Franco had a dream! It was a plan to make all the people of Spain speak the same language. To this end, Franco tried to eradicate the dialects of Spain. The plan didn't succeed! Pictured left is an ordinary-looking road ...but the bottom two names (Jávea & Xábia) indicate the same place!

Welcome to the wacky world of the dialect of Valenciano ...where names don't always change as strikingly as this first example. Take the example (right) of the lower of the two signs. Jávea (the mainstream Spanish name) appears in a much smaller script and Alacant ably demonstrates that not all place names differ so widely (this indicates Alicante).

As this next photo (left) shows, motorway signs use both language and dialect.

Rural road signs are often only in Valenciano ...but it is not common to have places with nearly identical names right next door to each other. Commonly, Valenciano drops end vowels and has a nasty habit of substituting the letter 'J' with an 'X.' Life with Spanish signs in the Provinces of Valencia and Alicante should be easier, armed with this knowledge. The only other mind-boggling name alteration I know about is Jalón ...this appears on rural road signs as Xaló.