If you love the adrenaline combination of speed and height, follow your adventurer flair and take off for Spain. La Alhambra and el Prado are landmarks worth visiting but along with the culture tour I would suggest a short summer school in paragliding.

Paragliding is very admired sport in Spain. Here it is called parapente and it is very popular thanks to country’s unique natural resources. There are many schools that organize courses and can provide you with equipment.

The paragliding school passes a few phases. The first one is the Ground school which actually means the basis: you can touch the paraglide, but you cannot use it. After the students learn how to control the wing then they are allowed a few small jumps. Exactly. Students actually jump from low hills and fly at very low altitudes.

Little by little the technique range is developed and you will be taken to higher hills and taught things like spot landing or 360 turns. My personally favorite is the so called big-ears which increases the rate of descent for the paraglider.

If you are not convinced about the safety, you will see the security measures by yourself, they are definitely reliable. However, if you still want to jump, but have fears of flying, you can try the tandem flights, in which an experienced instructor pilots the paraglider.

Prices vary and depend on the type of course, the paragliding school and the period. Be prepared for a price about 700-900 euro.

If you want to learn more, you can spend some time with Parapente.ws, which is the official site of the Club de Parapente of Madrid. Also check Horizonte-vertical.net which covers Granada or Lijarsur.com which covers Andalucia.