Personal space

I have found the Spanish, or maybe just Europeans in general, have a much different definition of personal space then we do in America. The other day I was sitting on a bench reading a book in the little park in the middle of the street in Malaga and three ladies came and asked me to move over so they could sit there too. There were plenty of other benches throughout the park so it wasn't like mine was the only available one. They then proceeded to start smoking, cause everyone does here. Yuck. Had to leave my bench...walked down the path about 20 feet and found another free bench to continue my reading.
And waiting in line like at a store, there is no room between people. The person behind you is right on top of you, like they are part of your party. I feel like letting them go ahead, but there will always be another right behind...
Yesterday, I saw someone with a McDonald's hot fudge sundae and it looked really good...so I decided to go get one to hold me over till 10 when it is time for dinner. I decided I would sit on a bench in the city center to eat it and had to walk for a bit to find a fairly empty one. Apparently I could have sat one one that already had a bunch of people on it anyway cause about 3 minutes after I sat down, another group came and sat down practically on top of me again!
At the beach, I had a nice spot staked out, and a group came over and parked themselves right next to me! Like in order to get to their towels, they had to get sand on mine because they were so close. There is a whole big beach, why do you lay your towels so close to mine?!
If nothing else, this vacation is teaching me patience with my fellow man. Or perhaps it is teaching me to keep moving cause every time I stop someone gets a little too close for comfort...