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Read our November article and find out the best things.

Winter is coming… And I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait. Sure, summer has its positives, but the cooler seasons have always been my favourites. Here are just a few of the things that make autumn and winter preferable to the sweltering summer months…

Blue skies, bright sun

Get outside! One of the great things about autumn and winter on the Mediterranean is that while it does get cold, the weather is hardly ever too grey or miserable. Instead, the sky is azure blue and the sun bright. A brisk walk in the countryside is much more pleasurable when it isn’t hot, and you’ll warm yourself up by doing some exercise anyway. Get out your scarf, hat and gloves. Or, on the other hand…

Sofas, blankets and quiet nights in

It is cold outside… So stay in! Pull those blankets out of the wardrobe where they’ve been lying lonely and unwanted all summer; find some comfortable slippers and warm jogging bottoms. Have a hot bath. Watch that series that everybody’s talking about, or that film you’ve been meaning to see. Lose yourself in a good book. Relax! It is cold outside, after all.

Hot drinks, soups and autumnal vegetables

Just like a glass of white wine or a frosty beer are perfect on a hot summer day, cocoa, spiced cider or any number of infusion drinks are ideal in the winter. And while gazpacho is great when it’s boiling outside, a hot, tasty soup will warm up the coldest of nights. And of course there are the vegetables that taste so much better this time of year: pumpkin, sweet potato, cabbage, cauliflower and butternut squash are just a few examples. Roast them, mash them, make a winter salad, put them in a soup… The possibilities are endless.

Autumn and winter traditions

There’s the Castanyada of course - and all the delicious panellets, chestnuts and sweet potatoes that come with it - and the increasingly popular Halloween. Guy Fawkes Night is celebrated on the 5th of November in the UK, in which the country celebrates the failure of a plot to assassinate King James I with bonfires and fireworks, while Canada and the USA have Thanksgiving in October and November respectively. New Year’s Eve and Chinese New Year see out one year and usher in the following, but the biggest and best of the autumn and winter traditions have to be…

Christmas and the Three Kings

Christmas and the Three Kings delight children and adults alike. Roast turkey, potatoes, parsnips and cranberry sauce in the UK, Carn d’Olla and galets in Catalonia; stockings and party hats over there, Caga Tíos and Caganers over here. The Nativity; Father Christmas and the Three Kings, pantomimes, mulled wine and cava, mince pies and turron. There are so many customs and traditions that take place around this time of year, different from one country to the next, and they’re a perfect opportunity to take a break, leave any cynicism you might have at the door, and enjoy something genuinely magical.