The general atmosphere in Spain at the moment, still very much affected by the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Madrid and the unusually wet and windy weather dominating most of Spain this week have all contributed to Easter celebrations being much more low key than usual. Holy Week events and processions have been cancelled in some Spanish towns and cities due to bad weather, and although most years Spaniards take advantage of the Easter break to have short family holidays (this is the only time of year when as much as 80% of tourists in Spain are Spanish), this year more families have chosen to stay at home. Madrid, perhaps not surprisingly, is the worst affected traditional Easter week destination. According to the Cadena Ser, hoteliers report a 10 – 20% fall in hotel reservations.

Clouds and rain are expected to dominate the weather all weekend.

Most of the news in Spain, as in the rest of the World, is dominated by recent events in Iraq. The insistence of Jose Luis Zapatero for the US to recognise its mistakes and hand over control of the crisis to the United Nations seems to many to be the only viable way of improving a situation which seems to be increasingly out of control. In the last Ser Pulsometro, 72% Spaniards said they supported Zapatero’s policy on Iraq, while 15% Spaniards opposed it.