The Spanish map

When people hear the word Spain, they think in Sevillanas, Bulls races, Sangria, paella, sun, and sometimes in some museums but wait...there are different "Spains" because you are not going to find the same stuff in Barcelona than Sevilla, as fact, you are not going to have the same culture in New England than Hawaii.

Let's start with the basics of Spanish culture:

Spain is formed by 17 communities, Balearic Islands and Canary Islands and two exclaves in Africa (Ceuta and Melilla). We also have other exclave in Africa, but there are only military troops in that place. The capital is Madrid with 3 million of inhabitants (47 million in all of Spain) .

The distribution of Spain's Autonomous Communities  is this:




And its Autonomous cities in North Africa, Ceuta and Melilla:





So our little travel starts here:

Galicia is a idillic paradise full of forests and well-rooted culture based in the ancient christian traditions. Is famous in whole Europe for the "Camino de Santiago" (St. James way) , a group of pilgrimage routes that cross different Spanish Communities, even other countries as France or Portugal, to the shrine of the apostle St. James, in the "Catedral of Santiago de Compostela".



Pilgrims enjoy this way because it is a spiritual reinforcement (most of people who do it is not religious and they do it for other motives as oaths or promises, or even only for fun), an awesome opportunity to meet new people and talk with them about stuff that you wouldn't say to no one of your friends. A very recommended experience that you should do before die.



Asturias has a landscape similar to Galicia, but its weather in winter is really cloudy and rainy.  Cousine here is awesome. The most typical dishes of the north you will find it here. The most known dish is the "fabada" a kind of stew. Incredible taste despite of its appearance.


The Basque country is an international cousin tourist destination. This Community has inside most of the best contemporary restaurants as "Fulli", "Arzak" or "Akelarre", famous all around the world. Sometimes if you want to book a table you should wait for 2 years. The rest of typical restaurants always offer the classical dish from dish region, a "tapa" with a bread base and a stick, called "Pintxo"

  Bilbao is the capital of this region and is also the focus of the contemporary art in Spain, with the Guggenheim museum, with the same level as other international museums like the MOMA of New york.

Barcelona. Most of tourists that came to Spain only visit this city and they fell that they have visited the whole Spain. However the truth is that the region that envolves Barcelona (Catalonia) is really different from the rest of my homeland. They have as second official lenguage the Spanish because their culture is really rich and they have created another lenguage along the history, the catalonian. People there speaks both lenguages, so don't get confused if you travel there. Is a beautiful city focused in the tourism economy where the architecture and the gastronomy create an atmosphere that is unique.

Tourists make cues of hours for observe the "Sagrada Familia" (right), the awesome cathedral that is still being built by experts, because the original architect, Gaudi, died without ending this monument (100 years ago). What you find at the left with its characteristic sharpe is the Agbar tower. Really cool to see in the darkness full of lights.





The Valencian zone is really famous for his agriculture, well known for growing the best oranges all around the world. But people visit Alicante, Valencia and Benidorm for their awesome weather in summer (only one cloudy day as average) and beautiful beaches crowed of people seeking for a seat in the sand. Some famous parties there are "Las Fallas" where sculptors create huge "ninots", sculptures made with cumbustible materials because, after a competition, the losers will burn.

Other famous party here is "Las hogeras de San Juan" (Saint John's bonfires) where people go to the beach to jump through bonfires and get drunk.

For being more short, I have to say that most of Spanish parties are made for get drunk having fun with your family so I want to tell you about other parties around Spain with similar background.

San Fermines: A huge amount of people dressed white with red hankies running out like hell because a group of bulls pursuit them. Between "race" and "race" people can do tourism around the city (there are only bars)

Wine's battle: People with water guns filled with wine, buckets of the same alcohol or any kind of way to make a weapon to throw wine celebrate once per year a war between the inhabitants of the little town of Haro (La Rioja). Everyone gets soaked and everyone repeats the experience (Personally i would want to go)

The "Tomatina": The same idea as before but with tomatoes. Considered the world's biggest food fight. You will find this party in  Buñol (Valencia)

Seville April Fair: The most typical stuff will be found here. Sevillanas, flamenco, Spanish food, fresh fish, and party. The festival is organized around various streets surrounded by little places rented by a group o friends, a wealthy family, restaurants or dancing places. During a week a lot of Spanish artists show their skills dancing, playing the guitar or singing flamenco, rumba or sevillanas. Perfect place to be inmersed in the ancient culture.

Finally...Madrid!!...Spain's capital full of history, art, politics and sports (Real Madrid rocks babe!). Probably i can tell you only about people and nightlife. This city is a gathering of people from all around the world (China, Germany, France, Africa...) with a great young population because there are numerous universities around. A classical tradition in this place of Spain is to take a walk in San Isidro's day and eat typical food in a famous hill 

This city is organized by different neighborhoods where you will find what are you looking for. Some examples are "La Latina" (nightlife and bars), "Serrano" (expensive purchases), "Chueca" (gay neighborhood)...Everywhere is connected with the public underground so won't find any problem to explore the magic city