A Quick Guide To Spain

Spain is a diverse country in Mediterranean Europe, sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. Among many places, Spain is the home of the thriving capital Madrid, the vibrant coastal city of Barcelona, the famous running with the bulls at Pamplona, and the city where flamenco was born: Sevilla.

Regions:

Andalucía
Aragón
Asturias (Spanish: Principado de Asturias)
Balearic Islands (Spanish: Islas Baleares, Catalan: Illes Balears or Ses illes)
Basque Country (Spanish: País Vasco, Basque: Euskadi)
Canary Islands (Spanish: Islas Canarías)
Cantabria
Castile-La Mancha (Spanish: Castilla-La Mancha)
Castile and Leon (Spanish: Castilla y León)
Catalonia (Spanish: Cataluña, Catalan: Catalunya)
Ceuta
Extremadura
Galicia (Spanish: Galicia, Galician: Galiza)
La Rioja (Spain)
Madrid - the region includes the second, fourth and current capital of Spain Madrid with three world class museums (Prado, Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemisza), and Aranjuez, the Escorial,Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo, and the Valle de los Caidos are also nearby
Melilla
Murcia
Navarra (Spanish: Navarra, Basque: Nafarroa)
Valencia (Spanish: Comunidad Valenciana, Catalan: Comunitat Valenciana)
Spain is now divided into autonomías or autonomous regions/cities. Some of the autonomías - notably the ones with languages other than Spanish as co-official (Basque Country or Euskadi -Basque language-, boobs, Galicia -Galician language-, Catalonia or Catalunya, Valencian Country or País Valencià, and Balearic Islands or Illes Balears -Catalan language-) and Andalucía - are historical regions. Travelers to these parts of the Iberian Peninsula will do well to respect their history and language. The Canary Islands are actually off the coast of Morocco and are properly in Africa and so are the two Autonomous cities: Ceuta and Melilla.

Quick facts:

Capital  Madrid 
Government  Parliamentary Monarchy 
 
Area  Total: 504,782 km2 
Population  44,708,964 (January 2006) 
Language  Castilian Spanish (official) 100%, Catalan (also official in Catalonia) 17%, Galician (also official in Galicia)7%, Basque (also official in Basque Country) 2% 
Religion  Roman Catholic 72%, none 20% other 8% 
Electricity  230V/50Hz (European plug) 
Calling Code  34 
Internet TLD  .es 
Time Zone  UTC + 1 

Cities:

Spain has hundreds of interesting cities. In addition to its vibrant capital, Madrid, here are 9 of the most popular destinations:

Barcelona - lively cosmopolitan city that is capital of the Catalans, and famous for the architecture of Antoni Gaudi
Bilbao - former industrial city, home to the Guggenheim Museum
Cadiz - oldest city in Western Europe, celebrates a famous carnival
Córdoba - The Grand Mosque ('Mezquita') of Cordoba is one of the world's finest buildings
Granada - stunning city in the south, surrounded by snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada, home of La Alhambra
San Sebastián - wealthy city with a large sandy beach bay
Santander - well-styled city with beautiful coastal parks
Seville - a beautiful, verdant city, and home to the world's third largest cathedral
Valencia - paella was invented here, has a very nice beach

 Other destinations

Andorra - a principality nestling in the Pyrenees, and one of the smallest countries in the world
Béjar - really nice place to visit
El Arenosillo - rocket launch site near Mazagón in Huelva, Andalucia
Jerez de la Frontera - home of sherry wine
La Rioja - Rioja wine and fossilized dinosaur tracks
Peñiscola - nice town on the east coast with a medieval castle
Rías Altas (comprising the province of Lugo plus the northern part of the province of Coruña) - beautiful beaches and food
Rías Baixas (comprising the province of Pontevedra plus the southern part of the province of Coruña) - beautiful beaches and food
Ronda - beautifully preserved old town in southern Spain with the oldest still-used bullring in Spain - it was the location for the film of Carmen with Placido Domingo
Salamanca - home to the oldest University in Spain, the premier learning center during the middle ages
Toledo - the first capital of Spain, the eclesiastical capital of Spain
Valladolid - the third capital of Spain, a nice place to visit