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The essentials of Spain in eight sunny questions. No need to be an expert: everyone can join in and learn something new.
Holiday beginner 0–3 · Sunny explorer 4–6 · Spain at heart 7–8
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Madrid lies almost in the middle of Spain. In its busy Puerta del Sol square, a plaque marks Kilometre Zero, the point from which Spain's main roads are measured. On New Year's Eve, crowds gather there to eat 12 grapes, one at each chime of the clock.
Photo: Zarateman, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
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Spain's flag has a yellow stripe between two red ones, and the yellow is twice as tall as each red stripe. The design began in 1785, when King Charles III picked it from 12 options as a flag for his warships that would be easy to spot at sea.
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Tapas can be cold, like olives and cheese, or hot, like spicy potatoes called patatas bravas, and several together can make a whole meal. The word 'tapa' means lid or cover, and nobody knows for sure how a word for a lid came to mean a little snack.
Photo: Elemaki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.
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Paella comes from the area around Valencia, and it is named after its pan: in the Valencian language, 'paella' simply means frying pan. The classic paella valenciana is cooked over an open fire with chicken and rabbit, and sometimes even snails.
Photo: Jan Harenburg, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Siesta comes from the Latin 'hora sexta', the sixth hour after dawn, around midday; a fiesta, by contrast, is a party. Dinner in Spain is eaten late, often between 8:30 and 11 in the evening, so many people have an afternoon snack called a merienda at about six.
Photo: Vincent van Gogh, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The Pyrenees stretch for nearly 500 km, from near the Atlantic coast all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. Their highest peak, Aneto, is about 3,400 metres high, and high up in the eastern part of the range lies the tiny country of Andorra.
Photo: Nhamblen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga in 1881. According to his mother, his very first words were 'piz, piz', short for 'lápiz', the Spanish word for pencil. Later the French painter Henri Matisse became his great rival, and the two pushed each other to try new styles.
Photo: Argentina . Revista Vea y Lea, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.
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The festival, La Tomatina, started in the 1940s. Since 2013 tickets limit it to 20,000 people, more than twice the number who live in the town. One important rule: squash each tomato before you throw it, so nobody gets hurt.
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