SPAIN - OVERVIEW:
Spain (Spanish: España (help·info), IPA: [es'paɲa]), officially the Kingdom of Spain (Spanish: Reino de España), is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. The Spanish mainland is bordered almost entirely by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and east except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar; by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay to the north; and by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal to the west. Spanish territory also includes the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands off the African coast, and two autonomous cities in North Africa that border Morocco. With an area of 504,030 km², Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe (behind France).
Spain is a constitutional monarchy organised as a parliamentary democracy, and has been a member of the European Union since 1986. It is a developed country with the ninth largest economy in the world and fifth largest in the EU, based on nominal GDP.
Spain is divided into the following regions:
- Andalucía
- Aragón
- Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias)
- Balearic Islands (Spanish: Islas Baleares, Catalan: Illes Balears or Ses illes)
- Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco, Basque: Euskadi)
- Canary Islands (Spanish: Islas Canarías)
- Cantabria
- Castile-La Mancha (Spanish: Castilla-La Mancha)
- Castile and Leon (Spanish: Castilla y León)
- Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya) Catalonia is the one of the most visited regions of Spain, thanks to Barcelona, a nice city full of modernist buildings, interesting parks and a great choice of leisure and cultural activities. Catalonia also possesses an incomparable coast: in the southern part you may find a few excellent beaches despite the huge resorts built in recent times, and an always sunny weather; in the northern part, the coast gives a much more authentic sensation, with beautiful beaches and impressive cliffs. Gastronomy is interesting also, being regarded as one of the finest in the world, offering exquisite dishes such as the Catalan cream, the bread with tomato (pan con ttumaca), the Catalan champaign (cava), etc.
- Ceuta
- Extremadura
- Galicia (Spanish: Galicia, Galician: Galiza)
- La Rioja (Spain) La Rioja is the smallest of the Spanish regions but well known thanks to Rioja wine, one of the best in the world. This region is called "Birth place of Spanish Language" because it was here were the firt words in Spanish were written in the Suso and Yuso Monasteries in San Millan de la Cogolla.
- Madrid - the region includes the second, fourth and current capital of Spain Madrid with three world class museums (Prado, Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza), and Aranjuez, the Escorial,Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo, and the Valle de los Caidos are also nearby
- Melilla
- Murcia
- Navarra (Spanish: Navarra, Basque: Nafarroa)
- Valencia (Spanish: Comunidad Valenciana, Catalan: Comunitat Valenciana)
Spain is now divided into autonomías or autonomous regions/cities. Some of the autonomías - notably the ones with languages other than Spanish as co-official (Basque Country or Euskadi -Basque language-, Galicia -Galician language-, Catalonia or Catalunya, Valencian Country or País Valencià, and Balearic Islands or Illes Balears -Catalan language-) and Andalucía - are historical regions. Travelers to these parts of the Iberian Peninsula will do well to respect their history and language. The Canary Islands are actually off the coast of Morocco and are properly in Africa and so are the two Autonomous cities: Ceuta and Melilla.
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