Lebanon versus Spain
Since my early childhood my parents used to take me to Spain
for Summer vacation every year. My uncle is married to a Spanish woman and
lives in Madrid. As I grew up I realized how close the Lebanese and Spanish
cultures and livelihoods were to the point that sometimes when walking in the
streets I felt like I wanted to speak Arabic with people passing by. There is
no doubt that the Arabic heritage of Spain is quite important as Arabs have
left their print in a lot of domains. For example, the city of Toledo in Spain
that is known for its Arabic history and the Al-Hambra fortress located in
Granada, Andalusia.
Arabic heritage in Spain:
Arabic Heritage in Lebanon:
According to the Lebanese constitution, Lebanon is an Arab
country deeply impregnated with Arab culture. Yet there quite few Arab
monuments among which: Anjar a very known touristic site from the Umayyad era.
Beaches in Spain:
One other similar aspect I found is the beaches. Because
most of the time I was going to Spain during the Summer, my family and I used
to go to different places to enjoy the sunlight and swim. Spain is surrounded
by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, which stretches its coastline
over 4964 km. The weather is very clement mostly towards the Mediterranean side
making it a main European attraction for tourism and sun bathing. For example, Costa
Del Sol a very famous coastline in the South of Spain, Costa Brava, Canary
Islands, Costa Soto Grande, Costa Del Luz, etc.…
Spain is a major attractive tourist country especially for
the Europeans. The yearly tourists arrival to the country show that the major
incoming flow of tourists is during the spring and summer periods to enjoy the
beach and suntan.
Beaches in Lebanon:
In parallel, Lebanon’s coast is spread from North to South and
stretches over 220 km making it a major attraction for the Lebanese and the
neighboring Arab countries. Like Spain in the European context, Lebanon is
known for its beautiful weather and touristic activities during the Summer in
the Arab region.
Statistics show that passenger traffic at
Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport were in total nearly seven million by end of the year 2014,
according to Daily Star. Lebanon is like Spain a very attractive touristic
country but unfortunately the political situation in the region and sometimes
in the country itself affects drastically the number of tourists coming for
vacation and leisure times. For example, as the chart shows, number of tourists
arrival topped in 2010 to 2168/day but dropped down due to unstable political
situation to 1274 in 2013/day.
Food in Spain:
Because of its proximity to the sea, the food in Spain has a
lot of sea food in it. For example, their famous dish, the Paella is mainly
composed of rice and seafood. The word Paella comes originally from the Arab
world “Bakiyya” meaning leftovers. This typical dish goes back to the period of
the Arab era where fishermen used to gather leftovers and make a dish out of
it.
Other famous meals that Spanish people are known for is
Tapas. Typically, they are consumed before eating the main dish, they are
appetizers or snacks and can be served hot or cold. They are similar to the
Lebanese Mezze.
For dessert, the Spanish are known for their Churros a fried-dough
pastry that is eaten traditionally by dipping it in chocolate.
Food in Lebanon:
Food in Lebanon is very diversified and rich in spices. It
was drastically affected by the Turkish cuisine during the Ottoman era when
Lebanon was under the Ottoman occupation. Yet, the Lebanese were able to
develop further a more subtle taste. As mentioned above, the Mezze is very
similar to Tapas.
Football in Spain:
As most of us know, the Spanish football is a very nice game
to watch, and is very appreciated by a lot of people in Lebanon and in the
world. There is the Spanish national team that won the world cup in 2010, and
the Spanish clubs competing in La Liga. These clubs are known worldwide and are
considered the best since decades (Barcelona, Real Madrid). Even though
Barcelona wants to have its independence by separating from the Spanish government,
it is still part of Spain after many failed attempts.
Football in Lebanon:
There no much to talk about the Lebanese football, because
most of Lebanese people love watching it and play it as a hobby. But, there are
some competing clubs in Lebanon like El Ahed, Nejme… these teams are in the
first Lebanese division playing professional football but not at the same level
as in Spain. At the other hand, Lebanese national team is considered good
because it takes all the best players in Lebanon and puts them in a team. They reached
the Asian cup and almost made it to the World cup, and that is a very good
achievement that the team made.
In conclusion, I find both countries Spain and Lebanon very
attractive and similar in the beauty of their scenery and the warmth of their
people.
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