Spain is a nation in the far southwest of Europe. It shares the Iberian Peninsula with its smaller neighbor, Portugal, and makes up almost 85% of its total area.

Spain is a popular tourist destination because of its illustrious history, expansive monuments, snow-capped mountains, and sophisticated towns. Both geographically and culturally, the nation is varied. The Meseta, a wide central plateau situated half a mile above sea level, serves as its center. A large portion of the area has historically been used for grain and cattle grazing; it was amid this bucolic backdrop that Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, which pokes fun at the huge windmills that still stand in various spots around the countryside.

The wide Ebro River valley, Catalonia’s mountainous region, and Valencia’s steep coastal plain are located in the northeast of the nation. The craggy Cantabrian Mountains lie to the northwest, with lofty peaks strewn among thickly forested, rain-swept valleys. The irrigated, citrus-orchard-rich Guadalquivir River valley, immortalized in the famous verses of Federico García Lorca and Antonio Machado, lies to the south; the snow-capped Sierra Nevada rises above this valley.

The “spaghetti western” movies of the 1960s and early 1970s introduced Americans to the desert that covers the southern part of the nation. This desert region is an extension of the Sahara. The Balearic Islands and the southeast Mediterranean coast, adorned with palm trees, rosemary plants, and other tropical flora, are popular retirement destinations for millions of people, many of whom come from northern Europe.