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The
exuberance of the Spaniards and the glorious predictability
of the summer weather have been attracting refugees from northern
Europe's damp and clammy lands for decades, but Spain is much
more than the Costa del Sol and warm English beer. It is drenched
in the historical pageantry of empire and conquistadors, the
artistic legacy of Goya, Velázquez, Picasso and Dalí,
and the romance of Don Quijote, Papa Hemingway and the International
Brigades.
Full
country name: Kingdom of Spain
Area: 504,784 sq km
Population: 40.5 million (growth rate 0.1%)
Capital city: Madrid (pop 3 million)
People: Spaniards (though Catalans and Basques display a fierce
independent spirit)
Language: Castilian Spanish (also Catalan, Galician &
Basque)
Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 1 hour in winter, or two hours in
summer (from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in
September)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic
Government: Parliamentary monarchy
Prime Minister: José María Aznar
GDP:
$720.8 billion
GDP per head: $18,000
Annual growth: 4%
Inflation: 2.9%
Major industries: textiles & apparel, food & beverages,
metals, chemicals, shipbuilding, tourism
Major trading partners: EU (esp. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal,
UK, Benelux), US
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: yes
Spain
Flight from UK
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