Spain

At Las Ramblas in Barcelona

I think I’ve been to Spain more than any other country in the world (excluding Mexico, Jamaica and the Bahamas, Costa Rica, where I used to work.)

I spent two summer studying Spanish in the coastal city of Malaga, and have traveled through out the country. One of the finest and funnest cities on the planet is Barcelona, known for its vibrant nightlife, food, and beaches. Adventurers would also enjoy Pamplona for the famous “Running of the Bulls” race celebrated as part of the San Fermin festival. I hope to run this race before I get too old!!!

The capital city of Spain is Madrid, which is fun to visit for a day or two. Many people fly into Madrid and then travel elsewhere in Spain. The official language of Spain is Castilian Spanish, but Catalan, Galician, Basque, and Aranese are all official languages in respective regions. The majority of the population practices Roman Catholicism.

One of my favorite cities in Spain is Granada, in southern Spain’s Andalusia region, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It’s known for the Alhambra and medieval architecture dating to the Moorish occupation.

A fun fact about Spain is that there is a festival in Buñol, the East of Spain, called La Tomatina, a giant tomato throwing festival held at the end of every summer!

Bucket List … watching FC Barcelona
Family in the square in Madrid

Czech Republic

Jim looking at the Astronomical clock in Prague, Czech Republic Country Information: Czech Republic, which gained independence in 1993. The capital is Prague and the official language is Czech. About 10.5 million people live here. The country used to be primarily...

Jordan

Spectacular sunset over Petra Beautiful sunset falling on Petra Country Information: The capital of Jordan is Amman. About 8 million people live here, and the official language is Arabic. Most inhabitants are Muslim, with about 92 percent Sunni and 1 percent Shia or...

Ukraine

In the Ukraine in front of a Soviet ICBM, 2015 Many types of ICBMs in the Ukraine Country Information: There are roughly 45 million Ukrainians, and the official language is Ukrainian, but Russian is a regional language, meaning more than 10% of the population speaks...