There's a tired, somewhat clichéd feel to the idea the rest of Europe has about the

Spaniards: a nation high on fiestas, with stunning women who can't go to the bullfight
dressed in miniskirts lest their boyfriends and husbands (who are so macho) have a fit.
And then there are the siestas in the afternoon, and the partying at night – an endless
round of unchecked enjoyment.

Do Spaniards actually ever work?

The pictures Europeans have of Spain in their photo albums may be holiday snaps, but
what happens there the rest of the time? The statistics tell us that there are Mondays,
too. At 38.4 hours, the Spanish working week is longer than those in Finland (32.8),
Germany (37.7), Italy (38) and France (35.6), to give a few examples taken from the EU
agency Euro found. And that's taking into account a more extensive calendar of national
holidays in Spain than in any of those countries, as well as an older retirement age, in
law (67) and in reality (62.3) – a year later than the European average. Comisiones
Obreras, the biggest union, says: "Spain never was a nation of layabouts or lazy people,
as it is made out to be. Just because we have holidays, that does not make us a country
of idlers."

Neither is it a country of siesta-takers – healthy though the practice assuredly is. Amelia
Valcárcel, professor of moral and political philosophy, who has lived in many countries
and studied their customs in detail, explains: "The passage from the lunch table to the
bed was facilitated in the grand houses by the phrase, 'I'm just going to deal with my
correspondence.' And then, as in Italy, they reappear, refreshed, at six o'clock in the
evening. It's something that can't be attributed to the Spanish crown."

So macho?
But perhaps, then, to machismo? Not really. "There are countries that are infinitely more
sexist," says Valcárcel. "The problem is that Spanish sexism has been crude, not at all
subtle: women went about with their faces practically covered until the 18th century.
But once the dictator Franco was dead, there was a great feminist movement, which in
recent years has produced laws and a certain social sensibility that has permeated
institutions.

"France and Italy, not to mention Greece, are more sexist. It's just that in France, for
instance, the sexism takes a more gallant form."

The idea of a passionate character, which drives the European conception of Spain, is
reflected in politics, too. Europeans acknowledge the "two Spains" when they talk about
the breach between Catholics and secularists, nation-statists and regionalists, and left
and right. The Spanish civil war, one of the most notorious conflicts of the modern age,
did much to help paint this picture, which in some senses bears fresh brush strokes.

Fiesta, siesta, forever

"Noisy" is another adjective. And they're not wrong. It's something to do with the fiesta,
which can occur as easily in a restaurant as in the street. And then there are the actual
fiestas: every tiny village can count on having two patron saints and a couple of local
fiestas. Not to mention the ones those are world famous, such as the bull-running in
Pamplona. Indeed, Hemingway called his novel Fiesta.
The sun, the beach, fiesta, noise: these were the goods Spain exchanged abroad, through
tourism, to staunch its economic wounds

And now, drugs. The fact is, consumption of cocaine is higher than in most of the
countries that surround it; it is also, by virtue of its position on the map, the port of entry
for a good proportion of the cocaine destined for neighbouring countries. But perhaps
these things are not what foreigners are talking about when they say that the Spanish
"know how to have a good time". Alcohol and tobacco are cheaper here than in most
European countries, allowing even those on the lowest incomes to spend a little time
every day in the bar; or to extend the fiestas into a never-ending bacchanal – until
Monday comes around.

1. Talking about the vocabulary that you don’t know.

2. Do you agree with this reading?
3. Do Spaniards work less than the rest of Europe?
4. What do you know about French People, Italian or German People?