That pretty much sums up my experience of Spanish wiring as well. They often seem to have the attitude "It works, so what's the fuss?"
You see missing cover plates, wires just twisted and shoved into a box (not even taped!), grounding-type receptacles with no ground on them, and so on.
I once saw a bathroom light switch with exposed live terminals (220V to ground) right by the shower. And this wasn't some old ramshackle place but a fairly fancy modern hotel in a major tourist area!
Tex,
I'm not sure if there might still be one or two remote parts of Spain still on the lower voltage, although I think all the built-up areas are 220/380 now.
There may have been places with a nominal 110V supply, but I think in many areas the lower voltage was actually nominally 127V, because it was derived from a 3-phase network with a line-to-line potential of 220V.
Did they ever use 110/220 1-ph 3-wire in Spain? I'm not sure. I have references that indicate that NEMA (U.S. type) 2-prong outlets were used on 110-127V at one time.
