If you want to see what the Spanish were like as colonists I suggest go to South America and study its history. There is a reason why the Spanish churches are overflowing with gross gold and silver ornaments and idols. It was looted from South America.
As colonists the British have nothing to be proud of either.

"For my part, I'm glad that Australia wasn't colonised by Spain. The British were bad enough. The Spanish would have been far worse."

An interesting, if rather cryptic way to end a travelogue.

For my own part, and given the rather fierce religious history of Spain, I am thankful of the British influence in Australia, if only because it allowed me to appreciate the Pythons' quirky film: "The Meaning of Life" and that wonderful ditty therein entitled: "Every sperm is sacred...".

In passing, I note the Author's reference to Thomas Luis De Victoria 1548-1611. I recommend to him that composer's "Requiem", otherwise known as "Officium defunctorum" (1605).

Simplistically observing the outcomes of perverse economic management is very different from actually and fully understanding the cause and effect failures!

The reason so many spaniards are coming here to find work is down to hopelessly incompetent economic management!

Their economy was racing along until they allowed economy destroying real estate speculation by debt laden foreign speculators to destroy it?

We here still have an open door policy to just this very type of harmful foreign speculation!

And the only way to bail out lunatic locals who have overvalued and over leveraged as an entirely emotional response to trying to hang on, even as god management models would see them just cut their losses and get out!

And then bewail the fact that housing affordability and young Aussies being able to buy a farm are things of a far distant past!

Ditto in Ireland, only more so as the Irish attempted a taxpayer funded bailout of the financing foreign speculation banks, who overleveraged what they could, arguably solely for the survival of the CEO's and the Boards? And the devil take the trusting mum and dad shareholders!

As colonists and good citizens the Brits have some history and far closer to home in the scottish Highlands and Ireland, which would make the spainish look like saints in any fair and relevant historical comparison; and just demonstrates the varying levels of perverse hung, drawn and quartered villianary between historical dictatorial examples?

And no doubt the American Indians and our own Aborigines may also have a very different take on british expansionism?
Alan B.

"I'm glad that Australia wasn't colonised by Spain"

Agreed, the essential difference is the institutions that we inherited from the UK. It's not a coincidence that most former British colonies have a more stable and prosperous post colonial history than former Spanish (or Portuguese) colonies.

A hundred years ago Argentina was forecast to leave Australia behind in economic development, the country appeared to possess many environmental and geographic advantages compared with Australia. Every advantage, except robust political and social institutions, as a result Argentina's history has been a record of a series of political and economic crises. It's typical of other Latin American nations.

I can't think of any former Spanish colony that could be regarded as a developed country.

Years ago when I was learning tourist Spanish, my teacher, from Argentina mentioned the unsuccessful attempt, during the Napoleonic Wars, by the British, to capture Buenos Aries.

I couldn't help thinking that Argentina might have been better off if they had succeeded.

It's worth noting the huge number of tourists going to Spain. No wonder people keep saying "yes it's nice but you should have seen it 10 years ago".

Swarms of people descend on any given place and its special qualities are lost. Taxi drivers get avaricious. Prices go up and up.

And thoughtful people abandon Bali for Ko Samui, then move on to somewhere else, and on and on we go.

Peter West wrote 1500 words telling us how nice Spain is, then ended his article saying that English culture is a bit better than Spanish culture, without explaining why.

To me, Peter, I could not give a toss about your sightseeing trip in Spain. And I would not have even bothered to read your travelogue article had it you not mentioned in your opening statement that you were comparing English with Spanish cultures.

I think that the differences are important. Why is North America functional (except for those areas in the USA populated by third world people), while South America is entirely dysfunctional? Why is North America composed of two countries, while South America is composed of about 50? Why does everybody in South America try to get into North America?

The strangest thing about how the two continents developed, is that South America was originally much more developed than North America at the time of European colonisation. The South had indigenous civilisations with bureaucracies and operating gold and silver mines which the Spanish and Portuguese simply took over. The North had nothing but trees and Stone Age savages who made formidable military opponents.

Yet in the end, it was the culture of the English dominated, North European Protestant people that surpassed that of the Catholic South European people in two roughly equal continents. I was hoping that your article could have shed some light on why this was so.

You might also have explained why you hold English culture in such contempt? Is it just the fashionable thing to do to regard the English colonists as thieves and exploiters? If so, how do you explain that English derived countries are the most successful and desirable countries in the world? If you want to flee your dysfunctional foreign society, head for North Europe, or head for anyplace they speak English.

ha ha ha
Quite a few inaccuracies here my friends.
I don't think Peter said in his intro. that he's going to compare anything. He's just telling a little story or two about a trip he's done.

And most people have some sort of experience (be it travel, illness, or misadventure) and then try to find meaning in it.So that's what he did, I guess.

Oh and the Native Americans were savages, were they? The Spanish said that the site of Mexico City (was it Tenochitlan...t?) was the most beautiful city they'd ever seen. far bigger than London or Rome or the Spanish capital (first Toledo, later Madrid)
Then they destroyed it.
So who were the barbarians?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nS6MpVbB_g