Guest Author - Rachel L Webb

Spain is as diverse as it's geography, bright as it's 300+ days of sunshine and glorious as it's gastronomy. Tradition or culture, fiestas or fashion, food or wine whatever it is you'd like to know more of, let's discover it together.

Let's take a walk through it's history, it’s artists, it's beaches, it's architecture and more importantly it's people.

The traditional saying mi casa es tu casa "my house is your house" is a welcome from these open-hearted people to share their country and back-yard.

From the lushness of Green Spain on the Atlantic coast to the arid deserts of Almeria on the Mediterranean Sea, it's diversity is awesome. A vast and mountainous country in which you can ski in the morning in the Sierra Nevadas and sunbathe in the afternoon on the Costa Tropical.

From high rise coast to white-washed villages, metropolitan cities to historical monuments 60 million foreign visitors come to Spain each year, most are captivated and vow to return. Many more buy a holiday home or relocate to a life-style that draws you into it’s relaxed mañana attitude with it’s nearly constant blue sky.

Superb old buildings from Moorish palaces and castles to Renaissance plazas and Roman aqueducts are interspersed by medieval castles in abundance, these play host to an abundance of fiestas and pilgrimages. I’ve never planned an agenda but I reckon you could attend a fiesta every week travelling the country as the fair ground stalls and rides do.

Partying the whole night long is not unusual for Spaniards of all ages, and I really love seeing family parties of great-grandparents down the four generations all out at a bar or for a meal until the early hours. Teenagers with their parents or taking care of the younger siblings or nephews and nieces are a joy to see. Family is important and young children accepted happily and made a fuss of by smiling waiters all across the country.

After a night of partying the siesta is a necessity with shops closing at 2pm, schools finishing at 3pm and the workers lunch hour from 2 – 4 what else is there to do!
Some of the larger stores and shopping centres now open all day, but smaller shops and banks still close for lunch and may re-open at around 5.30 – 8.30.

Lets take a look at it all, come with me on a tour of the coast and the interior, throw me some questions and we’ll all get to know this lively land more deeply, and who knows you may even come and visit it and me.