Spain Local Custom Tips by iandsmith

When in Rome.....

That's the wonderful thing about holidays, you just never know what's around the corner.
There I was in Carmona (see "Off the Beaten Track") and around the corner came the school excursion - all dressed in Roman outfits, in keeping with the necropolis they were about to see.
Apparently they do it every year. What a wonderful idea! This was the teacher, he had the best outfit.

Local costume

I'm not sure that this is in the right category but what the heck! These local girls from Llanes in Cantabria were dressed in colourful traditional costume and we caught them on their way out.

When in Spain, the language...

When in Spain, the language you have in your guide book may not necessarily be the one spoken where you are. When you speak English and only have a little Spanish to work with it can be hard when the people you're trying to make conversation with are fluent in Basque, Catalan or some local dialect like you get in the Pyrenees.

So, you're driving around...

So, you're driving around Spain and you're wondering what all those huge black bulls are by the roadside. If you're really observant you'll also notice that there are no billboards in Spain. What's the connection I hear you thinking. Well, they used to have billboards but they (sensibly in my opinion) decided to ban them. However, since the bull is such a symbol of Spain and there was an outcry, they decided to leave some of billboards shaped like a bull which used to advertise a common alcoholic beveridge called, you guessed it, 'El Toro'.
Unfortunately, only part of the above is correct. Luckily, fellow vt member "ilargitxo" put me on the straight and narrow.
"I want to correct one comment you did about the road billboards in Spain, with a
bull shape. The drink they wanted to advertise was not named "El Toro" was named
"Veterano" and the billboards with the shape of a bull are because the owners of
this drinks company are the "Osborne family" who in the past or maybe still they
are were very rich bull breeders- farmers so the bull was the "mark" of the
family as a way to recognize them and to say that they were or still are bull
breeders.
Maybe nowadays more recently they have made a new drink called El Toro but this
drink sure it's new since in the past it doesn't exists."
There you have it!