Maybe I'm the exception, but in all the years I have been to Spain, and for that matter Italy (I've lived in both places...although I prefer Spain and lived there the most), I have never carried my passport around with me. I have only taken my passport with me when I went to the bank to exchange money.

Why would I need to carry it? I don't see the point. I have never been asked for it, even when I have had to deal with the police in the post Franco period or the Guardia Civil during the Franco years while a student at the University.

Sheryl