Planning To Go
Festivals, cultural events and sports competitions crowd the Spanish calendar. Even small villages have at least one traditional fiesta, lasting a week or more, when parades, bullfights and fireworks replace work. Many rural and coastal towns celebrate the harvest or fishing catch with a gastronomic fair where local produce can be sampled.
Music, dance, drama and festivals are held in the major cities throughout the year. The country’s favourite outdoor sports culminate in several national championships. The property seeker, however, has to put these events to one side. Attractive they may well be, but a more focused approach is required, as the seasons magnify or hide some of Spain’s more interesting characteristics.
Deciding Where To Go
Northern Europeans, when considering Spain, tend to favour living near, or just a few kilometres from, the sea. Consequently, in order to describe the country, we will divide Spain into coastal areas.
- Northern Spain, running from west to east, and facing the Atlantic Ocean, comprises the six comunidades of Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, the Basque Country, Navarra and La Rioja.
- Eastern Spain comprises Aragon which faces the Pyrenees, and running from north to south Catalonia, Valencia and Murcia, all of which face the eastern Mediterranean embrace well known places such as the Costa Brava, the Costa Dorada, the Costa Azahar and the universally acknowledged Costa Blanca.
- Southern Spain comprises of only one comunidade, the largest and best known, Andalucia, which faces in two directions: the Costa del Sol bordering the Mediterranean and the Costa de la Luz facing the Atlantic Ocean.
- In the heart of the country central Spain comprises the four comunidades of Madrid, Castilla-la-Mancha, Extremadura, and Castilla y Leon.
- Spain’s islands comprise of the popular Balearics in the east Mediterranean and the Canaries set to the south-west in the warm waters of the Atlantic.