KICKS
Since 2009, when FC Barcelona brought home every trophy a Spanish soccer club could acquire—the domestic Triple Crown (La Liga, King's Cup, and Supercopa), the UEFA European Champions League cup, and the FIFA Club World Championship—Barça has remained the acknowledged best fútbol team in the world. Archrival Real Madrid denied them the King's Cup in 2011 and La Liga in 2012, a situation that reversed itself in 2013. In 2014, the capital’s other soccer club, Atlético de Madrid, won the title for the first time in 18 years. Both Madrid teams contested the final for the UEFA Champions League.
MOVIES
Since Woody Allen's 2008 Vicky Cristina Barcelona—and even further back—local Spanish governments have been keenly aware of the rewards of promoting their cities as film locations. The Tom Cruise–Cameron Diaz 2010 action movie Knight and Day was partially shot in Cadiz and Seville; and the 2011 Gina Carano–Antonio Banderas–Michael Douglas spy thriller Haywire takes place mostly in Barcelona. A remake of the Steve McQueen–Dustin Hoffman 1973 escape classic Papillon, to be filmed in the Canary Islands, is said to be in the works.
And speaking of film: plans were announced in 2011 for a Paramount Pictures theme park to open in Murcia, on a site between Mazarrón and Alhama de Murcia, near the beach resort of Puerto de Mazarrón, in 2015. Five hotels will be built on the site, along with shopping malls, bars, clubs, and a 15,000-seat auditorium.
ART: UPS AND DOWNS
There were a variety of ups for the arts in 2013: the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid received record numbers of visitors for its Salvador Dalí exhibition; the Patios in Córdoba were awarded UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity status; and Granada celebrated the thousandth anniversary of the kingdom of Al-Andalus. On the downside, the government raised the I.V.A. tax from 8% to 21% on all cultural events, resulting in an all-time low for attendance figures at cinemas and theaters, and museum visits dropped because of fewer national tourists.
GETTING AROUND
There are plenty of regional air connections in Spain these days, but the national railway's high-speed AVE trains are stiff competition: prices are about the same, but with trips like Madrid–Barcelona clocking in at 2 hours and 30 minutes, the AVE is the fastest, most comfortable way to go. Spain now has more high-speed track in service or under construction than any other country in Europe, although construction on several AVE routes (for example, Madrid–Galicia and Granada–Seville) has slowed down considerably after cutbacks in funding.
NO BULL?
In 2010 the Catalan Parliament narrowly approved a bill to ban bullfighting in the region (a similar ban has been in force on the Canary Islands since 1991); the more conservative regions of Madrid, Valencia, and Murcia reacted with proposals to give the "sport" the legal status of a protected cultural heritage. The national parliament presented and passed this proposal in 2013. Like anything that even remotely touches on the question of Spanish identity, this is a politically hot issue; animal-rights activists have an uphill battle ahead.
HOLY GROUND
A work in progress since 1882, Gaudí's Sagrada Família church in Barcelona was formally consecrated in November 2010 by Pope Benedict XVI. Still a long way from a fully functioning house of worship—construction is expected to take at least until 2026—the church remains a major tourist attraction
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