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TOURISM INFORMATION
 Spain
is situated in South-western Europe and covers 90% of the Iberian Peninsula
that makes together with the islands a total of 504,788 sq. kilometres. The
Spanish Border Countries are Portugal, Andorra and France. A total coastline of
4,964km is bordering the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea and the North
Atlantic Ocean. The highest point of Spain is the Pico de Teide in Tenerife on
the Canary Islands at 3718m, and on the peninsula it is the Mulhacén in the
Andalusian Sierra Nevada with 3478m. After Switzerland, Spain is the highest
Country in Europe and is very diverse. It ranges from the near-deserts of
Almeria to the green countryside of the north and the white sandy beaches of
the Mediterranean Coast.
The weather in Spain is as diverse as its landscape. On the whole it is a
temperate climate with clear and very hot and dry summers in the inland region
and more moderate and cloudy along the coast. In the winter it is cloudy and
very cold in the inland region and along the coast partly cloudy and cool.
The water temperatures in the summer months range from 20C on the Costa Brava,
Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol to 25C at the Balearic Islands of Mallorca,
Ibiza and Menorca.
Spain has the Central European Time (CET = UTC+1) during the winter months
(November - March) and in summer (April - October) the clocks are changed to
Central European Summer Time (CEST = UTC+2).
The Spanish capital and at the same time the largest city is Madrid with
3,000,000 inhabitants. Spain is divided into 19 autonomous communities, 15 on
the mainland (Andalusia, Aragon, Principality of Asturias, Basque Country,
Cantabria, Castile-La Mancha, Castile and Leon, Catalonia, Extremadura,
Galicia, La Rioja, Madrid, Murcia, Navarre y Valencia), the Balearic and Canary
Islands, and two autonomous cities bordering Morocco (Ceuta and Melilla). In
addition to the national capital each autonomous community has its own capital
and within an autonomous community there may be more than one province.
 Spain
has a population of about 44 million (estimated in July 2005) that is a
population density of 85 inhabitants per sq. kilometre. 94% of the Spanish
population is Roman Catholic, the remaining 6% are spread off in other
religions. The Catholic Religion in Spain plays a quite important role, which
can be experienced all over Spain in semana santa, the holy week before Easter.
If you want to experience Spanish culture you should visit this event in your
Easter holidays, the best in Seville in Andalusia but also in other Spanish
regions it is very impressive. As Spain is a very traditional country you can
visit different traditional events all over the year and all over the country.
Spain is a versatile country and therefore it is not surprising that there is
also more than one language. Castilian Spanish (castellano) is the official
language and spoken throughout the whole country but there are three
co-official languages spoken in their respective autonomous region. Catalan
(català) in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, Galician (gallego) in Galicia
and Basque (euskara) in the Basque country and Navarre.
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