Spain is a country located in extreme southwestern Europe, encompassing about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbor, Portugal.
Spain is renowned for its rich history, characterized by stone castles, snowcapped mountains, grand monuments, and vibrant cities, making it a popular travel destination. The country is marked by geographical and cultural diversity. Its central region, the Meseta, is a vast plateau situated half a mile above sea level.
Traditionally dedicated to cattle ranching and grain production, this rural landscape was the backdrop for Miguel de Cervantes’s iconic character, Don Quixote, who famously tilted at the tall windmills that still adorn various places in the region. In the northeast lie the expansive valley of the Ebro River, the mountainous Catalonia region, and the hilly coastal plain of Valencia. To the northwest, the Cantabrian Mountains form a rugged range with densely forested, rain-swept valleys interspersed with towering peaks.
Moving southward, one encounters the citrus orchards and irrigated lands of the Guadalquivir River valley, immortalized in the renowned verses of Spanish poets Federico García Lorca and Antonio Machado. Overlooking this valley is the snowcapped Sierra Nevada. The southern part of the country transforms into a desert, an extension of the Sahara, made familiar to Americans through the “spaghetti western” films of the 1960s and early ’70s.
The southeastern Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands, adorned with palm trees, rosemary bushes, and tropical vegetation, enjoy a mild climate that attracts millions of visitors and retirees, particularly from northern Europe.
