Here's your chance to name 3 things you encounter in Spain that you would like to see back home.
My choices are:

1) Free aperitivos in bars with your drink
2) Clean, efficient, cheap public transport system
3) Cafe con Leche for 1 Euro.

:p

Another great list, filbert!

I realize that this list is location-centric. I mean we may list items that are already here in the U.S., but in certain cities only. For example, you can have a café con leche for under a euro anywhere in Miami. So here goes...

1. Hot churros every morning at the local bakery!
2. Spanish rail and bus system.
3. Tertulias...the ancient art of conversing with friends. Shooting the bull so to speak, over a beer or a cup of coffee, over nothing or everything, and still remain friends after the discussion, agreeing to disagree!

Great topic....only 3???

1. Chocolate con churros
2. The Spanish Cafes that serve them along with beer and a Spanish tortilla (not all at once I hope!! )
3. The characters that populate the cafes. I love to sit in a cafe and watch the "traffic."
At different times of day you have the people rushing to get to work and needing their coffee to get there, the morning break, the older people that wander in and linger. Tertulias? I did not know this word, but yes I think this is what you find in the cafes.

just a question re: churros. how are they made in Spain? in Puerto Rico you have your choice of a filling, my favorite queso crema! the guy fills it up for you. when i got back to NY and i saw churros i ran for them only to discover, they were plain, AHHH! i asked the girl where's the fillings and she said, ahh you just came back from PR, lol. i miss Puerto Rico!

They are basically fried dough sticks, or ropes depending on where you get them. THAT is what the chocolate is for.....YUMMM

First, my chauvinist list!
1. The women.
2. The women.
3. The women.

Now for the rest, a UK perspective:
1. The weather
2. Flamenco culture
3. Whatever it takes, culturally, economically, legally, to allow Spanish bars to thrive on every street corner and provide an alternative to stinking, child-hostile, overpriced pubs.

Thanks to those who've praised topic thread! Interesting that a coffee costs just 1 Euro (or less) in Spain or Florida. I had a coffee (well, cafe latte) at a chain coffee store in England today. The cost? One pound 90 (around 3 Euros). I admit the furniture was probably more luxurious than the average Madrid bar. Even so, this example shows why, even on a good salary, it's so hard to live a civilised existence in the UK. Unfortunately I'm not on a good salary. Boo-hoo!

Hello?! Has anyone forgotten the CHORIZO?!
My list: 1) Chorizo
2) Wine (red and cava)
3) Men

I also really love how you go shopping everyday for fresh groceries at your local grocer, two hour lunches, paseos after meals and how old couples hold each others hands while they're on a paseo. I think Spain is much more kid friendly as well.

there are so many! ok but the top three for me, have to be...
1)the transportation- trains, buses, in the southern u.s. there is nothing that even compares. we are so obsessed with driving gigantic suvs that we can't spend money on decent public transport
2)the schedule - laid back, siestas, eating for socialization, not because it is the scheduled time, time for conversations
3) gazpacho - different everywhere you go, but there is nothing better in the summer. i can't find anything remotely similar here.
i can't wait to be back in spain!

I was planning to stay here forever but iff I have to go back to The Netherlands I would love to have there:

1) My 7 euro's lunches (I still call it dinner:-)
2) My wodka/fanta with the spanish alcohol amount and price :-P
3) The people

Mahou beer.

I would like to bring :

the passion of flamenco
the laid back siesta
I'm sorry I have to be selfish.....The men

You can get good chorizo, coffee, cheese, churros, etc right here in the U.S. - it's the part about these things when they are IN SPAIN that make them so special! I really want everything Spanish to stay in Spain to keep my interest high to return again and again and again. Besides - too many Spanish things brought to this country run the risk of eventually finding a "Mc" in from of their name with a "super size" option for an extra 39 cents! Having said that, here are three things from Spain that I would like to see over here.

1. Paella served in real paella pans
2. more people strolling the boulevards in the early evening to people-watch and socialize.
3. stores, shops and bakeries that wrap your purchase in their own branded fancy paper to make you feel as though your purchase is always something special.

Here's my list:
1) the women
2) Mahou beer
3) the bars with the free tapas when you order a drink and their hours of operation!

1. The Sunshine
2. The Siesta and laid back attitude to life
3. Frutos secos

In exchange for:
1. The variety and cheapness of vegetarian food and the attitude that goes with it.
2. Clearly labeled and cheap animal-free products like toiletries.
3. Cheap voile curtains.

1--Speaking Spanish as it is spoken in Spain all the time.
2--Inexpensive metro fares.
3--Being able to enjoy nice dinners & congenial companionship as the Spaniards do.

Have to agree with the following choices
1) Free aperitivos in bars with your drink
2) Clean, efficient, cheap public transport system
3) Cafe con Leche for 1 Euro.

Plus - the sunshine, the spontaneity and the attitudes toward life in general ...

Great thread!

I agree with everyone who has posted so far...
- apart from that I would like to add:

1. Flamenco
2. Dress sense of Spanish women
3. A decent cup of coffee, no matter where you go

1- Good coffee everywhere!!!
2- Public transportation
3- Terrazas

And of course the food.

The Tascas, of course. I've wished for them here ever since my first trip to Spain decades ago. Utterly unique and always a delight. Still, to support them requires a culture, values and life style that seem totally alien to the USA.

Let's see...the three food items I miss when not in Spain...and the three for which I always search (and find without difficulty) on my return, are:

1)palmeras de chocolate
2)chocolate con churros
3)café con leche y pan tostado (media barilla con mantequilla y mermalada...de albericoque)

Sheryl

1. Pimientos de Padron
2. Going into bars at 1 am with your children
3. morcilla

Though I haven't made it to Spain yet...this is what I wish we had here in California:

1. La Tuna
2. La Zarzuela
3. La taberna de Lilas Pastia,

1 The Men
2 The Women
3 The concept of time

Hola, OsoMajor,

...so Carmen is one of you favourite operas, too?
What about Seguedilla, then?

From Prussia with Love,
la calma

1. Freedom of Teens
2.Discotecas
3. Zara and Bershka in my city
sorry I have to add a 4.....the cuteness of boys

Here goes my list, especially in San Diego:
1. Children's clothing
2. Women's shoes
3. Spanish sense of style

Southern Cal is too laid back and slouchy!

1. Brava sauce (I put it on EVERYTHING!!)
2. The openess and friendliness of random people on the streets
3. The nightlife!

I live in a small city in the Shenandoah Valley (Virginia) and I'd love to see:

1. a really goooooooooooood cafe con leche
2. an "El Brillante" bar complete with bocadillos de calamares
3. and another person here who understands my love/obsession for Spain!

marilisa

Oh how wonderful!!!! I can't wait to get there and try all the wonderful treats!!!
I am so excited!! This time next week we will have just landed at the airport and began our week of adventure!!!
Thanks for all the great info....it's gotten me so READY for cafe con leche and those wonderful churros!!! VPF

VPF our family will also be landing this time next week. We are so excited. My children are 15 & 13 and are happy to see they will be welcome most anywhere. ot haveing been to Spain yet I think the things I will want most in the USA would be:
1. Reasonable transportation - metro etc..
2. Tapas
3. Sincere kindness like I have found on this board.

1.La Marcha 2.El futbol espanol 3.Las noticias del guinol.

Here's your chance to name 3 things you encounter in Spain that you would like to see back home.

1.) Ines Sastre

2.) The Spanish sense of style as it relates to what males wear...Anglo-Canadian men need to realize you don't go "out on the town" (kinda like tapas, but not really) in the same clothes that one would wear changing the oil in a car...

3.)SEAT cars

marilisa said
3. and another person here who understands my love/obsession for Spain!

I do...

I have a band-aid solution for you if you are suffering from a bad case of Madrid-withdraw and can't immdediately to get to Madrid...take a short trip to Montreal, Quebec in the Summer and chill out for a while, that should put a little control on any "Madrid-withdraw" until you have the chance to get to Madrid...while Montreal is not Madrid, it has some Madrid charateristics...

1) Siesta. I love how it creates a more relaxed feel to the culture as compared to America.
2) Pan. I could live on the .50-.75 euro loaves I would get. A baguette here is several dollars.
3) Transportation. The buses are easy to use, the cities are very walkable as compared to most American cities.

1. The old spirit and soul of the land
2. The passion in the soul for flamenco
3. And all the food that is created with olive oil

And of course, I wish I could introduce all my friends from spain to my family and friends in the US

Kerry~LittleWing~

I love all of Spain, but I've mostly been in Madrid, so here are 3 things I love
1. The way it is still light at 10:30, or later, in the summer
2. Looking at the lighted Puerta de Alcalá at night from C/ Alcala & Sevilla
3. Really good jamón serrano

Why bring stuff here to this grey monotony of an existance?? The solution is, that I bring myself "there" once and for all. Why deprive myself? "Here" my life is on pause. "There" I live.

1.Miguel Bose 2. Miguel Bose 3.Miguel Bose

1) Penelope Cruz
2) Paz Vega
3) Monica Cruz

1. the healthy and delicious foods and drinks
2. a lifestyle that includes lots of walking
3. the sunshine (which we do not get enough of in upstate NY)

Oh my...I have been back in the US for 2 weeks now and I do soooooooo miss all the fun of Madrid, Segovia and Seville!!! I find myself checking in on the Madridman message board just to re-connect to that wonderful place...I think I may have left a bit of my soul there!
Having experienced all the great things, it really is difficult to pick 3 I'd love to bring here....but I really do miss the
chocolate con churros!!! the cafe con leche and the free eats with my wonderful vino tinto!!!
Ahh....vpf

Sofia: I cannot help you out on the food and drink, other than to suggest an organic garden in the back yard. As per the lots of walking, let the gas prices keep rising, and you are going to get your wish. The sunshine, or lack there of in New York, ever thought of relocating to the desert southwest of these United States? Hundreds of thousands of people have. We have about 360 days of sunshine per year. Granted, it gets a little warm from May to late October. In 35 years I have never had to shovel the "partly cloudy" off of the sidewalk. From now until late October I will use about 25 gallons of Gatorade, and ten bottles of SPF45. When you visit this area you will realize why the Spaniards gravitated to this area and North Central Mexico, as there are many simularities.

Hola habitante del desierto americano!

Las Vegas is tied with Spain for my favorite place to be because of the:

1) good foods on the buffets
2) ambitious walking from casino to casino
3) abundance of sunshine
4) Lets add good drinking for both places.

Now, the ultimate is to go to both places. One year i went to Las Vegas for Christmas and Spain for February vacation. That was the ultimate.

"The West is the Best."

Sofia: What you wrote in your post with the four points, means you have truly been to Lost Wages. All four points were right on the money. There is, as I am writing this, a reenactment of the "Spanish Trial" over the mountians west of LV.The desert southwest has a little more hostile weather than Spain, but other than that they do resemble each other. By hostile I mean the summer high temps.

Someone said Cafe con Leche for 1 Euro.

I can get a very good cup of coffee at my local Dunkin Dounts for 98 cents far cheaper than a euro and just as good. My local Dunkin Dounts does have good coffee and it is far better than the awful Dunkin Dounts in Madrid with that thing they sell calling it a dount. I cannot believe the lines I saw in Madrid for the awful coffee and dounts being sold.

Here is my three

1 - La Taurina Bar in Madrid

2 - Wellington Society's night tour in Madrid

3 - Flamenco show Casa Del la Memoria de Al-Andalus in Seville.

Come to think about it. If they were in New York City were I live they would lose their Spanish appeal. So leave them were they are and I will come back to Spain to visit.

Bill

BillfromNYC: If you went to Madrid and then to the Madrid Dunkin Dounuts then you deserve whatever you got. Only an American would do something like that. You would have to be a true conesour of dougnuts to do that, are you by chance a police officer?

Wow, Desert dweller, thats harsh! Maybe he just likes his morning routine of coffee and donuts from dunkin donuts and when he went to spain, he didn't want to break the routine! My father was a police officer by the way, he's diabetic so donuts were out for him. He was the police officer that had a bran muffin while his partner got a bear claw!

Three more things from my bag of goodies:

1.Fanta de limon
2.La quiniela (1X2)
3.The majestic Palacio Real de Madrid.

1. Matador butts
2. the smell of olives as you drive thru the countryside
3. pan tostada con aciete y sal

1. Matador butts
2. the smell of olives as you drive thru the countryside
3. pan tostada con aciete y sal

a true love of
1. fino
2. vermut
3. pedro ximenez

1. Santiago de Compostela
2. siesta
3. jarra de sangria

1. cafe con leche
2. tortilla
3. bocadillo de calamares

As soon as I taste these three (not necessarily all at once or in that order!), I know I'm back in
Spain