Exploring Spain: 33 Intriguing Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

The city of Cartagena in Spain gets its name from the Phoenician "Kart-Hadasht" or "New Town" which is the same name for the ancient city of Carthage. This is because Cartagena was founded by a Carthaginian General named Hasdrubal in the 3rd Century B.C.

27. Spain started a war with Peru and Chile in 1864 by taking over an Island for its strategic source of bat poop, which at that time was an important ingredient for gun powder.

28. Annually Spain holds a baby jumping festival named El Colacho Baby in which babies lie on a mattress and are jumped over by a masked Devil. They believe it wards off evil spirits.

29. Trasmoz, Spain, is the only Spanish town officially cursed and excommunicated by the Catholic Church. The ex-communication has never been revoked.

30. Spain uses a different time zone than its geography would suggest. Instead of most of Spain being on Greenwich Mean Time, it has used Central European Time (one hour later) since 1940. Some claim this mismatch between clock time and solar time causes an unusual daily schedule.

In Madrid, you can get a haircut from a man named Alberto Olmedo, who uses a samurai sword, six pairs of scissors at a time, and a blowtorch to cut hair.

32. In the 16th century there was a Spanish soldier named Gil Pérez who claimed to have teleported from his post in the Philippines to Mexico. He said that he knew about the assassination of the governor of the Philippines and was thrown in jail for his claims until a ship from Manila verified his claims.

33. Kalimotxo is a popular drink in the Basque region of Spain, which is made by mixing equal parts of cheap red wine and Coca-Cola.