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Information about Valencia, Spain
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The Valencian Community is an autonomous community located in central to south-eastern Spain. It is divided in three provinces, from South to North: Alicante/Alacant, Valencia/València and Castellón/Castelló (names in Spanish/Valencian).
It has 518 km of coastline on the Mediterranean and covers 23,259 km² of land with 4.8 million inhabitants (2005). Its borders largely reflect those of the historic Kingdom of Valencia.
According to the Statute of Autonomy, Valencia is recognized as a nationality. The official languages are Spanish and Valencian (name given to the local varieties of Catalan). The capital of the autonomous community is the city of Valencia.
The inland part of the territory is mountainous, with the highest peaks in the Valencia and Castellón provinces which form part of the Iberian Range. The mountains in the Alicante province are in turn a part of the Subbetic range. The Valencian Community administers the tiny Columbretes islands and the coastal Tabarca islet.
The most emblematic mountain is the Penyagolosa, in the Alcalatén area. It is widely thought to be the highest peak with its 1,813 m., but actually the highest peak is the Calderón (1,839 m.) located in the Rincón de Ademuz, a Valencian exclave where there are three more peaks over 1,500 m. The most emblematic mountain in the southern part of the territory is the Aitana (1,558 m.).
The rather thin coastal strip is a very fertile plain mainly free of remarkable mountains except those around the Cabo de la Nao area and the Peñíscola area in the Castellón province. Typical of this coastal area are wetlands and marshlands such as L'Albufera close to Valencia,El Fondó in Elx, the Marjal near Pego or el Prat in Cabanes, also the former wetlands and salt evaporation ponds in the Santa Pola and Torrevieja area. All of them are key RAMSAR sites which make the Valencian Community of high relevance for both migratory and resident seabirds and waterbirds.
There are important coastal dunes in the Saler area near the Albufera and in the Guardamar area, both of them were planted with thousands of trees during the 19th century in order to fix the dunes, thus forming now protected areas of remarkable ecologic value.
The Valencian Community has a generally mild climate, heavily influenced by the neighbouring Mediterranean sea. Still, there are important differences between areas:
* Proper Mediterranean climate. It roughly goes along the coastal plain from the northernmost border through the Benidorm area (cities included here are, amongst others, Castelló de la Plana, Gandia and València). It reaches in various grades the lower inland areas. In this area, winters are cool, summers long, very dry and hot and rains occur mostly during spring and autumn, usually around 600 mm. with a remarkably wetter micro climate in the Marina Alta and La Safor comarques right in the north side of Cabo la Nao, which accumulate an average of up to 1000 mm. due to the Orographic lift phenomenon.
* Mediterranean to Continental climate transition zone. These are the innermost lands and some of those closer to the sea but at a higher elevation (cities included here are, amongst others, Alcoi, Morella, Requena, Villena). Here winters are cool to cold (a few days of snow are not unusual), summers mild to hot and rains more evenly distributed through the year.
* Mediterranean to Semiarid climate. It roughly goes along the coastal plain from Vila Joiosa through the southernmost border (cities included here are, amongst others, Alicante, Elx, Orihuela and Torrevieja). Summers are very long, hot to very hot and very dry, winters are cool to mild and its most prominent feature is very scarce precipitation, typically below 300 mm. per year and most likely to happen during spring and autumn. The reasons for this lack of precipitation is mostly the marked Rain shadow effect caused by hills to the west of the Alicante province (and, to a lesser degree, those in the northern part of the province which, in turn, enhance the inverse Orographic lift effect around Cabo de la Nao).
It has 518 km of coastline on the Mediterranean and covers 23,259 km² of land with 4.8 million inhabitants (2005). Its borders largely reflect those of the historic Kingdom of Valencia.
According to the Statute of Autonomy, Valencia is recognized as a nationality. The official languages are Spanish and Valencian (name given to the local varieties of Catalan). The capital of the autonomous community is the city of Valencia.
The inland part of the territory is mountainous, with the highest peaks in the Valencia and Castellón provinces which form part of the Iberian Range. The mountains in the Alicante province are in turn a part of the Subbetic range. The Valencian Community administers the tiny Columbretes islands and the coastal Tabarca islet.
The most emblematic mountain is the Penyagolosa, in the Alcalatén area. It is widely thought to be the highest peak with its 1,813 m., but actually the highest peak is the Calderón (1,839 m.) located in the Rincón de Ademuz, a Valencian exclave where there are three more peaks over 1,500 m. The most emblematic mountain in the southern part of the territory is the Aitana (1,558 m.).
The rather thin coastal strip is a very fertile plain mainly free of remarkable mountains except those around the Cabo de la Nao area and the Peñíscola area in the Castellón province. Typical of this coastal area are wetlands and marshlands such as L'Albufera close to Valencia,El Fondó in Elx, the Marjal near Pego or el Prat in Cabanes, also the former wetlands and salt evaporation ponds in the Santa Pola and Torrevieja area. All of them are key RAMSAR sites which make the Valencian Community of high relevance for both migratory and resident seabirds and waterbirds.
There are important coastal dunes in the Saler area near the Albufera and in the Guardamar area, both of them were planted with thousands of trees during the 19th century in order to fix the dunes, thus forming now protected areas of remarkable ecologic value.
The Valencian Community has a generally mild climate, heavily influenced by the neighbouring Mediterranean sea. Still, there are important differences between areas:
* Proper Mediterranean climate. It roughly goes along the coastal plain from the northernmost border through the Benidorm area (cities included here are, amongst others, Castelló de la Plana, Gandia and València). It reaches in various grades the lower inland areas. In this area, winters are cool, summers long, very dry and hot and rains occur mostly during spring and autumn, usually around 600 mm. with a remarkably wetter micro climate in the Marina Alta and La Safor comarques right in the north side of Cabo la Nao, which accumulate an average of up to 1000 mm. due to the Orographic lift phenomenon.
* Mediterranean to Continental climate transition zone. These are the innermost lands and some of those closer to the sea but at a higher elevation (cities included here are, amongst others, Alcoi, Morella, Requena, Villena). Here winters are cool to cold (a few days of snow are not unusual), summers mild to hot and rains more evenly distributed through the year.
* Mediterranean to Semiarid climate. It roughly goes along the coastal plain from Vila Joiosa through the southernmost border (cities included here are, amongst others, Alicante, Elx, Orihuela and Torrevieja). Summers are very long, hot to very hot and very dry, winters are cool to mild and its most prominent feature is very scarce precipitation, typically below 300 mm. per year and most likely to happen during spring and autumn. The reasons for this lack of precipitation is mostly the marked Rain shadow effect caused by hills to the west of the Alicante province (and, to a lesser degree, those in the northern part of the province which, in turn, enhance the inverse Orographic lift effect around Cabo de la Nao).
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