Spain

Bienvenido a España!

Spain, officially the Kingdom of Spain is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; to the north by France, Andora, and the Bay of Biscay; and to the northwest and west by the Atlantic Ocean and Portugal.

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. While Madrid possesses a modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets. Its landmarks include the Royal Palace of Madrid; the Teatro Real (Royal theatre) with its restored 1850 Opera House; the Buen Retiro park, founded in 1631; the 19th-century National Library building (founded in 1712) containing some of Spain's historical archives. 

Barcelona is today one of the world's leading tourist, economic, trade fair/exhibitions and cultural-sports centres, and its influences in commerce, education, entertainment, media,fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. One of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports can be found here as well as Barcelona international airport, which handles about 30 million passengers per year. It also boasts an extensive motorway network and is a hub of high-speed rail, particularly that which will link France with Spain. Barcelona is the 16th-most-visited city in the world and 4th most visited in Europe after Paris, London, and Rome, with several million tourists every year.

Córdoba is a city in Andalusia, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. An Iberian and Roman city in ancient times, in the Middle Ages it became the capital of an Islamic caliphate.The old town contains numerous architectural reminders of when Corduba was the capital of Hispania Ulterior during the Roman Republic and capital of Hispania Baetica during the Roman Empire.The city is located on the banks of the Guadalquivir river, and its easy access to the mining resources of the Sierra Morena (coal, lead, zinc) satisfies the population’s needs.The city is located in a depression of the valley of the Guadalquivir. In the north is the Sierra Morena, which defines the borders of the municipal area. Córdoba is one of the few cities in the world that has a near-exact antipodal city – Hamilton,New Zealand. Córdoba has the second largest Old town in Europe, the largest urban area in the world declared World Heritage by UNESCO. 

The most important building and symbol of the city, the Great Mosque of Córdoba and current cathedral, alongside the Roman bridge, are the best known facet of the city. Other Roman remains include the Roman Temple, the Theatre, Mausoleum, the Colonial Forum, theForum Adiectum, an amphitheater and the remains of the Palace of the Emperor Maximian in the Archaeological site of Cercadilla, among others. Tourism is especially intense in Córdoba during May because of the weather and as this month hosts three festivals. The May Crosses Festival takes place at the beginning of the month. During three or four days, crosses of around 3 meters of height are placed in many squares and streets and decorated with flowers and a contest is held to choose the most beautiful one. Usually there is regional food and music near the crosses. The Patios Festival is celebrated during the second and third week of the month. Many houses of the historic center open their private patios to the public and compete in a contest. Both the architectonic value and the floral decorations are taken into consideration to choose the winners. It is usually very difficult and expensive to find accommodation in the city during the festival. Córdoba's Fair takes place at the ending of the month and is similar to the better known Seville Fair with some differences, mainly that the Seville one is private, while the Cordoba one is not.
The participating school is Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Córdoba.

   Cuisine

 Among the multitude of recipes that make up the varied cuisines of Spain, a few can be considered common to all or almost all of Spain's regions, even though some of them have an origin known and associated with specific places. Examples include most importantly potato omelette ("tortilla de patata", "tortilla española" or just "tortilla"), paella, various stews, migas,sausages (such as embutidos, chorizo, and morcilla), jamón serrano, and cheeses.

Tortilla de patata

There are also many dishes based on beans (chickpeas, lentils, green beans); soups, with many regional variations; and bread, that has numerous forms, with distinct varieties in each region. The regional variations are less pronounced in Spanish desserts and cakes: flan,custard, rice pudding (arroz con leche), torrijas, churros, and madeleines are some of the most representative examples.

  

 Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola  was a Spanish composer. He was nicknamed the "Spanish Mozart" after he died, because, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was also a child prodigy and an accomplished composer who died young. Whether by coincidence or design, they also shared the same first and second baptismal names; and they shared the same birthday, January 27 (fifty years apart). The amount of music by Arriaga which has survived to the present day is quite small, reflecting his early death. It includes:

                    Opera: Arriaga wrote an opera, Los esclavos felices ("The Happy Slaves"), in 1820 when he was thirteen. It was produced in Bilbao. Only the overture and some fragments have survived.                

             Symphony: Arriaga composed a Symphony in D—which uses D major and D minor so equally as to not actually be in either key. 

              String quartets: Arriaga wrote three sparkling and idiomatic string quartets at the age of eighteen. These were the only works of his published during his lifetime.

Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo was a Spanish scholar, historian and literary critic. Even though his main interest was the History of ideas, and Hispanic philology in general, he also cultivated poetry, translation and philosophy.

His first volume, Estudios críticos sobre escritores montañeses (1876), had attracted little notice, and his scholarly Horacio en Español (1877) appealed only to students. He became famous, through his Ciencia española (1878), a collection of polemical essays defending the national tradition against the attacks of political and religious reformers. As the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908–10) described his work "Every page of his writings reveals a wealth of strong common sense, clear perception, and a vein of wonderful and ever varying erudition. Thoroughly Catholic in spirit, he found his greatest delight, he declared, in devoting all his work to the glory of God and the exaltation of the name of Jesus.”