Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Posted by : John Ross on Sep 23, 2008 - 09:45 AM Spain

Since Republican presidential candidate McCain put his foot squarely in it last week by confusing Spain and Latin America in an interview and hinting that he would give Spanish president Zapatero the cold shoulder, I've had the chore of ploughing through heaps of blog posts related with the upcoming US elections in my regular Google Alerts for Spain. Oh well. It's been worth it, though, for I have discovered the very funny Sarah Walker,* who made me laugh out loud by her proclaimed adoption of the Spanish way of life: "Why? Because Spain is a winner, and it boils my fiery, passionate Mediterranean blood to hear that McCain would refuse to meet with the Spanish Presidente or Prime Minister or Jefe or whatever. Spain is a winner and our country should befriend winners. Look at tennis star Rafael Nadal winning everything and having great hair. Also, lest we forget, Spanish futbol, that's soccer to you, won the Euro Cup this year. They also have great hair, by the way." She's right, of course, Spain has been on the most extraordinary winning streak - more about that on the next page. The headline is inspired not by Rafa Nadal's great hair but by Ms Walker's idea that if the lyric-less Spanish national anthem did have words, it would begin: "Oh Spain you are so sexy." Danged right. Read on.

Spain's winning streak has been so striking that the Independent ran an article at the beginning of July headlined "The Reign of Spain: European champions (of nearly everything)," and that was before Rafa Nadal won Wimbledon and Carlos Sastre the Tour de France. In fact, in sport, Spain has shifted into meta-champion mode - it is not enough to say that Nadal has won such-and-such, it needs to be pointed out that it is his fifth Grand Slam title, in the same way that Alberto Contador is one of only five cyclists to win all three major competitions, the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour of Spain.

Spain's success in football (European champions), is reflected in tennis (Nadal alone is a phenomenon, and the Davis Cup team beat the US 4-1 to qualify for the final against Argenina), basketball (World champions, Olympic silver medal), cycling and heaven knows what else. And Spain does not just flex its muscles in the sporting arena. Ferran Adrià's restaurant on the Costa Brava, El Bulli, has been voted Restaurant magazine's World's Best Restaurant for an awesome third year running, and the top 50 included more establishments in Spain than anywhere else except the US and France. Spain's moderate Socialist government has been progressive to the point of cool, promoting women's rights and legalizing same-sex marriage, and with such good grace and lack of belligerence that its opponents have been caught off-balance and pushed into the background. Spanish architects, among whom Santiago Calatrava and Raphael Moneo are considered the old guard, are considered the most innovative in the world. Spanish writers like Carlos Ruiz Zafón are suddenly bestsellers, without falling into the trap of crass commercialism. High-street fashion names like Mango and Zara almost define "affordable chic." And like Madrid, Seville, or Barcelona before it, Zaragoza, which this year has hosted a moderately successful expo, has carried out the concomittant urban facelift without sacrificing its historic centre, but rather taking advantage of it.

In other words, yes, Spain is sexy. I feel Sarah Walker could have omitted the references to tapas and bullfighting in her suggested lyrics for the Spanish national anthem, not because I have anything against either, but because Spain is way beyond them.

*I discovered Sarah Walker in her role as columnist for 23 / 6 (Some of the News, Most of the Time), but her bio makes me think I might be a latecomer. She is a "frequent contributer to McSweeney's Internet Tendency," author of an inverted self-help book for parents of "adult children" called "Really, You've Done Enough," and half of the comedy duo Walker and Cantrell (http://www.walkerandcantrell.com).