Stories and Fascinating Legends

Have you never thought about the why of an expression or a tradition? Learn about the history of Spain through stories and legends of interest. Fascinating Spain is the community that organizes this content.

  • Sculpture of James III the Rush en Llucmajor

    Why was James III known as the Rash (or the Unfortunate)?

    James III was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1315, son of Ferdinand of Mallorca and Isabella of Sabran. He died on a battlefield when he was 34 years old. This could give some clues about the nickname by which he is remembered in history. , but James had a difficult childhood, as he lost both […]

  • When Belmonte Castle became Helm’s Deep

    A horde of red-eyed, coal-black-faced orcs besiege the gates of Helm’s Deep, the fortress behind which the city of Rohan defends itself in the second part of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. However, we are not talking about Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers, nor about the scene narrated by J.R.R. Tolkien in his book. […]

  • luis reign

    The shortest reign in Spanish history

    Luis de Borbón y Saboya was born in Madrid on August 25, 1707, son of Felipe V of Spain and María Luisa Gabriela de Saboya. When he was only 16 years old, he ascended to the throne at the express wish of his father, although his reign would not last long. In fact, it is […]

  • spanish flu

    The Spanish flu, a non-Spanish pandemic

    On November 2, 1918, The New York Times published a story about a mysterious illness that appeared to be some kind of flu. It came, as they said, from Spain. This was the origin of the myth of the Spanish flu, a pandemic that, however, did not start in the Iberian Peninsula. In fact, the […]

  • pompeii alcubierre

    Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, the Spaniard who discovered Pompeii

    The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 is perhaps the most famous eruption in the history of the European continent, probably because of the traces it left behind. The places that suffered the tragedy can be visited and that undoubtedly has an effect. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than two million people came every year […]

Luisa de Medrano, the professor who lived only through letters | Timeless Women 2
Why was James III known as the Rash (or the Unfortunate)?
The thousand origins of the name of Granada
Roque Joaquín de Alcubierre, the Spaniard who discovered Pompeii
Pedro Pardo de Cela, the marshal of Mondoñedo
When the Pacific Ocean was known as the ‘Spanish Lake’
The battle of Lucena and the capture of Boabdil
The War of Navarrería in Pamplona
The monster that scares half the world: the Coco
When lava ran for six years on Lanzarote
The tears of a king for Valencia
The betrayal of Count Don Julian
When the pope banned bullfighting on pain of excommunication
The shortest reign in Spanish history
The day when Spaniards mistook a polar aurora for the Apocalypse
El Cabanyal of Valencia: shantytowns, modernism and speculation
Alfonso the Chaste: The First Pilgrim of Compostela
The meiga and the snake
The history of Trasmoz, Spain’s only excommunicated village
The Battle of Roncesvalles
The Bispo Santo and the Normans
When the Civil War caused the largest prison break in Spanish history