Speak the Culture: Spain: Be Fluent in Spanish Life and Culture

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1. Identity: the
   building blocks of
   2. Literature
   and philosophy
   3. Art and
   architecture
   4. Performing
   arts
   5. Cinema
   and fashion
   6. Media and
   communications
   7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
   the details of

Cercanías

Local trains, usually running regularly between a city or large town and its satellites

(these were the lines targeted in the Madrid train bombings of 2004).

Regionales

Usually on time and quite cheap, but often rather slow and rickety. They run longer

routes thanCercaníasbut never go much beyond regional boundaries.

Grandes líneas

Spain’s intercity train network. Efficient, but not super quick unless you get the AVE.

Short but sweet: domestic air travel

Spain’s breadth encourages air travel, particularly when

it can take so long to travel by train.The domestic market

is healthy, served by airports in all the major towns and

cities, although the rise of the AVE train system is

beginning to move passengers back on to the rails. No

doubt it will hit air travel between Madrid and Barcelona,

currently the busiest flight path in the world with more

than 950 journeys a week. Madrid’s Barajaz Airport is one

of the biggest in Europe, catering to more than 40 million

passengers each year.The sheer scale of its newTerminal

Four building is breathtaking. It’s home to Iberia Airlines,

the national operator privatised in 2001.

Underground overground

Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao and Barcelona all have metro

systems.The capital’s dates back to 1919 and the scale

is grand considering Madrid’s relatively modest

population; it’s the third longest network in the world

(behind NewYork and London) at 317km.Thirteen lines

(one is a branch line) and 316 stations keep the city

moving. Malaga and Seville both have metro systems

under construction. Many of Spain’s cities also have tram

networks, some reinstated in recent years after an

absence of decades.

Line management: three different types of train travel

A new metro system was
inaugurated in Palma,
Majorca, in April 2007.
By September it had
been closed by repeated
flooding.