Walk In Samalus

The dry brush crunches beneath your feet as you hike through the golden expanse all around you. The summertime sun in Spain is almost too hot for your fair skin but you press onward, knowing that a cool glass of something spicy and fragrant is waiting for you at journey's end. Apart from feeling overheated, the afternoon walk has allowed you to realize one important thing; that you will never leave this beautiful country again. Samalús is a village in both the province of Barcelona, and of Catalonia, Spain. Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeast Spain, with the constitutional status of a "nationality" within Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the east (580 km coastline). The official languages are Catalan, Spanish and Aranese. The name Catalonia began to be used in the 11th century in reference to the group of counties that comprised the Marca Hispanica. The origin of the term is subject to diverse interpretations. A theory suggests that Catalunya derives from the term "Land of Castles", having evolved from the term castlà, the ruler of a castle. This theory therefore suggests that the name Castile and Catalonia have the same etymology, though critics question this. Yet another less accepted theory points to the Lacetani, an Iberian tribe that lived in the area and whose name, due to the Roman influence, could have evolved by metathesis to Katelans and then Catalans.