So I've been to Spain for about 4 times.

Majority of those 4 times have been visits to Barcelona of varying length anywhere from as short as 4 days to 2 weeks.

Other parts of Spain that I've seen included countryside of Catalonia including the beach resort of Sitges.

As for southern Spain in Andalucia, I've seen Sevilla, Malaga, and Cordoba.

Impressions and generalizations of countries is honestly very subjective from person to person. So let me just say that out of the blue to clarify.

But that being said, I've noticed there are some trends and cultural nuances that are specific to Spain including:

The Positives of Spain

1. The Dance - generally, the culture of Spain is one of dancing and having fun, whether that's salsa to their national dance, flamenco.

2. The Tapas - culture of sharing small bite size portion of foods is quite simple and ingenious, and delicious as they've spent many hundreds of years creating different types of sliced meat particularly from pork, as well as the coastal areas celebrating seafood, particularly with the national dish, seafood paella.

3. General Above Average English Ability (for those who can't speak Spanish) - There's always that stereotype that the French in Paris, won't want to speak English. But generally, that can be true anywhere else around the world where people don't speak the language. But in Spain, if you are in the major areas ... they generally do speak English more so than the French, but again, when you are in the home country of certain area, can't expect people to know English.

4. People Generally Friendly - With nice weather usually all year round and culture around having fun, staying up late ... it can be a great place to meet people and relax.

The Negatives of Spain

1. Eating Late - This one is a personal one. I'm just used to the American eating plan of waking up for breakfast, lunch around noon, and then dinner around 6PM. But if you are in Spain, just expect to eat 3 hours later all around. Yes there are places open to cater those who aren't on the Spanish time schedule, but for the good places ... they won't open until at least 2PM for lunch or 8PM for dinner. The Spanish can eat as late as 11PM.

2. Generally Not Caring About Customer Service - I've encountered this numerous times, anywhere that I've been. Perhaps the Spanish don't do the tipping culture, and that could be partially why some service members just don't care to give good service. Particularly when it comes to waitering or when you are at ticket counter, and they just don't care to answer any questions.

3. Not Aware of Personal Space - Maybe it's a cultural thing, but my gosh ... people just are in your personal space. I think it's an American thing to keep like 3 feet of distance at least from each other. But with Mediterranean type culture ... I guess people are more comfortable being closer to each other (for example, hugs, vs. just handshakes). But still ... when I'm walking on the street ... I'm just baffled that people can see me walking on one side ... yet just keep assuming that I'll just move when they should be walking "to their right". Annoying when you are in particularly crowded parts of the city.

4. Complaint of Madrid Metro and Barcelona Metro - Big ups for Barcelona metro keeping their public transportation affordable at 1 Euro a ride (with the T10 card) ... but my biggest complaint with both these Metro systems is that the lines don't make sense. They don't go in circle, they kind of go some random direction. Ultimately, you may have to transfer 2-3 times just to get to a destination. It's unlike where in Paris and London, the lines go East-West, North-South, and then Circular ... and essentially makes traveling easy to where you can get non-stop or one stop transfer. But worst yet is when buying tickets. Yes, they have ticket machines in other languages ... but particularly for Madrid Metro ... why would you have reloadable cards, when you can't use that loaded ride for future date? No where in the system does it say that I can't use it tomorrow. That's just one of the confusions ... maybe I'll write up a post separately on both Metro systems and why I think both aren't great (along with why NYC subway also SUCKS).

Again the above are just "my personal opinions" .. .and someone's positive could also be someone else's negative ... and someone's negative could be someone else's positive ... it all comes down to personal perspective.

If you've been to Spain, what do you think is pros and cons of Spain?