"They have, there is no doubt, a generosity, a species of nobility, that do not really belong to the twentieth century."
Orwell on the Spanish people (?!).
Spain is the homeland of Elena and is one of the places where we live in these times of split lives.
These lands were subject to many external influences since prehistoric times and have been one of the great melting pot of races and cultures, particularly a blend of Moorish and Jewish, until it emerged as a modern state in the 15th century with the Catholic Monarchs and the completion of the Reconquista in the Annus Mirabilis 1492 where they also started a new era with the discovery and then conquest of a new world.
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A ciconia (cigüeña) and its nest on a belltower in Alcalá de Henares on 7 March (2008).
Cambados, in December (2016).
A land of proper castles, here in Baños de la Encina on 29 December (2017).
A land of olives and history: Granada in Andalusia, December (2017).
A land of wine and Plaza Mayor, here in Valdepeñas, in January (2018).
In the streets of Baeza, in January (2018).
A typical Andalusian square in Granada, December (2017).
La Guardia de Jaén under a stormy sky, in January (2018).
Madrid and Barcelona are the two Spanish megalopolis, sometimes with a bit of antagonism.
The top 50 cities appear in the list below (click to unfold):
# | Municipality | Pop. (2009) |
---|---|---|
1 | Madrid | 3,255,944 |
2 | Barcelona | 1,621,537 |
3 | Valencia | 852,208 |
4 | Seville | 703,206 |
5 | Zaragoza | 674,317 |
6 | Málaga | 568,305 |
7 | Murcia | 436,870 |
8 | Palma | 401,270 |
9 | Las Palmas | 381,847 |
10 | Bilbao | 354,860 |
11 | Alicante | 334,757 |
12 | Córdoba | 328,428 |
13 | Valladolid | 317,864 |
14 | Vigo | 297,332 |
15 | Gijón | 277,554 |
16 | L'Hospitalet de Llobregat | 257,038 |
17 | A Coruña | 246,056 |
18 | Vitoria-Gasteiz | 235,661 |
19 | Granada | 234,325 |
20 | Elche | 230,112 |
21 | Oviedo | 224,005 |
22 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife | 222,417 |
23 | Badalona | 219,547 |
24 | Cartagena | 211,996 |
25 | Terrassa | 210,941 |
26 | Jerez de la Frontera | 207,532 |
27 | Sabadell | 206,493 |
28 | Móstoles | 206,478 |
29 | Alcalá de Henares | 204,574 |
30 | Pamplona | 198,491 |
31 | Fuenlabrada | 197,836 |
32 | Almería | 188,810 |
33 | Leganés | 186,066 |
34 | Donostia-San Sebastián | 186,066 |
35 | Santander | 182,700 |
36 | Castellón de la Plana | 180,005 |
37 | Burgos | 178,966 |
38 | Albacete | 169,716 |
39 | Alcorcón | 167,967 |
40 | Getafe | 167,164 |
41 | Salamanca | 155,619 |
42 | Logroño | 152,107 |
43 | San Cristóbal de La Laguna | 150,661 |
44 | Huelva | 148,806 |
45 | Badajoz | 148,334 |
46 | Tarragona | 140,323 |
47 | Lleida | 138,416 |
48 | Marbella | 134,623 |
49 | León | 134,305 |
50 | Cádiz | 126,766 |
This is a complete list of the Spanish municipalities:
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(of mainland Spain)
The centre of mainland Spain is assigned to Cerro de los Ángeles in Getafe.
At night, as seen from the International Space Station on 26 July (2014):
Of the Iberian peninsula, we only speak Spanish (and only Elena as a native).
Spanish is a contender to English in the Americas. We were surprised that it was very common in Chicago.