The first three things...

[Ben]

This is a bit of a random question, but what are the first three things that come into your head when you think of Spain? (and - if you like - why?)

[Polly]

#1] When I was a child, I lived in Southern California (which is very much like the Costa del Sol) - so when I thought of Spain at all...I always had the romantic notion of the Spanish countryside, and noblemen and women of the 15th and 16th centuries - the gouchos riding horseback over the haciendas...honorable friars, and pious nuns (Although I am not Catholic, I was of course, Surrounded by Spanish Missions and Spanish-influenced architecture!), as well as many Spanish place-names:
my schools: Loma Vista, & el Camino; The cities we lived in: Montrose, La Canada, & San Buena Ventura (more of an Italian name, that, one?) and the park I played in as a child:Royale Verde.
. We even had islands within view of our house, on the hilllside off the Pacific coast Highway: the Catalinas and the Anna Cappas.
So - I pretty well always imagined Spain to be very much like home!

#2] When I was around 11 years old, the popular television show: Saturday Night Live was in it's first year - this was in 1975 - the same year Francisco Franco died. I had NO idea who Franco was (until his death), however - and I owe any knowledge I did have of the man at that time completely to SNL - as they repeated a recurrent joke weekly for almost a year: "This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco....is still dead." To this day, I still don't know why it was so funny...but it was.

#3] When I was 14 years old (and by then living in the northern midwest!), I became involved in a theatre group at my highschool, and we mounted a play called "The Nativity of Signor Spaghetti" (Don't ask!) Trust me - it was very avante garde for a small town high school -- anyway, the set for the play included VERY large flatboard cutouts of the images depicted in Picasso's Guernica.
That was my introduction to the master.

So to recap. When I think of Spain - the FIRST three things that come to mind:

HOME
FRANCISCO FRANCO (Still Dead!)
PICASSO's GUERNICA

I made my first visit to Spain this year (in March) - and I hope it won't be my last. I have so many MORE things that I think about now, in regards to the landscape, culture, and people!


Polly

[gary]

good food, civility, value for money.

The first speaks for itself.
The second - drinking to oblivion every weekend does not seem to be endemic.
The third - A coffee and a large brandy for less than the price of a coffee in the UK. Oh and hotel s charge per room not per person (its the tour operators that double it!!)

[ValenciaSon]

Chorizo, churros y chocolate

[cubix]

Salamanca-First spanish city visited for more than a day

Café con leche-Oh so much better than american coffee


Don Limpio-long story, let's just say the people in the grocery store in Toledo were looking at us funny, and I swear if we had stayed their any longer the security guard would have removed us or something) grocery shopping in a foreign country is a experince

[lumpsuckerpig]

Number 1
Tossa De Mar on the Costa Brava. It's an idyllic place, tranquil and an age away from cold,grey,expensive,corrupt Britain.

Number 2
San Miguel in an iced glass. Nectar on a hot day.

Number 3
Everything.

[Seán]

(i) dancing with castanets (how shallow! :blush: )

(ii) the horrors of the civil war - the husband of an old friend fought in the International Brigade

(iii) St Josémaría Escrivá
---------------------------------------

(iv) almost dying of dehydration on my one and only visit six years ago - this year will erase those bad memories forever :D

[guapo]

i) The Sun

I guess for most Brits, Spain means sunshine. It is still where most of us choose to spend our holidays, escaping from the miserable Northern European climate.

ii) Flamenco

my parents took their honeymoon in Spain in the late fifties and brought back castanets and the typical tourist souvenir of a doll dressed flamenco style. This is probably my earliest memory of Spain and I can remember playing with the castanets as a kid. Definitely a stereotype, but strongly associated with the country in my mind.

iii) Modern Spain

not sure how to sum this up, but it is the impression I have of Spain during my visits there over the last few years of a new, young and modern country.

[Chiny]

(1) Baffling language. Easing somewhat now but tough compared to my schoolboy French and German.

(2) Fear. I faced the business end of some Guardia Civil gun in 1975, and saw the dreaded uniform again in Yecla last year with the memory returning.

(3) Relaxation. I have only once been on business to Spain, every other time has been for relaxation.

--
Chiny

[richardksa]

1) My first evening in Madrid, sipping a beer in the Parco Del Retiro in the bar by the lake, watching the girls go past on rollerblades.

2) Warm, interesting, friendly and intelligent people who know how to have a good time without falling down drunk!

3) The countryside. The mountains with snow-capped peaks. Rustic, tumble down villages near Soria. The little villages of Salamanca. (I have yet to visit the coast).