Madrid

Madrid, Spain`s capital city, is home to thousands of restaurants, cafés, tapas bars, and more. Some foods you should try while you`re in Madrid include the pork stew cocido madrileño, huevos rotos for breakfast (fried potatoes served on over-easy eggs); and bocadillo de calamares (fried squid sandwich); in addition to such popular treats as the tortilla de patatas and the ever-popular churros. If you`re looking for a popular Madrid beer, be sure to try Mahou brand beer.

Barcelona

Barcelona, Spain`s second-largest city, is known for such dishes as paella (befitting its position on the Mediterranean, meaning opportunities for great seafood); bombas, potato balls filled with meat and served with an aioli and a garlic-paprika tomato sauce; esqueixada, a shredded salt cod salad with ingredients like tomatoes and onions; and pa amb tomaquet, a refreshing bread toasted with tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil. Barcelonians love drinking sangria as well as cava, a champagne-inspired wine made from grapes that grow just outside Barcelona.

Seville

The largest city in southern Spain, Seville is where you can taste delicious dishes made with fish and sausages of the best quality. Olive oil is the element that predominates in Andalusian cuisine. The flavor of the Sevillian cuisine lies on the streets of the city, and when visiting Seville you can taste exquisite, simple, and traditional dishes. The tremendous variety of Sevillian cuisine is based around home cooking. Seville has one of the oldest ovens in Spain, located near Puerta de Triana, where traditional sweets were baked during the 12th century, which you can still taste today, such as tortas de aceite, a thin, crispy and sweet cake made with olive oil, flour, wheat, sugar, sesame, anise, and salt; polvorones, whole wheat flour, lard, and sugar; and alfajores, sweet prepared with almonds, walnuts and honey, different from the Latin American alfajor.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian, with the second-highest number of Michelin-starred restaurants per capita in the world, is hands-down the `foodie capital` of Spain. Some typical dishes that can be found in San Sebastian include the burnt cheesecake from Michelin-starred La Viña restaurant. Other dishes include gilda pintxo, a tapa dish which is bread topped with anchovies, pickled peppers and olives; foie gras; bacalao (salt cod); txuleta, a beef steak you can try at a local cider house (sagardotegi); and the not-so-scary and very delicious fish cheeks (kokotxas de merluza), cooked in herbs and butter.

Valencia

Valencia prides itself on having the best paella in the country, and most Spanish people will rank Valencia as one of the places in the country where you can get top-notch paella. Valencians take paella very seriously, because it is considered very much part of their cultural heritage. Be sure to also try fideuà, which is a seafood dish cooked with noodles, as well. Valencia is home to four distinct wine microregions, so pairing your seafood with a full-bodied wine should not be difficult to do here.

Palma (de Mallorca)

Palma, the capital of Mallorca, is at the epicenter of the largest wine region outside of the mainland. Mallorcan wine has been enjoyed since the time of the Romans. A short drive from the city, you can find two wine regions, Binissalem and Pla I Llevant. In addition to the typical wine varieties, be sure to try the light red wine manto negro, which is flavorful, fragrant, and most importantly native to Mallorca! Paprika tap de corti is a paprika made of native peppers (pictured) and can be found on many Mallorcan dishes such as tombet (potatoes, bell peppers and eggplant).

Girona

Girona is perhaps best-known for its wine; the Costa Brava town is located near the El Emporda wine region, which is best-known for its Garnatxa de l`Emporda wine, made from the garnatxa grape. It is a sweeter dessert wine, as is another popular local vintage, the Moscatell de l`Emporda. The strongest wines that come from the vineyards near Girona is the organic white Mistelle, at nearly 18% alcohol content.

Granada

Granada is very well-known for its teterias (tea houses), which have been in the city since the time of the Moors. Calle de las Teterias has a cluster of these tea houses, which include markets where you can buy tea for your own personal consumption later. There are also delicious pastries and other confections to be had at these teterias, including soplillos, a delicious toasted almond meringue.

Jerez de la Frontera

Jerez de la Frontera is the largest city in the `sherry triangle`. Any sherry that you have ever consumed in your life would have come from this region, which is also well-known for its flamenco dancing and its horse-breeding (the horses can dance too!). To taste the different sherries that Jerez has to offer (there are seven vineyards around the city alone), you can take a tour of one of the wineries (called bodegas), or you can sip by the glass at a tabanco, which many times also serves tapas.

Logroño

The northern Spanish city of Logroño is the capital of the La Rioja region. The visitor will enjoy the local hospitality, the taste of the local Rioja wine, and relaxing walks in one of the numerous parks. Rioja wine may be one of the most popular types of Spanish wines sold in America, and it is renowned due to its aging process using oak barrels, which sets it apart from many other wine regions in the country. Like in the Basque Country, tapas are called pintxos here and the most popular tapas include seafood like bacalao (salt cod) and foie gras, as it is in Bilbao and San Sebastian.

Toledo

Toledo is probably best-known for its sweets, and is popularly recognized as the `marzipan capital of Spain`. Formerly a City of Gastronomy as recognized by the Spanish government, Toledo is also well-known for its fragrant and vividly-colored saffron, venison (in such dishes as the stew ciervo en salsa) and partridge stew (perdiz a la Toledana), cooked with garlic, onions, and white wine. You can also try sheep`s milk cheese (queso de ovejaor) in Toledo.

Alicante

If you stop in Alicante, be sure to try all the seafood you can get your hands on, because this is a great city to sample everything your heart desires when it comes to shrimp, fish, and more. Arroz a banda is the most popular dish from Alicante; it is similar to paella, but it is cooked in fish stock and served with a dollop of aioli, which sets it apart from the popular variety in Valencia. Alicante is also well-known for its variants of turron, which is a sugar-and-egg-white confection baked with toasted almonds.

Santiago de Compostela

Tostadas and empanadas are very popular in Santiago de Compostela, one of Galicia`s most historic cities. White wines from this area are very popular to pair with the aforementioned tapas, but the most popular dish from this area would be the torta de Santiago (upper right in picture), a cake (or pie) made from almonds and can be flavored with such additions as sweet wine and lemon peel. The cross seen on the cake is the Cross of the Order of Santiago.

Leon

Leon has few rivals when it comes to its tapas bars, and the cold meat platters that are served in many of them are popular here. Other snacks you should try include blood sausage (morcilla); garlic soup; potato mince; croquetas; and a very spicy sausage called `the chorizo from hell`, which can be sampled at the taberna called Oriente Medio. Lechazo (leg of roasted lamb) is popular as a hearty dinner dish, many times served with thin-cut fried potatoes. Leon is also popular for its long list of `Vino de la Tierra` wines, ranging from red, white, to rosé.

Bilbao

Bilbao is the epicenter of pintxos country, which is the Basque spin on the tapas experience. The most popular dish you will find, whether it`s a full dish or a small tapas plate, is bacalao pil-pil, which is salted cod cooked in a special `pil-pil` sauce (remains of the fish oil mixed with olive oil, garlic, and cayenne pepper). Other popular pintxos include dishes that include anchovies and foie gras, much like San Sebastian, which has a bigger worldwide profile when it comes to gastronomy. Wines can be paired with delicious seafood pintxos; many of the ones that are on sale here are from Haro, the Basque Country town that is the gateway to La Rioja.

Tarragona

Tarragona is well-known for its wine, and two wine regions are located close to the city. One of the most popular local wines is a fortified wine called vi ranci (pictured). The wine is oxidized, giving it a different taste compared to typical wines, but it is a Catalonian treat. The De Muller Winery near Tarragona sells some of the best wines in the region, including cabernets and pinot noir. A popular twist on paella that is well-known in Tarragona is arros negre, black rice served with shrimp and squid.