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| HISTORY |
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Prehistory
The aboriginal peoples of the Iberian peninsula, consisting of a number of separate tribes, are given the generic name of Iberians. This may have included the Basques, the only pre-Celtic people in Iberia surviving to the present day as a separate ethnic group. Beginning in the 9th century BC, Celtic tribes entered the Iberian peninsula through the Pyrenees and settled throughout the peninsula, becoming the Celtiberians. The seafaring Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians successively settled along the Mediterranean coast and founded trading colonies there over a period of several centuries. Around 1,100 BC Phoenician merchants founded the trading colony of Gadir or Gades (modern day Cádiz) near Tartessos. In the 8th century BC the first Greek colonies, such as Emporion (modern Empúries), were founded along the Mediterranean coast on the East, leaving the south coast to the Phoenicians. The Greeks are responsible for the name Iberia, after the river Iber (Ebro in Spanish). In the 6th century BC the Carthaginians arrived in Iberia while struggling with the Greeks for control of the Western Mediterranean. Their most important colony was Carthago Nova (Latin name of modern day Cartagena).
Roman Empire
The Romans arrived in the Iberian peninsula during the Second Punic war in the 2nd century BC, and annexed it under Augustus after two centuries of war with the Celtic and Iberian tribes and the Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian colonies becoming the province of Hispania. It was divided in Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior during the late Roman Republic; and, during the Roman Empire, Hispania Taraconensis in the northeast, Hispania Baetica in the south and Lusitania in the southwest. Hispania supplied the Roman Empire with food, olive oil, wine and metal. The emperors Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius I, the philosopher Seneca and the poets Martial and Lucan were born in Spain. The Spanish Bishops held the Council at Elvira in 306. Many of Spain's present languages, religion, and laws originate from this period.
Muslim Spain
In the 8th century, nearly all the Iberian peninsula, which had been under Visigothic rule, was quickly conquered (from 711) by Muslims, who had crossed over from North Africa, as part of the Muslim conquests of the Christian kingdoms there by the religiously inspired Umayyad empire. Only three small counties in the north of Spain kept their independence: Asturias, Navarra and Aragon, which eventually became kingdoms. Very soon the Muslim emirate split into small kingdoms. Christian and Muslim kingdoms fought and allied among themselves, with the Christians driving the Moorish forces out of the northern most parts of the peninsula within a few decades. The Muslim taifa kings competed in patronage of the arts, and the Jewish population of Iberia set the basis of Sephardic culture. Much of Spain's distinctive art originates from this seven-hundred-year period, and many Arabic words made their way into Castilian (Spanish) and Catalan, and from them to other European languages.
Isabella The long, convoluted period of expansion of the Christian kingdoms, beginning in 722, only eleven years after the Moorish invasion, is called the Reconquista. As early as 739, the northwestern region of Galicia, which became one of the most important centres of western medieval Christian pilgrimage, Santiago de Compostela, had been liberated from Moorish occupation by forces from neighbouring Asturias. The 1085 conquest of the central city of Toledo had largely brought to an end the reconquest of the northern half of Iberia. The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 heralded the collapse, within a few decades, of the great Moorish strongholds, such as Seville and Córdoba, in the south-west. By the middle of the thirteenth century most of the Iberian peninsula had been reconquered, leaving only Granada as a small tributary state in the south. It ended in 1492, when Isabella and Ferdinand captured the southern city of Granada, the last Moorish city in Spain. At Ferdinand's insistance the Spanish Inquisition had been established and Tomás de Torquemada was appointed as its first Inquisitor General in 1482. A 1499 Muslim uprising, triggered by forced conversions, was crushed and was followed by the first of the expulsions of Muslims, in 1502. The year 1492 was also marked by the discovery of the New World. Isabella I funded the voyages of Columbus. In their contests with the French army, Spanish forces, under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, relied more on well trained, highly mobile, regular soldiers and eventually achieved success with the organised tactical use of hand guns against armoured French knights, revolutionizing warfare, in the Italian Wars from 1494. Already considerable powers, these wars saw the emergence of the new combined Spanish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon as a European great power.
From the Renaissance to the 19th Century
Until the late of the 15th century, Castile and Léon, Aragon and Navarre were independent states, with independent languages, monarchs, armies and, in the case of Aragon and Castile, two empires: the former with one in the Mediterranean and the latter with a new, rapidly growing, one in the Americas. The process of political unification continued into the early sixteenth century. It was the unification of these separate Iberian empires that became the base of what is in now referred to as the Spanish Empire. By 1512, most of the kingdoms of present-day Spain were politically unified, although not as a modern, centralized state (in contemporary minds, Spain was a geographic term meaning Iberian Peninsula, which includes Portugal, not the present-day state called Spain). The grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor but called in Spain Carlos I, extended his crown to other places in Europe and the rest of the world. The unification of Iberia was complete when Charles V's son, Philip II, became King of Portugal in 1580, as well as of the other Iberian Kingdoms (collectively known as "Spain" at that time).
During the 16th century, under the reigns of Charles V and Philip II, Spain became the most powerful nation in Europe. The Spanish Empire covered most territories of South and Central America, Mexico, some of Eastern Asia (including The Philippines), the Iberian peninsula (including the Portuguese empire from 1580), southern Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. It was the first empire about which it was said that the sun did not set. It was a time of daring explorations by sea and by land, the opening up of new trade routes across oceans, conquests and the beginning of European colonization. Not only did this lead to the arrival of ever increasing quantities of precious metals, spices and luxuries, and new agricultural plants, that had a great influence on the development of Europe, but the explorers, soldiers, traders and missionaries also brought back with them a flood of knowledge that radically transformed the European understanding of the world, ending conceptions inherited from medieval times.
A series of long and costly wars and revolts followed in the early 17th century, and began a steady decline of Spanish power in Europe from the 1640s. Controversy over succession to the throne consumed the country and much of Europe during the first years of the 18th century. It was only after this war ended and a new dynasty —the French Bourbons— was installed that a true Spanish state was established when the absolutist first Bourbon king Philip V of Spain in 1707 dissolved the parliamentarist Aragon court and unified the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon into a single, unified Kingdom of Spain, abolishing many of the regional privileges and autonomies (fueros) that had hampered Habsburg rule. The British abandoned the conflict after Utrecht (1713), which led to Barcelona's easy defeat by the absolutists in 1714.
Historically, the period of the mid 17th century to the mid 20th century was a failure for Spain compared to north western Europe. The extended, lingering decline of the Spanish empire was due in large part, ironically, to its spectacular successes in the 15th and 16th centuries that led to the centuries of the treasure fleets bringing back silver and gold into the country from the American mines. These shipments engendered inflation that ate away at Spanish trades and commerce by causing local goods to be uncompetitive, and eventually making the country almost totally dependant upon imports by the mid seventeenth century, which proved disasterous as the silver mines became exhausted. Greatly worsening matters were the constant wars defending the world empire against envious European rivals, internal successions and the European wars (Eighty Years War and Thirty Years War), where Spain's resources were constantly drained defending the Habsburg's dynastic and religious interests, including the Counter Reformation. From the early 17th century the government sought to meet its needs by tampering with the silver content of the currency, leading to severe bouts of inflation and deflation. The terrible burden of taxes on the productive classes of the country, and the financial instability led to the collapse of the Castilian economy to the point where people resorted to bartering in 1627. A severe decline in food production ensued. The result was a steep real economic and demographic decline during the 17th century, especially in empire's overburdened lynchpin, Castile, aggravated by failed harvests and plagues. Habsburg policies that entrenched the privileges and exemptions of the nobility (with its roots back in the Castilian War of the Communities) and the Church (as part of support of the Counter Reformation), with a great extension of Church lands, also played a decisive part in the undermining the Spanish economy and in curtailing the spread of modern thought. This was in stark contrast to the diminishing status of both institutions in rivals France, England and the Netherlands. The resentment of ordinary peasants and labourers would find expression in implicating the nobility of Moorish ancestory and the churchmen of hypocrisy. These accusations found their way into the theatre and literature of the time. The beggary that grew rapidly from the late 16th century forced many to live by their wits and inspired the popular picaresque genre of literature.
Following the wars of Spanish succession at its commencment, the 18th century saw a long, slow recovery, with an expansion of the iron and steel industries in the Basque country, some increase in trade and a recovery in food production and population. The Bourbons drew on the French system in trying to modernise the administration and economy, in which it was more successful in the former than the latter. In the last two decades of the century there was a rapid growth (from a relatively low base) in general trade after the opening up of free trade within the empire (ending the south's monopoly), and even the beginnings of an industrialisation of the textile industry in Catalonia. But this promising late eighteenth century surge was shortlived, being totally disrupted by the turmoil of the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, that preceeded the loss of the vast mainland American territories and plunged the country into endemic political instability, which lasted until 1939. The Napoleonic incursion led to a fierce guerilla war (Peninsular War) and saw the first wide spread appearance of Spanish nationalism. In the latter half of the 19th century, Spanish Catalonia became a center of Spain's industrialization. Pockets of relative modernity would appear, especially in Catalonia and the Basque country, but generally Spain's extreme political instability in the 19th century made progress slow and very uneven.
Spain lost all of its remaining old colonies in the Caribbean region and Asia-Pacific region at the end of the 19th century, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines, and a large number of Pacific islands to the United States after the Spanish-American War of 1898. However "the Disaster" of 1898, as Spanish-American War was called, led to Spain's cultural revival (Generation of '98) in which there was much critical self examination, and relieved it from the burden of its last major colonies. However political stability in such a dispersed and variegated land, caught between pockets of modernity and large areas of extreme rural backwardness and strongly differentiated regional identities would elude the country for some decades yet, and was ultimately imposed only by a brutal dictatorship in 1939.
20th century
The 20th century initially brought little peace; colonization of Western Sahara, Spanish Morocco and Equatorial Guinea was attempted. A period of dictatorial rule (1923 - 1931) ended with the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic. The Republic offered political autonomy to the Basque Country and Catalonia and gave voting rights to women. However, in July 1936, against a backdrop of increasing political polarization, anti-clericalism and pressure from all sides, coupled with growing and unchecked political violence, the Republic was faced with an attempted military coup d'etat led by right-wing army generals. Although the coup initially failed, the ensuing Spanish Civil War ended in 1939 with the victory of the nationalist forces led by General Francisco Franco and supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The Republican side received tepid support from European democracies, which left the Soviet Union and idealist voluntary International Brigades as the only supporters of the legitimate democratic Republican rule. After the civil war, General Francisco Franco ruled a nation exhausted politically and economically. During the Second World War Franco, under extreme pressure (Hitler had brought his army to the border of Spain after invading France), opted to remain neutral arguing that Spain could not afford a new war, but, as a concession to his civil war backer, authorised volunteers to go to the Russian front to fight the Soviet Union in an anti-Communist crusade in what came to be known as the Blue Division. The resentment of Franco's brutality towards the more modern pro-Republican regions of Catalonia and the Basque country, whose distinctive languages and identity he suppressed during his long reign, continues to fuel strong separatist movements to this day.
After World War II, being one of few surviving fascist regimes in Europe, Spain was politically and economically isolated and was kept out of the United Nations until 1955, when it became strategically important for U.S. president Eisenhower to establish a military presence in the Iberian peninsula. This opening to Spain was aided by Franco's opposition to communism. In the 1960s, more than a decade later than other western European countries, Spain began to enjoy economic growth and gradually transformed into a modern industrial economy with a thriving tourism sector. Growth continued well into the 1970s, with Franco's government going to great lengths to shield the Spanish people from the effects of the oil crisis.
Upon the death of the dictator General Franco in November 1975, his personally-designated heir Prince Juan Carlos assumed the position of king and head of state. With the approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978 and the arrival of democracy, some regions — Basque Country, Navarra— were given complete financial autonomy, and many —Basque Country, Catalonia and Galicia— were given some political autonomy, which was then soon extended to all Spanish regions, resulting in a quite decentralized territorial organization in Western Europe. In the Basque Country pro-peace Basque and Spanish nationalisms coexist with radical nationalism supportive of the terrorist group ETA, which remains one of the biggest problems faced by Spanish citizens. Adolfo Suárez González, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo Bustelo, after an attempted coup d'état in 1981, Felipe González Márquez (when Spain joined NATO and European Union), José María Aznar López and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero have been prime ministers of Spain.
21st century
On March 11, 2004, a series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid. These resulted in 191 people dead and 1,460 wounded. It also had a significant effect on the upcoming elections in Spain, due in part to the ruling government's insistence that the ETA was the prime suspect in the bombings, even as the evidence of Muslim extremist terrorism rapidly emerged from the police investigation and the international press.
From wikipedia.com
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| HEALTH |
| If there is a reciprocal health agreement with your country, medical treatment provided by the National Health System is out of charge at hospitals and health centres for those citizens if in possession of an EU health card. For others, health insurance is required for private medical care. Prescribed medicines and dental treatment must be paid for by all visitors. |
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| GOVERNMENT |
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| Congress of Deputies in Madrid |
Divided into 17 Comunidades Autonomas (autonomous communities): Andalucia, Aragon, Asturias, Baleares (Balearic Islands), Canarias (Canary Islands), Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y Leon, Cataluña (Catalonia), Comunidad Valenciana, Extremadura, Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarra & Pais Vasco (Basque Country).
Las Cortes Generales (General Courts) consists of the Senado (Senate), with 259 seats (208 members directly elected by popular vote and the other 51 appointed by the regional legislatures to serve four-year terms); and Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies) with 350 seats, which members are elected by popular vote on block lists by proportional representation to serve four-year terms. Council of Ministers is designated by the President.
 Kind of Government: Parlamentary Monarchy
Head of State: King Juan Carlos I
President: Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Socialist Party)
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| ENTERTAINMENT |
 Easter is marked all over the country by multiple processions and religious ceremonies that are organised by guilds and brotherhoods. During these processions, the members of the brotherhoods wear the traditional dress of penitents, lifting on their shoulders heavy floats with profusely decorated religious images. The most important of these events are held on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday in cities such as Toledo, Salamanca, Valladolid, and Seville. |
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 The Fallas of Valencia are satirical monuments made of combustible material such as papier mâché and wood. They are set up to public view on the main squares and crossroads of the city from March 15 until they are finally burned in the cremá on the night of San José on 19 March. Specialised artists are entrusted with the design and elaboration of these original monuments, which are the result of the effort of each quarter whose inhabitants constitute falla commissions. They work throughout the year in order to create the most original ninot. Together with fire and smoke, powder and firecrackers are the essential elements of this Valencia festival. |
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 The April fair originated in the ancient cattle and agricultural markets that were held as early as the 11th century during the reign of Alfonso X the Wise. For several weeks in April this fiesta is held on the Real esplanade in Seville, where thousands of people dressed in traditional costume gather to dance Sevillanas and drink manzanilla and fino sherry and rebujito (manzanilla with ice and lemonade) at the hundreds of stands set up throughout the precinct. |
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 The fiesta of San Fermín celebrated in Pamplona is the prime example of bullfighting festivities in Spain. From the moment when the fiesta is inaugurated with the chupinazo in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento on the morning of July 6 at 12:00, the streets of the Navarrese capital fill with participants dressed in the traditional white with red handkerchiefs. These men run every morning before the herd of fighting bulls that will face the bullfighters in the afternoon. This festival, the subject of some controversy, attracts millions of people every year from all over the world who are ready for partying and strong emotions. |
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| EMERGENCIES |
 For any kind of emergencies dial  112. Another direct emergency numbers are 080 (firemen), 092 (Local Police), 091 (National Police) & 062 (Guardia Civil & roads). In Catalonia use 088 to contact Mossos d'Esquadra. |
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| ELECTRICITY |
| 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Round two-pin plugs and screw-type lamp fittings are in use, as most European countries. |
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| CUSTOMS |
| The following items may be imported into Spain without incurring customs duty by passengers aged 17 years or older arriving from outside EU countries: 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 250 g tobacco; 1 liter of spirits if exceeding 22 per cent alcohol or 2 liters of alcoholic beverage not exceeding 22 per cent alcohol; 2 liters of wine; 250 ml. and 50 g of perfume; 500 g of coffee or 200 g of coffee extract; 100 g of tea or 40 g of tea extract; gifts up to the value of approximately 37 €. Import and export of local currency is unlimited, but the export of amounts exceeding 6,010.12 € per person per journey must be declared. Import and export of foreign currency is unlimited, but the import of amounts exceeding 6,012.12 € per person per journey must be declared also. |
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| BANK DAYS |
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January 1: New Year’s Day; January 6: Epiphany; Good Friday; May 1: Labour Day; October 12: Virgin of Pilar; November 1: All Saints’ Day; December 6: Constitution Day; December 8: Immaculate Conception; December 25: Christmas Day.
There are also a similar number of regional and local public holidays.
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| CURRENCY |
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Euro is the official currency of Spain. Notes are in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 & 500 euros (€) and coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 & 50 cents, 1 & 2 euros (€). Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards are widely accepted everywhere.
These are the spanish coins:
     
     
 
 
And notes:
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| TRANSPORT |
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 Train: Spanish national rail system RENFE trains ( 902 240 202) are clean, punctual and reasonably priced, although they ignore some small towns. AVE trains are the fastest and run between Madrid and Barcelona, Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Segovia, Zaragoza, Valladolid, Huesca, Lérida & Tarragona. For the rest of long distance trains, Talgo & Altaria are the most used and comfortable. It is extremely important to make bookings on advance for bank days and holiday periods like summer, Easter or Christmas.
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 Coach: Long distance bus network is wide and non expensive, covering the whole country, even small villages. There are dozens of private companies, which reach different destinations and stations even in the same cities. Telephones for main companies are: Avanzabus, 902 02 00 52; Alsa, 902 42 22 42; Socibus, 902 22 92 92; Daibus, 902 27 79 99; Samar, 902 25 70 25. |
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Car: Speed limit is 50 km/h in towns, 90-100 km/h in ordinary roads and 120 km/h in motorways. The price of 1 liter 95 octans petrol is 1.10 € and 0.99 € for diesel.
 Check out the kilometric distances chart between main cities.
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 Taxi: Generally used in big cities, with non expensive services, except those linking airports, where some unpleasant drives manipulate taximeters. Check the driver to put the taximeter on at the start of the journey and in case of doubt ask for an official receipt plus a complaint sheet, which the driver must give and present this at any Consumer's Office. |
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 Sea: There are regular ferry services from Barcelona, Valencia, Denia and Alicante to the Balearic Islands; Cádiz to the Canary Islands; Algeciras to Tangier and Ceuta; and Málaga and Almeria to Melilla. There are also inter-island services in both Canary and Balearic archipelagos and a fast speed service from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca twice a day, which takes 3 hours. Trasmediterránea information: 91 423 85 00. Balearia: 902 200 400. |
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| TOURISM |
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All tourist towns and cities have tourist offices run by town councils, regional governments, or autonomous regional authorities that provide free maps and information and even book accommodation.
 The north: the so-called "Green Spain" extends all along the coast from Galicia to Aragón. Its major cities include Santiago de Compostela (Galicia), Oviedo (Asturias), Santander (Cantabria), San Sebastián (the Basque Country), Pamplona (Navarra), and Zaragoza (Aragón). The region also contains the Cantabrian and Pyrenean mountain ranges, where all kinds of adventure and winter sports can be practised.
 The Mediterranean coast: the most extensive and most tourist-orientated in the country, ranges from Cataluña with the Costa Brava to Andalucía with the Costa del Sol, passing through the cities of Barcelona, Tarragona, Valencia, Alicante, Murcia, and Málaga. It offers beaches, theme parks, excitement, and good weather all year round.
Andalusia: it occupies a third of the country and has extensive beaches from Huelva to Almería, passing thorough the tourist towns of Cadiz and Málaga. Inland can be seen some of the greatest riches of Arab art in Spain, in cities such as Córdoba and Granada; its capital, Seville, the birthplace of flamenco, should also not be missed.
 Central area: The former kingdom of Castile, currently Castilla y León, Castilla-la Mancha, Extremadura, and the Region of Madrid, includes world heritage sites such as Toledo, Salamanca, and Cáceres, Roman towns such as Avila and Segovia, and the cosmopolitan city of Madrid, where some of the most important museums in Europe can be found.
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| TIPS |
| As a result of a good service received, tips are understood like a personal satisfaction for this service, mostly at restaurants, cafés, hotels and non-self service petrol stations. |
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| SPORTS |
 Football is a very popular sport all over the country, with a national league that is played between September and June. The greatest rivalry is that between Barcelona Football Club (Nou Camp Stadium at Aristides Maillol 12, Barcelona) and Real Madrid (Santiago Bernabéu Stadium at Concha Espina 1, esquina al Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid), although other teams such as Valencia FC (Mestalla Stadium at Avenida de Suecia, Valencia), Deportivo de la Coruña (Riazor Stadium at Manuel Murguía, A Coruña), and Atlético de Madrid (Vicente Calderón Stadium at Paseo Virgen del Puerto 67, Madrid) also have a considerable following. More Information in www.lfp.es |
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 In recent years motorcycling has become of great importance. The star events of this sport are the Spanish Grand Prix on the Jerez circuit -10 km from Jerez de la Frontera in the province of Cadiz- held in April (more information in www.circuitodejerez.com), and the championships held on the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Cheste (in the Valencia region) which attract thousands of fanatics (more information in www.circuitvalencia.com). |
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 Motor racing is another sport that has increased greatly in popularity thanks to the recent victories of Spanish drivers. The Montmeló circuit, which was inaugurated in 1991, organises the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix in May, together with the Cataluña Motorcycling Grand Prix and other international competitions. This circuit is near Barcelona with access from the Parets del Vallés exit off the C-17 (N-152) and the Granollers exit off the A-7 ( Montmeló station on suburban train line 2). More information in www.circuitcat.com |
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 Cycling has a great tradition that is kept alive by the Tour of Spain. Since 1935 it has been held every September, covering the whole of the country in an exhausting competition in teams. More information in www.lavuelta.com |
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 Tennis has many fans and a group of players of international prestige. They play national tournaments such as the Conde de Godó tournament that is held at the Barcelona Tennis Club during April (Bosch i Gimpera, 5 - 08034 Barcelona, or www.rfet.es) or the Madrid Open, which is held in the new Caja Mágica sports hall of the Manzanares Park in May. More information in www.madrid-open.com
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| SHOPPING |
| Shops open from 9:00 to 13:30 and to 17:00 to 20:00 from Monday to Friday. Big stores and shopping centres have wider timetibles. Spanish law allows opening 15 Sunday each year. |
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| PASSPORTS |
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Tourists from European Union countries need only bring some form of identification or a valid passport. No visa is required for tourists from Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Ireland, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Slovakia, Slovenia, United States, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Holland, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Nicaragua, Norway, New Zealand, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Republic of Korea, San Marino, the Holy See, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Visitors from countries outside the European Union who will be staying longer than 90 days require a visa in their passport. The visas must be requested from the corresponding Spanish consulate in each country.
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| MEASURES |
Spain uses Decimal Metric System. These are the equivalences with Imperial System:
| LENGHT |
| 1 inch |
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2,54 centímeters |
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1 centímeter |
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0,39 inches |
| 1 foot |
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0,30 meters |
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1 meter |
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3,28 feet |
| 1 yard |
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0,91 meters |
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1 meter |
= |
1,09 yard |
| 1 braza |
= |
1,83 meters |
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1 meter |
= |
0,55 brazas |
| 1 mile |
= |
1,61 kilómeters |
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1 kilómeter |
= |
0,62 miles |
| 1 sea mile |
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1,85 kilómeters |
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1 kilómeter |
= |
0,54 sea miles |
| CAPACITY |
| 1 cubic inch |
= |
16,38 cubic centimeters |
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1 cubic centimeter |
= |
0,06 cubic feet |
| 1 cubic foot |
= |
0,03 cubic meters |
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1 cubic meter |
= |
35,31 cubic feet |
| 1 cubic foot |
= |
28,32 liters |
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1 cubic meter |
= |
1,31 cubic yard |
| 1 cubic yard |
= |
0,76 cubic meters |
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1 liter |
= |
0,04 cubic yard |
| 1 pint |
= |
0,57 liter |
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1 liter |
= |
1,76 pint |
| 1 gallon |
= |
3,785 liter |
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1 liter |
= |
0,264 gallon |
| WEIGHT |
| 1 onza |
= |
28,35 grams |
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| 1 pound |
= |
0,45 kilograms |
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1 kilogram |
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2,21 pounds |
| TEMPERATURE |
| To convert Fahrenheit into Celsius rest 32 and multiply 0.55 |
| To convert Celsius into Fahrenheit multiply 1.8 and add 32 |
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pescaito frito
cochinillo
cocido
fabada
paella
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| MEALS |
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Vegetables, fruits and olive oil are a privilege privilege because in Spain it is possible to have fresh fruits and vegetables all year round. The advantage of having both Mediterranenan and Atlantic coasts, and of being near the main migratory routes of fish, allows to have such great number of species: tuna, hake, red bream, sea-bass and gilt-head seabream, sardine and anchovy, bold mackerel, turbot, sole, anglerfish, hake, snapper, white seabream, parrot fish, dentex, swordfish and many more. All of them can be grilled, cooked in a variety of sauces, baked, or fried. Or fresh water species like salmon, brown trout, lamprey and trout or shellfish including prawns, shrimp, quisquilla (small shrimp), lobster, crayfish, spider crab, small crab, barnacle, oysters, clams, scallops, cockles, mussels, sea urchin and espardeñas.
The Iberian pig provides meat to make salted and cured products, among which we must point out acorn-fed Iberian cured ham. Popular cuisine have succulent dishes like cocido (meat, potato and chickpea stew), fabada (Asturian bean stew), and paella (Spanish rice dish), as well as all the different dishes that take their names from the pots they are cooked in, like marmitas, potes, pucheros and peroles and others like Spanish omelette and gazpacho (a cold vegetable soup).
Christmas is the time to have roast lamb and turkey, Spanish nougat, marzipan, shortbread and mantecado (a crumbly shortbread). In Easter it is traditional to have mona (Spanish Easter cake) and chocolate eggs. Other widespread festivities are related to the harvesting of crops, like reaping or grape harvest.
There are vineyards in the north, south and centre of the country. Some sixty Designations of Origin for Wine are at your disposal to choose from.
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 Correos Post Offices open from 9:00 to 14:00 from Monday to Friday. Stamps are sold at post offices, tobacconist and some hotels. A stamp for a Spain-to-Spain use costs 0.32 €, to Europe 0.60 € and to the rest of the world 0.80 €, taking 1-2 days for Spain & 5-10 days for the rest of the world.
More information in www.correos.es
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International code number for Spain is 34. For international calls from Spain, dial 00 and then country code. Public phones work with coins and telephone cards of 6 & 12 €, on sale at newsagents and kiosks. Telephone calls made from hotels, airports and stations are more expensive than from street pay booths. Cheapest rate for international calls is from 22:00 to 08:00 and all day Sunday. 