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General information about Spain:r />
Spain is the third largest country of Europe with 505.000 square kilometres and 39,3 million inhabitants. The main-languages are: Spanish and Catalan. Their cross national product [Bruttosozialprodukt] makes about 14.500 US Dollars per year and inhabitant. In comparison to Austria they just have half of our cross national product.
[Barcelona]
Our first stop is Barcelona which is located in Catalan. With 1.500.000 inhabitants it is as big as Vienna. The second largest city of Spain is well known among tourists.
Spain lures completely with numerous objects of interest. One of the most well-known is without a doubt the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The cathedral delighted in 1882 by Antonio Gaudí is one of the probably most unusual churches of Europe, because the architect developed with the gothic and art nouveau and ornamentations a quite own architectural style. The most well-known view is the one to the west of the enchanted [verwunschen] looking "Weihnachtsfassade" with numerous scenes of Christi birth and childhood. The cathedral has never been finished due to the high costs, the construction work was adjusted in 1904.
Who has still strength after a walk by the inner courts of the enormous building, can climb the over 400 steps of one of the twelve towers. From above the view extends over the beautiful old part of town of Barcelona with its numerous medieval buildings, the "Parc de la Ciutadella" and the new external quarters.
Barrio Gótico: The gotic borough is one of the most interesting and at the same time oldest section of Barcelona. In the past The Plaza de Sant Jaume was the old Romans forum, and in the entire quarter attachment factories still can be visited from that time. There are also the Palacio de la Generalitat and the Palacio del Ayuntamiento (city hall). In the Calle Paradis you can visit old millstones [Mühlsteine], which marks the highest collection of the hill Táber. Iberian tribes there already for a long time before the Romans came. On the Plaza del Rei are the Palacio Real Mayor, the Iglesia de Santa Agata and the Palacio del Archivo de la Corona de Aragón.
[Granada]
Now we head on to Granada which has 240.000 inhabitants. It is located in the south of Spain in a state called Andalusia. In the beautiful old part of town you can visit many Arabian monuments because of the proximity to Marokko. Around the city you can enjoy the great landscape. The well known castle Alhambra is the most popular tourist attraction because of its beautiful gardens and huge hall.
El Albaicín: This quarter rises on a hill opposite the Alhambra, accommodated in the 11th century, under the dynastie of the Ziries, the royal residence. From this time we still find remainders of the walls of the Alcazaba, the archways [Torbögen] Puerta Monaita and Puerta Elvira, the Arco de las Pesas,
the Arab baths from the 11th century and the Palace of Dar Al-Horra, which belonged to the mother of the king Boabdil.
Several churches were established to real with remainders of a mauric palace over Arab buildings, from which on the inside still remainders are preserved, as for instance the Iglesia del Salvador, which was built over the large mosque [Moschee] of Granada, the Iglesia de San José, over the mosque of the Alcazaba, the church of San Juan de los Reyes with two great minaretts and
Santa Isabel la Real, with the remains of a mauric palace. The archaeological museum has interesting exhibits of prehistoric, phoenizic and gotic origin. Worth mentioning are also the church of San Nicolás, from which one you have an outstanding view on the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada, as well the Real Cancillería, a royal office, a renaissance building with baroque items.
Sierra Nevada is a paradies for winter sports-inspired, with 250 sun days per year. In the high-altitude regions you can ski the whole year. Motorized and swindle-free visitors should visit the Carretera Granada Veleta, Europe´s high-altitude road, with a fantastic lookout-terrace, called Balcón de Canales.
[Madrid]
Our last stop is Madrid, the capital of Spain, and of course the largest city with 2.880.000 inhabitants but with the suburbs there live about five million people. Madrid is well known for its traditional football teams, like Athlético Madrid, Rayo Vallecano and especially Real Madrid - one of the most famous clubs in the world.
Who says Spain, above all means Madrid. The capital represents not only the geographical center of the country, but also the cultural. Numerous churches and medieval buildings line in the old part of town, in addition dozens of museums line up next to each other. One of the most well-known is the Museo del Prado. It is the perhaps most beautiful neoclassical building of Madrid. The Museo del Prado contains the third biggest painting collection of our continent with approximately 7000 pictures from the Middle Age to the 19th century. From these pictures only a small section is exhibited in the enormous museum building at the Paseo del Prado. To emphasize from this quantity of world-well-known works of art are the collections of the great Spanish artists El Greco, Velázquez and Goya. Furthermore you can find an important collection of flaemic art, among other things many paintings of Rubens, and Italian painting in the ground floor of the museum.
Another absolute must for visitors is naturally the Palacio Real, the king-palace in the west of the old part of town. the completion took 26 years under the two kings Karl III. and Karl IV. Today the palace is only used for state receptions [Staatsempfänge]. The king resides in the small castle Zarzuela outside the gates of Madrid. Additionally worth seeing is the Plaza Mayor, the main workstation in the heart of the old part of town, that once was the place of thrilling and dangerous bullfights [Stierkämpfe], of executions and public court processes [öffentliche Gerichtsprozesse].
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