Some things I'm learning about Spain...

I did a similar post when I first got to France (and if I was smart enough to know how to link that one here, I would), so I thought I'd continue the theme and put together some of my first impressions on Spain.

1. The language. But see my previous post for that.
2. The drama of it all. The women in particular, converse as if it's the last 5 minutes they have to say everything they want to say.We were at a table having lunch the other day and there was about 10 minutes of intense conversation as the family of (predominantly) women decided where they were all going to sit at the next table. The funniest are the mothers, yelling at their children – you don't even need to speak Spanish to understand that conversation. Being Spanish looks tiring, if not just from the conversation. Perhaps the reason behind siesta?
3. Siesta. Most things close between (it seems) 2ish and 5ish, for at least two hours. It's like trying to contact BG Infoline. I'm not sure if there are official times, and different things take a different approach, but it's something we're slowly getting used to.
4. Spain is drier, and seems a lot more industrious than France. Industry in the huge factories/plants kind of way. It also seems a lot more American-ised. Some of the architecture, particularly in the bigger cities and newer housing developments is very Americanish. The streets in Santander looked so much like San Francisco, right down to the steep hills.
5. The 'Sure, take all of your clothes off at the beach, that's fine' thing. I know I briefly posted about this in my San Sebastian post, but seriously. I've seen every part of the body you usually keep covered at the beach, both male and female, young and old, fat and thin, leathery-tanned and lily-white. The other day I saw a man get completely nude in front of his wife, his teenage daughters, his wife's friend and her daughters. Modesty is one thing, but surely there are rules about that?
6. The roundabouts that aren't roundabouts. Which you really only realise until you're in the middle of them, in a campervan, doing 60kms/hr. Coming from Canberra I'm not uncomfortable driving in a huge, multi-lane roundabout at speed. These roundabouts look like roundabouts, in that they're round, have multiple lanes, and have multiple roads entering them, but for one thing. These roundabouts reverse the rules. You have to give way to the traffic ENTERING the roundabout. It's wiggety-whack. (In Spain's defence, some of the traffic lights have countdowns to tell you how long you're going to be waiting at the red/green light before it changes – awesome!).

They're the first few things that come to mind....although I'm sure there will be more. We're in the middle of Spain at the moment, on our way from Comillas to Valencia (on a diagonal through the middle).