The local guide we had for our tour of the Alhambra told me that Spain is trying to discourage smoking...as is the rest of the EU...but agrees with a previous post that the women are continuing to smoke while the men are starting to give it up. I have also read that the new cigarette packaging in Europe is to include photographs of diseased lungs and folks with holes in their necks in the hope of discouraging people. We discussed baby boomers in Spain and I asked if they had the same health concerns...including cancer...that we do. He said that basically, all of us boomers have similar thoughts on mortality, but pointed out that we only become financial burdens on our families if we go to a doctor and attempt to get treated! If we get sick and die, then we don't accrue huge medical bills!

For what it's worth, smoking is relative. I used to think that people in Spain and France smoked incessantly and I was bothered by every little wisp of smoke that came my way. I spent some time in Kosovo in April and let me tell you...THEY SMOKE!!! There were non-smoking areas in Spain! In Kosovo I often had trouble just walking into a restaurant because the smoke was so thick I couldn't see a foot in front of me! There are no restrictions on smoking ANYWHERE. Teachers and students smoke in class, shoppers smoke freely in stores...even stores you might consider risky to smoke in, like book stores! I had to leave my suitcases outside for a week to air them out! As I said, it is really all relative! Smoking bothers me, but it is not as bad in Spain as it COULD be!

[ 06-20-2001: Message edited by: la maestra ]

[ 06-20-2001: Message edited by: la maestra ]