Comments on: The 10 BEST things about Spain

By: jakira

jakira — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:20:13 +0000

spain is wiked and the food is the best and i am a big fsn of spain .

By: tracey

tracey — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:23:08 +0000

I liked Maarten:”I hope this comes across as reasonably balanced – we love both countries and their differences.”

In his 7 comparisons Spain comes out on top in every one!

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 24 May 2009 08:21:39 +0000

Ice cold Cruz Campo on a hot Sevilla night.

By: catalina

catalina — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:37:02 +0000

I don’t know how I ended up here, but here I am. The best thing about Spain is that we’are a very old country with a very young spirit. The smooth political transition almost 30 years ago is the best testimony of that.

By: amaia

amaia — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:19:11 +0000

Mowgly,
Fist thing I want to tell you, if you are not happy in Ireland, go back to Spain and stop moaning! Your first point was that in Ireland people insults their wife, I dont know what kind of people are you around with, because Im living in Ireland and I have never experienced that around me, anyway dont say that in spain was like that 20 years ago, because this days… sadly enough in spain the percentage of men abusing women is very high, every single day you can hear on the news, that a husband killed the wife, so just think before you write anything. I dont agree with any of the points you wrote about Ireland but Im not going to waste my time. Ireland is not better or worst than Spain, they are just tow different countries and thats it. Im Basque (no spanish), Im from Donostia (san sebastian) and thanks for the nice comments about my city, but Im very happy living in Ireland but I love Donostia, I suppose, home is always home!

Maria, gente educada y mal educada en todas partes! tambien hay muchos espanoles, vascos, alemanes, franceses….que dejen suciedad en las calles, lo que no puedes es generalizar!

Have a good day!

Amaia

By: amaia

amaia — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:00:40 +0000

By: Maria de la O

Maria de la O — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 09:56:42 +0000

Hola Mowgly, nos duele que se metan con nosotros cuando curiosamente vienen a visitarnos, quizá sería mejor que cambiaran de destino en vacaciones.

Aunque imagino que tu les conoces mejor que yo por vivir donde vives, se te ha olvidado hacer mención al malolor y la suciedad que dejan en las calles cuando se hacen pis después de las cogorzas.

Menos mal que no todos actuan de la misma manera, no se puede generalizar, pero los que si lo hacen son muy visibles.

¡Have a nice day!

By: Maarten

Maarten — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:05:02 +0000

As this subject rumbles on, albeit, sadly, with some abuse, I thought I might share my impressions of the Spain/UK comparisons. I am Dutch, retired, have lived most of my life in the UK (including education), but also in Holland and Germany. I now live 50:50 in the UK (South) and the Costa de la Luz so my comments are specific to these areas – it may well be different elsewhere.

1. Climate: no contest – Spain wins hands down, especially in the hours of sunlight. We live in a ‘white’ town and by contrast the urban scene in the UK is mainly pretty drab.

2. Attitude to children: A huge contrast is to observe the outdoor environment for young children and their interaction with adults. By contrast the UK is an increasingly paranoid society – media driven, mainly.
I suspect the statistics would not support such a contrast.

3. The media….not a totally fair comparison because of language limitations.
In the UK the media is relentlessly negative and adversarial – we have just had 10 years of growth, high employment and absurd house price inflation, followed by 6 months (so far) of readjustment: the world has come to an end and it’s the government’s fault!
I enjoy (trying to) read El Pais/El Mundo because I sense that they try to put stories in some sort of context – giving data etc for other EC countries and other spanish states.

4. Food
In this town the locals have not raised their game: to be sure of a good meal the expats, and many spanish, go across to the Algarve. Better standard, better value, more friendly. Pity. UK is expensive but higher quality.

5. Traffic management.
Spain is ahead in the pedestrianisation of its towns as far as we can judge. The UK sees public transport as a business rather than a service and this restrains the move out of cars.

6. Social attitudes.

UK is run by, and for, the middle classes and above especially in its attitude to tax and public services. The rest are basically inconvenient and the response is retributional – more police, more prisons. Certainly not an equal opportunity society.

In Spain I get a greater sense of community….is this right?..and more women in key jobs.

7. Efficiency and sense of time.

The Spanish have a more relaxed attitude to time – a double edged sword which, as a customer, takes getting used to. The efficiency of (say) the local tax office…oh dear!
In the UK the standards are higher but at the cost of a lot of stress.

I hope this comes across as reasonably balanced – we love both countries and their differences.

By: maria

maria — Tue, 13 May 2008 13:38:56 +0000

hi Im maria…im spanish and im living abroad…already 2 years! i was living in ireland holland and germany…im really proud of my country and its culture, history and so on…im not agree with this comments about ireland and i think that everybody should learn a bit about other cultures…and protect your own…really nice to hear these sweet comments about spain!

By: marc

marc — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:58:48 +0000

Honestly, don’t understand what is so significant about the climate in…Madrid, for example. Four seasons, cold and hot, rain and sun. It is really quite normal. Championing Madrid for its climate is empty praise.