FACTS

Location: Southwestern Europe, bordering the Bay of Biscay, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Pyrenees Mountains, southwest of France

Area (only Total) total: 504,782 sq km

Climate: temperate; clear, hot summers in interior, more moderate and cloudy along coast; cloudy, cold winters in interior, partly cloudy and cool along coast

Terrain: large, flat to dissected plateau surrounded by rugged hills; Pyrenees in north

Population: 40,491,051 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): Castilian Spanish

Government type: parliamentary monarchy

Capital (Name): Madrid

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+1

Independence: the Iberian peninsula was characterized by a variety of independent kingdoms prior to the Muslim occupation that began in the early 8th century A.D. and lasted nearly seven centuries; the small Christian redoubts of the north began the reconquest almost immediately, culminating in the seizure of Granada in 1492; this event completed the unification of several kingdoms and is traditionally considered the forging of present-day Spain

National holiday: National Day, 12 October (1492); year when Columbus first set foot in the Americas

HOLIDAYS

January 1 New Year's Day

January 6 Epiphany

March 19 San Jose

March 20 Maunday Thursday

March 21 Good Friday (Not a bank holiday)

May 1 May Day/Labour Day

August 15 Feast of the Assumption (not banks)

September 11 National Day of Catalonia (Catalonia only)

October 12 Spanish National Day

November 1 All Saints Day

December 6 Day of the Constitution

December 8 Immaculate Conception

December 25 Christmas Day

You should know:

An ad hoc holiday is sometimes given on the Feast of San José, 19 March.

Holidays falling on a weekend are not moved.

If a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then there will be a tendency for many people to take an unofficial extra day on the Monday preceding or Friday following respectively. Companies and banks will be open, but probably under-staffed.

Weekend –Sunday