Further Information

Health Issues

As an EU country, Spain has free reciprocal health agreements with other member states (you should carry form E111, available from main post offices). Even so, some form of travel insurance is still all but essential; with it, you should be able to claim back the cost of any drugs prescribed by pharmacies. European policies generally also cover your baggage/tickets in case of theft, so long as you get a report from the local police.

No inoculations are required for Spain, though if you plan on continuing to North Africa, typhoid and polio boosters are highly recommended. The worst that's likely to happen to you is that you might fall victim to an upset stomach. To be safe, wash fruit and avoid tapas dishes that look as if they were cooked last week.

For minor complaints go to a farmacia – there are two in Mojacar – one at the Red Cross roundabout. Pharmacists are highly trained, willing to give advice (in English), and able to dispense many drugs which would be available only on prescription in most other countries. They keep usual shop hours (9am-2pm & 5 - 8pm), but during summer they open late and at weekends while a rota system keeps at least one open 24 hours. The rota is displayed in the window of every pharmacy, or you can check in one of the local newspapers under Farmacias de guardia .

In more serious cases you can visit an English-speaking private doctor in Mojacar or obtain the telephone number of an alternative from the local police or turismo.

If you have special medical or dietary requirements, it is advisable to carry a letter from your doctor, translated into Spanish, indicating the nature of your condition and necessary treatments.

In emergencies dial 091 for the Servicios de Urgencia or visit the Urgencia direct in Mojacar or the Cruz Roja Española (Red Cross) at the Red Cross roundabout on the main beach

Treatment at hospitals for EU citizens in possession of form E111 is free; otherwise you'll be charged at private hospital rates, which can be very expensive.

It is always recommended that you take out comprehensive travel insurance which includes health cover whilst travelling in Spain.

Meals and Restaurants

There is a multitude of distinctions. You can sit down and have a full meal in a comedor , a cafetería , a restaurante or a marisquería - all in addition to the more food-oriented bars.

Comedores are the places to seek out if your main criteria are price and quantity. Sometimes you will see them attached to a bar (often in a room behind), or as the dining room of a hostal or pensión, but as often as not they're virtually unmarked and discovered only if you pass an open door.

Since they're essentially workers' cafés they tend to serve more substantial meals at lunchtime than in the evenings (when they may be closed altogether). When you can find them you'll probably pay up to 10€ for a menú del día, cubierto or menú de la casa , all of which mean the same - a complete meal of three courses, usually with bread, wine and dessert included.

The highway equivalent of comedores are ventas which you'll be extremely glad of if you're doing much travelling by road. These roadside inns dotted along the highways between towns and cities have been serving Spanish wayfarers for hundreds of years - many of them quite literally - and the best ventas are wonderful places to get tasty country cooking at bargain prices. Again the menú del día is the one to go for and the best places usually have quite a gathering of lorries in their car park, shrewd long-distance truck drivers being among the best customers.

Replacing comedores to some extent are cafeterías, which the local authorities grade from one to three cups (the ratings, as with restaurants, seem to be based on facilities offered rather than the quality of the food). These can be good value, too, especially the self-service places, but their emphasis is more northern European and the light snack-meals served tend to be dull.

Food here often comes in the form of a plato combinado - literally a combined plate - which will be something like egg and chips or calamares and salad (or occasionally a weird combination like steak and a piece of fish), often with bread and a drink included. Cafeterias often serve some kind of menu del dia as well. You may prefer to get your plato combinado at a bar, which in small towns with no comedores may be the only way to eat inexpensively.

Moving up the scale there are restaurantes (designated by one to five forks) and marisquerías the latter serving exclusively fish and seafood. Restaurantes at the bottom of the scale are often not much different in price from comedores , and will also generally have platos combinados available. A fixed-price menú del día is often better value though:

Chinese restaurants - increasingly popular in Spain - generally have the cheapest menús del día :

Move above two forks, however, or find yourself in one of the more fancy marisquerías (as opposed to a basic seafront fish-fry place ), and prices can escalate rapidly. However, even here most of the top restaurants offer an upmarket menú called a menú de degustación (a sampler meal, usually including wine) which is often excellent value and allows you to try out some of the country's finest cooking

To avoid receiving confused stares from waiters in restaurants, you should always ask for la carta when you want a menu; menú in Spanish refers only to fixed-price meal. In addition, in all but the most rock-bottom establishments it is customary to leave a small tip ( propina ): Spaniards are judicious tippers, so only do so if the service merits it: the amount is up to you, though 5 to 10 percent of the bill in a restaurant is quite sufficient. Service is normally included in a menuú del dia

The other thing to take account of in medium- and top-price restaurants is the addition of IVA , a seven percent tax on your bill. It should say on the menu if you have to pay this.

Spaniards generally eat very late, so most of these places serve food from around 1 until 4pm and from 8pm to midnight. Many restaurants close on Sunday or Monday evening. Outside these times, generally the only places open are the fast-food joints; Pans & Co and Bocatta serve suprisingly good bocadillos and often have special offers.

Alchoholic Drinks

Cerveza, lager-type beer, is generally pretty good wherever it may be served. It comes in 300-ml bottles ( botellines ) or, for about the same price, on tap - a caña of draught beer is a small glass, a caña doble larger, and asking for un tubo (a tubular glass) gets you about half a pint. Many bartenders will assume you want a doble or un tubo, so if you don't, say so. Mahou, Cruz Campo, San Miguel, and Victoria are all decent beers and good local brands too are worth trying, such as Estrella de Galicia or Alhambra.

Equally refreshing, though often deceptively strong, is sangría, a wine-and-fruit punch which you'll come across at fiestas and in tourist bars. Tinto de verano is a similar red wine and soda or lemonade combination which is a great refresher in high temperatures; variations on this include tinto de verano con naranja (red wine with orangeade) or con limón (mixed with a Fanta lemon juice).

In mid-afternoon - or even at breakfast - many Spaniards take a copa of liqueur with their coffee. The best are anís (like Pernod) or coñac , excellent local brandy with a distinct vanilla flavour; try Magno, Soberano, or Carlos III ("tercero") to get an idea of the variety, or Carlos I ("primero"), Lepanto, or Gran Duque de Alba for a measure of the quality. Most brandies are produced by the great sherry houses in Jerez, but one equally good one that isn't is Mascaró, produced in Catalunya and resembling an armagnac.

In bars spirits are ordered by brand name, since there are generally less expensive Spanish equivalents for standard imports. Larios gin from Málaga, for instance, is about half the price of Gordon's. Specify nacional to avoid getting an expensive foreign brand. Spirits can be very expensive at the trendier bars; however, wherever they are served, they tend to be staggeringly generous - the bar staff pouring from the bottle until you suggest they stop.

Mixed drinks are universally known as copa or Cubata , though strictly speaking the latter is rum and Coke. Juice is zumo ; orange, naranja ; lemon, limón ; and tonic tónica .

Soft and Hot Drinks

Soft drinks are much the same as anywhere in the world, but try in particular granizado (and icey slush) or horchata (a milky drink made from tiger nuts or almonds) from one of the street stalls that spring up everywhere in summer. You can also get these drinks from horchaterías and from heladerías ( ice cream - helados - parlours ), or in Catalunya from the wonderful milk bars known as granjas . Although you can drink the water almost everywhere it usually tastes better out of the bottle - inexpensive agua mineral comes either sparkling ( con gas ) or still ( sin gas ).

Cafe (coffee) - served in cafés, heladerías and bars - is invariably espresso, slightly bitter and, unless you specify otherwise, served black ( cafe solo ). If you want it white ask for café cortado (small cup with a drop of milk) or café con leche (made with lots of hot milk). For a large cup of weaker coffee ask for an americano . Coffee is also frequently mixed with brandy, cognac or whisky, all such concoctions being called carajillo . Iced coffee is café con hielo , another great high summer refresher: a cafe solo is served with a glass of ice cubes. Pour the coffee onto the cubes - it cools instantly.

Té (tea) is also available at most bars, although bear in mind that Spaniards usually drink it black. If you want milk it's safest to ask for it afterwards, since ordering té con leche might well get you a glass of milk with a tea bag floating on top. Perhaps a better bet would be herbal teas and most bars keep these: manzanilla (camomile, not to be confused with the sherry of the same name), poleomenta (mint tea) and hierba luisa (lemon verbena) are all popular herbal infusions.

Chocolate (hot chocolate) is incredibly thick and sweet, and is a popular early-morning drink after a long night on the town. If you'd prefer a thinner cocoa-style drink ask for a brand name, like Cola Cao.

Spanish Wines

The Best of Spain

The Alhambra, Granada

If you see only one town in Spain it must be GRANADA for here, extraordinarily well preserved and in a tremendous natural setting, stands the Alhambra - the most exciting, sensual and romantic of all European monuments.

It was the palace-fortress of the Nasrid sultans, rulers of the last Spanish Moorish kingdom, and in its construction Moorish art reached a spectacular and serene climax. But the building seems to go further than this, revealing something of the whole brilliance and spirit of Moorish life and culture.

There's a haunting passage in Jan Morris's book, Spain , which the palace embodies: "Life itself, which was seen elsewhere in Europe as a kind of probationary preparation for death, was interpreted [by the Moors] as something glorious in itself, to be ennobled by learning and enlivened by every kind of pleasure."

The Mezquita, Córdoba

CÓRDOBA lies upstream from Sevilla beside a loop of the Guadalquivir, which was once navigable as far as here. It is today a minor provincial capital, prosperous in a modest sort of way. Once, however, it was the largest city of Roman Spain, and for three centuries it formed the heart of the western Islamic empire, the great medieval caliphate of the Moors.

It is from this era that the city's major monument dates: the Mezquita , the grandest and most beautiful mosque ever constructed by the Moors in Spain. It stands right in the centre of the city, surrounded by the old Jewish and Moorish quarters, and is a building of extraordinary mystical and aesthetic power. Make for it on arrival and keep returning as long as you stay; you'll find its beauty and power increase with each visit, as of course is proper, since the mosque was intended for daily attendance.

The Mezquita apart, Córdoba itself is a place of considerable charm. It has few grand squares or mansions, tending instead to introverted architecture, calling your attention to the tremendous and often wildly extravagant patios . These have long been acclaimed, and they are actively encouraged and maintained by the local council, which runs a "Festival of the Patios" in May.

Just 7km outside the town more Moorish splendours are to be seen among the ruins of the extravagant palace complex of Medina Azahara which is undergoing fascinating reconstruction.

Las Alpujarras

The region of mountain villages known as Las Alpujarras clings to the southern flanks of the Sierra Nevada, cloven by deep, sheltered valleys and gorges which run down towards the Mediterranean.

The Alpujarra, as it is popularly known, in the singular, is famous throughout Spain because of its unique mini-ecology. Its terraced farmlands are constantly watered by the melting snow from above, constituting a high-altitude oasis of greenery which stands in dramatic contrast to the arid foothills below. This is ideal hiking terrain for adventurous travellers, provided you take along a tent and well-padded sleeping bags - the average altitude is 4,000 feet above sea level.

The cultural interest of the region lies in its fifty-odd villages, which were the last stronghold of the Spanish Muslims, or Moors. Soon after the Castillians took Granada in 1492, all the city´s Moors were forced to convert to Christianity. Those who refused took to the hills, settling in this remote, inaccessible area. Constant pressure from the Christians led to a bloody uprising, the Morisco Rebellion of 1568, which was ruthlessly crushed out, with the public execution of the leader, Ben Humeya, in the main square of Granada. Soon followed a royal decree expelling from the Kingdom of Granada all people of Arab descent, since the "new Christians", as the converts were called, were all suspected of being ¨crypto-Muslims¨ in secret...

Fiestas

It's hard to beat the experience of arriving in some small Spanish village, expecting no more than a bed for the night, to discover the streets decked out with flags and streamers, a band playing in the plaza and the entire population out celebrating the local fiesta.

Everywhere in Spain, from the tiniest hamlet to the great cities, devotes at least a couple of days a year to their festivals. Usually it's the local saint's day, but there are celebrations of harvests, of deliverance from the Moors, of safe return from the sea - any excuse will do.

There are numerous colourful national and local festivals celebrated all around Spain, especially in spring and early summer. Concerts and recitals can be enjoyed throughout the year in Madrid. The Teatro Real reopened recently after many years of renovations and is now on a par with all the major opera houses in Europe.

There are several festivals which feature visiting theatre and dance companies and orchestras - the main ones are Veranos de la Villa (music festival, July-mid-Sept), Festival de Otoño (theatre and dance festival, October) and Festival Mozart (classical music, June-July). Important events through the year include: January Epiphany: The three Kings arrive by boat, by camel or even helicopter; festivities in towns all around Spain. February Carnival: on Shrove Tuesday, celebrated everywhere.

Cádiz city hosts one of Spain's best Carnival celebrations. March/April Semana Santa: Holy Week, religious processions in most towns. St George's Day, Sant Jordi: 23 April, day of books and roses - lovers' day (Catalonia only). Running of bulls in Vejer de la Frontera and Arcos de la Frontera.

The fallas, Valencia: on 19 March, the streets, plazas and balconies fill up with citizens, tourists and - most importantly - firemen, as colourful papier-mâché figures are put to the match, so that at midnight the entire city, illuminated with an orange glow, appears to be burning down.

Aquilas Festival - March - incredible display of custumes in a parade lasting several hours through the streets of Aquilas - well worth a visit - 50 minutes from Mojácar 

May Corpus Christi: flower carpets and other religious celebrations, late May and early June. Horse Fair, Jerez: display of horses and horsemanship.

June St John's Eve: 23 June, bonfires and other pyrotechnics. International Festival of Music and Dance, Granada. One of Spain's leading festivals offers a varied programme of music and dance by national and international companies. Concerts in the Auditorio Manuel de Falla and the Palacio Carlos V in the Alhambra, dance in the Generalife.

July Fiesta del Carmen: The fishermen's feast day on 15-16 July is celebrated at ports.

September Vendimia: the wine harvest festivals are in mid-September. Verge Mercè festival: 24 September, Barcelona's biggest festival. Fiesta de Otoño (Autumn Festival), Jerez, including Sherry harvest festival. The best flamenco to be found is in the festivals and contests held between the end of June and the middle of September in small towns - there's one, or more, every Saturday, in Andalusia. The best known are the Potaje in Utrera (Seville) at the end of June, La Caracolá in Lebrija (Seville) in mid-July, the festival in Mairena del Alcor (Seville) at the beginning of September, and Fiesta de la Bulería held in the Jerez bullring in mid-September. The bullfighting season lasts from mid-March to mid-October.

There are also the events of the Catholic calendar, most notably Semana Santa (Holy Week), which in Audalucía sees theatrical religious floats carried through the streets, accompanied by hooded penitents atoning for the year's misdeeds. Each festival is different. In the Basque country there will often be bulls running flamenco and the guitar are an essential part of any celebration; in Valencia they specialize in huge bonfires and deranged firework displays (climaxing in Las Fallas in March). But this is just the mainstream. Fiestas can be very strange indeed, ranging from parades of devils to full-blown battles with water or even tomatoes.

Fiestas calendar -  Fiestas are an absolutely crucial part of Spanish life. Even the smallest village gives at least a couple of days a year over to partying, and happening across a local event can be huge fun, propelling you right into the heart of its culture. But as well Fiestas are an absolutely crucial part of Spanish life. Even the smallest village gives at least a couple of days a year over to partying, and happening across a local event can be huge fun, propelling you right into the heart of its culture. But as well as such community celebrations, Spain has some really major events: most famously the Running of the Bulls at Pamplona, the April Feria of Seville, and the great religious processions of Semana Santa, leading up to Easter.

Any of these can be worth planning your whole trip around.

Following is a very basic calendar of fiesta highlights . For more detailed information, consult local tourist offices. Outsiders are always welcome at fiestas, the one problem being that it can be hard to find a hotel, unless you book well in advance.