Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Spain.

From a unique aerial view,

we will review a nation famous for its fierce history and passion,

where ancient traditions converge with innovative technology

to form a country like no other.

In this series, we'll take an aerial tour across Europe,

seeing its sights from a brand new perspective.

Filmed from above and over the course of a single year,

as the landscape transforms through the changing seasons,

we will uncover the culture, history, and engineering

that built the great European nations we see today.

Spain, Europe's southern frontier.

It's bordered by the cold Atlantic Ocean to the north,

and the warm Mediterranean Sea to the east.

Spain is a land of color and passion,

where festivals and celebration are the lifeblood of the community.

But it's also a place of history and conflict,

where over thousands of years,

many diverse civilizations battled for supremacy.

The Romans were one of the first foreign superpowers

to make their mark on Spanish culture 2,000 years ago.

Then, in the Middle Ages,

a Muslim empire from the south

and Christian kingdoms in the north,

fought for the right to rule the land.

Historic landmarks and fortresses from these civilizations

still dot the nation today.

And from the air, it's remarkable to see how well-preserved so many of them are.

Like Castillo de Malpica, an Arabic fortress from the 10th century.

And Castillo de Consuegra from the same period,

a stronghold that flipped through the years,

between Muslim and Christian rule.

But perhaps nowhere is Spain's cosmopolitan past better seen

than in one of the nation's finest cities.

Just north of Madrid, lies a place so rich in historic architecture

the entire city is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is Segovia.

Here, three of Spain's most significant landmarks

lie crammed shoulder to shoulder in one small city.

It's summer,

and the hot sun beats down on Segovia's historic treasures.

A vast Gothic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

It's 88-meter spire was once the tallest in Spain.

A Roman aqueduct, so ancient,

it's hard to believe it's still standing.

And a 12th century medieval castle perched high on a rocky crag.

The fort's mishmash of styles is thought to have been an inspiration

for Walt Disney's Enchanted Castle.

Local historian, Néstor Marqués, is Segovia's guardian angel.

He documents, records and monitors the city's famous ancient buildings.

MARQUÉS: I've always been in love with my city

and it's now a pleasure to work for the conservation of its heritage.

NARRATOR: Segovia's famous aqueduct bisects the city's central plaza.

It looks like a Victorian railway bridge,

but it's around 2,000 years old.

Viewed from high above, it appears impossibly slim.

The Romans built it to carry cool, fresh water

from the surrounding hills into the heart of the city

along this narrow stone channel.

It's one of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts

found anywhere in the world.

Roman engineering is so good that we have the aqueduct still with us.

The aqueduct is one of the few examples we have of this, uh, type of building.

NARRATOR: The aqueduct is iconic to the people of Segovia

and they used it for water right up until the early 1900s.

But today, a much-loved part of the structure is missing.

For 500 years, a statue of the Virgin Mary stood on this plinth,

watching out over the city.

But wind and rain eroded its features so much,

it was removed for restoration.

Néstor and his collaborators have spent the last three months

creating this near-perfect replica of the statue.

Today's the big day that the replica finally moves out of its workshop home,

ready for its journey to the top of the aqueduct.

MARQUÉS: It will be great to have the statue back in its place

and to have contributed in such an awesome project.

NARRATOR: Néstor unpacks the replica at the base of the aqueduct

and gives it one last check over.

The old statue was made from soft limestone

and suffered badly from weather erosion.

The new one is made from ground marble dust

mixed with resin,

a super-tough, modern material

that should be able to withstand the passage of time.

Working on this huge, historic monument is an immense responsibility.

The replica statue of the Virgin and Child

rises on the hydraulic platform

twenty three meters into the air.

A crowd gathers to witness the moment of truth.

Spain is a Catholic country

and the Madonna had been the guardian of Segovia for centuries.

The people are here to see her returned to her rightful place.

It's a huge moment for Néstor as the statue slots neatly into its niche.

Today was a great success and it was a huge team effort to get here,

and it's an amazing feeling to see everyone gather around the aqueduct today,

to see the statue back up.

So, it means they care about their heritage and their city.

NARRATOR: Whilst Spain's center is home to some of its most ancient buildings,

the Mediterranean coastline is just as rich in architecture,

but with a distinctly modern twist.

The northernmost part of this famous coastline

is home to Catalonia.

This region has a fierce sense of identity

and a history dating back over 1,000 years.

But it's also dotted with much more modern architectural gems.

In Figueres, the museum of surrealist painter, Salvador Dali,

stands out brightly against the town's beige buildings.

But perhaps the most spectacular aerial sight in this region

isn't a single building.

It's the heart of the region's capital, Barcelona.

Flying high over Barcelona

reveals a sight impossible to see from the ground.

A large section of the city is made up of row after row

of 800 seemingly identical blocks.

From above, Barcelona's enormous city grid system

stretches out like a giant terracotta chessboard.

Town planners built this modern metropolis in the mid-19th century

as an overspill to the city's chaotic and clustered medieval quarters.

Each block in the modern part of the city

is characterized by its distinctive 45-degree cut corners.

The design is an ingenious solution to allow the city's tram drivers

to see around the bends.

From above, Barcelona's heart appears perfectly geometrical

with one incredible exception.

Right in the middle of Barcelona

is the city's famous unfinished cathedral,

La Sagrada Familia.

Most European cathedrals appear rigidly geometrical,

but here, there's barely a straight line or right angle to be seen.

The stonework's organic lines

appear to melt and flow like hot wax.

This revolutionary cathedral was the brainchild

of the maverick Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudi.

Even today, Gaudi's non-conformist designs

are a rich source of inspiration for modern architects

like Benedetta Tagliabue.

TAGLIABUE: Barcelona is a very special city,

because it's very rational, but in the same time,

sometimes you can find very special, very crazy things,

and Sagrada Familia, for example, is one of these crazy things.

NARRATOR: Despite its incredible unconventional design,

La Sagrada is perhaps best-known for being unfinished.

Workers have been slowly constructing it for over 130 years.

But the end of this mammoth building project

could soon be in sight.

In the next six years, the final five towers

will rise up to surround a giant central spire

which will soar almost 200 meters into the air,

changing the Barcelona skyline forever.

Gaudi's ground-breaking vision

has done much more than transform Barcelona's urban heart.

It's inspired modern architects to create their own geometry-defying forms

including Benedetta's astonishing Santa Caterina Market

with its flowing, colorful roof.

TAGLIABUE: We didn't know that this would be accepted in Barcelona

and we were very happy when it was finished

that people loved it

and maybe they were prepared to receive something

which was organic, colorful,

because the city of Barcelona is a little like that.

NARRATOR: La Sagrada Familia is an architectural wonder

that defines the city's skyline

and perhaps the spirit of the region.

From above, Spain is a nation divided by color.

The south is an arid mix of browns and yellows.

But in the north, mountains gather water,

painting them a brilliant green.

A series of long tributaries join here to form the mighty Ebro River

and, together, these waterways nourish the land around them

to help grow one of the world's most celebrated crops.

This is La Rioja, wine country.

Each year, its many vineyards

undergo one of Spain's most dramatic transformations,

as the hot summer sun finally gives way to autumn.

Maria Urrutia is part of a family dynasty

that has been producing Rioja's world-famous wines

for over 140 years.

URRUTIA: Wine, it's my essence, it's my blood.

Walking through a vine, picking up grapes, eating grapes.

It's family, it's joy. It is happiness.

NARRATOR: Through the summer months,

her many hectares of vines grow new leaves,

so the plants can soak up sunlight to fuel the growth of their fruit.

But as September arrives,

an astonishing metamorphosis takes place

as green leaves turn to golds and reds.

And the swollen grapes ripen.

It's late afternoon

and María takes her colleague, Valentín, out into the vineyard

to see if the estate's premium grapes are ready to be harvested.

There must be enough sugar to make alcohol in the wine,

but not too much or it will spoil the wine's flavor.

The sugar content looks just right.

María will start her harvest early tomorrow morning.

As the sun rises on the morning of María's grape harvest,

the picking team assemble.

Today, the pickers will gather grapes

for one of the estate's most exclusive wines.

They pick them by hand to make sure they don't damage the delicate fruit.

URRUTIA:: It's a hard job to do,

so it's very important to have the right people, the right team,

to produce the best wine possible.

NARRATOR: María and her team must collect 50,000 kilos of grapes

before the end of the day, and the clock is already ticking.

An aerial view reveals the extent of María's vast family estate.

It covers over 500 hectares.

She hopes to produce six million bottles of wine this year,

but only 800,000 bottles of the exclusive hand-picked wine they're gathering today.

This premium wine will sit inside oak barrels for two years,

to create the smooth red fruit and vanilla flavors

synonymous with fine Rioja wines.

Back in the fields, María's workers finish the final rows

and load the last baskets onto the trailer.

For the pickers, it's a time for celebration,

but for María, it's a long waiting game to see what this year's crop will bring.

URRUTIA: Harvest is the most challenging moment,

but it's what keeps you on rolling and wanting to move to the future.

NARRATOR: As well as fine wines, Spain's temperate, fertile north

is also synonymous with fine foods.

The Basque city of San Sebastian

is renowned as a center for fine-dining restaurants.

But inland from this gastronomic hub lies something very strange indeed.

A traditional seaside industry, a long way from the nearest coast.

The fertile Basque country is a sea of yellow fields and green forests,

but just 60 kilometers from San Sebastian,

in the winding roads of the Añana Valley,

a patchwork of white squares emerges on the surface of the landscape.

These are Añana Valley's famous salt pans,

a salt factory like no other anywhere in the world.

Most salt pans evaporate seawater to extract their precious crystals,

but Añana is tens of kilometers from the sea,

so where's all the salt coming from?

Flying high above the Añana Valley's salt pans

reveals their incredible secret.

An underground saline spring.

Deep below the valley, water courses up through the remains

of a 200-million-year-old seabed.

By the time it breaks the surface here in Añana,

the water is as salty as the waters of the Dead Sea.

Edorta Loma comes from a long line of salineros, or salt harvesters.

The way he works is the same as his grandfather

and his great-grandfather before him.

-(Loma speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

As far as I know, my family have been doing this since 1500.

Always salt, salt, salt, salt.

And when I die, let them bury me with a pinch of salt.

NARRATOR: Edorta's salt is highly-prized by the Basque region's famous chefs,

and can fetch over 20 euro a kilo.

To make it, the natural salty spring water runs into a wooden channel.

Gravity then steers the water

through three kilometers of branching pipes and channels

to storage wells,

ready to be fed into the giant drying pans

which give the valley its patchwork appearance.

It's at this point the hot, hard graft begins

because salty water can only be turned into salt crystals

during the hottest part of the day.

-(Loma speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

We work around our best fellow worker, the sun.

NARRATOR: While most of the country shelters away from the midday sun,

Edorta and the team spread the salty water

across some of the site's 5,000-plus drying pans,

and as the early autumn sun beats down,

the water inside the pans evaporates, concentrating the salts inside them.

They painstakingly stir each salt pan

until there's so little water left that fine salt crystals begin to form.

Then, they must rely on the sun to do the rest.

By late afternoon, the sun's rays have evaporated away all the water.

The salt collectors can rake up the dry salt crystals by hand.

It's hard work,

but Edorta and his colleagues will soon be able to take a well-earned rest.

They can only collect salt when the sun shines,

and the coming of winter will soon put an end to their work for another year.

As the months march forward, the days get shorter.

A dusting of snow coats Spain's highlands

and biting winds transform its cold Atlantic coastline

into a maelstrom of crashing waves and thick sea mist.

Winter has arrived.

This is Galicia,

Spain's most northwesterly region

and it's famed for its treacherous Atlantic coastline.

The Costa da Morte, or Coast of Death.

Viewed from above, the reasons for its name are clear.

These many kilometers of jagged rocks are a graveyard for storm-swept ships,

but the harsh Atlantic conditions

are paradise for one seafood delicacy,

the goose-necked barnacle, or percebes.

These weird-looking crustaceans sell for three times the price of lobster,

and local fishermen go to extraordinary lengths

to capture them.

Juan Carlos and Manuel are percebeiros,

professional barnacle hunters.

-(speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

Barnacle hunting's a very ancient art here in Galicia,

because we depend on the tides.

We cannot work every day.

Maybe we have around 15 days per month.

NARRATOR: The finest barnacles live where the waves hit hardest,

so Juan and Manuel must swim to the outer rocks to find them.

They can only reach the shellfish

when the tide is at its very lowest,

so they have just one hour to collect as many as they can.

In the Galician winter,

high winds whip the surf into a freezing white frenzy.

The swell is so severe

that Juan and Manuel are the only percebeiros

working this part of the coast.

But that suits them just fine.

-(Costoya speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

It's best for us to go when the sea is bad,

because we know we'll have the barnacles to ourselves.

NARRATOR: The percebeiros use a sharpened iron bar

to hack at the base of the barnacles.

Always keeping one eye out for rogue waves.

-(Costoya speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

You have to have brains.

You have to be brave, and you have to know what you're doing.

NARRATOR: Many percebeiros have lost their lives

to the Costa da Morte.

But for men like Juan, the ever-present dangers

are part of the attraction, too.

-(Costoya speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

For me, it's addictive.

It is somehow addictive, because it gives you a great sensation,

and this job is very rewarding.

NARRATOR: Eventually, the rising tide

forces the daredevil fishermen back to the shore.

But they've done well.

They have 16 kilos of barnacles to take to the seafood market

where specialist traders gather to select the finest seafood

for their exacting restaurant clients.

They're the only fishermen with barnacles to sell,

and therefore get a good price,

600 euro for a day's work.

-(Costoya speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

My relation to the sea is like the one I would have with my wife.

There's great moments and there's also difficult ones,

but for me, it's my life.

NARRATOR: For centuries, sailors have feared the Coast of Death,

but for the specialists who dare to plunder its riches,

the rewards are great.

At the far eastern end of Spain's green strip,

the land rises to form some of the nation's highest peaks.

In the depths of winter,

this mountain range transforms into a playground for adventurers.

Skiers take to the slopes and mountaineers tackle the jagged peaks.

These are the mighty Pyrenees.

They separate Spain to the south and France to the north.

The highest peak stands at over 3,000 meters tall.

But a closer look reveals a mysterious giant structure,

hidden deep at the foot of the mountains.

This is Canfranc International,

one of Europe's largest and grandest railway stations.

From above, it's simply enormous.

The main building is 241 meters long,

with 365 windows and 150 doors,

but this mega structure hides a bizarre secret,

because for over 40 years, it has been abandoned.

In its heyday in the 1930s,

Canfranc served a lucrative train line

that ran through the Pyrenees between Spain and France.

But the route gradually fell out of favor

and following a derailment in 1970,

the French authorities finally closed the line.

Fernando Sánchez Morales is the mayor of Canfranc.

He's part of a 27-million-euro project to reopen the station.

-(Sánchez Morales speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

The station was where every service was.

I used to come here to the post office, to the doctor,

to the canteen, to the hotel.

The station was the life of the town.

NARRATOR: Fernando wants to bring the station back to its former glory,

and put Canfranc back on the map,

by creating a tourism hub

that would include a hotel, a new station building

and an international train line.

But Fernando's plans are controversial,

because Canfranc hides a dark history.

Canfranc played a key role in the Second World War,

boosting the Nazi war effort.

Spain was Hitler's gateway to the wider world.

During the war, Canfranc became a critical transport hub

for Hitler to import iron and tungsten into Germany, to build weapons,

and transport Nazi gold in return.

But right under his nose,

the very same carriages helped Jews escape Nazi-occupied Europe.

-(Morales speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

It was a train of freedom,

but on the other hand, it gave advantages to Hitler

with the support of Franco.

It prolonged the war and provided more materials to the Nazis.

NARRATOR: Despite its checkered past,

Fernando is optimistic

that Canfranc will once again bring prosperity to the region.

-(Morales speaking in Spanish) -(man translating in English)

I'm excited, completely excited to finish the project

and enjoy what will happen here once it is done.

NARRATOR: As the year marches on, the cold winter weather starts to retreat.

The foothills of the Pyrenees erupt in a riot of wild flowers

as spring arrives across Spain.

As the warmer temperatures spread across the country,

in the heart of the nation

golden sunflower fields burst into life.

Back in Segovia, historian Néstor

is still busy safeguarding the future of the city's architectural gems.

Today, he's gearing up to finish a project

he has been working on for the last few weeks.

This is the Alcázar of Segovia,

one of the world's most unusual castles.

Much of the castle's core structure dates back to the Middle Ages

when it was home to the Spanish Royal Court.

Christopher Columbus met Queen Isabel of Spain here,

before he set sail to discover the New World.

Néstor is part of a project

to ensure that the design of this one-of-a-kind castle

is preserved for future generations.

For the past week, he's been using a drone

to photograph the Alcázar from every angle.

He'll then stitch the images together to create a pixel-perfect 3D map.

If the castle were ever damaged by a natural disaster,

this digital blueprint could be used to rebuild the Alcázar.

MARQUÉS: Video documentation is the best possible way

to have this castle and heritage preserved for centuries.

This is the best way we can assure that all the structure is preserved,

even if, in some case, it's damaged in the future.

NARRATOR: The final piece in Néstor's giant 3D puzzle

is the Alcázar's towering front section.

Medieval builders constructed this cliff-top wall

to make the castle hard to attack,

but it's position also made it near impossible

for historians to study up close.

Until now.

We are able to get a very precise 3D reconstruction

of any details the structure has.

NARRATOR: Modern drones reveal the true scale

of the Alcázar like never before.

It's towers soar 80 meters into the sky

above its cliff-top perch.

It has 12 conical spires clad in slate

but these distinctive peaks are relatively new.

They were added almost 400 years after the castle was first built

and mimic the romantic style of Central European castles.

The Alcázar is a unique combination of Spanish and German architecture.

With the last remaining section of scanning finished,

Néstor is finally able to view the completed map.

He hopes that, in the future,

this map won't just allow historians to rebuild the Alcázar...

it may also help them to uncover its hidden secrets.

MARQUÉS: We see things

that we would never be able to see with the naked eye.

It's much better to see the details

and here in the Alcázar,

uh, we have been able to see the whole structure and the details

on the stones and, uh, decorations of the building.

NARRATOR: Thanks to Néstor and his drone,

one of the highlights of Spain's historic landscapes

is safe for future generations to enjoy,

no matter what the future may hold.

At the other end of the country, in Andalusia,

the early spring sun rises over Spain's most arid region.

Andalusia stretches from the Atlantic in the west

to the Mediterranean in the east,

and it sits just 13 kilometers from the coast of Africa.

Andalusia is a land of heat and passion.

It's the home of Flamenco music

and a once-thriving film industry.

Italian film director, Sergio Leone,

came here in the 1960s to shoot his famous Spaghetti Westerns.

It was the closest landscape he could find in Europe

to the American Wild West.

But a closer look reveals something seriously odd

about the landscape here.

An enormous, perfectly circular structure

appears to glow like a giant pearl.

This sci-fi vision is a futuristic power plant.

It's designed to harvest energy from the sun,

but these aren't solar panels.

They're mirrors.

Over 92,000 mirrors are mounted on motorized platforms

called heliostats.

They're arranged to concentrate the sun's rays

onto the top of a 147-meter tall tower, heating its tip.

Inside the tower, pumps force cool fluid to the hot tip.

The liquid heats to well over 500 degree Celsius

and returns to the base

where it's used to drive steam turbines and produce electricity.

Using nothing more than the heat of the sun,

this plant generates enough energy to power 25,000 Spanish homes.

The task of keeping this mega solar power plant running

falls to site manager, Raúl Mendoza Ruiz.

Andalusia is one of the sunniest areas in Europe

with 3,000 hours of sun per year.

We have an area of mirrors that's 30 football pitches.

NARRATOR: For the plant to work at peak efficiency,

all of the mirrors must be clean and perfectly aligned.

But that's far from easy

in one of Spain's most arid and dusty regions.

Raúl and his team monitor the state of the mirrors from the control room.

Okay, Raúl?

NARRATOR: They receive an alert.

(speaking Spanish)

A sensor is reporting a problem with one of the mirrors.

RUIZ: My mission in a normal day is to produce energy,

so I have to check if the mirrors are clean.

NARRATOR: If the mirror is dirty, it will have to be removed for cleaning.

But first, Raúl has to find it,

and that's no small task on a site the size of Monaco.

Site manager, Raúl, races to inspect the alarm.

He needs to check the condition of the mirror

and see if it needs replacing.

The longer the mirror is out of action,

the less efficiently the whole plant runs,

so Raúl has to hurry.

He eventually tracks down the problem mirror

mirror and uses a reflectometer to bounce light off the mirror

and check how dirty it is.

Surprisingly, it comes back clean.

Something else must have tripped its ultra-sensitive sensor,

perhaps a passing bird.

It's a lucky break for Raúl.

The control room swings the heliostat panel back into action,

and the plant returns to full efficiency.

Spain's southerly location makes it ideal for collecting energy

from the sun's heat.

And Raúl's workplace is just one of 50 solar thermal power plants

across the country.

Spain generates more energy this way than any other nation on Earth.

RUIZ: I'm very proud of the fact that Spain is one of the leaders

in the search of green energies.

NARRATOR: Andalusia's cutting-edge solar plants are a modern phenomenon.

But this area of Spain is also home to an industry

that stretches back 5,000 years.

Just 100 kilometers west of the solar plant,

the landscape changes dramatically.

Swooping closer reveals something astonishing,

a river that runs bright red.

This is the Rio Tinto.

Its name means "red river"

and tens of thousands tourists flock here each year

to marvel at this natural wonder.

These colors are created by mineral riches.

Ores of iron, copper, and precious metals leech out of the landscape,

and to complete this other-worldly vision,

the abandoned remains of centuries-old mining operations

lie scattered throughout the park.

José Francisco Dominguez

takes adventurous sightseers on tours through this extraordinary place.

(speaking in Spanish)

(man translating in English) What most attracts the attention

of visitors to this landscape

is the variety of colors.

The grays, the ochers, that's what catches people's attention.

Perhaps it could be compared to a lunar landscape

or a lot of the visitors on the train comment that it even looks like Mars.

NARRATOR: The first people to mine here

are thought to have kick-started the Bronze Age 5,000 years ago.

Much later, the Romans came here to mine precious metals for currency.

And in the 19th century,

British engineers expanded the site on an industrial scale.

They built this train line

and dug out this enormous copper mine.

Today, the mining industry is gone

and a very different industry has taken over.

Space scientists use the park's Martian-like environment

to test mission equipment that may one day

land on the red planet itself.

And astrobiologists study these acid-rich waters

to understand how alien life could thrive

on distant, chemical-rich worlds.

It's incredible to think that this multicolored Spanish landscape

may one day unlock the mystery of life beyond the stars.

Spain is a land of passions and contradictions,

where ancient traditions thrive side-by-side with modern innovation.

The landscape and climate provide a wealth of natural resources

and a culture of creativity is building a sustainable future.

This nation's ability to turn contrast into harmony

makes it the great European nation we see today.