I’m in the Bangkok airport where I arrived very early waiting to board my 12 hour flight to Valencia.
While I’m sitting here, I figured it would be interested to inventory just exactly what I know about Spain. I haven’t read much specifically for this trip, so I thought it would a fun exercise.
So here is the regurgitation of everything I can think of about Spain….
The Iberian peninsula was the last stand for Neanderthals, when homo sapiens pushed them to the sea. Then the Iberians were conquered by the Romans and eventually Julius Caesar was the proconsul of Hispania. They mined a lot of silver. Then eventually Rome fell and the Moors took over in the Muslim invasion and built some very nice buildings in Cordoba and Grenada. Then Charleton Heston as El Cid threw out the Muslims during the Reconquestia. Then Ferdinad and Isabella gave Columbus a bunch of money to sail to India but instead he discovered the Bahamas. Somewhere in there was the Spanish Inquisition, which no one ever expected. They built a bunch of boats to invade England, but they didn’t pay attention to the weather reports. Somewhere along the line they merged with the Hapsburgs and took control of the Netherlands and were at war with everyone. Then Napoleon took control of France and installed his brother on the Spanish throne. Then the 19th Century happened and they began to lose control of most of their colonies. Then the 19th Century ended and they went to war with the United States and lost the Philippines and Guam. Then they had a civil war with George Orwell and a bunch of leftists going over to fight on the losing side against Franco. They stayed out of WWII for the most part, then Franco died in the 70’s and Chevy Chase kept reminding us that he was dead. Then Juan Carlos was made king and they had a democracy again. Basque separatists occasionally blow stuff up thinking that helps their cause. Barcelona held the olympics. Bilbao built a cool looking Guggenheim museum. In the words of a Dutch guy I met, “people go to Ibiza to drink and screw”. There are bullfights and flamenco dancing and tapas and everyone eats dinner at 10pm or later.
That is the short summary of what I know about Spain. I hope that list will be much longer when I leave.