Europe

Remaining countries (according to my criteria): Liechtenstein, Iceland, Belarus, Russia, Vatican City, Cyprus, Malta and Turkey.

My Europe experience

In this small part of the world called Europe there are many amazing and wonderful places and tons of culture everywhere. A multidiverse & multicultural area of the world really recommended to discover.

1. Spain

Overview

Popultion: Around 47 million.

Capital: Madrid.

Famous people: Antonio Banderas & Penelope Cruz (actors), Pablo Picasso & Salvador Dalí (painters), Rafael Nadal & Fernando Alonso (sports), "Macarena" &"Asereje" (songs), Antoni Gaudí & Santiago Calatrava (architects).

Second biggest country in the European Union and 4th most visited country in the world.

Advantages: Good weather practically the whole year (it depends where you are from), good and diverse food, many monuments, a lot of history, friendly and helpful people in general.

Disadvantages: Most of the population do not speak English (young people more and more), the train is expensive in general terms, you do not get discount as student in many places (transport, cinema, monuments) but it is improving. Noisy country in general, if you like calm places go to the towns, villages. Some places are not well-connected.

Must visit: Granada (Alhambra, moorish castle), Barcelona (Gaudí structures), Santiago de Compostela (Cathedral), Córdoba (the Jewish neighborhood), Seville (city center in general), Mérida (Roman amphitheatre), Segovia (La Granja Gardens, aqueduct, the cathedral), Valencia (city center and the Arts and Sciences City), Madrid (Major Square, Palaces), Salamanca (city center, oldest university in Spain).

Places to visit: San Sebastián (La Concha beach and city center), Zaragoza (city itself and religious buildings), Cádiz (city center), Málaga (Alcazaba, moorish castle, older than Alhambra), Almeria (submarine environments, desert and western cinema studios), Galicia (Lugo, Pontevedra, sea inlets), Catalonia (Olot, Besalú, volcanoes), Canary islands (Tenerife, Lanzarote), Balear islands (Cabrera, Ibiza, Mallorca), León...

Tips: Plan your trip with time mainly if you are going to take trains, they are much cheaper in advance. Check accomodation mainly in the most tourist places in high demand time (Summer, Easter, Christmas), try local food (not only Paella, Spanish omelette, there are many more good stuffs) and also drink (sangría, tinto de verano, sweet wine). Do not be afraid about asking people, they will try to help in most cases even if they do not know the language.

I decided to start with my own country. Maybe you can think I just want to do advertisement but what is true is that the great majority of people get satisfied visiting Spain; and this is a fact. I decided to show same number of advantages and disadvantages to be as much "objective" as I can be. Almost all the places I mention I have been so I can talk about. The ones I have not been I included thanks to the many references I have. Maybe you see many "must-visit" places but, I can guarantee this is the result of knowing very well my country because the history and the many cultures (Roman, Arab) that pass through it and influences it even later, makes Spain a very rich country in culture, monuments and habits. One of a few countries in which there are 4 languages, being Spanish is the official one. Catala is spoken in Catalonia, Valencian Community and Balear Islands (mixture of Spanish and French with some details of Italian), Gallego in Galicia community (Keltic language close to Irish in some way) and Basque in Country Basque ("strange language" difficult to cataloge by linguistic experts, close to Caucasian languages. From my experience to Armenian). At the same time Spain has a wide variety of landscapes as a consequence of different architecture and rock (siliceous and limestone mainly and mostly half-half of the territory).

You have as much information as you want in the net although, I stongly advice to look for places further than Madrid or Barcelona because everywhere you go visiting the big cities you cannot get all the realities existing in a country and in Spain there are many of them!

If you have any doubt, question, do not hesitate to contact me. I know my country quite well from the travelling point of view.

One more time this reference is the result of my experience, nothing is wrong or totally right, it is just my point of view as human being ^^

Some pictures are coming... Enjoy Spain!