He has joined the G-8 for a meeting on food safety and the developing world
The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero has arrived in L’Aquila in Italy to take part in a meeting of the G-8.
He had the chance for a brief greeting with Barack Obama whom he had last met in Istanbul on [...]
The Alhambra, Granada
The legendary Moorish palace complex is a monument to sensuality and contemplative decoration.
Modernisme, Barcelona
The sculptural forms of Barcelona’s modernista architects - most famously Gaudà - define the city’s exuberant architectural heritage.
A night on the tiles, Madrid
Delight in the capital’s most traditional of rituals - a night of bar hopping and clubbing rounded off [...]
Spanish time is notionally one hour ahead of the UK - but conceptually Spain might as well be on a different planet. Nowhere in Europe keeps such late hours. Spaniards may not take a traditional midday siesta so much as they used to, but their life cycles remain committedly nocturnal. They’ll saunter out around 8pm [...]
Gay and lesbian life in Spain has come a long way in the twenty years or so since Franco’s death. There are strong lobbying movements for same-sex marriages and for same-sex couples to have equal rights; these movements are given greater strength by the suppport of some autonomous governments. The age of consent is 16 [...]
There are two ways to eat in Spain: you can go to a restaurante or comedor (dining room) and have a full meal, or you can have a succession of tapas (small snacks) or raciones (larger ones) at one or more bars.
At the bottom line a comedor - where you’ll get a basic, filling, three-course [...]
Post offices ( Correos ) are generally found near the centre of towns and are normally open from 8am to noon and again from 5 to 7.30pm, though big branches in large cities may have considerably longer hours and usually do not close at midday. Except in the cities there’s only one post office in [...]
Most of Spain is well covered by both bus and rail networks and for journeys between major towns there’s often little to choose between them in cost or speed. On shorter or less obvious routes buses tend to be quicker and will also normally take you closer to your destination; some train stations are several [...]
Although still thought of as a budget destination, hotel prices in Spain have increased considerably over the last ten years, and if you’re spending a lot of your time in the cities, you can expect to spend almost as much as you would at home. However, there are still few places in Europe where you’ll [...]
As an EU country, Spain has free reciprocal health agreements with other member states (you should carry form E111, available from main post offices). Even so, some form of travel insurance is still all but essential; with it, you should be able to claim back the cost of any drugs prescribed by pharmacies. European policies [...]
Citizens of most EU countries (and of Norway and Iceland) need only a valid national identity card to enter Spain for up to six months. Since Britain has no identity card system, however, British citizens have to take a passport. US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand citizens do not need a visa for stays of [...]