GENERAL CULTURAL NORMS

Holaaa guys! Welcome back to my blog. So now let's continue to explore and get know more about Spanish's culture.

Here are some general cultural norms:

• Do not stop talking for too long. Noise is key to any good family meal in Spain. Try to talk to the person diagonally opposite you, and shout if you have to make yourself heard, which is quite likely as everyone else in the room is also talking to the person diagonally opposite them as well. So rare is silence at the Spanish table that they have an expression for such occasions based on an equally improbable event.

• If you are invited to dinner, be prepared to stay up late. Most restaurants do not open until after nine o’clock, and often do not get active until around eleven.

• Spain is the third largest producer of wine in the world. The best loved variety of wine in Spain is Rioja, which is highly distinctive, is a full bodied wine, that is available in both red as well as white. There is a custom of drinking wine while having meals in Spain. It is very typically of the Spanish to have a piece of fruit or a dairy product as dessert.

• Tipping is not generally mandatory in Spain, but tends to vary with the type of venue – an upscale establishment, for example, will be more likely to expect a tip. In restaurants, service is sometimes included in the prices, but this may not make its way to the waiters, so it is acceptable to leave a further 5% to 10% in cash. Tipping taxi drivers is by no means obligatory, although between 5% and 10% is considered good etiquette. The same can be applied for hair stylists, especially if you visit the same one regularly. In hotels, a few Euros for staff is more than acceptable.