23 Surprising Facts About Spain

Spain is one of Europe’s largest countries and is one of the most fascinating and beautiful countries.Spain is located in Europe’s southwest corner. It is one of the world’s largest economies. Spain’s culture is based on a number of historical influences, the most prominent of which are pre-Roman Celtic and Iberian culture. Other ancient peoples, such as the Romans, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Greeks, also have an impact on the culture of Spain.

1. Spain shares land borders with Portugal to the west, Andorra, and France to the north. It is also bordered by the Bay of Biscay, the Balearic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Alboran Sea.
2. The country’s official name in English is the Kingdom of Spain and Reino de España in Spanish.
3. Roman ruled the country from the 2nd century BC, and the name of Spain was Hispania, which was used for the Iberian Peninsula.
4. The Spanish language is the 2nd most spoken on the planet, just after Mandarin Chinese.
5. Spain is the leading olive oil producer on the planet. In the year 1994-2013, the country produced 1,059,194 tons of olive oil, which is the highest in the world.
6. Spain holds most number of the bars in the European continent. In 2017 there were around 184,430 bars in the country.
7. The religious break down of the country, according to a CIS survey of 2019, shows that 69.3% of the total population are Catholics, 7.3% are Agnostic, 8.1% are indifferent or nonbelievers, 12.5 % are Atheist, 2.6% are of other religions, and 1.2 % did not answer.
8. The Teide mountain is the highest mountain peak in Spain, with an elevation of 3718 meters (12198 ft).
9. Restaurante Botín of Madrid, Spain, is the oldest restaurant on the planet and was founded in 1725. It also holds the Guinness world record for being the oldest eatery in the world.
10. Spain comes on the third spot in terms of most UNESCO world heritage sites, just after China and Italy. The total world heritage sites in the nation are 48.
11. Spain has a total coastline of 4,964 Km of coastline and has 566 blue flag beaches, that stands to be one out of every five beaches of the world.
12. The country has the 3rd spot on the globe in terms of wine production and has the largest area under grape cultivation in the European continent.
13. Spain is the 2nd most visited country on the planet after France. In the year 2018, about 82.8 million tourists visited the country.
14. It is a tradition in Spain to have two surnames that refer to each of the parental families. The person’s first surname is of their father’s, whereas the second one is of their mother’s first surname.
15. There is still a king of the king who is the head of the state, but somehow he has very little or no powers. At present, the king of Spain is King Felipe VI, the queen is Letizia, and they have three daughters named Leonor, Princess of Asturias, and Infanta Sofía.
16. The “Marcha Real” is the national anthem of Spain and is one of the four national anthems on the planet to have no lyrics. However, there were lyrics in the national anthem in the past that are not used now.
17. La Tomatina festival of Spain is the world’s biggest food fight which celebrated its 73rd edition in the year 2019. In the last edition of the festival, over 22,000 people threw about 150 tons of ripe tomatoes in the small town of Valencia.
18. The national animal of the country is the bull. Whereas the national bird is the Iberian Imperial Eagle.
19. The top exports of the country in the year 2018 were Cars ($35.9 Billion), Refined Petroleum ($13.3 Billion), Vehicle Parts ($11.7 Billion), Packaged Medicaments ($8.82 Billion), and Delivery Trucks ($6.65 Billion).
20. The top 5 imports of Spain in the year 2018 were Crude Petroleum ($28.2 Billion), Cars ($22.6 Billion), Vehicle Parts ($14 Billion), Packaged Medicaments ($10.1 Billion), and Petroleum Gas ($9.17 Billion).
21. In 2005 the country became the 8th nation on the globe to allow same-sex marriage.
22. The Eiffel Tower of Paris was originally intended for Barcelona, but Spain rejected the project.
23. Some of the very important inventions took place on the Spanish land out of which some are the space suite, modern mop, Hot chocolate, the telescope, the modern rules of the game chess, the stapler, the wheelchair, spectacles, the first type of modern cigarettes, antiseptics and the pencil sharpener.