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SPAIN

• Located in Southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
  
• Its mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediteranean Sea except for a small land boundary withg Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andorra, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.


• Spain is the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union after France.


• The true origins of the name España and its cognates "Spain" and "Spanish" are disputed.

• The ancient Roman name for Iberia, Hispania, may derive from poetic use of the term Hesperia to refer to Spain, reflecting Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia) and Spain, being still further west, as Hesperia ultima.
  
• It may also be a derivation of the Punic Ispanihad meaning "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean; Roman coins struck in the region from the reign of Hadrian show a female figure with a rabbit at her feet.

• There are also claims that España derives from the Basque word Ezpanna meaning "edge" or "border",another reference to the country being at the extreme southwest of the European continent
  
  
  PLACES OF ATTRACTION
  

St Lorenzo de El Escorial

El Escorial is a historical residence of the king of Spain. It is one of the Spanish royal sites and functions as a monastery, royal palace, museum, and school. It is located about 45 kilometres (28 miles) northwest of the Spanish capital, Madrid, in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. El Escorial comprises two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance: El Real Monasterio de El Escorial itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda, a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five kilometres away.

Plaza de Espana

Plaza de España is a large square, and popular tourist destination, located in central Madrid, Spain, at the western end of the Gran Vía. It features a monument to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is bordered by two of Madrid's most prominent skyscrapers; also the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) is a short walk south from the plaza.

In the center of the plaza is a monument to Spanish novelist, poet and playwright Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Designed by architects Rafael Martínez Zapatero and Pedro Muguruza and sculptor Lorenzo Coullaut Valera. Most of the monument was built between 1925 and 1930. It was finished between 1956 and 1957 by Federico Coullaut-Valera Mendigutia, the son of the original sculptor.

The tower portion of the monument includes a stone sculpture of Cervantes, which overlooks bronze sculptures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Next to the tower are stone sculptures of two representations of Don Quixote's "true love", one as the simple peasant woman Aldonza Lorenzo and one as the beautiful, imaginary Dulcinea del Toboso.

Barcelona Cathedral

The Cathedral of Santa Eulaliathe Gothic cathedral seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona, Spain. (Though sometimes inaccurately so called, the famous Sagrada Família is not a cathedral). The cathedral was constructed throughout the 13th to 15th centuries, with the principal work done in the 14th century. The cloisters enclosing the Well of the Geese (Fuente de las Ocas) were completed about 1450. The neo-Gothic façade was constructed over the nondescript exterior that is common to Catalan churches in the 19th century.

The cathedral was constructed over the crypt of a former Visigothic chapel, dedicated to Saint James, which was the proprietary church of the Viscounts of Barcelona, one of whom, Mir Gerberto, sold it in 1058 to bishop Guisleberto. Its site faced the Roman forum of Barcelona. It is a hall church, vaulted over five aisles, the outer two divided into chapels. The transept is truncated. The east end is a chevet of nine radiating chapels connected by an ambulatory. The high altar is raised, allowing a clear view into the crypt.

The cathedral is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, co-patron saint of Barcelona, a young virgin who, according to Catholic tradition, suffered martyrdom during Roman times in Barcelona. One story is that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in mid-spring covered her nudity. The enraged Romans put her into a barrel with knives stuck into it and rolled it down a street (according to tradition, the one now called 'Baixada de Santa Eulalia'). The body of Saint Eulalia is entombed in the cathedral's crypt.