Top 10 interesting facts about Spain

The country of bullfighting, burning beauties, wine and beaches, it has the richest culture and nature. You can talk about these things for a long time, in detail and interestingly, but we decided to limit ourselves to the ten most interesting facts about Spain.

10 One of the most mountainous countries in Europe

Spain’s most distinctive geographic features are its mountains. They are so common that Richard Ford, the famous 19th-century English traveler, called the topography of Spain “almost one solid mountain». After Switzerland, Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe. Numerous mountain ranges criss-cross the landscape like jutting ridges, mostly in an east-west direction.

In the north, the Pyrenees form a natural border with France, with several peaks rising to 3000 meters. West of the Pyrenees and parallel to the north coast, the Cordillera Cantabria is home to some of Spain’s rarest wildlife.

Two mountain ranges, the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra de Gredos, cross the center of the peninsula north of Madrid. To the south, the Sierra Morena forms a natural barrier between Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia. Finally, along the southern coast of the Sierra Nevada (which provides some of the best cross-country skiing in Spain) includes the highest mountain on the peninsula, Mulhatzen, at 3,479 meters.

The highest mountain in Spain is actually Teide in the Canary Islands, at 3718 meters.

9. One of the warmest countries in Southern Europe

Spain boasts not only warm, but also a diverse climate in different parts of the country.. In the northern regions, for example, it is quite “fresh” and humid: the thermometer throughout the year averages 14 ° C: the temperature in Bilbao fluctuates on average from 10 ° C in January – March, to 19 ° C in July – September.

The center is cold in winter and hot in summer: in Madrid, the average winter is around 8°C and the average summer is 23°C. In Andalusia and the Levant, the climate is temperate, if you do not take into account the summer months, when even in the shade it is around 40°C.

8. Has land borders with five countries

Spain borders Portugal on the west side, Gibraltar is its neighbor to the south, Andorra and France to the north, and Morocco borders North Africa. The state connects Europe with Africa, and also separates the Mediterranean Sea from the waters of the Atlantic Ocean..

7. The largest center of international tourism

The splendor of the caliph’s palace, the sun-drenched Mediterranean beaches with the wafting print of flamenco dancers’ heels, the reverent silence of pilgrims entering the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela after several weeks of walking along El Camino …

Add to this a diverse cultural program and contemporary art festivals, and you will understand why Spain is so highly regarded by tourists. In addition, there is an excellent level of service and a developed infrastructure, on which a huge amount of not only budgetary money was spent, but also attracted investments.

6. Abundance of minerals

Spain has some of the most mineralized areas in Western Europe, including massive sulfide deposits of volcanic origin in the Iberian pyrite belt in southern Spain. It alone is estimated to have yielded 1,7 billion tons of sulfides, and over 80 deposits have been recorded with individual tonnages in excess of 1 million tons.

Spain also has the largest known reserves of celestite (the only producer in Europe, ranked second in the world after Mexico), mercury, one of the largest zinc quarries in Europe, as well as glauberite, gold, iron, lead, magnetite, mercury , potassium, quartz, refractory mudstone, sea and rock salt, sepiolite salts, tin, tungsten and zinc.

5. The most famous museum in the country – Prado

Housed in a gigantic neoclassical building built by Juan de Villanueva for King Carlos III in 1785, The Prado is Madrid’s most famous landmark.

Originally, Carlos wanted to create a natural history museum reflecting one of his main interests, but by the time it opened in 1819, that plan had changed: The Prado was a public art museum – one of the first in the world – to showcase royal art.

In recent years, the Prado has experienced a very ambitious expansion program, including the renovation of the Casón del Buen Retiro, an extension across from El Retiro Park. Behind the main museum, on the site of the monasteries of San Jeronimo, a new and highly controversial cube-shaped building designed by Rafael Moneo, which hosts temporary exhibitions, has also been opened.

As for the collection itself, the core is still royal possessions, so it reflects royal tastes and political alliances from the 15th to the 17th centuries, especially the court painters Diego de Velázquez and Francisco de Goya.

Political ties to France, Italy and the southern, Catholic Netherlands also provide a presence for works by Titian, Rubens and Hieronymus Bosch, among others. The collection did have some gaps, mainly due to Spanish warfare with England, Holland, and other Protestant states, and the Spanish monarchs’ unfamiliarity with pre-High Renaissance artists, but recent acquisitions have smoothed things out somewhat.

4. Gave the world Picasso, Dali, Miro and Gaudi

And this is not a complete list of great artists and not only. Cinematography – directed by Pedro Almodovar or actor Antonio Banderas. Sports – iconic footballers Xavi, Iniesta, Sergio Ramos or Carles Puyol (and this is only in the 21st century). In almost every field there is at least one Spaniard who greatly influenced its development..

3. Polyethnic country

The state occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula: the territory is divided into 17 autonomous communities. It is not so easy to explain the mentality of Spain, where, in addition to the Castilians, Catalans, Galicians, Basques and Aragonese live.

Each nation has its own language and traditions, different from each other, and people are proud of their independence and originality. So in Spain, not only fans of different football clubs, but also representatives of different communities can be at enmity.

2. The banking system is one of the most stable in Europe

The current stability is the result of hard work and bold reforms, as just a couple of decades ago, Spain had to incur huge debts to fix the situation. The country was given a loan of up to 100 billion euros, but Spain managed to solve its problems for less than 45 billion, and also began to pay off the debt ahead of schedule.

1. The main sport is football

Hemingway believed that the national pastime in Spain was bullfighting. This is not true. The football season for fans never ends here! There is only one sport that is covered in the news. Everything else is just a footnote to football coverage.

One morning, a few years ago, on Spanish national radio RNE, climber Pepa Fernández made a similar comment, noting that the two gold medals won by Mireya Belmonte at the European Short Course Swimming Championships received only a minute of coverage, compared to hours. given to El Clasico even before the match took place.