Spain is the twelfth richest economy in the world and is the second biggest country in Europe. Spain is in the Iberian Peninsula which includes Portugal, the Principality of Andorra and the British rock of Gibraltar.  

Castilian Spanish is the official language but there are three more regional languages which include Catalan, Galician and Basque. Spanish as a legacy of its colonial days is also widely spoken in South America with the exception of Brazil where Portuguese is spoken.

Spain is a southern European country and has coasts on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Spain has several islands and includes the Balearic Islands of Minorca and Majorca. There are also the Canary Islands which are situated just off the Coast of Africa. Spain also has two provinces in Morocco.

Spain’s chief exports are olives, fruit, and vegetables. Spain also manufactures cars under the name Seat. It has a thriving ship- building industry and pharmaceutical industry. The majority of the industry is in the north of the country in and around the city of Barcelona.

Spain is largely a mountainous country with some large open plains in and around the capital Madrid. Spain also has the only European desert which is found near Almeria in the south east of the country. There are also other smaller pockets of desert like terrain found across the country.

The largest river in Spain is the River Ebro which flows from the Cantebrian Mountains, (Pico de Europa (Peaks of Europe)) to the sea five hundred and forty miles away at Amposta, Tarragona. Here at the Ebro’s delta silt pours into the sea and over the centuries has built up so much it can clearly be seen on satellite photos.

Spain witnessed a bloody revolution in 1936 and until 1975 was controlled by the fascist General Franco. Soon after Franco’s death Spain applied and was accepted into the European Union. In 1991/2 Spain became a part of the ‘Euro Zone’ and replaced the Peseta and the Euro became Spain’s official currency.

Spain boasts one of the best climates in Europe and has on average just sixty-five days of rainfall a year which fall mainly in May and October. Spain has six to twelve hours of sunshine a day on average. The average winter temperature is five degrees Celsius. In summer the average temperature is 25 degrees Celsius.

These are only averages and summer temperatures in places can well exceed 40 Celsius in August and in winter in the north can dip to minus 14 Celsius during January and February.