The one thing about travelling to southern Spain in December is that you will not be trampled under foot by hoards of tourists. Whilst many of the seaside attractions like ice-cream parlours and seasonal shops are closed there is something about an autumn Spain you can not find in the summer. That is the light. Due to the abstract nature of this phenomenon it is difficult to describe in words. Gone is the searing heat and haze of the summer to be replaced by a gentler sun casting a calmer and often diffused light over the countryside.
Out to sea the clouds dance and cavort in ever changing shapes and sizes with shafts of sunshine penetrating through. Often they look like giant Alps resting on the sea's horizon and at other times giant waves threatening to overwhelm all before it.
Then comes sunset and this being autumn the cloud formations present a giant canvas on which the sun can create its finest abstract. For an intense period of maybe 15 minutes the sky can resemble anything from a giant blanket of colour to an alien space craft .
Then comes the night and the show is over. However come the dawn and the light show begins again only this time it could be different. No two days after ever the same. Spain, it is a country of light and shade.
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