A little bit about my destination

Spain, originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a    part of the Roman Empire in 206 B.C., when it    was conquered by Scipio Africanus. In A.D. 412,    the barbarian Visigothic leader Ataulf crossed the Pyrenees and ruled    Spain, first in the name of the Roman emperor and then independently. In    711, the Muslims under Tariq entered Spain from Africa and within a few    years completed the subjugation of the country. In 732, the Franks, led by    Charles Martel, defeated the Muslims near Poitiers, thus preventing the    further expansion of Islam in southern Europe. Internal dissension of    Spanish Islam invited a steady Christian conquest from the north.
Aragon and Castile were the most important Spanish states from the 12th    to the 15th century, consolidated by the marriage of Ferdinand II and    Isabella I in 1469. In 1478, they established the Inquisition, to root out    heresy and uncover Jews and Muslims who had not sincerely converted to    Christianity. Torquemada, the most notorious of the grand inquisitors,    epitomized the Inquisition's harshness and cruelty. The last Muslim    stronghold, Granada, was captured in 1492. Roman Catholicism was    established as the official state religion and most Jews (1492) and    Muslims (1502) were expelled. In the era of exploration, discovery, and    colonization, Spain amassed tremendous wealth and a vast colonial empire    through the conquest of Mexico by Cortés (1519–1521) and Peru    by Pizarro (1532–1533). The Spanish Hapsburg monarchy became for a    time the most powerful in the world. In 1588, Philip II sent his    invincible Armada to invade England, but its destruction cost Spain its    supremacy on the seas and paved the way for England's colonization of    America. Spain then sank rapidly to the status of a second-rate power    under the rule of weak Hapsburg kings, and it never again played a major    role in European politics. The War of the Spanish Succession    (1701–1714) resulted in Spain's loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan,    Sardinia, and Naples. Its colonial empire in the Americas and the    Philippines vanished in wars and revolutions during the 18th and 19th    centuries.
In World War I, Spain maintained a position of neutrality. In 1923,    Gen. Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII    revoked the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist and republican    movement led to his leaving Spain in 1931. The new constitution declared    Spain a workers' republic, broke up the large estates, separated church    and state, and secularized the schools. The elections held in 1936    returned a strong Popular Front majority, with Manuel Azaña as    president.