Did you know? Eiffel Tower was originally intended to be built in Barcelona, Spain. However, the project was rejected and moved to Paris instead.
Incredible, isn’t it? With over 47 million people, Spain is not only one of the best countries to travel or live in, but it is also a country filled with interesting facts that you should know.
Fun Facts about Spain
1. With over 47 million people, Spain is the 6th most populated country and is also the sixth-strongest economy in Europe.
2. It is estimated that about 75.9 percent of Spanish households own their own homes.
3. With a population of 6.7 million, The capital of Spain, Madrid, is the largest city in Spain. Other major urban areas include Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao.
4. Spain’s national anthem, La Marcha Real, is one of only four national anthems in the world that is entirely music without any lyrics.
5. The national animal of Spain is the bull. Which is slightly strange given how some Spaniards enjoy torturing and killing them as part of the cultural tradition of bullfighting. But hey, who are we to judge them.
Awesome Facts about Spain
6. Owing to its rich history fascinating culture and generally fantastic weather, Spain is the second most visited country in the world, Only behind France.
7. In Fact, Spain gets more tourists than the number of people who live there. To be more precise, In 2018, the country received 82.5 million tourists. And Spain’s population is 46.7 million, so tourists accounted for almost double the population.
8. Spain boasts an impressive 44 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, putting it in third place globally. It is only behind Italy with 49 and China with 45.
Read more: Crazy facts about China that you need to know
9. Starting all the way back in the 1800s artists like Antoni Gaudi, Pablo Picasso, Joanne Moreau, and Salvador Dali, The Spanish also had a massive influence on the world of modern art
10. You can also thank Spain for its contribution to literature, having produced one of the very first modern novels with the publication of Don Quixote, written in 1605 by Miguel de Cervantes.
Moreover, With 500 million copies sold worldwide, Don Quixote is the best-selling book of all time.
Facts about Spain Culture
11. According to a 2012 study by the center of sociological studies in Spain, Even though roughly 70% of Spanish people identify as Catholic, just over 13% of them go to church on Sundays.
But this doesn’t mean they are ditching their culture. In fact, Spaniards celebrate their wild festivals harder than anyone.
12. One of Spain’s most famous festivals is La Tomatina. During this people gather in the Valencian town of Bunol and throw tomatoes at each other for sheer fun. On this bloody tomato day, more than 150-thousand tomatoes are thrown at each other in an hour-long all-out fight.
13. Another famous infamous Spanish custom is the Running of the Bulls. This festival held every year in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. During this event, More than a million people attended each year to see adrenaline junkies attempting to sprint alongside enormous bulls.
14. The tradition of the tooth fairy exists in Spain. But instead of a fairy, an adorable small mouse named Ratoncito Pérez exchanging the teeth for money.
15. Also, Spanish people celebrate the new year very differently. At the new year, They gather with their family and eat one grape for each bell strike of the tower clock in Puerta del Sol in Madrid.
Interesting Facts about Spain
16. Interestingly the Eiffel Tower, now a symbol of France, was originally intended to be built in Barcelona. However, the project was rejected and moved to Paris instead.
Read more: 25 Mind-Blowing facts about France that will Amaze you
17. In 2002 British forces accidentally invaded Spain.
Yep, The platoon of some 30 marines once disembarked on to the San Felipe beach instead of Gibraltar. They spent about five minutes in Spain before realizing their mistake, and all withdrew.
18. Spain is one of a handful of the countries including France, Netherlands, Germany, and Austria, where beers are sold in McDonald’s.
19. Spain was stripped of the gold medal they won at Sydney 2000 after it emerged players had pretended to be intellectually disabled when they were not. The scandal emerged when team member Carlos Ribagorda claimed he and other players were not disabled.
20. Under the laws of the US state of Nevada, the Statue of Liberty in New York is legally married to the Christopher Columbus monument in Barcelona, Spain.
Crazy Facts about Spain
21. Every year in the Spanish province of Burgos, people celebrate El Colacho, a traditional holiday in which infants who have been born in the last 12 months are laid on mattresses in the street before men dressed as the devil leap over them to cleanse them of original sin.
22. The oldest restaurant in the world is the Restaurante Botín. This restaurant was built in 1725 in the center of the capital of Madrid and is still running. According to Forbes magazine, Boutin has ranked third in the world’s top 10 traditional restaurants.
23. Spanish notes has the highest amount of Cocaine in the world.
24. The world-famous Sagrada família is a large unfinished Catholic Church in Barcelona designed by the Catalan architect Antoni gaudí.
The enormous building is expected to be completed by 2026, meaning it will have been under construction for over 130 years longer than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
25. In 2012 the homeowner association of the village of Sedato won the Spanish Christmas lottery, which had a jackpot of roughly 950 million dollars at the time, working out at roughly $130,000 per person. Literally, everyone in the village had bought at least one ticket except for one unlucky man.
That’s it for this post guys, I hope you had fun while reading 25 Mind-Blowing Spain facts.
And in case you’re interested in reading other articles:
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