Spain shares the Iberian
peninsula with Portugal and is bounded to the north by the Pyrénées, which
separate Spain from France. The Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and
Formentera), 193 km (120 miles) southeast of Barcelona, and the Canary Islands
off the west coast of Africa are part of Spain, as are the tiny enclaves of
Ceuta and Melilla on the north African mainland. With the exception of
Switzerland, mainland Spain is the highest and most mountainous country in
Europe, with an average height of 610 m (2000 ft). The Pyrénées stretch
roughly 400 km (249 miles) from the Basque Country in the west to the
Mediterranean Sea; at times the peaks rise to over 1524 m (5000 ft), the highest
point being 3404 m (11,169 ft). The main physical feature of Spain is the vast
central plateau, or Meseta, divided by several chains of sierras. The
higher northern area includes Castile and León, the southern section comprises
Castile/La Mancha and Extremadura. In the south the plateau drops abruptly at
the Sierra Morena, beyond which lies the valley of Guadalquivir. Southeast of
Granada is the Sierra Nevada, part of the Betic Cordillera, which runs parallel
to the Mediterranean, rising to 3481 m (11,420 ft) and the highest point on the
Spanish peninsula (the Pico del Teide on Tenerife in the Canaries is the highest
peak in Spain). The Mediterranean coastal area reaches from the French frontier
in the northeast down to the Straits of Gibraltar, the narrow strip of water
linking the Mediterranean with the Atlantic and separating Spain from North
Africa.
