Nitpick: Barcelona-Madrid-Lisbon is a poor way to sample the Iberian peninsula. Geographical features and historical events divide the territory in bands along

Nitpick: Barcelona-Madrid-Lisbon is a poor way to sample the Iberian peninsula. Geographical features and historical events divide the territory in bands along a NW-SE axis (roughly Atlantic vs Mediterranean). Two interesting sample spots that are lost in this NE-SW sample would be the Basque country (a pre-indoeuropean culture) and Galicia-Asturias (remains of celtic culture, colonized by Swabs[1], as opposed to West Goths, after the fall of the Roman Empire, and never conquered by the Muslims). Another reason why these would be interesting would be that Irish celtic legends say that their people come from the north of the Iberian peninsula. [1] The Swabs also occupied territories in northern Italy. This might explain why Portugal (originally a Galician county) seems closer to Italy than (West Goth) Madrid and Barcelona.