Spain [antikvár]

Introduction It has been said that Europe ends at the Pyrenees. While that has always been an exaggeration, any journey south of those mountains proves that, as an old tourism promotion campaign once had it, Spain is different. With its plethora of colourful fiestas and unbelievably vibrant and late nightlife, its complete spectrum of scenery and environments and its unique and well-preserved architectural and artistic heritage, Spain provides a variety of fun and fascination that few countries can match. Travel is easy, accommodation plentiful, the climate generally benign, the people relaxed and fun-loving, the beaches long and sandy, and food and drink easy to come by and full of regional variation. More than 40 million foreigners a year take holidays in Spain to enjoy these things. Yet you can also ü-avel for days and hear no other tongue but Spanish. Once away from the holiday costas, you could only be in Spain. In the cities, narrow, twisting old streets suddenly open out to views of daring modem architecture, while spit-and-sawdust bars serving wine from the barrel rub shoulders with blaring, glaring discos. Travel out into the back country and you'll fmd, an hour or two from some of Europe's most stylish and sophisticated cities, villages where time has done its best to stand still since the Middle Ages. Geographically, Spain's diversity is immense. In Andalucía, for example, you could ski in the Sierra Nevada and later the same day recline on a Mediterranean beach or traverse the deserts of Almería. There are 13