{"id":1937,"date":"2014-03-31T12:52:36","date_gmt":"2014-03-31T11:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eurotalk.com\/blog\/?p=1937"},"modified":"2014-03-31T12:52:36","modified_gmt":"2014-03-31T11:52:36","slug":"10-reasons-to-visit-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/10-reasons-to-visit-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"10 reasons to visit… Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"

We hope that you enjoyed our first couple of posts from the series \u201910 reasons to visit\u2026<\/a>\u2019 Here’s our latest post, about a magical, warm, sunny place named Spain. We tried to get the opinion of locals or people who’ve lived there so that we can give authentic reasons why Spain is a wonderful country that should be on your \u2018to go\u2019 list.<\/p>\n

1. Barcelona<\/h4>\n

We\u2019re going to make this city a standalone reason because it is simply magic. From a walk on the seashore at La Barceloneta, to pubs and terraces along La Rambla, to shopping, to walking in the narrow streets filled with beautiful old buildings that have hanging flowers on their balcony, this is a city where anyone can find happiness. Don\u2019t forget to visit Gaud\u00ed\u2019s great work: La Sagrada Familia, El Capricho, Casa Calvet, Park G\u00fcell, Casa Mil\u00e0 and Casa Batll\u00f3.<\/p>\n

\"Sagrada<\/a>
The Bas\u00edlica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Fam\u00edlia, Barcelona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. Fiestas<\/h4>\n

\u2018Fiesta\u2019 means \u2018celebration\u2019 or \u2018carnival\u2019 and the Spanish people have a lot of them because, well, they like to party. One worth mentioning is the Las Fallas Festival in Valencia, one of the biggest national festivals in Spain, which takes place every March. Huge papier mach\u00e9 figures are burnt during the course of the week; there are also many fireworks and plenty of partying. La Tomatina is another well-known festival \u2013 basically it\u2019s a huge tomato fight and it takes place on the last Wednesday of August at Bu\u00f1ol near Valencia. And the annual celebration of Carnival in Santa Cruz de Tenerife is second only to the \u2018Carnival\u2019 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on the world party stage.<\/p>\n

3. Delicious drinks and free snacks<\/h4>\n

Nothing more to say here! We recommend sangria, and a lot of it. Well, if you must know what\u2019s in it: wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy. But what\u2019s even better is that most bars will also give you a small snack or tapa to go with your drink: olives, peanuts, crisps or \u2018pipas\u2019 (seeds in their shells) are common, as are small pieces of bread topped with jam\u00f3n or cheese.<\/p>\n

4. Spanish cuisine<\/h4>\n

Oh, yes, the food. The most popular dishes are \u2018tapas\u2019 and \u2018paella\u2019, which is basically white rice, green vegetables, meat (rabbit, chicken, duck), beans and seasoning. Tapas is actually a wide variety of appetisers \u2013 cold (such as manchego cheese, gazpacho and cured jam\u00f3n) or hot (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried cuttlefish, patatas bravas and chorizo). In the cities along the coast they serve the best seafood and fish.<\/p>\n

\"Paella\"<\/a><\/p>\n

5. The weather<\/h4>\n

In most areas of Spain there are 300 days of sunshine yearly.\u00a0 The sunny days and sandy beaches, along with palm trees and, in some areas, parrots flying around freely, make Spain a paradise for tourists. I visited Barcelona in March and there were people on the beach already, so don\u2019t pack too many jumpers…<\/p>\n

6. Ibiza<\/h4>\n

Ibiza is an island off the eastern coast of Spain, which has become famous for its nightlife and the electronic music that originated on the island. Its summer club scene attracts many tourists in the summer, though it is said that the island’s government and the Spanish Tourist Office have controversially been working to promote more family-oriented tourism on the island.<\/p>\n

7. Tarifa<\/h4>\n

Tarifa is the most southern point of\u00a0 Spain and off its coast is the Strait of Gibraltar, which is 14.3 km\/8.9 miles of ocean at the strait’s narrowest point \u2013 this means that from here you can see Africa. The view is amazing; if you go to southern Spain this is a location you shouldn\u2019t miss.<\/p>\n

8. The people<\/h4>\n

Spanish people are pretty laid back – they enjoy their free time as well as lunch breaks, and you can often see them savouring their coffee on terraces and lounges. You can\u2019t really blame them, with all the sunshine and holiday vibe. If you actually need to get something done, this relaxed attitude can be a bit frustrating, but it certainly makes a change from the frantic pace of life at home.<\/p>\n

9. Architecture and sights<\/h4>\n

We\u2019ve already mentioned some of the iconic buildings you can see in Barcelona, like the famous Sagrada Familia, but there\u2019s a lot more to see in Spain. Islamic influences spread most of the way across Spain between 711 and 1492, and you can see this all the way up to Zaragoza in the north, where the central Muslim-influenced Basilica contrasts with the other Roman influences in the city. The Mezquita (mosque) in Cordoba is absolutely worth a visit, as is the Alhambra in Granada; both are really breathtaking inside and out. There are also some amazing palaces to visit, such as the Palacio Real in Madrid, and the monasterio de El Escorial, a little way outside Madrid.<\/p>\n

\"El<\/a>
El Palacio Real (Royal Palace), Madrid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

10. Practise your Spanish<\/h4>\n

Of course! Spanish<\/a> is generally considered one of the easier languages in which to pick up the basics, and people there really appreciate you trying out a couple of phrases. If you head to Madrid or Barcelona, you can probably make yourself understood in English, but in many other places, people don\u2019t really speak much English, so no-one will laugh at you if you try out asking a few directions or ordering tapas in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Please share your own favourite things about this great country – we know there are a lot more than ten reasons to visit!<\/p>\n

Ioana and Alex<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We hope that you enjoyed our first couple of posts from the series \u201910 reasons to visit\u2026\u2019 Here’s our latest post, about a magical, warm, sunny place named Spain. We tried to get the opinion of locals or people who’ve lived there so that we can give authentic reasons why Spain is a wonderful country … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[385,3,9,97,18],"tags":[411,412,413,6,414,415,416,7,8,417,107,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1937\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/utalk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}