OK, there are a million reasons why Spain is great, and after the first three entries, I could continue this series forever… But I’m off on holiday to find even more reasons why Spain is great, and in the mean time, I wanted to wrap this series up by asking YOU why you think Spain is great.
But first of all, here are my final thoughts, a few more of the things that Make Spain Great:
1. Professional waiters who’ve been in the job for life and don’t do a bad job while simultaneously trying to charm you for tips.
2.Eating and drinking on outdoor Terrazas in summer when the air buzzes with happiness.
3.Spanish girls in summer (OK, all year round…)
4. The amazing diverstiy of landscapes from the green north to the deserts of Almeria, the mountains, plains and sierras…
5. Morcilla.
6. San Sebastian, Granada and Cadiz.
7. The fact that friendly Spanish people aren’t scared to touch your baby’s feet.
8. … or touch each other in conversation without flinching.
9. Dos besos.
10. Over to You – What would you put at number 10? Answers in the comments below please!
Dave Baldwin
10 Jul 09 at 2:13 pm
Staying in an apartment, overlooking the 1st tee and 18th green Of Miraflores Golf Club, hearing the ‘PING’ of drives going off, clean air AND magnificent views of Mijas Pueblo, The Sierra Nevada’s (On a clear day) and THE MED – all with a bottle of San Miguel in hand -PRICELESS
Ryan
10 Jul 09 at 2:30 pm
One word: Jamon
and to flesh out my thoughts, the fact that almost every wine made in Spain goes with Jamon.
Graham
10 Jul 09 at 2:31 pm
I can’t think of any more
(Don’t want the place overrun do we?)
Anwar
10 Jul 09 at 5:44 pm
No. 10: Spain is GREAT because it’s inspired the creation of fantastic podcasts like El rincón de Laura and Notes from Spain.
Raymondo
10 Jul 09 at 6:40 pm
The attitude towards kids.
The wine.
The availability of excellent seafood.
The fruit & veg / butcher / fishmonger shops on every street in small neighbourhood.
The Menu del Dia (Choose wisely!)
La Playa
Janey
10 Jul 09 at 6:42 pm
Great list. I would add anchovies or boquerones or just any fish in general.
Must disagree about Spanish waiters. Yes been there for life, but they are not attentive at all.
Jose
10 Jul 09 at 6:53 pm
Diversity on a loose but unique identity. That’s Spain’s most valuable secret.
Perro Callejero
10 Jul 09 at 8:35 pm
–More relaxed view of life (i.e. work in order to vacation rather than vacation so you can get back to work).
–The landscape (like the dry plains/mesetas)
–Small Spanish villages with fresh air and birds chirping (i.e. Santo Domingo de Silos)
–Paella! Tortilla! Jamón! Wine!
–Nice beaches.
–Nice people.
–Old buildings.
–Dense cities (I’m from Oklahoma. Every business has, like, an acre to its name! haha).
–El Metro!
mrmark
10 Jul 09 at 8:45 pm
The coffee
Free bar snack/tapas in inland towns and cities
The marvellous beaches on the north coast
Gazpacho
The football teams
Fantastic good-value public transport
The ability to get things done – could London build 80 odd metro stations in 3 years like Madrid?
Castles, cathedrals and aqueducts
Mojama
Steve
11 Jul 09 at 3:19 am
Consistent cafe con leche from the gas station on the autopista to the best bar in town
Beautiful roses growing from practically soilless ground
Kristy
11 Jul 09 at 4:28 am
When I got pink eye (conjunctivitis) in Madrid four years ago… all I had to do was to go to the farmacia down the road, point to my eye, mumble something like “creo que tengo conjuntivitis,” and the woman sold me eye drops for, like, two euros. TWO.
No scheduling a doctor’s visit.
No examination.
No twenty-dollar co-pay.
No questions.
Just immediate, effective, and cheap solutions. Eye cleared up in 24 hours. Go, España. You’ve got yourself a life-long fan.
Kristy
11 Jul 09 at 4:30 am
Oh, and did I mention that they were prescription-strength eye drops? I didn’t. Two euros. Flippin’ fantastic.
Susie
11 Jul 09 at 4:39 am
Relaxed weekend dinners with family or friends on the terraza. I remember one Saturday night where we had great conversation over a two hour dinner. No rushing in Spain!
RayTibbitts
11 Jul 09 at 6:09 am
I’m with Kristy on this one. I’m still free to have as much fun as I want, even to the point of making myself sick or getting hurt, and I can get everyone else to foot the bill. Or at least 90% of the bill.
Brandon
11 Jul 09 at 7:39 am
I don’t think I could top numbers 5 and 9! Those are two of the things I miss most about Spain!
ValenciaSon
11 Jul 09 at 3:02 pm
Churros con chocolate
A more sincere genuine people
Sweet sounds of Castillian spoken
The smell and cool feel of an afternoon sea breeze in Valencia, by the port
Chorizo
Freshly baked ensaimada
Café
Authentic paella, not arroz con cosas
Vino everywhere
Bleeding edge public transportation
La Marcha
#3
Ana
11 Jul 09 at 4:27 pm
¿Porque España es ‘great’? Porque tiene un portugues como mejor jugador de futbol. (Just kidding
)
jambro
11 Jul 09 at 4:53 pm
- incomparable cafe con leche
- the sweet fragrance of orange blossoms
during a
moonlit stroll in Seville while beautiful Spanish
children play about.
- evening paseo in just about every city and
town
- has anyone mentioned tapas/pintxos?
- AVE trains (now expanding operations even
more)
- regional diversity
- atmospheric medieval towns and cities
- fresh zumo de naranja, and super sweet
Spanish melons.
gary
11 Jul 09 at 5:58 pm
All the other stuff and…
Integrated public transport that is very affordable
Medication that works – Hemicraneal, Vincigrip…etc
Food – fantastic quality and presentation
Sunshine
jocelyn
11 Jul 09 at 11:36 pm
The ferias in Sevilla and Jerez. The wonderful Andalucian horses. The Corridas. The Easter processions everywhere but especially in Lorca. The local fiestas.
This could go on endlessly. We’re all aficionados!
RayTibbitts
12 Jul 09 at 12:01 am
Man, I really need to stop making online comments before having eaten. I’ll blame low blood-sugar. Sorry Kristy, I know you were just commenting on the nice, helpful pharmacists over here, and the added benefit of low-cost pharmaceuticals.
I, on the other hand, nearly divulged my secret, financial justification for staying.
Oh heck, I’ll own up to it: Some of my wife’s prescriptions were costing me more than I spent on housing back in the States, and since it was her turn to decide where we were going to live, I decided it would be easier to move than to get her added to my health insurance’s drug plan.
Pre-existing conditions are the achilles heal of any health care system; she was diagnosed after I married her, what are you gonna do?
PattyN
12 Jul 09 at 3:44 am
I have to agree with so many of these, especially the jamon and the wine.
Also, men who know how to dance!
katia
12 Jul 09 at 11:17 pm
Esquiar en manga corta una tarde buena de Marzo o Abril en Sierra Nevada (Granada) y esa misma noche, solo a hora y media de coche, tomarte un espeto de sardinas y unas cañas en un chiringuito en la playa en Málaga mientras disfrutas de la brisa del Mediterraneo.
katia
12 Jul 09 at 11:24 pm
Cenar en una terraza de un carmen del Albaicín, en una noche de verano, contemplando la maravillosa vista de la Alhambra iluminada.
f.
13 Jul 09 at 3:09 pm
1. botellon!
2. tribunal en madrid: tiendas por el dia y bares por la noche
3. hablar de politica y futbol con los taxistas por la noche
4. people banging drums at retiro on sundays
5. metro madrid
6. GRANADA!
7. brand new apartments with swimming pools
8. chinese people selling beers at street corners
Dave Stone
14 Jul 09 at 7:08 pm
So many thoughts come to mind, but here are my top 3:
1. Tapa-hopping in Salamanca and pintxo-hopping in San Sebastian
2. Lively atmosphere and street performers on La Rambla in Barcelona
3. Black-sand volcanic beaches and lunar-like landscape of El Teide Nat’l Park on Tenerife
leftbanker
16 Jul 09 at 11:08 am
1) Sometimes a guy just likes to take a leisurely stroll down a quiet cobblestone street while being pursued by a herd of homicidal bulls. That guy isn’t me because I was born with certain birth defects which preclude my participation in these events: a dominant cowardly gene and an excess of common sense. There is no known cure.
2) 82.3% less news about Michael Jackson (and there was plenty about him in Spain).
3) This may seem astonishing to many of you but as a male of the species I really don’t find nude women on the beach to be repugnant. I think that I could live without the naked, fat, 60 year old foreign tourists but you have to learn to take the good with the bad, the ugly, and the “Oh my God I wish I had never seen that.”
4) As far as consumer mentality goes, Spain has helped me to realize that life isn’t better just because you have a choice of 95 breakfast cereals at the supermarket. I don’t even like cereal.
5) Like almost all Spaniards, I have learned to have a healthy respect for food. People here won’t even eat a bag of potato chips without first decanting them into a nice serving bowl. I have learned that Menú del Día translates into English as “Two hour lunch with a nap afterwards.”
6) Vacations in Spain are an art form. We don’t even have a word in America for puente which in Spain means to milk as much out of a day off as humanly possible. A café in my neighborhood run by a Chinese family put a sign in their window that said they were taking off two hours early on a Saturday night to celebrate Chinese New Year. Most Spaniards needed three days to do that holiday justice.
7) 86.3% fewer serial killers than in the USA.
9) I can buy a pig’s head at my butcher. I have never bought a pig’s head but I like having the option.
10) Honestly, I can’t be bothered to find out about anything in Spain I don’t like.
Edmund Sykes
17 Jul 09 at 5:26 pm
I rushed into my local Coviran (small high-street supermarket in every Andlaucian pueblo except Murtas and Turon) to grab a few essential supplies. Turned the corner towards the checkout and inwardly groaned, a queue in front of 6 people and, by the time pleasantries have been exchanged, 15 minutes at least. Never mind, I live in Andalucia, I expect this sort of thing.
Little boy with his mother in front of me saying (in Spanish) “Mama, mama, I need to have a pee-pee” as he desperately clutches the front of his shorts. His mother says “Don’t be stupid, you can’t have a pee-pee in here, wait until we get home”. Little boy says “But why, mama, he is?” as he points to similar boy aged about four who is squatting in the supermarket aisle with his trousers around his ankles.
To my great shame, I replaced the shopping on the shelves and fled! From experience, the entire queue was going to get involved with the drama and time to the till had doubled to 30 minutes.
However, that’s why I love Spain!
Michael
22 Jul 09 at 7:15 am
10) More genuine attitude toward living. As compared to the northeast U.S., Spain is home of the:
…stare-at-everyone-without-shame-because-they’re-there-to-look-at,
…converse-without(or with less)-reservation,
…laugh-at-anything/anyone-because-HEY-who-cares-in-the-end,
…step-on-people’s-toes-because-you’re-in-the-way-idiota,
…and (last, but not least), disfrutar la vida pq es corta…
way of living.
This is based on my own experiences in Spain. Nothing more. Spain is not perfect and it’s not for everyone. Still, many of us could learn some wonderful lessons from their way of life. Let’s drink to them pulling through the current economic crisis very soon. Now pass the jamon!
K. Aleisha Fetters
23 Jul 09 at 8:06 pm
Tinto de Verano is the best drink on a hot summer night in Spain. Red wine, Fanta (either lemon or orange), and plenty of ice makes a intoxicating beverage–literally.
I’ve enjoyed it many a time on the streets in Sevilla, and I can’t wait to try other towns’ versions when I move to Guadix in September.
Learn from my travels at http://followthenomad.wordpress.com
Jonny
28 Jul 09 at 11:08 pm
Santa Maria de Lebeña, nr Fuete De; (& the Picos de Europa generally), vermut on tap in Madrid tascas, torta de santiago, Bilbao’s Casco Viejo, and any Spanish pork products – lomo, fuet, morcilla, chorizo, jamon, butifarra, chistorra, sobrasada, salchichon, you name it – and the opportunity to enjoy them unhurriedly and without breaking the bank.
Meghan Smithgall
30 Jul 09 at 9:59 pm
1. La sobremesa- The general gusto for long meals, good conversation, and lots of storytelling and laughing, without the pressure and angst of the days many “to-do’s” or turning the table in a restaurant
2. Terrazas in the summer- There’s La Latina, just about each plaza in Madrid, and cafe after cafe catering to the warm (or HOT!) summer air and the need to unwind and enjoy each other (and life around you)
3. Jamon iberico de bellota- I’m still not sure I’ve ever tasted a meat so sweet and salty at the same time, so rich, nutty, and irresistible!
4. Common/Informal expressions that only fit in Spanish: that even Queen Sofia herself says, “hombre, es que…”; little kids in the street saying “Juan, dejame la pelota, joder- me cago en la leche;” little old women saying, “pero que cono dices?” haha
Mo
3 Aug 09 at 3:13 pm
Yes, yes, yes, agree, agree. So why am I sick to death of the place? It must be me and that old curmudgeonly crusty Scottishness I was born with, (you know the kind that expects institutions to work and bureaucracy to bear some relation to what a people requires). I just had one of my lovely, (yes yes, heavy sarcasm) day-in-day-out Spanish experiences at a summer camp for kids. All went well till … the cock-up. Everything here works perfectly till … the cock-up. In my humble opinion no amount of ham makes up for that. Sorry, see my grumbly old blog for more grousiness in general. And I´ll keep reading to see if you can make me change my mind, or at least my smelly old cardigan and carpet slippers from between the wars. Grumble grumble ….
Mo
4 Aug 09 at 10:06 pm
Decided that the things I love about Spain should be mentioned. The food, drink, the way that the day goes on until late at night, geraniums, living with all the doors and windows open even at night, Spanish generosity, gesticulation, the language. In fact I´d put that one as my best. The Spanish language. It is adorable, thrilling, quirky, vast, beautiful.
Martin
11 Aug 09 at 6:08 pm
#10 Tappas / Tapitas or Pinchos
followed by raciones if one cant eat a full meal.
Tappas are small dishes of ultimate variety,depending where one is in Spain, served with a drink.
Great for just chilling out in the hours before the serious evening meal starts (10pm or so).
Great at lush time when its too hot to eat a full meal.
It’s the civilised way to have a drink (or two or….)
Salobrena
17 Aug 09 at 1:37 pm
Must be the weather (although the winter can be a bit of a suprise for anyone expecting endless warm evenings when they move here).
Why are most foreigners here? To touch baby feet? To eat morcilla? No for 320 days of sunshine a year – something that many Spanish would like to get away from! England is having one of its typical wet summers following a particularly cold winter. As long as the sunshine continues Spain will remain a favourite. Thankfully there are also many other attractive aspects to life here most of which are already above (nice to see Granada was included in the original list – a great city) – but they would be immaterial if Spain was cold and wet.
Diarmuid
23 Aug 09 at 11:23 am
@kristy I had to post over some cream for conjunctivitis to a friend in NYC..he had gone there from Madrid for the Summer!!! decent health system is essential..and all Spaniards are happy to have one!
Mike
27 Aug 09 at 11:05 pm
There are loads of things I love about Spain…
Friendly people
Ir de tapas
Jamón y chorizo
Salamanca
Wine – especially Rioja
Signing off e-mails with ‘un abrazo’
Los mercardos
The Metros in Madrid and Barça, with aircon
The language (which I’m trying my hardest to get to grips with)
Fabada Asturiana
Lucy
5 Sep 09 at 9:21 pm
Hey Mike, I agree with you on most things here, though I don’t think people are so friendly (I’m Brazilian, might I add). Here’s my list:
Sobrasada
Fresh fish
Madrid
Ir de tapas (which means going to around 4 bars in one evening)
Churros del Zahara, in Madrid
Breakfast in Murcia: pan con tomate
Laara
14 Sep 09 at 10:45 pm
- the beautiful architecture
- Terrazas among orange trees in Sevilla
- Tapas
- Tinto de Verano
- Ordering Tinto de Verano for 1.5 euros in Granada and getting a tapa with it…
- Buying a litre of Sangria in a carton for 1 euro at supermarcados
- Being told to buy the cheaper wine in the supermarket even though it was still really cheap to for me! (Mike, it was Rioja I bought. I can’t find Rioja in Canada!)