Lonely Planet: Spain

\ \ Chapter 1: History of Spain\ I-lie ancestors of today's Spaniards included Stone Arc hunters from Africa, Phoenicians, Visigoths from the Balkans, Berber tribes from Morocco, Jews and Arabs From the Middle Last, and numerous other European peoples. The ancestors of a good hall of the people of the Americas today - and others dotted across the rest of the globe were Spaniards. The key to thin ebb and Flw of peoples, cultures and empires is Spain', location: on both the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, in Europe yet a stone's throw- from Africa and as near to America as am where in the Old World. I his pivotal position has entangled Spain in the affairs of half the world and half the world in Spain's. \ In the Beginning\ Caves throughout the country tell us plenty about Spain's earliest inhabitants. h he most impressive at Altamira near Santander, date From around 12,000 B('. Altamira's sophisticated. colourful paintings of bison, stag, boar and horses ,how confident brush strokes and realistic perspective not primitive efforts!\ Altamira was port of the Magdalenian hunting culture of southern trance and northern Spain, a Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) culture that lasted from around 30,000 BC to the end of the Ice Age about 8000 BC. One of the maw theories about the origins of the Basque people of northern Spain and south-western France is that they are descended from the Magdalenians.\ But the story (OCS much further buck. In recent wars archaeologists hove discovered two lots of human bone fragments reckoned to be older than any others then d in Europe. Those found in 199-1 in the Sierra de Atapuerca near Burgos arc widely accepted to he about 780,000 years old and probably come from ancestors of the later Neanderthals. The second set of bones, from Orce near Granada and C'ueva Victoria in Murcia, are reckoned to be the remains of meals eaten by giant hyenas 1.2) to 1.6 million years ago, although some experts are sceptical that there were people in Spain so long ago. Front the later Neanderthal era comes 'Gibraltar Woman', a skull from about 50,000 BC, which was found in 1848. Current thinking is that the Neanderthals were displaced in about 10,000 BC, during the last Ice Age, by waves of migrants of African origin. File Cueva de Nerja in Andalucia is one of many Spanish sites of these Cro-Magrions, the first real modern humans, who hunted mammoth, bison and reindeer. Alter the Ice Age, new peoples known as Iberians or prate-Berbers arrived, probably from North Africa. Their rockshelter paintings of hunting and dancing survive on the cost coast.\ I he Neolithic (New Stone :age) reached eastern Spain from Mesopotamia and Egypt pt about 6000 BC, bringing innovations such as the plough. crops, livestock raising, pottery, textiles and permanent villages. Out of this arose, between 3000 and 2000 B(', the country's first metalworking culture, based at has Millares near Almeria.\ The Los Millares people's ability to smelt and shape local copper deposits was a big breakthrough in agricultural and military terms. l he same era also saw the building of megalithic tombs (dolmens), made of large rocks, in many parts of the Iberian peninsula's perimeter. l he best examples are at Antequera in Andalucia.\ l he next big technological advance was bronze - an alloy of copper and tin, and stronger than copper. About 1900 13C El Areal in Almeria province became probably the first Bronze Age settlement on the Iberian Peninsula.\ Celts\ From around 1000 to 500 BC, Celts (originally from Central Europe) and other tribes from beyond the Pyrenees started to settle north of the Rio Ebro. In contrast to the dark-leatured Iberians, the Celts were fair, drank beer and ate lard. The Celts and Iberians who merged on the peseta (the high tableland of central Spain) became the Celtiberians. Celts and Celtiberians typically lived in sizable hill fort towns called castvos. The Celts introduced iron technology to the north about the same time the Phoenicians brought it to the south.\ Phoenicians & Greeks\ By about 1000 BC there was a flourishing culture in the lower Guadalquivir valley in Andalucia. The development of this and other societies in the south and east was influenced by Phoenician and, later, Greek traders, who exchanged oils, textiles, jewels and ivory for local copper, silver and tin. The Phoenicians, a Semitic people from present-day Lebanon, set up permanent trading colonies including Cadiz (which they called Gadir), Huelva (Onuba), Malaga (Malaca) and Almunecar (Sexi). Cadiz's supposed founding date of 1100 BC may make it the oldest city in Europe. Greek settlements, which began around 600 BC, tended to be farther north on the Mediterranean coast. The main one was Emporion (Empuries), Catalunya.\ These incomers brought the potter's wheel, writing, coinage, some musical instruments, the olive tree and vine, and domestic animals like the donkey and hen. Around 700 B(. iron replaced bronze in the lower Guadalquivir valley. This Phoenician-influenced culture was very likely the fabled Iartessos, which later Greek, Roman and Biblical writers mythologised as a place of unimaginable wealth. No one knows whether Tartessos was a city or a state. If it was a city, it has vanished. Some believe it may lie beneath the delta of the Rio Guadalquivir.\ Carthaginians\ From about the 6th century BC the Phoenicians and Greeks were pushed out of the western Mediterranean by Carthage, a former Phoenician colony in modern Tunisia. Cadiz became the Carthaginians' main Iberian settlement, but there was a flourishing colony on Ibiza too.\ The Carthaginians came into conflict with the next rising Mediterranean powerRome. After losing the First Punic War (264-241 BC) fought against Rome for control of Sicily, Carthage responded by invading the Iberian peninsula under generals Hamilcar Barca, Hasdrubal and Hannibal. f he first landing was in 237 BC.\ The Second Punic War (218-201 BC) not only saw Hannibal march his elephants over the Alps towards Rome but also brought Roman legions to Spain to open up another theatre of war. Hannibal was eventually forced to retreat, finally being routed in North Africa in 202.\ Romans\ Though the Romans held sway on the peninsula for 600 years, it took them 200 years to subdue the fiercest of the local tribes.\ The Basques in the north, though defeated, were never Romanised like the rest of Hispania, as the Romans called the peninsula. Legendary stands against the Romans included the eight-year revolt led by the shepherd-turned-guerrilla Virathius in the west and centre from around 150 BC and the siege of Numancia near Soria in 133 BC. Rome had to bring in its most illustrious generals to deal with these and other insubordinations.\ By 50 AD most of the peninsula, particularly the south, had adopted the Roman way of life. This was the time of the Pax Romana, a long, prosperous period of stability. Hispanic became urbanised and highly organised- The early Roman provinces were called Hispanic Citerior and Hispanic Ulterior, with their capitals at Carthago Nova (Cartagena) and Cordoba (Cordoba), but in the Ist century BC they were reorganised into Baetica (most of present-day Andalucia plus southern Extremadura and south-western ('astilla-La Mancha), with its capital at Cordoba; Lusitania (Portugal and northern Extremadura), with its capital at Augusta Emerita (Merida), the greatest Roman city on the peninsula; and Tairacoriensis (the rest), with its capital at Tarraco (Tarragona).\ Rome gave the peninsula a road system, aqueducts, theatres, temples, amphitheatres, circuses, baths and the basis of its legal system and languages. The Roman era also brought many Jews, who spread throughout the Mediterranean part of the empire, and Christianity, which probably came with soldiers from North Africa and merchants in the 3rd century AD, taking root first in Andalucia. Hispanic gave Rome gold, silver, grain, wine, soldiers, emperors (Trajan, Hadrian and Theodosius) and even some of the greatest Latin literature-that of Seneca, Martial, Quintilian and Lucan. Another notable export was garum, a spicy sauce derived from fish and used as a seasoning. The finest of Spain's Roman ruins are at Empuries, Italica, Merida, Tarragona and Segovia.\ The Pax Romana started to crack when two Germanic tribes, the Franks and the Alemanni, swept across the Pyrenees in the late 3rd century AD, causing devastation. The end came when the Huns arrived in Eastern Europe from Asia a century later. Germanic people,, displaced by the Huns moved west, among them the Suevi and Vandals, who overran the Iberian Peninsula around 410 AD.\ Visigoths\ Another Germanic people, the Visigoths, sacked Rome itself in 410 AD. Within a few years, however, the Visigoths had become Roman allies, being granted lands in southern Gaul (France) and fighting on the emperor's behalf against other barbarian invaders nn the Iberian Peninsula. But in the 6th century the franks pushed the Visigoths out of Gaul. The Visigoths penetrated more deeply into the Iberian Peninsula and Toledo became their capital.\ The rule of the roughly ?00,000 longhaired Visigoths, who had a penchant for gaudy jewellery, over the several million more sophisticated Hispano-Romans was precarious and undermined by strife among their own nobility. The Hispano-Roman nobles still ran the fiscal system and their anachronistic bishops were the senior figures in urban centres. Town life declined in quality under Visigothic rule.\ Ties between the Visigoth monarchy and the Hispano-Romans were greatly strengthened in 587 AD, when King Recccred converted to orthodox Christianity from the Visigoths' Arian version which denied that Christ was identical with God. But the Visigoth kings still had to contend with regular revolts by nobles, bishops and others.\ The Visigoths had no long-standing culture of their own and tended to ape Roman ways. A few Visigothic churches can be seen today in northern Spain. One at Banns de Cerrato near Palencia, dating from 661, is probably the oldest church in the country.\ The Muslim Conquest\ By 700, with famine and disease in Toledo, strife among the aristocracy and chaos throughout the peninsula, the Visigothic kingdom was falling apart. This paved the way for the Muslim invasion of 711, which set Spain's destiny quite apart from that of the rest of Europe...

The Authors     18Getting Started     21Itineraries     24Snapshot     31History     33The Culture     53Architecture     71Environment     76Spain Outdoors     83Camino de Santiago     89Food & Drink     99Madrid     108History     109Orientation     109Information     110Dangers & Annoyances     111Sights     126Activities     138Walking Tours     139Courses     141Madrid for Children     142Tours     142Festivals & Events     143Sleeping     144Eating     148Drinking     154Entertainment     157Shopping     162Getting There & Away     164Getting Around     165Around Madrid     166San Lorenzo de El Escorial     166Valle de los Caidos     168South of Madrid     169Alcala de Henares     172Sierra de Guadarrama     173North of Madrid     174Castilla y Leon     175The Southwest     176Avila     176Sierra de Gredos     181Salamanca     183Around Salamanca     190Ciudad Rodrigo     191Sierra de Francia     192Sierra de Bejar     193The Central Plateau     194Segovia     194Around Segovia     199Valladolid     200Around Valladolid     204Zamora     206Around Zamora     209Palencia     209Around Palencia     211Montana Palentina     212The Northwest     212Leon     212East of Leon     218West of Leon     218The East     221Burgos     221Around Burgos     227North of Burgos     229South to Rio Duero     229West along Rio Duero     230East along Rio Duero     231Soria     233Around Soria     236South of Soria      236Castilla-La Mancha     238Toledo     239History     239Orientation     240Information     240Sights     240Walking Tour     246Courses     247Festivals & Events     247Sleeping     247Eating     248Drinking & Entertainment     248Shopping     249Getting There & Away     249Getting Around     249Around Toledo     250The West     250Talavera de la Reina     250Around Talavera de la Reina     250Montes de Toledo     251The South     251Ciudad Real     251Ciudad Real Province     252Southeast to Albacete     255Albacete     256Around Albacete     256The Northeast     257Cuenca     257Serrania de Cuenca     261Around Cuenca     262Guadalajara     262La Alcarria & Around     262Siguenza     263Around Siguenza      265Barcelona     266History     267Orientation     280Information     281Sights     283Activities     309Walking Tour     310Courses     311Barcelona for Children     311Tours     312Festivals & Events     312Sleeping     313Eating     318Drinking     323Entertainment     325Shopping     328Getting There & Away     330Getting Around     331Around Barcelona     333The Outskirts     333Sitges     334Montserrat     336Penedes Wine Country     338Catalonia     340Costa Brava     341Tossa de Mar     343Sant Feliu de Guixols     345Platja d'Aro & Palamos     346Palafrugell & Around     346Castell de Pubol     348Girona     349Verges     352Torroella de Montgri     352L'Estartit & the Illes Medes     353L'Escala      354Parc Natural dels Aiguamolls de L'Emporda     355Castello d'Empuries     355Roses & Around     355Cadaques & Around     356Cadaques to the French Border     358Figueres     358Besalu     361Around Figueres     361The Pyrenees     362Olot     362Parc Natural de la Zona Volcanica de la Garrotxa     363Ripoll     364Around Ripoll     365Vall Alto del Ter     366Vall de Nuria & Ribes de Freser     366Cerdanya     368Serra del Cadi     370La Seu d'Urgell     372Vall de la Noguera Pallaresa     373Northwestern Valleys     374Parc Nacional d'Aiguestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici & Around     375Val d'Aran     378Central Catalonia     381Vic     381Around Vic     382Manresa     382Cardona     382Solsona     382Conca de Barbera     383Lleida     384Montsec     386Costa Daurada      386Vilanova i la Geltru     386Altafulla     387Tarragona     387Port Aventura     392Reus & Around     392Cambrils     393Tortosa     393Ebro Delta     394Andorra     396Andorra la Vella     399Orientation     399Information     399Sights & Activities     400Sleeping     402Eating     402Drinking     403Entertainment     403Shopping     403Getting There & Around     403Around Andorra la Vella     403Northwestern Andorra     404La Massana     404Arinsal & Pal Ski Areas     404Ordino     405Vall d'Ordino     406Ordino-Arcalis Ski Area     406Eastern Andorra     407Encamp     407Grandvalira Ski Area     407Canillo     408Soldeu & El Tarter     408Pas de la Casa     409Andorra Directory     410Accommodation     410Activities      411Customs     411Dangers & Annoyances     411Embassies & Consulates     411Holidays     411Internet Resources     412Media     412Money     412Post     412Shopping     412Telephone     412Tourist Information     412Visas     412Aragon     413Zaragoza     415History     415Orientation     415Information     415Sights     416Festivals & Events     420Sleeping     420Eating     420Drinking     421Entertainment     422Getting There & Away     422Getting Around     423South of Zaragoza     423West of Zaragoza     423The North (The Pyrenees)     425Huesca     426Around Huesca     428Alquezar     428Barbastro & Around     429Benasque     430Around Benasque     431Ainsa      432Parque Nacional de Ordesa y Monte Perdido     433Jaca     437Around Jaca     439Valles de Echo & Anso     440Sos del Rey Catolico     441The South     442Daroca     442Laguna de Gallocanta     442Teruel     443Rincon de Ademuz     445Albarracin     445El Rodeno     446The Southeast     446Calanda     447Alcaniz     448Basque Country, Navarra & La Rioja     449Basque Country     451Bilbao     453Around Bilbao     461The Central Basque Coast     463San Sebastian     465East of San Sebastian     474South of San Sebastian     475Vitoria     476Navarra     479Pamplona     479East of Pamplona     485West of Pamplona     485North of Pamplona     487South of Pamplona     487The Pyrenees     488La Rioja     491Logrono     491Wine Region      494Monasteries West of Logrono     496South of Logrono     497Cantabria & Asturias     498Cantabria     499Santander     499Around Santander     505Eastern Cantabria     506Southern Cantabria     506Western Cantabria     507Asturias     512Oviedo     512Around Oviedo     517Gijon     517East Coast     521West Coast     524Picos de Europa     527Western Picos     530Central Picos     532Eastern Picos     535Galicia     538Santiago de Compostela     540History     541Orientation     541Information     541Sights     541Walking Tour     545Festivals & Events     545Sleeping     545Eating     546Drinking     548Entertainment     548Shopping     549Getting There & Away     549Getting Around     549A Coruna & the Rias Altas      549A Coruna     550Rias Altas     554Costa da Morte     558Malpica de Bergantinos     558Laxe, Camelle & Around     558Camarinas     559Muxia & Around     559Fisterra & Around     559Towards the Rias Baixas     560Rias Baixas     560Ria de Muros y Noia     560Ria de Arousa     561Pontevedra     562Ria de Pontevedra     565Ria de Vigo     566Vigo     566Illas Cies     569The Southwest     570The Coast     570Rio Mino     571The East     572Ourense     572Castelo de Monterrei     574Canon do Sil     574Monforte de Lemos     574Samos     575Lugo     575Valencia     577Valencia City     579History     579Orientation     579Information     579Sights & Activities     581Walking Tour     585Courses      586Valencia for Children     586Tours     587Festivals & Events     587Sleeping     587Eating     588Entertainment     590Getting There & Away     592Getting Around     592Around Valencia City     593Costa del Azahar     595Castellon de la Plana     595Around Castellon de la Plana     596Benicassim     596Oropesa del Mar     605Peniscola     606Vinaros     607El Maestrazgo     607Sant Mateu     607Morella     608Els Ports     609Costa Blanca     609Gandia     610Denia     611Xabia     611Calpe     612Altea     613Benidorm     613Alicante     616Around Alicante     620Torrevieja     620Inland from the Costa Blanca     621Xativa     621Villena     622Elda     622Novelda      622Jijona     623Alcoy     623Guadalest     623Elche     623Orihuela     625Balearic Islands     627History     628Getting There & Around     628Mallorca     630Palma de Mallorca     632Southwest Coast     637Northwest Coast & Serra de Tramuntana     638Badia d'Alcudia     642East Coast     643The Interior     644Ibiza (Eivissa)     645Ibiza City (Eivissa)     647East Coast     652North Coast & Interior     654West Coast     655South Coast     656Formentera     656Menorca     661Mao     663The Interior-Mao to Ciutadella     666Ciutadella     666North Coast     670South Coast     671Murcia     672Murcia City     673Orientation     673Information     673Sights     674Festivals & Events     675Sleeping      675Eating     676Drinking & Entertainment     676Shopping     676Getting There & Away     676Getting Around     677Murcia Region     677Cartagena     677Costa Calida     680Lorca     681Parque Natural de Sierra Espuna     682Andalucia     683Seville     686History     686Orientation     687Information     690Sights     690Walking Tour     699Courses     700Seville for Children     700Tours     700Festivals & Events     700Sleeping     701Eating     703Drinking     704Entertainment     705Shopping     706Getting There & Away     706Getting Around     707Around Seville     708Carmona     708Osuna     709Huelva Province     709Huelva     709Lugares Colombinos     710Parque Nacional de Donana      711West of Huelva     713Minas de Riotinto     714Aracena     715West of Aracena     715Cadiz Province     716Cadiz     716El Puerto de Santa Maria     721Sanlucar de Barrameda     722Jerez de la Frontera     724Arcos de la Frontera     728Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema     729Southern Costa de la Luz     731Tarifa     733Algeciras     737La Linea de la Concepcion     739Gibraltar     739Malaga Province     743Malaga     743Costa del Sol     749El Chorro & Bobastro     754Ronda     755Around Ronda     758Antequera     758Around Antequera     759East of Malaga     760Cordoba Province     761Cordoba     761Around Cordoba     768Granada Province     768Granada     768Around Granada     783Guadix     783Sierra Nevada     783The Coast      789Jaen Province     790Jaen     790Baeza     793Ubeda     794Cazorla     796Parque Natural de Cazorla     796Almeria Province     799Almeria     799Around Almeria     803Cabo de Gata     803Mojacar     806Extremadura     808Northern Extremadura     809La Vera     809Valle del Jerte     812Valle del Ambroz     813Las Hurdes     814Sierra de Gata     816Coria & Around     816Plasencia     817Parque Nacional Monfrague     818Central Extremadura     819Caceres     819Valencia de Alcantara     823Alcantara     823Trujillo     824Guadalupe     827Southern Extremadura     829Merida     829Badajoz     833Around Badajoz     835Zafra     836Around Zafra     836Directory     838Accommodation      838Business Hours     842Children     842Climate Charts     843Courses     844Customs     845Dangers & Annoyances     845Discount Cards     846Embassies & Consulates     846Festivals & Events     847Food     848Gay & Lesbian Travellers     849Holidays     849Insurance     850Internet Access     850Legal Matters     850Maps     851Money     851Post     852Shopping     853Solo Travellers     854Telephone     854Time     855Tourist Information     855Travellers with Disabilities     856Visas     856Volunteering     857Women Travellers     857Work     857Transport     859Getting There & Away     859Entering The Country     859Air     859Land     863Sea     866Getting Around     867Air      867Bicycle     867Boat     868Bus     868Car & Motorcycle     869Hitching     870Local Transport     870Train     872Health     874Before You Go     874Insurance     874Recommended Vaccinations     874Internet Resources     874In Transit     874Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)     874In Spain Availability & Cost of Health Care     875Traveller's Diarrhoea     875Environmental Hazards     875Travelling With Children     876Women's Health     876Sexual Health     876Language     877Glossary     884Behind the Scenes     889Index     896World Time Zones     914Map Legend     916Metro Maps     917