Destination 》Europe 》Southern Europe 》Spain
Year Visited: 2014 – December
I travelled to Spain for 6 days during December, 2014. As I had a full time job during those days, I was trying to visit at least 2 or 3 new countries every year, though I couldn’t spend more than 5-7 days in a country. Like many other countries I visited during my work life, I would love to go back and really explore and enjoy this country in future.
Spain (España), officially the Kingdom of Spain, is the largest country in Southern Europe, and the second-largest country in the European Union, sharing the Iberian Peninsula with Portugal at the western end of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the country with the third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, after Italy and China.
The many and varied cultures that have gone into the making of Spain—those of the Castilians, Catalonians, Lusitanians, Galicians, Basques, Romans, Arabs, Jews, and Roma (Gypsies), among other peoples—are renowned for their varied cuisines, customs, and prolific contributions to the world’s artistic heritage.
The country’s Roman conquerors left their language, roads, and monuments; the Moors, who ruled over portions of Spain for nearly 800 years, left a legacy of fine architecture, lyric poetry, and science; the Roma contributed the haunting music, a form of flamenco.
During the 16th century, Spain became the most powerful nation in Europe, due to the immense wealth derived from their possessions in the Americas. The steady decline of Spanish power in Europe began at the end of the 16th century, in the 19th century Spain suffered the loss of most of its colonies.
As I had less than a week in the country, I spent most my time in Madrid, the capital city and made couple of day trips by taking public transport to Segovia and Toledo; both cities are inscribed in UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Click on any city below to view my travel photos and stories.
After Six days of traveling around Spain, it was time to fly back to Shanghai, my home at that time.
Window on the World 