the 400km stretch of the Pyrenees and, at greatest
height, in the snow-capped Sierra Nevada, part of the
Cordillera Bética range overlooking the southern Med
coast. Narrow strips of coastal lowland give Spain its
famous beaches, while the Andalusian Plain in the
south-west is the country’s only sizeable low-lying
patch.
Climatic chameleon
Spain’s diverse landscape, and interference from the
Mediterranean and the Atlantic, coughs up the most
varied climate in Europe. Themeseta, Madrid included
within its realm, delivers a continental climate of
cold winters and baking summers, both pretty dry.
The Pyrenees and the northern coastal regions are
cooler and take the lion’s share of Spain’s rain from
weather systems rolling in off the Atlantic. In the
south, Andalusia can be jovially warm throughout the
winter but aggressively hot in summer. Along the
Mediterranean coast the climate is generally dry,
mild in winter and often hot and humid in summer.
Many of thesierrasretain snow on their higher peaks
throughout the year.
Life’s a breeze: windy culture
In Catalonia they brace themselves against the
tramontana, a face-slapping northerly that also lends
its name to a mountain chain on Majorca. Salvador Dalí
painted theChrist of the Tramontana(1968) as part
of a collaboration with Catalan poet Carles Fages de
Climent, while Colombian author Gabriel García
Márquez pennedTramontana(1993), a short story in
which the main character is pushed to suicide by the
tormenting wind – an apparently regular occurrence in
Catalan days of yore. Not to be left out, southern Spain
7
- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
If you can’t
stand the heat...
The flow of Spanish life
has long been guided by
the weather, the most
obvious example being
the dailysiesta. While not
as widespread as of old,
the early afternoon nap
can still be a necessary
response to the torpor-
inducing heat of summer.
