12th October: National Day of Spain

Today is Spain's national day, so here are 10 things you might not know about Spain:

1. No-one knows for sure where the name Spain came from, but theories have included Phoenician for “the hidden land” or Carthaginian “land of the Rabbits”.
2. The origins of the name of the capital city, Madrid, are better documented. It was called Ursaria (“land of Bears”) by the Romans because of the many bears in the area. During the Arabic occupation of Spain, it was called Magerit, which means “place of abundant water”.
3. The physical centre of Spain is in Madrid. It's marked by a plaza, The Puerta del Sol (“Gate of the Sun”) is marked as Km 0 for the Spanish radial road network.
4. Spain also includes the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, the Chafarinas Islands and Alhucemas, the peninsula of Vélez de la Gomera and the isle of Alborán.
5. Spain is home to the most valuable sports team in the world, football team Real Madrid. Their annual revenue is $650m and their brand value is $3.3 billion. The third most valuable team also comes from Spain - Barcelona, with a value of $2.6 billion.
6. Spain is famous for its explorers. Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1499-1543) discovered California. Spanish sailor Gabriel de Castilla (1577-1620) became the first man ever to see Antarctica. Spanish sailor Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476-1526) was the first man to circumnavigate the world. Christopher Columbus was Italian, but the Spanish financed his voyages.
7. The quill pen is thought to have originated in Spain about 1,400 years ago. Other Spanish inventions include the diving bell, the mop, and a Spanish sailor and engineer, Isaac Peral, designed the first fully operative military Submarine. Spanish surgeon and scientist Miguel Servet was the first European to describe pulmonary circulation.
8. People in Spain have two surnames, one from their mother and one from their father.
9. The oldest known cave painting is found in the Cave of El Castillo in northern Spain. There researchers have found a faint red dot there that is thought to be over 40,000 years old.
10. Spain is also known for its weird festivals. On St. Fermin’s Day in July in the northern town of Pamplona, over 1 million people attend the Running of the Bulls festival. On the last Wednesday of August in the town of Buñol, outside of Valencia, La Tomatina, or “The World’s Biggest Food Fight” takes place, basically crowds of people lobbing Tomatoes at each other. Over 150,000 tomatoes are thrown. In Las Nieves, in Galicia there is a festival held in honour of Saint Marta de Ribarteme, the Patron Saint of resurrection. People who have had a near death experience celebrate Mass, but they are expected arrive carrying, or being carried in, a coffin. Finally, in Castrillo de Murcia on the feast of Corpus Christi, all the babies born within the previous year are laid on mattresses in the street so that men, dressed as devils, can jump over them, to protect them from evil spirits in later life.

My Books

As well as this blog, I also write fiction and have published two novels (Death and Faxes and Glastonbury Swan) and a collection of short stories (Jigsaw). If you like ghost stories, crime stories, a bit of romance and anything slightly bizarre you might enjoy them. 

Further details on my books page