Monday 17 January 2011

NEF A2: 4 Describing where you live

"The place where I live"

I live in Santiago de Compostela, which is a city in the north west of Spain. It has a population of 350,000 people and it's the second biggest city in A Coruña.

It's a beautiful city and it's great to walk around the old town. It's full of monuments, churches, museums, squares, fountains, small shops, bars and restaurants. There is a street called "Rúa do Villar" but it is known as the Hippie Street because the hippies sold things there before and now there are a lot of peddlers.

There weather here is very changeable, it's very different from others cities of Galicia. Autumn and winter are really wet, it rains a lot and it's cold. In spring it rains less but it's usually cloudy. And in summer, if you have good luck, you can enjoy two sunny months.

Santiago is famous for the Cathedral, the way of Santiago, the wine, the food and the popular festivals. Besides the Cathedral, one of the biggest tourist attractions is the famous "Paris-Dakar", (two bars which are on the "Rúa del Franco" (the Wine Street)), and you make the wine route starting in "Paris" and finishing in "Dakar". If you can do it probably you will have a big problem because you will get incredibly drunk. Santiago's Day is on 25th July, there are a lot of people in the streets, fireworks, attractions and everybody spends more money eating, drinking and playing in the fair.

But I think the worst and the best of the city are the tourists. The worst because it is a small town and it is very stressful to walk in the streets and the best because they employ many people. I like living here but not with so many people.

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"I WOULD LIKE TO LIVE IN CÓRDOBA"


Córdoba is a city of Andalusia, near the Guadalquivir River and nestles at the foot of Sierra Morena. Its story is very old. It was founded by the Romans. In the tenth and eleventh centuries Córdoba became the most important city in the world for its culture, its politics and economy. In this time Arabs, Jews and Christians lived in pace and harmony there. We can feel all this things in the atmosphere of the city.

It’s a beautiful city, and it’s great for walking around. In the old town we find narrow streets, yards full of flowers, squares with statues of the most important persons of Córdoba (Séneca, Maimónides, Averroes, Luís de Góngora, and many more), churches, museums, and its most famous building: The Mosque-Cathedral.

There are many outdoor bars and restaurants where the people go to eat, drink and sit in the sun. The food is wonderful. The typical food is “rabo de toro estofado” and “salmorejo”. All the people go “de tapas” (small plates of food) before lunch or dinner.

The winters are mild and the summers are very hot. The best season is spring because the temperature is mild and the whole town smells like flowers, especially orange. During this time there are many festivals: Easter, The May Crosses, The Patios, and Córdoba Fair at the end of May, which is similar to the better known Seville Fair with some differences; mainly that the Seville one is private, while the Cordoba one is not.

The people of Córdoba are very friendly. We all know each other because the city is small. Its atmosphere is calm and everything invites to tranquillity.