Spain is overwhelmingly rich in history, art, and culture. For information on Spain past and present, consider reading some of these books or seeing these films:

Non-Fiction

Spain has undergone incredible changes since the death of Franco in 1975. The New Spaniards (Hooper) is a survey of all aspects of modern Spain, including its politics, economy, demographics, education, religion, and popular culture.

For a sympathetic cultural history of the Basque people, their language, and contributions from Roman times to the present, read The Basque History of the World (Kurlansky).

George Orwell traded his press pass for a uniform, fought against Franco’s Fascists in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39, and then wrote an account of his experiences in his gripping Homage to Catalonia. The Battle for Spain (Beevor) re-creates the political climate during the Civil War.

James Michener traveled to Spain for several decades, and his tribute, Iberia, describes how Spain’s dark history created a contradictory and passionately beautiful land.

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The land where Spain and France meet the Atlantic is Basque country — filled with people who have their own culture and language — but not their own country. As any visitor finds, even without political independence, the Basque culture thrives in both the French and Spanish parts of the region.

On the French side of the border, in the Basque town of St. Jean de-Luz, I’m working my way through a steamy pottery bowl of Ttoro. My waiter, Guy, described it as “big fish Basque soup.” With so many exotic fruits of the sea hiding in the red broth, I’m lost in a bibbed travel adventure. Suddenly, a troupe of college coeds, dressed like medieval boy scouts, invade the tight and packed bistro. They get the nod from Guy, and began their serenade — tambourines, mandolins, and mariachi-style harmonies all on happy mode. Exploring Basque country — a new region for me — reminds me of the freshness of my first European trip.

The Basques are linguistic switch-hitters, flipping effortlessly between Spanish or French and their native Euskadi. Flags, table cloths, and even storm shutters here are enthusiastically orange and green. People still gather at the venerable Oak Tree of Gernika, where for centuries Basque leaders have worked out the problems of the day.

The biggest tourist attraction of this ancient land is entirely modern: the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. From the day it opened in 1997, Frank Gehry’s architectural masterpiece has been the gleaming pride of this rough-edged industrial city.

From a distance, the museum looks like a cross between a sloppy crate of milk bottles and a sleek clipper ship. Close up you can see the hundreds of stone, glass and titanium panels which wrap the museum in skin that shimmers as if covered with fish scales. It’s a playfully perfect fit for its urban riverside location. While the building alone merits a side-trip to Bilbao, it functions wonderfully as a glorious display case for some of our generation’s best art. And what other museum welcomes you with a fragrant 42-foot tall puppy — a West Highland Terrier made of 60,000 flowers? Created by Jeff Koons, the various flowers are designed to bloom in various eye-pleasing sequences.

Bilbao’s Guggenheim makes a great day trip. And San Sebastián (Donostia in Euskadi), an hour away, makes the best Basque homebase. Spain’s dictator Francisco Franco summered here for 35 years. While locals don’t talk up the Generalissimo’s love of their town, they are quick to brag that Queen Isabel II came here to remedy her skin problems back in 1845. Her choice of San Sebastián put the city with Europe’s dreamiest crescent beach on the resort map.

Once the toast of the belle époque and its rich and famous, today’s San Sebastián fits the needs of the backpacking crowd: no mind-numbing great museums, just great beach action, cheap rooms, and an inviting bar scene with cheap-and-tasty pintxos (PEEN-chos, buffet-style bar snacks). Some pintxos are simple sandwiches, others are petite gourmet dishes. My favorite? Txangurro — baked and stuffed spider crabs — with a plate of sautéed wild mushrooms and smoked cod-stuffed mini-croissant. And all this washed down with a generous selection of full-bodied Spanish wines.

With its fun food, the great Bilbao museum, the pride of the local people who — against all odds keep their culture vibrant — the under appreciated Basque country is worth a look.

This sunny sandstone city boasts Spain’s grandest plaza, its oldest university, and a fascinating history all swaddled in a strolling college-town ambience.

Northwest of Madrid (2.5 hours one-way by car, bus, or train), Salamanca is youthful and untouristy, displaying its mighty monuments and clusters of cloisters with quiet pride. Take an evening paseo (stroll) with the local crowd down main street — Rua Mayor — and through the main square, Plaza Mayor. The many students help keep prices down. The young people congregate until late in the night, chanting and cheering, talking and singing. When I asked a local woman why young men all alone on the Plaza Mayor suddenly break into song, she said, “Doesn’t it happen where you live?”

Plaza Mayor, built from 1729 to 1755, is the ultimate Spanish plaza and a fine place to nurse a cup of coffee (try the venerable Art Nouveau–style Café Novelty) and watch the world go by. The town hall, with the clock, grandly overlooks the square, and the Arco del Toro (bull) leads to the covered market. Imagine the excitement of the days (until 1893) when bullfights were held in the square.

Salamanca’s university, the oldest in Spain (est. 1230), was one of Europe’s leading centers of learning for 400 years. Columbus came here for travel tips. Today, while no longer so prestigious, it’s laden with history and popular with Americans, who enjoy its excellent summer program. The old lecture halls around the cloister, where many of Spain’s Golden Age heroes studied, are open to the public (for a fee). Some of the rooms are still used by the university for prestigious academic ceremonies.

The ornately decorated grand entrance of the university is a great example of Spain’s plateresque style (Spain’s version of Flamboyant Gothic), masonry so intricate it looks like silverwork (plata means “silver”). The people studying the facade aren’t art fans. They’re trying to find a tiny frog on a skull that students looked to for good luck.

In the Hall of Fray Luís de León, the narrow wooden beam tables and benches — whittled down by centuries of studious doodling — are originals. Professors spoke from the Church-threatening cátedra, or pulpit. It was here that free-thinking brother Luís de León returned, after the Inquisition jailed and tortured him for five years for challenging the Church’s control of the word of God by translating part of the Bible into Castilian. He started his first post-imprisonment lecture with, “As we were saying…” Such courageous men of truth believed the forces of the Inquisition were not even worth acknowledging.

Near the university you’ll find the old and new cathedrals. These cool-on-a-hot-day cathedrals are share buttresses, and are both richly ornamented. The “new” cathedral, begun in 1513 and finished in 1733, is notable for its ornate plateresque facade and sumptuous wood carving. In the old cathedral (12th-century Romanesque), sit in a front pew to study the 53 altarpiece scenes from Mary’s life and the dramatic Last Judgment fresco — notice Jesus directing condemned souls into the literal jaws of hell.

If you’re crazy about cloisters, stop by the Church of San Esteban, dedicated to St. Stephen (Esteban) the martyr. The church contains a recently restored cloister, tombs, and a museum with illustrated 16th-century choir books (may be closed in 2008). Before you enter the church, notice the plateresque facade and its bas-relief of the stoning of St. Stephen. The nave is overwhelmed by a 100-foot, 4,000-piece wood altarpiece by José Benito Churriguera (1665–1725) that replaced the original Gothic one in 1693. Quietly ponder this dusty, gold-plated cottage cheese, as tourists shake their heads and say “too much” in their mother tongue. Next door, the much simpler Convento de las Dueñas is a joy. It consists of a double-decker cloister with a small museum of religious art. Check out the stone meanies exuberantly decorating the capitals on the cloister’s upper deck. The nuns sell sweets daily except Sunday.

For a fun meal, do the tapas tango. Bars offer a great selection of tapas, or appetizers, featuring all kinds of foods — seafood, salads, meat-filled pastries, deep-fried tasties, and on and on. Wash down your tapas with iced gazpacho (spicy tomato soup), a cool treat on a hot day. The covered mercado on Plaza Mercado is ideal for picnic gatherers. And if you always wanted seconds at Communion, buy a bag of giant Communion wafers, a local specialty called obleas.

Salamanca, with its low-cost accommodations, inexpensive food, and monumental sights, offers up small-town Spain on a Plateresque platter.

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