Something for our younger followers…

Hola y bienvenido a espana! (Hello and welcome to Spain!)

Hi. My name is Sinbad and I am travelling the world with Caron and Martin on board their sailing boat, Escapade of London. We are planning on travelling around the world and I hope that you will be interested to read about some of the places we visit.  Maybe my posts will inspire you to find out more about the world we live in and, who knows, maybe plan adventures of your own.

After leaving the UK, the first country we spent time in was Spain. This is a country in south western Europe, between Portugal and France.

Spain covers an area of  506,002 square kilometre (195,369 square miles) which is about twice the size of the UK. About 47 million people live in Spain, compared to just over 67 million in the UK. This means that it is much less crowded!

The currency is the euro instead of the pound and its capital city is Madrid.

The main language in Spain is Spanish, but like in the Uk, different areas have their own dialects, accents and even vocabulary. This makes it harder to talk to people, but it is definitely worth the effort.

When many people think of Spain, they imagine the sun, the sea and the sandy beaches of the south coast and the Mediterranean islands, but Spain also has many areas of hilly landscapes and mountains.

When we sailed, we visited North West Spain; an area called Galicia. It is an area of rugged coastline with rias (flooded valleys), islands and beautiful beaches. It has some small towns, but mainly it is small, traditional fishing villages.

While we were there (in July), the weather was generally warm and sunny; similar to the UK in summer. However, it is often wet and misty.

Traditional fishing village
Towns
Beaches

One exciting thing about travel is the chance to experience different types of food. Like most places in the world, the Spanish enjoy a variety of food from many different cultures. Larger towns have Indian, Chinese, Italian and, of course, burgers. However, they also have their local specialities. For Galicia, this is seafood. The coast line is littered with fishing villages where the local boats go out daily to catch fish and seafood of all kinds. There are also many mussel ‘farms’ where mussels grow from long lines suspended below floating wooden platforms.

Some dishes that we tried were: pulpo (octopus), navajas (razor clams), calamares (squid) and langostinos (prawns). Some were much tastier than others!

Langostinos
Calamares
Pulpo
Navajas

Whilst there are many differences between Spain and UK, there are also many similarities. Children everywhere love to play! Spanish children are no different. In the parks, on football fields and even in the plazas (town squares).  On one warm evening, some of the younger children were chasing bubbles!

Fun in the plaza

As this is my first post, it would be great to get some feedback. You could also tell me what sort of things you want to know. I look forward to hearing from you!