There is a very nice Christmas tradition in Spain called Los 3 Reyes Magos or in English The Three Wise Men. The Bible says that three wise men visited Jesus Christ just after his birth. They gave him gifts and recognized him as the son of…

Since we have made a fool of ourselves as country with all the issue with Catalonia's independence, the referendum and so on, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs have thought that what better than an explanatory video 1 minute long to clean up…

Spanish retail is changing a lot. As in most developed countries, the retail offer has evolved from traditional small stores to big shopping centers. They say shopping centers are removing the traditional retailers from the city downtowns,…

One of the most prominent stereotypes people have about Spaniards is that we are very good socializing. This is because Spain has been the vacation place for many European in the last 30 years and we still are. Foreigners come here to have…

I need to continue writing about Catalonia the independency subject because it seems there is not any other news in the country. Things like education, unemployment, retirement pensions are not important to us. One problem at a time, and f…

Imagine you steal a car in a public square while everybody is watching. After you are in the car, you start the engine, move it for a couple of meters and leave the car. Then, the city major appears in TV and asks you Hey, have you stolen …

Cataluña or Catalunya is a Spanish region that wants to leave Spain.They say the region was an historial area with its own culture and identity. If you study History in Cataluña this is true, but if you study History in any other region of…

Don Tancredo, that can be translated as Mr Tancredo, is a weird tradition in bullfighting that became popular in the 20th century.To make a Don Tancredo is as follows:Some people had the wrong idea that bulls were not able to make a distin…

This month El Real Instituto Elcano has released its report about the International Image of Spain. This report is based on 4.468 interviews (400 of them to Japan citizens). The results show that the most valued characteristics of the coun…

Spain was a rich country in the past, but when indsutrial revolution happened, the most powerful people in Spain managed to maintain their power longer than in other countries. While England, France and Germany started to think in economy,…

Easter is one of the most important traditions in many Spanish cities. It celebrates the death of Jesus Christ. Summarizing the story, Jesus Christ was betrayed by Judas (this is the Spanish name, I'm not sure if it changes in English). Af…

As I work at home writing texts for websites in Spanish, I need to make an effort to be updated about what is happening in the world. One of the things people in the street usually talk about and usually catches me offguard is TV series. O…

There is a new trend between tourists in Spain that consists in try some high quality restaurants. There is thought Spanish cuisine is good and healthy, because we use olive oil, garlic, and we eat a lot of fish. If you come here for a hol…

In my last post I wrote about the flag of Spain being taboo for many Spaniards because of the dictatorship legacy. Today I want to talk about another inheritance we got from that awful period: Terrorism. When you say terrorism in Spain, th…

As you likely know, Spain was ruled by a dictator called Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975. After this man won the Spanish civil war, he governed the country having patriotism as one of his most prominent ideas. Even when he died and demo…

Gypsies are a very important part of Spanish culture. Actually, Flamenco is one of our most popular identifiers internationally, and gypsies have a lot to say about it. We could say there are two societies in Spain: non-gypsy and gypsy, an…

There are a lot of European students that come to Spain to spend a year "studying" and partying. This is thanks to Erasmus grants that help students that want to study a year abroad. When you talk with them and you ask them about the cours…

There is a stereotype about Spaniards being lazy that is hard to remove. If you ask me, I don't think Spaniards are lazier than people in other countries, but we have some traditions that make us look like that. In the frist place we have …

Someone that is willing to read in Spanish, but that is not living in the country, may find hard to choose books or authors to read. Chances are that if you look online, you will just find classic authors. Most of the lists will suggest Ce…

Since Franco, the ditatorship who ruled Spain for 36 yeas, passed away Spain has been a country of two main parties. In the last years these two parties were PP (a weird mix of liberal and religious beliefs) and PSOE (a party that started …

It is said that Spain is the country with more bars per person in the world. It seems there is one for each 175 people. The reason behind it is not that we drink a lot, though some people do it of course, but the fact that we love to socia…