Gandia

Gandia
Municipality

Flag
Coat of arms
Motto: Home of the Fideuà
Gandia

Location in Spain

Coordinates: 38°58′N 0°11′W / 38.967°N 0.183°WCoordinates: 38°58′N 0°11′W / 38.967°N 0.183°W
Country Spain
Autonomous community Valencian Community
Province Valencia
Comarca Safor
Judicial district Gandia
Government
 • Alcalde Arturo Torró Chisvert (PP)
Area
 • Total 60.8 km2 (23.5 sq mi)
Elevation 22 m (72 ft)
Population (2008)
 • Total 80,020
 • Density 1,300/km2 (3,400/sq mi)
Demonym Gandiense (Spanish), Gandià (Valencian)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 46700, 46701, 46702, 46730
Official language(s) Spanish, Valencian
Website Official website

Gandia (Valencian pronunciation: [ɡanˈdi.a]; Spanish Gandía) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Eastern Spain on the Mediterranean. Gandia is located on the Costa del Azahar, 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Valencia and 96 km (60 mi) north of Alicante.

It was an important cultural and commercial centre during the 15th and 16th centuries: in the 15th it had a university. It was home to several important poets including Ausiàs March, and produced the novelist Joanot Martorell, but it is perhaps best known for the Borja or Borgia, through their family title, Duke of Gandia.

Today, Gandia is one of the largest coastal towns, with a population over 200,000, and a thriving centre of commerce and tourism in the region. There are two main zones, Gandia City, which has all the historical monuments, commercial activity, and shopping, and Gandia beach, where apartments and summer residences used during the summer season are to be found. The bars and nightclubs are concentrated in the beach area. As is normal for Spain, nightlife does not begin until well after midnight. The beach and town are actually some 2 km (1 mi) apart which succeeds in separating summer tourism from day-to-day living.

Main sights

Tourism

With its long, wide, golden, sandy beaches Gandia is one of the major tourist destinations in Spain. Traditionally Gandia's tourism has a domestic base, with the majority coming from Madrid, although in recent years it has been an increasingly popular destination for international tourists, mainly French, German and British.[1]

For culture, there are literary contests, the Summer University (Universitat d'Estiu), the International Festival of Classical Music and art exhibitions; sports include water, golf, tennis and hiking.

There are some popular Spanish restaurants around the beach.

Gandia has a number of shopping facilities including shopping malls and chain supermarkets like Carrefour and Aldi.[2]

Climate

The climate of Gandia is mediterranean-subtropical (Köppen climate classification: CSa) with very mild temperatures during winters, and hot summers. The annual average temperature is between 19-20ºC. For the quantity of rain that Gandia receives each year, the climate can be considered as subtropical semi-arid BSh, besides for the very mild winters pertains to the mediterranean climate with hot summers CSa. The wettest season is the autumn. The average annual sunshine hours are about 3.000.

Climate data for Meteorological station of the beach of Gandía, Valencia province, Spain.)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 29.6
(85.3)		 29.8
(85.6)		 34.2
(93.6)		 32.4
(90.3)		 39.6
(103.3)		 40
(104)		 39.7
(103.5)		 40.8
(105.4)		 38.3
(100.9)		 38.1
(100.6)		 33.1
(91.6)		 26.1
(79)		 40.8
(105.4)
Average high °C (°F) 19.68
(67.42)		 19.03
(66.25)		 21.07
(69.93)		 23.35
(74.03)		 25.57
(78.03)		 29.28
(84.7)		 32.33
(90.19)		 32.05
(89.69)		 30.85
(87.53)		 28.79
(83.82)		 22.32
(72.18)		 19.26
(66.67)		 25.298
(77.537)
Daily mean °C (°F) 14.37
(57.87)		 14.27
(57.69)		 15.91
(60.64)		 18.30
(64.94)		 18.90
(66.02)		 23.95
(75.11)		 27.03
(80.65)		 27.02
(80.64)		 25.82
(78.48)		 23.17
(73.71)		 17.82
(64.08)		 13.54
(56.37)		 20.008
(68.017)
Average low °C (°F) 9.06
(48.31)		 9.5
(49.1)		 10.77
(51.39)		 13.26
(55.87)		 14.69
(58.44)		 18.63
(65.53)		 21.74
(71.13)		 21.99
(71.58)		 20.8
(69.4)		 17.45
(63.41)		 13.3
(55.9)		 8.09
(46.56)		 14.94
(58.885)
Record low °C (°F) 3.1
(37.6)		 2.2
(36)		 3.9
(39)		 7.7
(45.9)		 8.4
(47.1)		 14
(57)		 17.9
(64.2)		 17.3
(63.1)		 14.8
(58.6)		 7
(45)		 4
(39)		 2.4
(36.3)		 2.2
(36)
Avg. precipitation days 4 3 4 4 4 2 1 1 3 4 4 4 38
Avg. snowy days 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Source: The information for the extreme temperatures are for the last 3 years.[3] The rain data are for the nearest station which records rain data to Gandía, because the weather station of Gandia only records temperatures.[4]

Sports

Gandia, and the whole Safor comarca, is said to be the centre of the Raspall variant of the Valencian pilota autochthonous sport. Nonetheless, Gandia held the Trinquet El Zurdo courtfield (it was demolished in 2007 to build an apartment block).

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Gandia is twinned with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gandia.be.
  2. ↑ Gandia
  3. ↑ http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=IVALENCI47#history/s20120401/e20150501/mcustom
  4. ↑ - Estación climática de la Playa de Gandía (Weather Underground) y yr.no

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gandia.