The Summer Heat

Fans Fans Fans

You are going to need one of these ! It gets so hot here that you need to be cooling yourself down a lot. Don't fool yourself about the "cool" Mediterranean climate. In Summer, it becomes the steamy "hot" Mediterranean climate. There is a lot of humidity in this city which also contributes to the heat. Therefore you see many people walking about fanning themselves constantly. Fans come in different colours, designs and sizes. Tourists, locals and many others seem to carry a fan to cool themselves down. People waiting at bus stops, passengers on buses, people waiting in the metro stations (this is the worst place as the heat underground is diabolical), people walking in the streets, people waiting in queues to enter tourist attractions often seem to sport a stylish fan. I saw a lady collapse and fall to the ground inside a metro station. To her rescue came some people bearing fans and wet facecloths. The heat had obviously got to her and the magic remedy was the little fan and the wet facecloth. It is extremely hot underground, that you break into a sweat even just standing on the platform. Yesterday I stood next to a guy that had beads of sweat dripping down his forehead as he stepped onto the train. "Please get yourself a fan," I thought!!

Los Torros de Espana !

Vendors have taken full advantage of the situation and have harnessed their entrepreneurship. Fans are for sale on pavements, in shops, on street corners, at fleamarkets.... Some of the fans are very stylish and sport bright and interesting colours and designs. So do I have a fan ? No. Not yet. They say August is coming and is the worst month. Maybe I will be forced to invest in a very stylish, elegant fan just to keep my cool!! Today it seems like the sun is being a little less punitive and maybe the heat will be more tolerable.

Buy a fan from a vendor