Together, Glenna and I have been to Spain twice. Our first trip was a week-long stay in Barcelona in November 2009. Our second trip was a longer three-week tour in March/April 2016, starting in Madrid and working our way south to many of the famous tourist, cultural, and historical sights. Both trips were awesome, and I surprisingly loved Spain way more than I thought I would. If I could pick a city in Europe to retire, I think I would choose Madrid.

Spain is in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, sharing a border with Portugal and France. It has a long history of being conquered by the Roman Empire and several Muslim powers. Christians slowly reconquered the country in the early 1400’s and were a world superpower by the end of the century, a status they maintained until the 19th century. In 1975 (after Franco’s death), Spain became a democratic constitutional monarchy and joined the European Union in 1986. Spain has an aging population of 49.5 million people with Madrid as its capital.