It is a great thing to love your country, warts and all. Spain is truly a beautiful country. I do not know about the rest of Europe but I am so glad to have seen Spain. It just took my breath away. I think from now on, all other places pale in comparison.

Dutch history is teached this way: in the 16th century [big]WE[/big] liberated us from the evil and uggly Spaniards - personalized in king [b]Felipe II de España[/b] and [b]Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel «Gran Duque de Alba»[/b] - but when you study history for real you find out it is not black at white, but many colours. And the main colour is red (because of the blood caused by wars)...

And despite we Dutch could know it, we still don't flly acknowledge our black pages in history: brutal colonialism, slave trade and slavery. There is even a part of our population - voting xenophobe nationalists like Geert Wilders - who think you are a traitor of our nation if you speak out about that.

Philosopher [b]Fernando Savater[/b] made some good remarks about xonophobia and 'dumb' nationalism in some of his books and speeches, for example in '[i]Politica para amador[/i]'. You can know about the history of your country, be proud of your country and it's culture - Spain has a very rich culture, that goes beyond the tourists cities like Palma de Mallorca, Benidorm or Torremolinos where you can find a lot of Dutch people celebrating holiday - and I like to visit some of the really interesting cities and regions some day.

[b][i]Amor y Respeto en Países Bajos[/i][/b]... 🙂

I think almost every country in this world has done things in history where its citizens has to be ashamed of. Every country has good sides and bad sides, too.
By the way: I like Spain and its citizens. They are very open, vivacious and friendly. :-)

I think almost every country has bad things in their past (I'm British I think we are on a par with the Spanish) and every country has embraced PC way too much too.

It is a diverse and often contradictory country, not easy to understand. For sure with a rich history and geography, and certainly with light and shadows

Thank you Loretta78 and MrW888 for your wise words. Every country has made its mistakes (embracing PC is certainly a common on). Problems start when some believe their countries are superior, or other lands own them something for 'saving' them from whatever.

Sure Duque de Alba's troops were cruel and bloodthirsty, but it is true also that the 'black legend' made up in Britain has made them look even more ruthless.

@ Cierzo: You are very right! Estoy de acuerdo! :-D

@Loretta78. Gracias :)

@ Cierzo: De nada! :-D

@ Cierzo: True! ;-)