Europe : Iberia
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula is the westernmost section of the European continent, lying between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It is separated from France by the snow capped Pyrenees mountains.
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History
Separated from France by the Pyrenees mountains, its history has frequently taken a different path from the rest of Europe, giving the region a separate identity. The Basque people settled here millennia ago, retaining their culture to this day. The Roman Empire expanded into it in the 3rd century BCE, before being supplanted by the Germanic tribes in the 5th century. The peninsula again took on a non-European character when the Islamic Berber and Arabic Moors took over in the 8th century, ruling parts of it as recently as the 15th century. As Christian rule gradually took back the peninsula from the Moors, its people then looked outward, seeding the Americas – and more – with their languages and laws. Although their then-dictatorial governments kept them out of World War II, Spain and Portugal are now full members of the European Union.
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By plane
- Madrid Barajas
- Barcelona
- Lisbon Portela
- Faro
- Porto
By train
- From France to Madrid to Lisbon
By boat
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Itineraries
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This page was last edited at 03:38, on 12 March 2009 by Peter Fitzgerald. Based on work by Terence, Todd VerBeek, Ricardo, Daniel Cowan and Evan Prodromou, Wikitravel user(s) Eiland, Xyzt1234, Jonboy, InterLangBot, Akubra and Dhum Dhum and Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel.