Where is real Spain?
 

I often hear people talking about "real Spain".

Im interested in hearing other opinions.

Surely Spain is "real Spain" wherever you are-city or campo.

What do you think?

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I certainly wouldn't class Benidorm as real Spain but Madrid is also difficult to class as real Spain due to its' diversity. It all depends on what you call real Spain. If you mean out in the sticks then this is just countryside living and I'd imagine this is pretty much the same in any country with regards to people that aremaybe more laid back and possibley set in their old ways. Real Spain is changing with the times just as the real UK or the real France, etc.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I don't especially like Benidorm either - fine for the odd day out though

Spanish people seem to love it though:unsure:

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

OK

What do you imagine as being the "old real Spain" and what about the "future real Spain"-what do you reckon that could be like .

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Old real Spain....honestly never been anywhere "old" but I'd imagine somewhere that hasn't been "spoilt" by tourists or immigrants. New Spain....I'd have to go for Madrid or Barcelona.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Maybe it's just like Ye Olde England where buxom wenches cheerily serve you warm pints of beer in wooden jugs after a day working the fields by hand while you watch Tiny Tim hobbling past with a loaf of Hovis on his way back to the workhouse

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I guess Mijas and Benalmadena Pueblos are expamples of "real Spain", however, whenever I've been to either, they're full of tourists, souvenier shops, donkeys, "real" paella...... which isnt really real. But its what the tourists seem to want!!??????

Jo xxxx

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Wooden jugs!:eek: I've heard of wooden legs before but that's a new one for me:D

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Medicine wasn't what it is now :p

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Exactly.

It means different things to different people.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Certainly when I use the term, I use it to mean 'unspoilt by tourism' and certainly not 'Brit Vil' like some parts of Benidorm (for example) with kiss-me-quick hats, English bars and fish 'n chips restaurants.

The old part of Benidorm, though, is very different and quite nice - could even, possibly, be classed as the real Spain.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Its all real spain tho isnt it - cos thats where it is and what it is. Europe is turning all countries into a bit of an amalgam. But Modern Spain as it is at the mo is how the Spanish want it to be - even if there are no donkeys or Paella!


Jo xxx

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

That seems sensible to me "real Spain" is wherever you are in Spain.

Its like asking "where is real England"

could it be the Lake District, the gangland estates of Liverpool or Manchester, the old mining villages, where most men lost their jobs, an isloated farm in Yorkshire, or a small fishing village on the south coast?

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

There is no such thing as real Spain, Franco liked to think there was, but there isnt

I've lived in Catalunya, Asturias and Malaga and I cant say they have much in common. They are very "real" though.

It is true that a lot of British expats live in "Britain in the sun" or expat ghettos where they dont interact with many Spanish things. That certainly isn't Spain, well not by any way that a Spanish person would recognise it anyway. I've been to some cafeterias there and asked for a Spanish menu for my OH and they didnt even have one!

Sometimes I think the Spanish goverment should follow the Catalan example and make all companies have a fluent Spanish speaker available at any time. That would shake things up :D

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

We’re about to get a real Spanish taxi to go into a real Spanish town, then into a real Spanish bank to pay some real Spanish bills.

Then we’re going to treat ourselves to a real Spanish meal in a bar overlooking the sea. I’m going to have a Russian salad along with my patatas brava and a French omelette, and I might have a small Heineken instead of the San Miguel which is a bit fizzy.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Real Spain is where they measure how long the piece of string is.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Ha-ha -I was just in the process of composing my reply when you posted that - read on!

I suppose that where I am is pretty 'real' ie not touristy - just life being lived as it always has been.

Our 75 yr old neighbour has worked on the land since he was 10 and can't read, write or tell the time. When he wants to buy something that needs measuring he takes a length of knotted string to the fereterria. The old timers take their wives to the village on market day with the wives perched on a wooden chair tied down in the trailer at the back of the tractor!

We have frequent power & water cuts and find ourselves sitting by candlelight in front of the open fire and fetching our water from the local spring - that takes me back to my childhood staying with my grandparents in rural Ireland!

Very few Spanish in the local area speak any English and the menus are all in Spanish. No-one in the brand new health centre speaks English - if you don't speak Spanish you must be accompanied by an interpreter.

To add to the authenticity - the mayor of a nearby town was arrested last year on charges of bribery, corruption & money laundering.

All this, & we're only 40 mins drive from the coast!


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Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Don't know which part of Axarquia you are but in some parts there are plenty of Brit bars and shops, Brit farmers markets too. Just because it's the campo and the people are illiterate doesn't make it any more "real". Matter of opinion, the real Spain could be a rich enclave of Madrid.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I agree - and I was just talking about my local area. 20 mins drive away is an expat enclave such as you are describing but it may as well be on the moon if you never venture there!

I'm also not saying that being illiterate makes it any more 'real' - I was just describing the local area & people and how far removed it is from a lot of people's idea of what Spain is like!


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Re: Where is real Spain?
 

The question is impossible to answer.

Reverse the question to the UK and you see how futile it is to even try.

Is Blackpool "real England"

Yes, of course it is folks are supporting their families, kids go to school, some have good jobs and others not so good ones. Some are happy, divorced, depressed, skint, rolling in money, fat, thin, old and young, drivers, smokers, alcoholics, drug addicts, theives, nuns. and so on.

Is central London "real England?

Yes, of course it is folks are supporting their families, kids go to school, some have good jobs and others not so good ones. Some are happy, divorced, depressed, skint, rolling in money, fat, thin, old and young, drivers, smokers, alcoholics, drug addicts, theives, nuns. and so on.......and on......and on......and on.........like this thread and similar ones in the past.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

what he said:thumbsup:

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

real spain is my village of la mela near sorbas in the mountains old customs donkeys still worked local dont speak amy english lovely wonderfull place going back in time to th 70s brill.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

It sounds lovely, but its not real Spain, its old fashioned Spain and I guess thats what the "real spain" issue means. I love that idea too and live somewhere quite similar. But lets face it, most young spanish people, regardless of british or tourist intervention dont wanna travel on or work with donkeys etc. They want the bright lights, fast cars, any car, good jobs, money, internet, modern music, night clubs, fashion.... all the things that other modern countries have. So you find some of the modern towns in Spain ARE real Spain, but have a cosmopolitan feel cos thats what the real spanish want. The town near to me is an example of that. Alhaurin de la Torre, it hasnt been built for the tourists, its been built for the Spanish an overspill of Málaga city. Its bright, modern has restaurants and bars from all nationalities, a big leisure centre, a night club, internet cafes, shops, supermarkets, most of the schools teach bilingual lessons, not for the expats, but for the Spanish who see english as the worlds business language and the way forward (hhhhmmm?! chinese might be a better option lol)...... In fact you could be anywhere. But it is real Spain, and there are some little side streets that are in the old style, but it all has a thoroughly modern feel

Jo xxx

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

The French omelette is not French, it is Spanish. Has its origin in the napoleonic wars, when in the blockades, became scarce the foods, for example the potato. When removing the potato, the omelette stayed in a poorer omelette, and the Spaniards of that time they called to this omelette " French omelette " ironically

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

he he he. I love stories like that :thumbup:

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Nice one. Now if you could make the Russian salad Spanish too, and maybe Heinekens is now brewed in Madrid (I think it might be), then I will have truly spent a day in real Spain yesterday.

What’s on for the day in real Spain today? Mercadona beckons, the Spanish dog’s been walked, my wife’s out interpreting at a Spanish hospital, and I’m waiting for a Spanish sun bed to be delivered, the dog chewed up the other one.

Oh, and I’ve been watching the Spanish news, apart from a quick glance at Sky to make sure we’re not at war again.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I have only talked about the origin of a food, in this case a type of omelette. But I don't know what you really mean with your comment

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I for one like little snippets of info like that about the omelette.
Lots of things have been "invented" by mistake or as a result of trying to do something different.

There is the story about builders who were building a house and they ran out of bricks for the second floor.

The site forman said "well, just bung a low roof on it, then.

Hence the bungalow was invented.......;);)

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Where is real Spain?

well it's in the same place the Real Britain is - in your mind !!!

but I think we tend to mean the traditional unspoilt 'days-gone-by' way of life, probably before mobile phones, TV and the internet... village life !?!?!?!

... maybe !

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

I think most of Spain is Real Spain. Except for totally Brit dominated areas and of course other areas totally dominated by other cultures.

However Spain is a diverse country. Which is what I love about it. 20 minutes down the road and youre in a totally different type of area. Some of the pueblos in the mountains are quaint and I guess could be defined as real Spain. Getting off the beaten track is always good. But Spain has always been such a great holiday area too. Most people (including spanish) have enjoyed what the coast has had to offer. The beaches, lines of restaurants and bars etc. So that is also real spain also!

Its all good!

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

ALL of Spain is real Spain, even the Rincon de Loix in Benidorm.

The road still get swept, drains, telephone installation, and other infrastructures are still maintained, the fire brigade, ambulance and police are still on call. Bank employees and coucil officials still do their days work, even though the majority of the people around maybe on holiday, or short term residents

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Yeah I agree :)

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

A commom misconception about tourist places, is that it is not real Spain because it may be full of Brit bars, or German restaurants.

What people forget is that there is a sub structure keeping these places running, and most of that work is done by Spanish.

To suggest it is not real in someway is doing them a disservice.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Its all real unless your on LSD:rofl:

It may be hard to find your real Spain, if it even exists:confused:

Just be satisfied you dont have to live in the UK:thumbsup:

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Yes fair enough

I guess it is a separate point to say that there are people I know who lived in Spain for 10 years who may as well have been living in the Middle East for all they actually know about Spain!

I also dont like when British people say "oh that's typically Spanish" e.g. like the "typical white Spanish villages" or the "typical Spanish food".

Well in most of Spain there aren't any white villages. We had some friends visit from Catalunya and they'd never visited a white village in their lives :)

The ignorance about Spain from some British people is because while they live in Spain they do not have Spanish neighbours or friends or watch Spanish TV etc. Even their kids don't go to Spanish schools.

A couple who live in the CDS were telling me of their trip to Barcelona and how they were surprised that Catalans were as dark skinned as Mexicans :rofl: You cant make this stuff up but I've heard it all...

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

the world is a big mixing pot and theres some of everywhere in everywhere! We've got an Irish bar in Alhaurin De La Torre run by Spanish, a Lebanese bar run by Mexicans and an Indian restaurant run by Brits. Then there are the chinese shops, Morrocan shops...... Even the "typically Spanish" restaurants serve burgers and chips to the "typically Spanish" and of course then you have Macdonalds/burgerkings in every town........ Its progress apparently!??:blink:

Jo xxx

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

Rincoln de Loix in Benidorm got me thinking. I stayed there once in one of the Acuarium blocks while looking around, I was about 20 floors up.

One night a coach load of English holidaymakers arrived, all middle-aged men, and they were accommodated in apartments all around the one I was in, spread over at least three floors.

Needless to say, they all went out drinking and came back in the small hours and woke me up. They were all shouting at each other from the various balconies, I’ve heard some bad language in my time, but this was the vilest stuff I’ve ever had to listen to.

I had a week of it and on their last night it was worse than ever. I finally snapped and from the safe darkness of my little apartment shouted back at them.

There was an ominous silence and then the lifts started moving. Shouting men were patrolling each floor and it was clear they were looking for the person who had insulted them. I heard doors being forced off the hinges and when the bell rang, answered.

Four men in underpants were standing outside, all with knives. They asked me whether I was the person who had shouted at them. I replied in my best Spanish that I thought it was an Englishman who lived in an apartment three doors away, which I knew was empty.

When the howling mob left, I bolted my door and got dressed, hoping to get to the fire escape if they returned. They didn’t, but the crashing noises went on for quite some time.

I walked past the apartment three doors away the next morning. It didn’t have a door left and had been totally trashed. So had the lifts and I had to walk down 20 floors.

I could see the coach waiting outside and sat in the nearby café to watch these monsters board their bus. I noticed that two burly men seemed to be leading them on to the coach, and as they looked reasonably normal I went up to them just before the coach left for the airport.

The two men were mental nurses who had accompanied a coach load of patients from a secure institution in England for a week’s holiday in Rincoln de Loix.

Re: Where is real Spain?
 

It is nice to know that the taxpayers moeny is put to good use. But I think that now RDL is a bit too cheap, they are probably going to the Caribean for their hols now,..............