TODAY is spring break and anywhere in Spain is definitely a paradise. On the more than 300 kilometers of Mediterranean coastline in the Spanish Iberian Peninsula, you will find two kinds of beaches – the conventional and the nudist ones. In both these beaches, you can be assured of quality of service because all beaches here in Spain are inspected quarterly by the European Union and being given the reputed blue flag accreditation. In the nudist beaches, it is suggested to do the skinny dipping at night so that you can experience the glowing planktons illuminating your body underwater.

In the Mediterranean parts of Spain, you will also eat the healthiest food on the planet – the Mediterranean diet which consists of nothing but yummy and nutritious seafood plucked directly from the Mediterranean. In places here such as Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol and Valencia City, you will find aquariums in five-star restaurants where you get to tell the waiter to pluck out a particular lobster before they’ll cook it to what is stipulated in the menu that you have chosen. In short, folks here hate to eat their fish frozen. They want it delivered right from the fisherman’s boat to the kitchen doorstep of these restaurants.

Elsewhere like in the Pyrenees, now in spring is the best time to enjoy teaching your kid how to ski because it’s not too dangerous because there are definitely no avalanches during spring. There is no wind because every flower is blooming. In fact, if you are skiing in the Pyrenees at this time of the year, you may find some floras budding up during this period. If their flowers are fuchsia pink, it will definitely blend in with the white background of the snow.

In drier areas of the country such as Garabandal, you will find yourself immersed with a flock of Roman Catholic pilgrims who go the chapel where the Virgin Mary reportedly made an apparition at the second half of the last century. Although the apparition has never been officially authenticated by the Church, countless persons have testified that they have been healed after going there. Most of the pilgrims to Garabandal who come here during spring break are not that affluent so it’s better to contact your favorite travel agent so you’ll know where to get humongous discounts in coming up here.

SPAIN will always be an exotic place for lovers. And this Valentine is certainly not an exception. Throughout the hundreds and hundreds of miles of Mediterranean coastline at the eastern part of the country and the Balearic islands of Ibiza and Palma de Mallorca as well as the Canary havens of Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, a very temperate climate for tourists abound. There are a lot of tourists here especially now that winter is fast fading and spring – the stepping stone to summer – is heralding in. This Valentines, expect the places I have mentioned to be filled to the brim by foreign tourists. Even though there is a looming recession in the United States, many people unaffected with the emerging chaos in such countries as Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France are trooping to Spain. When you come from these countries, you will surely have an invigorating experience this Valentines here in Spain because it is not too cold or too warm here. This is ideal for tourists who do not like to go to such tropical paradises as Phuket in Thailand or Bali in Indonesia because it’s too warm there because of their proximity to the equator.

Being a predominantly Roman Catholic country, St. Valentines Day this Thursday is celebrated in the Gothic-inspired churches all over the country as a solemn commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Valentines. If you happen to be a Catholic foreigner staying with your loved one in Spain this February 14, make sure to go to church and participate in the mass so your relationship with your loved one will flourish through all eternity (i.e. because Roman Catholics believe of an eternal life after physical death).

Across the Iberian Peninsula in Ibiza, Valentines Night parties led by such renowned DJs as DJ Tiesto, Godskitchen and Paul Van Dyk will be held in various locations all around the exotic island of Ibiza. There’s no difference in Palma del Mallorca although the parties here are dominated mostly by folks coming from such Scandinavian countries as Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Iceland and the Netherlands. Into the coast off the Horn of Africa in the Canary haven of Tenerife, parties are rather held uptown particularly at the scenic Mt. Teide, a dormant volcano which has long been converted by Spain into a national park. In here, you will find out that the tourism regulators are stricter because since Mt. Teide is also a UNESCO heritage site, you cannot just throw your trash there. And most important, you are not allowed to bring cigarette lighters so that the southern Greek and the South Lake Tahoe fires that have plagued Greece and California, respectively, in 2007 will not have a repeat here.

In mainland Spain itself, love is pervading in the air during Valentines Day as the main thoroughfares of such cities as Barcelona, Salamanca and Valencia are lined up with vendors selling lots of varieties of flowers. So if you want to be treated with fancy flowers in lieu of the more expensive but impractical flower designs at signature flower shops, then this is the place to buy flowers on Valentines Day here in Spain.