
regions and the rice fields of the Levante. Spain is
also one of the most mountainous countries in Europe,
and there is superb walking and wildlife in a dozen or
more sierras - above all in the Picos de Europa and
Pyrenees. Spain's unique fauna boast protected species
like brown bears, the Spanish lynx and Mediterranean
monk seals as well as more common wild boar, white
storks and birds of prey.
One of Spain's greatest draws is undeniably its
beaches although with infinitely more variety than you
would be led to believe from the sun-and-sand holiday
brochures. Long tracts of coastline - along the Costa
del Sol, in particular - have been developed into
concrete hotel and villa complexes but delightful
pockets remain even on the big tourist costas. On the
Costa Brava, the string of coves between Palamos and
Begur are often overlooked, while in the south there are
superb windsurfing waters around Tarifa and some
decidedly low-key resorts along the Costa de la Luz. In
the north, the cooler Atlantic coastline boasts the
surfing sands of Cantabria and the unspoilt coves of
Galicia's estuaries. Offshore, the Balearic islands have
some superb sands and, if you're up for it, Ibiza also
offers one of the most hedonistic backdrops to beachlife
in the Mediterranean.
Wherever you are in
Spain, you can't help but notice
the Spaniards' infectious enthusiasm for life. In the
cities there is always something happening - in bars and
clubs, on the streets, and especially at fiesta times.
Even in out of the way places there's a surprising range
of nightlife and entertainment, not to mention the daily
pleasures of a round of tapas, moving from bar to bar,
having a beer, a glass of wine or a fino (dry
sherry) and a bite of the house speciality.
The identity and appeal of each of the regions is
explored in the introductions, where you'll find a
rundown on their highlights |
