A Few Random Spain Observations

The Spanish economy is indeed booming. Growth is outpacing its European rivals, many of which have actually flatlined. A large part of the reason for this is large scale immigration from South America which has been less contentious than immigration programmes in other countries due to established language and cultural links. Currently 20% of the Spanish population were born outside of the country.

One of my highlights from years ago visiting Barcelona was seeing the Clipper lighter factory on the outskirts of town, passing on a bus to Girona. The Clipper is a cultural icon amongst my generation of tokers here in the UK and it was a big deal for me. They're still made in Spain, not China.

On a similarly related, extremely boring anecdote note, a picture I took of a Clipper lighter I bought in a Barcelona grocers' went viral many years ago. Hundreds of thousands of views, and this was about 20 years ago. It was a lighter with a royalty free image printed on it of the BSD Devil and Linux Penguin, the respective mascots for each OS. BoingBoing blogged it, back when Cory Doctrow was editor and it was a big deal in internet culture at that time. I'd titled the photo "BSD F-cks Linux" rather catchily, so you can guess the illustration.

Also yes, South American immigrants. It surprised me how many Colombians I met when I was in Barcelona out on the squat / party scene, and that was years ago. Argentinians too. Good old life on offer if you play your cards right coming from South America to Spain I'd imagine.

ETA: I'm finding the beef and pork here in Spain to be really delicious and tender; though I try to go easy on red meat, it's proving to be difficult for me to do so.

Galician beef is amongst the best in the world and commands a high price in the UK which has some of the best beef globally, particularly Scottish. French beef isn't so great, they've historically opted for larger breeds to maximise yields but at the expense of flavour. Likewise Spanish free range pork such as the Iberico breed has no comparison in France but certain British breeds such as Tamworth and Gloucester Old Spot hold their own against Iberico. The Hungarian Mangalitza breed is worth hunting down, it has a very high fat content that provides exemplary flavour, consider it the wagyu of the pork world.

Economically, things are getting better. But from a very low base. Nationally, unemployment is still 10% and youth unemployment more than double that (although there is a thriving black market). Housing isn't great either and in some places there is a real housing crisis. Some of the residential construction you saw being built will be for tourists or Brit second home owners (e.g, me).
Yes, the food is great (apart from cheese, chocolate and biscuits - they really don't seem to be able to do those). And Spain is better at being novel with its cuisine than the stick-in-the-muds in France and Italy.

Yes, Spanish ham is hands down the best we have ever eaten. I can still savor the flavor in my dreams.
Also, we found the Spanish people to be very friendly and welcoming. My husband speaks New York Spanish and not once did anyone correct him. They were very happy to speak with him.

PS, I also think the Spanish dress better than the French and Italians. I have purchased clothes there during both of my trips and always get complements when I wear them.

I always find interesting to see what foreigners think of Spain, thanks for writing this!

As for recent economic development, unfortunately much of it is built on the sand castle of mass tourism, but we are trying to diversify the economy, especially in less touristy regions. I know the Aragon region for example (a landlocked backwater a generation ago) has become quite wealthy due to foreign investment, with average income now on-par with Catalonia, even without the tourism money that Barcelona brings. I've read somewhere that many big US companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and Blackstone are building massive billion-dollar data centres in Aragon.

(edit) found it: https://www.reuters.com/technology/blackstone-invest-82-bln-data-centres-northeastern-spain-2024-10-15/

Hi @jphbucks, I'm sure that looking in from the outside Spain is very attractive right now. But on the ground it looks a bit different.
Years ago they talked about the two speed Spain, where parts were going strong and others were much slower in growing. Now it is more urban Spain and the "emptied" Spain.

1. As some have pointed out business is booming, but for who? Here in Logroño many small businesses are closing, but those in the tourist industry (bars, restaurant, tourist accommadations, etc) are growing. Even in good times factories close, but they are closing around here or reducing work force.

2. Here there is more construction than before, but not like pre-pandemia times.

3. Prices are rising, but salaries aren't. I agree the prices are generally less than France. A curious case is last year there was a crisis in the olive oil sector, and my liter of olive oil went from 3.60€ up to 8.50€ at one point. Yet in other countries the price raise was much more moderate. And as mentioned, housing is a problem. Not just in Barcelona, Madrid, or other big cities. There is some pressure here in Logroño, but in Pamplona for example it is very difficult.

4. I agree with you.

5. Ns/Nc

There is some very good quality food here. And fresh. Don't forget about lamb. We get lots of lamb here, and next week is one of my favorite days of the year, when during the San Mateo's Fiesta they will grill over 750kg of lamb chops in the plaza. The town smells like grilled lamb chops.

And Spain is better at being novel with its cuisine than the stick-in-the-muds in France and Italy.

Never a truer word said. I really don't understand the hype surrounding French cuisine, in all my visits to France the food has been average at best but Spain, with a few exceptions, has been superb.

I concur with Carlos and dlindstrom. It would be nice if some of the development would be in the interior parts of the country that have experienced a mass exodus over the past few decades. If one drives around the interior areas of the country they will notice many formerly thriving villages and hamlets are presently almost deserted with “se vende” signs on the majority of buildings.

One additional comment: if you're traveling to multiple European countries, get your cash somewhere other than Spain. Both Caixa Bank and Santander Bank charged me extortionate exchange rates (about $1.30 per euro). I feel like I'd have done better with Euronet.

If one drives around the interior areas of the country they will notice many formerly thriving villages and hamlets are presently almost deserted with “se vende” signs on the majority of buildings.

Sounds a lot like rural USA. Like it or not, urban life tends to be more prosperous. I think that's probably true worldwide.

Nick, we DO have fantastic cheeses all over Spain, how come you haven´t found any of our dozens of varieties to your liking? (more than 150 different cheeses and many of them extraordinary, one of the biggest varieties in the world).

Spain is a very diverse, varied country in economies, landscapes, foods, languages, accents, climates...but if we have a very, very good thing, it definitely is our thriving social life. Anytime, anywhere, we love to socialize with family and friends.

I don’t really have a lot to add, but in gratitude to the Spanish cheese-makers, I must agree with Mike (the Basque guide) on this issue — I, too, think Spanish cheese is great, or at any rate, I’ve been fond of the types I’ve had so far. I admit I haven’t come close to trying all 150 kinds, and I have no doubt there would be some among those 150 I wouldn’t like; but if so I haven’t encountered them yet.

As long as I’m writing, I’ll also “second” Mike’s positive observation on the Spanish social life. I normally don’t like crowds, mainly because most of my crowd experience has been here in the US; but I’ve found that Spain seems to do crowds very well. In Spain, whether it’s people coming into a friendly tapas bar long after I wouldn’t have thought you could have squeezed in a toothpick; the huge crowds milling around the Puerta del Sol in the evening (my first sight of which made me wonder whether Madrid was being evacuated!), or the general crowds on the late-night “marcha” among the cafes or tapas bars in most any city and large town, I’ve always found the “crowd scene” to be good-natured and congenial. I admit my experience is limited only to five visits up through 2019 (though I’m hoping for another within a few months), and none of them longer than two weeks, so I may have missed a lot; but such has been my personal experience.

The Spanish do that communal "third space" in the evening perfectly.

We're now in Sevilla. Lovely city, except for the trash and broken glass everywhere. It seems that a portion of the local population are selfish jerks, and that the city doesn't spend enough on public employment to remove their detritus.

I'll add that we did not see anything like this in either Valencia or Murcia. Murcia is a very nice city, BTW. Another place that seems like a great place to live.

Shocked to read that someone doesn't like the cheese in Spain. They have some of the best cheese I have ever eaten. Some of it was only local, but it was always delicious. The mix of goat and sheeps milks are my favorites.

One place where businesses seem to be thriving is along some of the Camino routes. Especially for the restaurants and albergues catering to vegans, vegetarians, gluten free, organic. Or albergues doing communal meals, local massage professionals, etc. This seems to have brought some life back into the small villages. Almost half a million people got a compostela (walked at least 100km into Santiago) last year but there are 1000s and 1000s of us who don't get one. All looking for delicious food and a cosy place to lay our heads.

One last post on this thread, regarding Madrid.

Wow! Just wow. I was in the city in 2022, and found it overwhelmingly large and maybe a bit gritty. This year, my impressions were quite different. We stayed in an AirBnB in the working class neighborhood of Numancia, and it was wonderful (though the tourist office guy was horrified; he warned us against "Dominicans"). Our walking route into the museum district took us through the Parque de El Retiro, a bracing uphill hike through beautiful gardens and plantings. The Prado, the Reina Sofía and the Thyssen museums are all first-rate, though be advised: the Reina Sofía reminds one of MOMA. If you like it, you like it; we didn't, particularly.

Getting in and out by car involves the inner-city autovia, which amounts to one giant tunnel. For the driver, it can be confusing, but the engineer will be mightily impressed. Very modern, quite excellent.

Again, Spain has become a real economic production center. Cannot emphasize enough how impressed I am.

"Reina Sofía reminds one of MOMA. If you like it, you like it; we didn't, particularly"

I've no idea what MOMA is, but in reality don't most people (certainly me, anyway), go to Reina Sofia to see Guernica? In the same way, we go to the Louvre to see Mona Lisa. I'm sure both places do have some other stuff for the arty farties. But the two famous pics are the only real reason most of us go.

Possibly MOMA is Museum of Modern Art.

It would be nice to write out the actual words rather than using lesser known acronyms. One needs a program nowadays to keep up with all the abbreviations and acronyms.

Apologies; MOMA is indeed the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. As I guess I'm one of the arty farty types (no offense taken, though the farty part is increasingly common, sadly), it's such a common acronym to me that I failed to realize it isn't so common for others.

Permit me to be a bit sad at reading the only reason "most people" go to these museums is to see the celebrity pieces.

I'd have thought MoMA is one of the more well known acronyms. Small "o" usually btw.