Spain

• 

Spain España, formally the Kingdom of Spain is a country in Southwestern Europe with some pockets of territory across the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula. Its territory also includes two archipelagos: the Canary Islands off the coast of North Africa, and the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla, and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country (Morocco). Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are also part of Spanish territory. The country’s mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea; to the north and northeast by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the west and northwest by Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean respectively. With an area of 505,990 km² (195,360 sq mi), Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second-largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, and the fourth-largest country by area on the European continent. Through migration and settlement of people, various cultures developed in the region alongside Phoenician, Greek, Celtic and Carthaginian. The Romans conquered the region around 200 BC, naming it Hispania, after the earlier Phoenician name, Sp(a)n or Spania. Spain remained under Roman rule until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fourth century, which ushered in Germanic tribal confederations from Central Europe. The Visigoths emerged as the dominant faction by the fifth century, with their kingdom spanning much of the peninsula. In the early eighth century, the Visigothic Kingdom was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, ushering in over 700 years of Muslim rule. Islamic Spain became a major economic and intellectual center, with the city of Cordoba being among the largest and richest in Europe. Several Christian kingdoms emerged in the northern periphery of Iberia, chief among them León, Castile, Aragon, Portugal and Navarre. Over the next seven centuries, an intermittent southward expansion of these kingdoms—metahistorically framed as a reconquest, or Reconquista—culminated with the Christian seizure of the last Muslim polity, the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, in 1492. That same year, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World on behalf of the Catholic Monarchs, whose dynastic union of Castile and Aragon is sometimes considered the emergence Spain as a unified country. From the 16th until the early 19th century, Spain ruled one of the largest empires in history, which was among the first global empires; its immense cultural and linguistic legacy includes over 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world’s second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. S

“Feliz é aquele que possui sabedoria suficiente para reconhecer em cada minuto da vida um motivo para agradecer.”

Coruña

A Coruña is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. It is the second most populated city and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and seventeenth overall in the country. The city is the provincial capital of the province of the same name, having also served as political capital of the Kingdom of Galicia from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and as a regional administrative centre between 1833 and 1982, before being replaced by Santiago de Compostela. A Coruña is a busy port located on a promontory in the Golfo Ártabro, a large gulf on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the main industrial and financial centre of northern Galicia, and holds the headquarters of the Universidade da Coruña.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Barcelona

Barcelona is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain.^] It is one of the largest metropolises on the Mediterranean Sea, located on the coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs, and bounded to the west by the Serra de Collserola mountain range, the tallest peak of which is 512 metres (1,680 feet) high. Founded as a Roman city, in the Middle Ages Barcelona became the capital of the County of Barcelona. After joining with the Kingdom of Aragon to form the confederation of the Crown of Aragon, Barcelona, which continued to be the capital of the Principality of Catalonia, became the most important city in the Crown of Aragon and the main economic and administrative centre of the Crown, only to be overtaken by Valencia, wrested from Arab domination by the Catalans, shortly before the dynastic union between the Crown of Castile and the Crown of Aragon in 1492. Barcelona has a rich cultural heritage and is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Benidorm

Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante (Valencian Community), on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotels were built, though it would not be until the 1950s that it became renowned as a summer destination for people coming from inland Spain, especially Madrid. Today it is known for its hotel industry, beaches and skyscrapers and receives as many tourists from abroad as from Spain.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Burgos

Burgos is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. It is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of the Arlanzón river tributaries, at the edge of the central plateau. The municipality has a population of about 180,000 inhabitants. It forms part of the Camino de Santiago. Founded in 884 by Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, Burgos soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castile. 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) is connected to the city, as he was born near Burgos and was raised and educated there. In a long-lasting decline since the 17th century, following the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist proto-government. Declared in 1964 as Pole of Industrial Promotion and in 1969 as Pole of Industrial Development, the city has grown since then in terms of economic activity.

• 

• 

• 

Cáceres

Cáceres is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Cáceres. Cáceres lies at the feet of the Sierra de la Mosca, a modest hill range. It is part of the Vía de la Plata (“Silver Route”) path of the Camino de Santiago that crosses the west of the Iberian Peninsula in a north–south direction.

• 

• 

• 

Granada

Granada is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of four rivers, the Darro, the Genil, the Monachil and the Beiro. Ascribed to the Vega de Granada comarca, the city sits at an average elevation of 738 m (2,421 ft) above sea level, yet is only one hour by car from the Mediterranean coast, the Costa Tropical. Nearby is the Sierra Nevada Ski Station, where the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 1996 were held. The Alhambra, an ancient Nasrid citadel and palace, is located in Granada. It is the most renowned building of the Islamic historical legacy with its many cultural attractions and architectural elements that make Granada a popular destination among the tourist cities of Spain. The Almohad influence on architecture is also preserved in the Granada neighborhood called the Albaicín with its fine examples of Moorish and Morisco construction.

Alhambra

The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in 889 CE on the remains of Roman fortifications, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Arab Nasrid emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella (where Christopher Columbus received royal endorsement for his expedition), and the palaces were partially altered in the Renaissance style. In 1526 Charles I & V commissioned a new Renaissance palace better befitting the Holy Roman Emperor in the revolutionary Mannerist style influenced by humanist philosophy in direct juxtaposition with the Nasrid Andalusian architecture, but it was ultimately never completed due to Morisco rebellions in Granada. Alhambra’s last flowering of Islamic palaces was built for the final Muslim emirs in Spain during the decline of the Nasrid dynasty, who were increasingly subject to the Christian Kings of Castile. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the buildings occupied by squatters, Alhambra was rediscovered following the defeat of Napoleon, who had conducted retaliatory destruction of the site. The rediscoverers were first British intellectuals and then other north European Romantic travelers. It is now one of Spain’s major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country’s most significant and well-known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The name Alhambra means the red one or the red castle, which refers to the sun-dried bricks that the outer wall is made of. The decoration consists for the upper part of the walls, as a rule, of Arabic inscriptions—mostly poems by Ibn Zamrak and others praising the palace—that are manipulated into geometrical patterns with vegetal background set onto an arabesque setting (“Ataurique”). Much of this ornament is carved stucco (plaster) rather than stone. Tile mosaics (“alicatado”), with complicated mathematical patterns (“tracería”, most precisely “lacería”), are largely used as panelling for the lower part. Metal was also not present very mainly.Similar designs are displayed on wooden ceilings (Alfarje). Muqarnas are the main elements for vaulting with stucco, and some of the most accomplished dome examples of this kind are in the Court of the Lions halls. The palace complex is designed in the Nasrid style, the last blooming of Islamic Art in the Iberian Peninsula, that had a great influence on the Maghreb to the present day, and on contemporary Mudejar Art, which is characteristic of western elements reinterpreted into Islamic forms and widely popular during the Reconquista in Spain.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and most-populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the center of both the country and the Community of Madrid region, of which it is also the capital. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is also the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The mayor is José Luis Martínez-Almeida from the People’s Party.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Málaga

Málaga is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Málaga’s history spans about 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest cities in Europe and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. According to most scholars, it was founded about 770 BC by the Phoenicians as Malaka (Punic: 𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤀, mlkʾ). From the 6th century BC the city was under the hegemony of Ancient Carthage, and from 218 BC, it was ruled by the Roman Republic and then empire as Malaca (Latin). After the fall of the empire and the end of Visigothic rule, it was under Islamic rule as Mālaqah (Arabic: مالقة‎) for 800 years, but in 1487, the Crown of Castille gained control in the midst of the Granada War. The archaeological remains and monuments from the Phoenician, Roman, Arabic and Christian eras make the historic center of the city an “open museum”, displaying its history of nearly 3,000 years.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Marbella

Marbella is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the region; it is also the head of the judicial district that bears its name. Marbella is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, between Málaga and the Strait of Gibraltar, in the foothills of the Sierra Blanca. The municipality covers an area of 117 square kilometres (45 sq mi) crossed by highways on the coast, which are its main entrances.

• 

• 

• 

Mérida

Mérida is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Province of Badajoz, and capital of the autonomous community of Extremadura. Located in the western-central part of the Iberian Peninsula at 217 metres above sea level, the city is crossed by the Guadiana and Albarregas rivers. The population is 60,119 in 2017. Emerita Augusta was founded as a Roman colony in 25 BC under the order of the emperor Augustus to serve as a retreat for the veteran soldiers (emeritus) of the legions V Alaudae and X Gemina. The city, one of the most important in Roman Hispania, was endowed with all the comforts of a large Roman city and served as capital of the Roman province of Lusitania since its founding and as the capital of the entire Diocese of Hispania during the fourth century. Following invasions from the Visigoths, Merida remained an important city of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania in the 6th century. In the 713, the city was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate, and remained under Muslim rule. The Mozarabic people of the island rebelled repeatedly against the Caliphate authorities in the 9th century and the city began a slow decline. After the Almohad rule, Mérida, that had acknowledged Ibn Hud against the former, was seized by Alfonso IX of León in 1230. It is, together with Badajoz, ecclesiastically the metropolitan seat of the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz.

• 

• 

• 

Nerja

Nerja is a municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is part of the comarca of La Axarquía. It is on the country’s southern Mediterranean coast, about 50 km east of Málaga. Under Muslim rule, its name was Narixa, which means “abundant source” and is the origin of the current name.

• 

• 

Ourense

Ourense is a city and capital of the homonymous province located in the autonomous community of Galicia, northwestern Spain. It is on the Portuguese Way path of the Way of St James (Camino de Santiago), and is crossed by the Miño, Barbaña, Loña and Barbañica rivers. It is also known as A cidade das Burgas (in Galician) due to its hot springs, being one of the European cities with the greatest thermal heritage.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Palma Maiorca

Palma, unofficially known as Palma de Mallorca is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca on the Bay of Palma. The Cabrera Archipelago, though widely separated from Palma proper, is administratively considered part of the municipality.

• 

• 

• 

Picos da Europa

The Picos de Europa (“Peaks of Europe”, also the Picos) are a mountain range extending for about 20 km (12 mi), forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain. The range is situated in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León. The highest peak is Torre de Cerredo, at an elevation of 2650 m (8,690 ft).

• 

• 

• 

Pontevedra

Pontevedra is a Galician city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the Comarca (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rias Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality which is, in fact, often considered as an extension of the actual city. Surrounded by hills, the city is located on the edge of an estuary at the mouth of the Lérez river by the sea, at the bottom of the Ria de Pontevedra, in the heart of the Rías Baixas.

• 

Pueblos blancos

The White Towns of Andalusia, or Pueblos Blancos, are a series of whitewashed towns and large villages in the northern part of the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga in southern Spain, mostly within the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Salamanca

Salamanca is a city in western Spain and the capital of the Province of Salamanca in the autonomous community of Castile and León. The city lies on several hills by the Tormes River. It is one of the most important university cities in Spain and supplies 16% of Spain’s market for the teaching of the Spanish language. Salamanca attracts thousands of international students. The University of Salamanca, founded in 1218, is one of the oldest universities in Spain and the third oldest western university. Pope Alexander IV gave universal validity to its degrees.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Santiago Compostela

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St. James, a leading Catholic pilgrimage route since the 9th century. 

• 

• 

• 

San Sebastian

San Sebastián is a coastal city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, 20 km (12 miles) from the French border. The capital city of the province of Gipuzkoa, the municipality’s population is 186,095 as of 2015, with its metropolitan area reaching 436,500 in 2010. Locals call themselves donostiarra (singular), both in Spanish and Basque.

• 

• 

• 

Sevilla

Seville is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis. It became known as Ishbiliyah after the Muslim conquest in 711. During the Muslim rule in Spain, Seville came under the jurisdiction of the Caliphate of Córdoba before becoming the independent Taifa of Seville; later it was ruled by the Muslim Almoravids and the Almohads until finally being incorporated into the Christian Kingdom of Castile under Ferdinand III in 1248.^[4] After the discovery of the Americas, Seville became one of the economic centres of the Spanish Empire as its port monopolised the trans-oceanic trade and the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) wielded its power, opening a Golden Age of arts and literature. In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan departed from Seville for the first circumnavigation of the Earth. Coinciding with the Baroque period of European history, the 17th century in Seville represented the most brilliant flowering of the city’s culture; then began a gradual economic and demographic decline as silting in the Guadalquivir forced the trade monopoly to relocate to the nearby port of Cádiz.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Torremolinos

Torremolinos  is a municipality in Andalusia, southern Spain, west of Málaga. A poor fishing village before the growth in tourism began in the late 1950s, Torremolinos was the first of the Costa del Sol resorts to be developed and is still the most popular in the region. As the name Coast of the Sun implies, Torremolinos enjoys one of the best climates in Europe. It has long dry summers with relatively low humidity, and mild winters with occasional, though heavy, rainfall. The town benefits in the summer from cool sea breezes predominately coming from Africa although this does mean a fair amount of Sahara dust. Temperatures normally hover around 30 °C (86 °F) in the summer and 17–19 °C (63–66 °F) in the winter. Torremolinos, like San Francisco, sometimes experiences a sea fog that goes as quickly as it appears. The beach which extends for nearly 8 kilometres (5.0 miles), has cycle and skating lanes alongside the fully illuminated promenade and features many chiringuitos and beach bars. The eastern end of the beach, known as Los Álamos, has live dance music events throughout the summer. The easternmost parts of the beach have kitesurfing and windsurfing except under the flight path of the airport.

• 

Vigo

Vigo is an industrial city and municipality in the province of Pontevedra, within the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits on the southern shore of an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, the Ria de Vigo, the southernmost of the so-called Rías Baixas.

• 

• 

Vitória

Vitoria-Gasteiz is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Araba/Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community’s House of Parliament, the headquarters of the Government, and the Lehendakari’s (Prime Minister’s) official residency. The municipality—which comprises not only the city but also the mainly agricultural lands of 63 villages around—is the largest in the Basque Country, with a total area of 276.81 square kilometres (106.88 sq mi), and it has a population of 252,571 (May 2019). The dwellers of Vitoria-Gasteiz are called vitorianos or gasteiztarrak, while traditionally they are dubbed babazorros (Basque for ‘bean sacks’).

• 

• 

• 

Zaragossa

Zaragoza is the capital city of the Zaragoza province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the Huerva and the Gállego, roughly in the center of both Aragon and the Ebro basin.

• 

•