Barcelona city in Spain is definitely one of the best you can visit in the country. It has a variety of attractive sites that call tourists from all over the world. Barcelona is the largest city in Spain and tourism plays a major role in the economy of the city as well as Spain at large.

As it is the norm with any other city, Barcelona has spectacular landmarks which are unique to the city. Some of the landmarks and monuments date back in time and have been standing for years on end and are still in amazing condition. These landmarks are a must visit for all people targeting Barcelona as their destination in Spain.

The magic Fountain

Constructed and designed in 1929, the magic fountain has become a true landmark located in Montjuic Barcelona. The fountain attracts hundreds of people because of its magical dancing mode appearance. It has colorful lights shining right through the water giving it a mesmerizing wonderful effect. Although it is not the original magic fountain, it has quite an impression that will linger in the mind forever. You can take a train nearby at Espanya.

Arc de Triomf

Another sight to behold is the Arc de Triomf which served as a gateway of the World Fair Expo in 1888. On the arch’s sides are women statues which symbolize fame. You will also see coats of arms and stone carvings full of detail which are representations of all Spanish provinces. At the center is none other than Barcelona. There is a train station nearby going with the same name as the arch.

Torre de Collserola

Standing at 944 feet, you will have a spectacular view of Barcelona and even beyond. It was erected in 1992 mainly for the Olympic Games. The most amazing thing about this landmark is that it is perfectly located on a hilltop meaning you will have lots of fun using funicular railway to get there. The hill it is situated in Collserola and it is definitely a place to go.

Place Del Tibidabo

This is home to the only amusement park in Barcelona. It is situated on Collserola hill summit. There are exciting things to do here in terms of different types of rides that you will enjoy. There is a great connection between the hilltop and a series of landscapes that are simply breathtaking. You will find beautiful gardens and pathways. There is also a modern church, a mechanical museum as well as a restaurant just by the park.

It’s really no surprise that many people would have an interest in living in Spain. After all, Spain has an amazing climate and year long temperature, which actually is a driving force for people in Northern Europe to move to this region and cozy up to the colorful Spanish culture.

Another reason that people will commonly move to Spain is for work or family related reasons such as a job transfer or whatnot. In this case you’ll have to become knowledgeable about various topics such as work permits as well residency permits. Also, you’ll need to know the language of the land, which obviously is Spanish, so studying for this beforehand would be a bright idea.

Regarding relocation to Spain for job purposes, you can actually make this a much more smooth transition by utilizing the services of one of the many relocation companies. These are companies that offer a staff of multi lingual individuals to assist you in such tasks as finding your home, finding a school for your kids, help with registering vehicles, as well as getting your residency permits. They can also help you extensively in becoming familiar with different aspects of the Spanish culture itself.

If you do have to begin working in Spain, you’ll need to obtain certain permits for this. The different kinds of permits depends on the amount of time you’ll be doing the work, as well as the type of work that you’ll actually be doing.

For those conducting seasonal work, you’ll need a permit known as the Type A Permit. This type of permit is good for 9 months and is usually limited only to certain geographical areas.

A permit that’s given for a longer period of time is the Type B permit, which is actually the initial work permit. These are for specific types of professions as well as specific areas. These are valid for 1 year but can be renewed for two years max.

Now, a C type of permit is good for any type of job. These are region restricted at all and are usually valid for up to three years.

The next type of permit is the Type D permit, which is for those people who are self employed. These also, like the Type B permit are valid for one year but can be made valid for two years at renewal if necessary. These as well can be limited only to certain geographic areas

A permit that’s valid for up to three years, that has no geographic limitation is the E permit.

Type E Permits have no geographic limitation. These are valid for up to three years.

If after a Type C or Type E work permit expires and you still need a permit to work that has no limit on geography then you can file for a permanent work permit, which is for both employed and self employed individuals.

When you are thinking of relocating to another part of the World there are many considerations, not least work and lifestyle. Here are ten good reasons why you should consider moving to Spain. Now that the real recession has hit houses for sale in Spain are excellently priced for the savvy investor and living and working in Spain can be a comfortable option for the expat who can work from anywhere or whose company sends them there. Spain can offer you an interesting, exciting and fulfilling lifestyle and here is why.

1) The Climate

Spain is a land of contrasts from the green north of the country to the arid parts of Extremadura. However what most people come to Spain for is the long summers and mild winters. It is mostly warm enough to go out in T-Shirt and shorts for eight to nine months of the year and the winters although short and mild offer great winter sports opportunities as Spain is one of the highest countries in Europe on average

2) Food

More especially Tapas. Spain is a haven of regional cooking pride and tapas demonstrate that price. Small plates of food accompanying drinks make drinking a much more civilised occupation in Spain. Tapas are fantastic in Granada and Salamanca for example. As far more elaborate cooking Spain has 6 of the top 20 restaurants in Europe according to a recent study including the number one El Bulli in Catalunya.

3) Lifestyle

The Spanish people live on the street in general rather than being enclosed in their homes in front of the television. This is changing on a day to day basis but is exemplified by the fiestas that every single small village holds at some time in the year

4) Social Interaction

If you come to Spain and do not learn the language then don’t expect too much back. If you make an effort to learn the language the Spanish are most generous with their time and extremely curious about the expats who come to live here. The secret to having a great relationship with your neighbours in Spain is to communicate because the Spanish love talking and giving opinions. Not for nothing are bars and restaurants so loud.

5) This Sporting Life

Spain excels in many sports such as football, basketball, handball, athletics, and even synchronised swimming. The collective is seen as a good way to interact socially so team sports are practiced with gusto, although the country also does well in individual sports such as tennis. The main reasons that Spain excels are very simple to explain though, investment in facilities, every small town has a great sports centre, investment in training and the climate allow great weather conditions for practicing sport all year round.

6) Variety

Spain is a land of contrasts with a great history which it is just starting to exploit on a commercial level. Having been occupied at various times by Romans and the Moorish conquerors for over 700 years Spain has a rich vein of historical monuments and architectural styles. However the country itself is full of contrasts from the huge plains (Where the rain rarely falls by the way) to the mountainous and lush green north, to the arid majesty of the south and the rice fields of Valencia. Spain has a bit of everything for everyone.

7) Drinks

Most regions have their own specialities. Cava (Champagne) is produced from Catalunya, Cider from Asturias,Horchata from Valencia (Tiger Nut milk), and then there are the more exotic like Agua de Valencia (Again in Valencia a mixture of Cava, Orange Juice and Vodka that is deadly), Calimocho often seen during the running of the bulls in Pamplona where coke is mixed with red wine and of course the ubiquitous Sangria.

Public Transport

Spain has probably the best and most modern high speed rail system in Europe and that is complemented by quaint country lines in many provinces that go at a much more sedate pace. The bus routes that criss-cross the country mean that you can get anywhere relatively quickly which is quite an achievement for such a large country. There is also now a pretty decent internal flight schedule to connect up the regions even faster.

9) Safety

Spain is a very safe place to live. You do not feel threatened in the street even at night because there are generally a lot of people around. Take the basic precautions and Spain is an extremely family friendly place and a great place to bring up children without worrying about where they are or what they might be doing too much.

10) Property

As an estate agent I have to declare that this may not be unbiased information but prices of properties are now very affordable for the foreign buyer and with interest rates low repayments are also low. Those who come to live in Spain while maintaining their incomes from their work can now be very comfortable even in the biggest cities as bargains abound. Personally I would stay away from the Costas as that is not real Spanish life and go for the cities and areas around them as they offer so much more variety and an all year round lifestyle. Houses for sale in Spain come in a wide variety and you should look at what suits the lifestyle you want here.

I haven’t even got into the usual topics of fiestas, siestas, fun and beaches, that will be for another article. Spain a a land of contrasts is not seen by many but if you want to look at a few of those contrasts then click on the links here to give you more of an idea and a rounded view of what Spain could be for you.

Of course, not everyone moving to Spain is retired. Whilst this may be true of the majority of people, there are still many who come to work in Spain as ‘part and parcel’ of their permanent relocation. It is equally true to say that quite a few people with pensions find that they have to work (albeit often part time) to subsidise their incomes. This has been particularly the case since the huge drop in the value of Sterling against the Euro over the past couple of years.

So, what is it like working in Spain and what opportunities exist?

Firstly (and obviously), you can, as a right, work in Spain if you are an EU citizen – although you must to be properly registered and pay tax or make a tax return to the Spanish authorities. It is best to do this by using a Gestor who will advise you on your options (as an employee or self-employed person etc.). He will also be able to help you with all the necessary paperwork.

As to the opportunities that exist to work in Spain – these depend upon your own skills and also the condition of the economy at the time. To state the obvious, the Spanish economy now (January 2009) is in a terrible state with unemployment around 19% (according to Spanish government figures). This means that non-specialised work in Spain is hard to find. This is particularly true if the work in Spain you seek in any way competes with the Spanish themselves – or with existing cheap rate immigrant labour from the new EU countries or the Third World.

Traditionally British people moving to Spain with the intention of working in Spain have tended to gravitate into one of five sectors:

1. Bars and bar work.
2. Construction.
3. Estate agency.
4. B&B or holiday apartment rentals.
5. Property maintenance of villas in Spain

At the moment, all of the above are suffering terribly from the current recession. The construction industry has largely collapsed and, along with it, sufficient Spanish property sales to make earning an income, as an estate agent, in any way easy. Certainly, sales of both villas in Spain and apartments have dropped radically over the past couple of years.

Meanwhile, bars are tending to show significant decreases in income because of the fall in the purchase power of Sterling (within British areas) and the drop in disposable wealth amongst the Spanish themselves.

Unhappily, one of the most reliable ways of making an income was through holiday rentals and B&Bs. However, even this type of business has also taken a ‘hit’, if it has depended upon the British marketplace – once again weakened by the fall in Sterling. This has made holiday making in Spain some 30% more expensive for the British than it was a couple of years ago. Of course, Euro travellers have not been affected which means that those clever enough to re-target their marketing have suffered less.

Finally, property maintenance of villas in Spain (both for elderly permanent foreign owners and those Britons owning second homes in Spain) has remained fairly constant. However, as can be imagined, the competition for looking after villas in Spain (and the accompanying minor repair jobs) has become fierce and has affected what can be earned.

From all of this, you may draw the conclusion that working in Spain is impossible! This is not true – although at the moment (recessions do not last for ever!), it is certainly difficult. The secret, of course, is to either make sure that you secure a job before you come over or you have a specialist skill – or the ability to enter a particular market that is not currently being fully exploited.

Equally, moving to Spain can be a clever thing to do if you are able to make an income on the internet through e-commerce. Obviously, so long as you have a an ADSL connection then you can work in Spain without having to worry about the conventional marketplace. The cautionary warning to this, however, is that you must not take an ADSL connection for granted. Indeed, in rural areas some types of Spanish property lack land line telephones and are unlikely (for the forseeable future) to gain them! So, be very careful about where you move to Spain – to ensure that the communications you need are good enough for any internet work.

Certainly, the possibilities for working in Spain are not something that you should treat lightly. If you want to move to Spain then do not underestimate the conventional Spanish market where there is a lot of competition, not least from the Spanish themselves – and they are not short of modern skills! Equally, appreciate that (unless you intend working only with English speakers) you will need good Spanish to have much chance of competing with a native Spaniard if the skills of both of you are similar. Furthermore, work in Spain is not (normally) highly paid and you may be quite shocked at the low rates of pay in Spain – compared to the rest of Northern Europe.

Spain is home to a number of interesting creatures, the most intriguing of which are the reptiles and mammals. There’s the Iberian Lynx, a critically endangered animal that looks like a bobcat with tufted ears; the equally rare Egyptian Mongoose, and the Montpellier snake, an amazingly colored reptile with a lethal bite. But one of the most amazing animals living in the country wasn’t considered so amazing until a startling discovery was made a few years back. As it turns out, Spain is also the home of certain specie of bat that feeds on migratory birds.

There are tons of bats living in the sheltered caves tucked away on the peninsula’s lovely mountainsides, and are even the symbol of the picturesque city of Valencia. But there was nothing particularly remarkable about them, aside from their sheer numbers. Then scientists noticed something peculiar.

In 2007, scientists studying Nyctalus lasiopterus, a very large and very rare specie of bat, found that feathers were consistently present in the bat droppings that they collected only during two seasonal peaks. That they found feathers at all was startling enough, as bats rarely hunt and eat birds, but that the bats were not eating local birds was even more fascinating.

Further study revealed that the bats were eating migratory passerines, or what common folk call songbirds. Millions, some even say billions, of these birds make their migratory journey across the Mediterranean every year, and apparently the bats are taking advantage of this seasonal bounty. Even more astounding is the discovery that they seem to be catching the bids in mid-flight, making Nyctalus lasiopterus the only specie of carnivorous bat currently known to be able to do so.

People usually visit famous tourist places during the season, but some places are worth seeing also off-season. Island of Mallorca is one of them. It is mostly closed down during the winter. But still a lot is going on, because of it’s good weather.

Temperatures are around 20 degrees in October and only a little less in the following months. So these are it ideal conditions for exploring this interesting Island.

Most of the hotels are open for the whole year, so finding a place to stay won’t be a problem. You can choose a place outside of the capital Palma, which usually offers better nature but you have to drive around a little. Or you can stay in the main city called Palma. You can spend quite some time exploring the capital and also have good public transportation to all parts of the island.

Palma is good for shopping and has a lot of places worth visiting. Bellver Castle is a high castle above the town and there is also its Cathedral. You can also visit the northern town of Soller, using the old train. This train is from the 20th century and still has its charm and good atmosphere. When you reach the suburbs of Palma, you pass through fields of oranges and olives that dominate the countryside. The train goes through some beautiful small villages and towns, through the mountains, until it finally reaches Soller in the north. You can spent some time in Soller, visiting the old shops and narrow streets and then take a tram to see the Port of Soller, which is beautiful. There are also a lot of walking routes from Soller, that are worth seeing.

When you are in Mallorca you must also visit the second biggest town called Manacor. It is home of Mallorcan pearl industry. It offers a lot of pearl shops and factories, where you can observe the manufacturing process and buy nice pearls.

If we sum up, Mallorca is worth visiting also during the off-season, as it offer a lot of ways to relax and enjoy peace and nature.