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‘I visited the hottest city in Europe and became nocturnal to survive the temperatures’ | World | News
It was 9pm when we left our rented apartment on the first full day of our holiday in southern Spain.
Having flown out the evening prior in the midst of torrential rain, I was now wearing shorts, a t-shirt and sandals.
The sun had long sunk behind the cityscape but it was still nearly seven degrees warmer than the hottest day in England of 2023.
It was also the first time the temperature had dipped below 40C since midday.
In 39C, myself and my partner ventured into the claustrophobic streets of Seville – wildly recognised as the hottest city in Europe.
When we told our friends we were going to the infamous Andalusian capital, we were handed warnings before recommendations.
August was not the time to go to Seville, they said. Why don’t you try April or May? Everything is already booked, we would respond. And it’s July?
Then, as an African heatwave swept through southern Europe, this publication asked me to write a story about rising temperatures across the region, not knowing that my arrival in the city which is “turning into a desert” was imminent.
Scrolling through Twitter (this was before the peculiar “X” rebrand) looking for interviewees already in the city, I saw a picture of one man profusely sweating on his sofa as a small fan blew into his face. “Seville heat is hell,” the caption read.
Spotting this picture was my first taste of what Seville had in store for us.
Leaving our apartment at 9pm on that first full day, I realised the strange sweating man on the internet had a point.
Buried beneath the Sierra Norte mountain range, which traps the African winds blowing up from northern regions of the continent, the “Iberian Oven” was excruciatingly hot long after the sun had set.
The next evening, we crossed paths with a young English mother whose child was swimming in the shared pool outside our apartment.
Clinging to the shade provided by the nearby veranda, it was her final day of a week-long holiday. “I have just slept all day,” she said. “What else can you do in this heat?”
“Quite,” we replied, drinking lukewarm glasses of rose only recently retrieved from the fridge. Even a six-hour siesta cannot cure the British of their penchant for complaining.
But at dinner later that day, in measly 38C weather, we resolved not to succumb to the same fate as this travailed traveller of Seville past.
Over a surprisingly astonishing meal – I was unaware of the city’s exceptional cuisine until then – myself and my partner agreed to abandon our English eccentricities of “early to bed, early to rise” and slip into Spanish nocturnality.
Or at least we tried.
For the remainder of our holiday, we woke up as late as possible, had a siesta every late afternoon, as on one day it hit 45C, and ate far beyond the normal hours for “tea”.
Soon enough, with the exception of the 90 minutes spent watching Spain make light work of the Lionesses in the World Cup final, we found our Andalusian nirvana.
We ate late and long: bloody Gazpacho, Paella, Iberian pork, the tastiest cheesecake ever baked (the menu described it as muy cremosa); and we drank tinto de verano for hours afterwards.
After our Spanish nap on our final day, waking up just after 4pm, I admitted to my partner that I may for once actually feel “relaxed”.
“Me too,” she said, smiling. “I just wish it wasn’t so bloody hot.”
When people think of massive man-made projects, artificial lakes aren’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. Skyscrapers, bridges, and tunnels tend to dominate discussions about amazing engineering. But while these structures often steal the spotlight, there is something fascinating about the world’s largest man-made lake based on surface area.
Created by flooding entire villages and forests, this enormous reservoir completely reshaped the landscape, forcing thousands of people to relocate while generating power and transforming transportation in the region. Lake Volta, located in Ghana, spans a staggering 8,502 square kilometres – about 3.6% of the country’s total land area.
Stretching approximately 250 miles (400km) from north to south, it was formed in the 1960s when the Akosombo Dam was built to harness the power of the Volta River.
The dam generates 912 megawatts of electricity, supplying most of Ghana’s power and even exporting energy to neighbouring countries such as Togo and Benin.
But the creation of the lake came at a significant cost. Entire forests were submerged, and 78,000 people were forced to relocate when 15,000 homes and 740 villages were flooded.
The project aimed to modernise the region and boost fishing, but it also disrupted traditional farming and livelihoods.
Despite these challenges, Lake Volta has become a crucial waterway, providing a cheap transport link between Ghana’s northern savanna and the coast.
One of the lake’s most striking features is its islands. Dodi, Dwarf, and Kporve islands sit within its huge expanse, with Dodi Island attracting tourists for boat cruises.
The lake’s western shore is also home to Digya National Park, a protected area with rich biodiversity.
In addition to tourism and transportation, Lake Volta has become the site of an unusual industry – harvesting submerged timber.
Logging companies extract tropical hardwood from the trees that were swallowed when the lake was created, producing a supply of environmentally sustainable wood without cutting down existing forests.
The Kremlin is jubilant after US President Donald Trump held a 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin over a ceasefire in Ukraine. A Russian source with knowledge of the call said it went “very well,” CNN reports.
Vladimir Putin‘s envoy Kirill Dmitriev also issued an update on the discussion, hailing it as “historic”. Writing on X, he said: “Under the leadership of President Putin and President Trump, the world has become a much safer place today!”
The conversation between the two leaders began at 2pm. It was earlier reported to be “going well”, according to White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Europe to be “at the negotiating table” for matters relating to the continent’s security during an official visit to Finland today.
Writing on X, he said: “Europe must be at the negotiating table, and everything related to Europe’s security should be decided together with Europe.”
Trump said before the call that he expected to discuss the division of assets and “power plants”, seemingly referencing the Zaporizhzhia plant, seized by Russia in 2022.
Writing on his platform Truth Social yesterday, he said: “Tomorrow morning I will be speaking to President Putin concerning the War in Ukraine. Many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains.
“Thousands of young soldiers, and others, are being killed. Each week brings 2,500 soldier deaths from both sides, and it must end NOW. I look very much forward to the call with President Putin.”
He also told reporters on Monday: “It’s a bad situation in Russia, and it’s a bad situation in Ukraine. What’s happening in Ukraine is not good, but we’re going to see if we can work a peace agreement, a ceasefire and peace. And I think we’ll be able to do it.”
We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures and video on this breaking news story.For the latest news and breaking news visit: [/
Ukraine launched a surprise attack in the Belgorod region of Russia, according to reports. The surprise move—with “heavy battles” underway—comes hours before Vladimir Putin is due to speak to Donald Trump on the phone about a war ceasefire. Reports were contradictory about whether Ukrainians had penetrated nearby villages Grafovka, Prilesye and Demidovka, with some reports insisting they had done so. The authorities were urgently evacuating residents from Grafovka village.
“At the moment, there has been no breakthrough of the border; border guards are fighting together with units of the Russian Ministry of Defence,” said war channel Two Majors. But it showed a video of a Ukrainian military vehicle ablaze on the border after a drone strike. Another Telegram report said: “Since the night they began to pull equipment and people to the junction of the Belgorod and Kursk regions. By the morning the enemy’s IMR [combat engineering vehicles] had cleared the passages in Prilesye, Grafovka and Demidovka. And then they went – tanks, quad bikes, infantry. Serious battles are underway.”
The news comes ahead of Trump’s call with Putin, which will occur between 1pm and 3pm UK time. Last night, Trump claimed “many elements of a Final Agreement have been agreed to, but much remains” to be discussed. He added that he “very much looked forward to” speaking with Putin.
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