The exuberance of the Spaniards and the glorious predictability of the summer weather have been attracting refugees from northern Europe's damp and clammy lands for decades, but Spain is much more than the Costa del Sol and warm English beer. It is drenched in the historical pageantry of empire and conquistadors, the artistic legacy of Goya, Velázquez, Picasso and Dalí, and the romance of Don Quijote, Papa Hemingway and the International Brigades.

Full country name: Kingdom of Spain
Area: 504,784 sq km
Population: 40.5 million (growth rate 0.1%)
Capital city: Madrid (pop 3 million)
People: Spaniards (though Catalans and Basques display a fierce independent spirit)
Language: Castilian Spanish (also Catalan, Galician & Basque)
Time Zone: GMT/UTC plus 1 hour in winter, or two hours in summer (from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September)
Religion: 90% Roman Catholic
Government: Parliamentary monarchy
President: José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero

GDP: $720.8 billion
GDP per head: $18,000
Annual growth: 4%
Inflation: 2.9%
Major industries: textiles & apparel, food & beverages, metals, chemicals, shipbuilding, tourism
Major trading partners: EU (esp. France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, UK, Benelux), US
Member of EU: yes
Euro zone participant: yes

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