Spain

The Place

Spain. To the ancient Greeks, it was the land where Hercules' golden apples grew; to the Arabs, it was the ground floor of heaven; to writers such as George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway, it was an arena where history skittered between heroic feats and tragedy, and bullfighters flirted with death in the work of an afternoon. Few other places so dramatically stimulate the imagination. Isolated from the rest of Europe behind the Pyrenees, Spain was, for a long time, a mysterious, half-mythical country better-known for fictional inhabitants - Don Juan, Don Quixote and Carmen - than its real ones. Spain has changed beyond recognition since the demise of the ancien régime of General Franco in 1975. It has become a mainstream western European country and in the process of transition the old clichés and the rough charm which so delighted early visitors have been consigned to history. In their place, Spain has vastly improved transport networks, an incredible choice of hotels and restaurants, and an increasing respect for its national heritage, both man-made and natural.

Some things, however, have not changed, and your trip will have a couple of constants. One is light: the sunshine northern Europeans flock to bask in; the burnished red-gold that suffuses whole cities; the lunar contrasts of sun and shadow; the light El Greco, Velázquez and Picasso saw and painted by. The other is the tremendous vitality and sociability of the people, which is observed in cafés and strolling Sunday evening crowds, in exuberant fiesta crowds, and in the dignified courtesy of almost any stranger you ask for directions.

You can visit Spain for its impressive buildings and museums, or its immense landscapes and abundant wildlife; but in the end it is the human, optimistic outpouring of everyday life that often makes the biggest impact on the visitor.