Gandia ( es, Gandía) is a city and

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, eastern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

on the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. Gandia is located on the

Costa del Azahar Costa del Azahar (, literally in English "Orange Blossom Coast") or Costa dels Tarongers (, literally in English: Orange Tree Coast) is the name for the coast of the province of Castellón in Spain, from Vinaròs to Almenara. Towns on the Costa ...

(or ''Costa dels Tarongers''), south of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and north of

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

. Vehicles can access the city through road N-332. Gandia operated as an important cultural and commercial centre in the 15th and 16th centuries: in the 15th century it had a university. It was home to several important people, including the poet

Ausiàs March Ausiàs March (Catalan and ; 1400March 3, 1459) was a medieval Valencian poet and knight from Gandia, Valencia. He is considered one of the most important poets of the "Golden Century" (''Segle d'or'') of Catalan/Valencian literature. Biography ...

(1400-1459) and the novelist

Joanot Martorell Joanot Martorell (; c. 1410 – 1465) was a Valencian knight and writer, best known for authoring the novel ''Tirant lo Blanch'', written in Valencian and published at Valencia in 1490. This novel is often regarded as one of the peaks of the l ...

(1410-1465). It is perhaps best known for the Borja or

Borgia The House of Borgia ( , ; Spanish and an, Borja ; ca-valencia, Borja ) was an Italian-Aragonese Spanish noble family, which rose to prominence during the Italian Renaissance. They were from Valencia, the surname being a toponymic from the town ...

, through their family

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

Duke of Gandia Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ranked ...

(originally created in 1399). Gandia is one of the largest coastal towns in Spain, with a population over 200,000 during summer, and a centre of commerce and tourism in its region. There are two main zones, Gandia City, which has all the historical monuments, commercial activity, and shopping, and Gandia beach, which has apartments and summer residences used during the summer season. The bars and nightclubs are concentrated in the beach area. As is normal for Spain, nightlife does not begin until well after midnight. The beach and town are actually some apart, which succeeds in separating summer tourism from day-to-day living.

Main sights

Collegiate Basilica of Gandia The Collegiate Basilica of Santa Maria of Gandia, also known as "La Seu", is the principal church of the city of Gandia, (Valencia). Construction commenced in the 14th century. The Collegiate Church of Santa María is a Valencian Gothic constructi ...

Ducal Palace of Gandia The Ducal Palace of Gandia was, from the 14th century, the residence of the Royal Dukes of Gandía, and from 1485, the Borja family. It was the birthplace of Saint Francis Borja. The oldest part of the building dates from the 15th century in Va ...

Convent of Santa Clara of Gandia The Convent of Santa Clara is 15th-century, Roman Catholic convent belonging to cloistered order of the Colettine Poor Clares, and located in the town of Gandia, province of Valencia, Spain. It is located in the centre of Gandia and at few meters ...

Archaeological Museum of Gandia The Archaeological Museum of Gandia is a center where is shown the archaeological heritage of La Safor and Gandia area, but especially, the materials of the Parpalló cave. In 1972, with the collaboration of the Diputación de Valencia, was offi ...

Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba The Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba (; es, San Jerónimo de Cotalba, "Saint Jerome of Cotalba") is a monastic building of Valencian Gothic, Mudéjar, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical styles constructed between the 14th and 18t ...

Route of the Borgias The Route of the Borgias is a cultural route, that includes sites associated with the Borja or ''Borgia'', located in their native Valencian Community, Spain. The marketing of the route was inaugurated in 2007.Source: ABCPaseo por la hist ...

Route of the Monasteries of Valencia The Route of the Monasteries of Valencia ( GR-236) is a religious and cultural route that connects five monasteries located in central region of the Province of Valencia, (Valencian Community), in Spain. The Route was inaugurated in the year ...

Route of the Valencian classics The Route of the Valencian classics, (in Valencian ''Ruta dels clàssics valencians'', in Spanish ''Ruta de los clásicos valencianos''), is a cultural route Source: Valencia Terra i Mar. Diputación de ValenciaLa Ruta dels Clàssics.. through ...

Tourism

With its long, wide, golden, sandy beaches Gandia is one of the major tourist destinations in Spain. Traditionally Gandia's tourism has a domestic base, with the majority coming from Madrid, although in recent years it has been an increasingly popular destination for international tourists, mainly French, German and British.Gandia.be
There are some popular Spanish restaurants around the beach. Gandia has a number of shopping facilities including shopping malls and chain supermarkets like

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, which ...

Carrefour Express Carrefour Express is a convenience store chain owned and operated by French retailer Carrefour with locations in three continents. Carrefour Express was created in 2007 to consolidate all convenience stores owned by Carrefour worldwide under one n ...

Lidl Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG (; ) is a German international discount retailer chain that operates over 11,000 stores across Europe and the United States. Headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, the company belongs to the Schwarz Group, whi ...

Mercadona Mercadona (, ) is a Spanish supermarket chain. Mercadona has 1,636 stores in all the 17 Spanish regions, Ceuta, Melilla and in Portugal. Mercadona was ranked the 9th most reputable company in the world in 2009, by the Reputation Institute as liste ...

and

Aldi Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...

.Gandia
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Culture

For culture, there are literary contests, the Summer University (Universitat d'Estiu), the International Festival of Classical Music and art exhibitions; sports include water, golf, tennis and hiking. Gandia hosts the annual

Cortoons Gandia The Cortoons Gandia Animation Film Festival was created in 2000 and takes place in April in the town of Gandia, Spain. Initially occurring in Rome, the festival is an annual event. The festival is a competition between cartoon films of various te ...

animation festival in April, which celebrates international animation and short films.

Geography

Gandia has an important regional wetland with an extension above in the outskirts of the city, called Marjal de La Safor.http://www.gandia.org/web/guest/marjal-de-gandia This natural area is home to several water plants such as

Lemna gibba ''Lemna gibba'', the gibbous duckweed, swollen duckweed, or fat duckweed, is a species of ''Lemna'' (duckweed). It has a simple plant body, known as a thallus, which floats on the surface of the water and measures in diameter. A single root hang ...

Lemna minor ''Lemna minor'', the common duckweed or lesser duckweed, is a species of aquatic freshwater plant in the subfamily Lemnoideae of the arum family Araceae. ''L. minor'' is used as animal fodder, bioremediator, for wastewater nutrient recovery, and ...

, and specially many species of water lily plants, such as

Nymphaea alba ''Nymphaea alba'', the white waterlily, European white water lily or white nenuphar , is an aquatic flowering plant in the family Nymphaeaceae. It is native to North Africa, temperate Asia, Europe and tropical Asia (Jammu and Kashmir). Descript ...

Utricularia australis ''Utricularia australis'' is a medium-sized, perennial species of aquatic bladderwort.Bruce Salmon (2001) ''"Carnivorous Plants of New Zealand"'' Ecosphere Publications This species has a vast geographic range, being found throughout Europe, in ...

and Potamogeton fluitans. Underwater plants also exist, such as

Myriophyllum ''Myriophyllum'' (water milfoil) is a genus of about 69 species of freshwater aquatic plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The center of diversity for ''Myriophyllum'' is Australia with 43 recognized species (37 endemic). These submersed aq ...

and

Ceratophyllum ''Ceratophyllum'' is a cosmopolitan genus of flowering plants including four accepted living species in 2016, commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant genus in the family Cer ...

. Native land plants are mostly formed of various

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...

species,

Typha domingensis ''Typha domingensis'', known commonly as southern cattail or cumbungi, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus '' Typha''. Distribution and habitat It is found throughout temperate and tropical regions worldwide. It is sometimes found as a ...

, various

Scirpus ''Scirpus'' is a genus of grass-like species in the sedge family Cyperaceae many with the common names club-rush, wood club-rush or bulrush (see also bulrush for other plant genera so-named). They mostly inhabit wetlands and damp locations. Taxo ...

and

Cladium ''Cladium'' (fen-sedge, sawgrass or twig-sedge) is a genus of large sedges, with a nearly worldwide distribution in tropical and temperate regions. These are plants characterized by long, narrow (grass-like) leaves having sharp, often serrated ( ...

species. Various species of palm trees are naturalised in the area, and they're also found widely in the marjal due to seed dispersion, either wind or animal dispersion. The most common naturalised palm trees in the area are

Phoenix dactylifera ''Phoenix dactylifera'', commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit called dates. The species is widely cultivated across northern Africa, the Middle Eas ...

(African date palm),

Washingtonia robusta ''Washingtonia robusta'', known by common name as the Mexican fan palm, Mexican washingtonia, or skyduster is a palm tree native to the Baja California peninsula and a small part of Sonora in northwestern Mexico. Despite its limited native dist ...

(Mexican fan palm) and

Phoenix canariensis ''Phoenix canariensis'', the Canary Island date palm or pineapple palm, is a species of flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco. It is a relative of ''Phoenix dactylifera'', the true dat ...

(Canary Island date palm). There are some specimens of the native palm tree

Chamaerops humilis ''Chamaerops'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Arecaceae. The only currently fully accepted species is ''Chamaerops humilis'', variously called European fan palm or the Mediterranean dwarf palm. It is one of the most hardy palms, ...

(European palmetto), although very few compared to the naturalised species. This natural zone is also rich in fauna, with many species of birds, fish, amphibian and reptiles, with some mammal species. The most common species of birds are

Tachybaptus ruficollis The little grebe (''Tachybaptus ruficollis''), also known as dabchick, is a member of the grebe family of water birds. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''takhus'' "fast" and ''bapto'' "to sink under". The specific ''ruficollis'' is from Latin ...

Anas platyrhynchos The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argen ...

Falco tinnunculus The common kestrel (''Falco tinnunculus'') is a bird of prey species belonging to the kestrel group of the falcon family Falconidae. It is also known as the European kestrel, Eurasian kestrel, or Old World kestrel. In the United Kingdom, where no ...

Fulica atra The Eurasian coot (''Fulica atra''), also known as the common coot, or Australian coot, is a member of the rail and crake bird family, the Rallidae. It is found in Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and parts of North Africa. It has a slaty-bla ...

and

Gallinula chloropus The common moorhen (''Gallinula chloropus''), also known as the waterhen or swamp chicken, is a bird species in the rail family (Rallidae). It is distributed across many parts of the Old World. The common moorhen lives around well-vegetated mar ...

amongst many other species. The most common fish and amphibian species are Cobitis maroccana,

Anguilla anguilla The European eel (''Anguilla anguilla'') is a species of eel, a snake-like, catadromous fish. They are normally around and rarely reach more than , but can reach a length of up to in exceptional cases. Eels have been important sources of fo ...

Syngnathus abaster The black-striped pipefish (''Syngnathus abaster'') is a species of fish in the family Syngnathidae. It is found in the eastern Atlantic from the southern Gulf of Biscay to Gibraltar, also in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. As the introduced ...

Bufo bufo The common toad, European toad, or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply the toad (''Bufo bufo'', from Latin ''bufo'' "toad"), is a frog found throughout most of Europe (with the exception of Ireland, Iceland, and some Mediterranean islands), in ...

Bufo calamita The natterjack toad (''Epidalea calamita'') is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back and parallel paratoid g ...

and

Rana perezi The Perez's frog, also known as Iberian waterfrog, Iberian green frog, or Coruna frog (''Pelophylax perezi'') is a species of frog in the family Ranidae. It is native to southern France, Portugal, Spain, and has been introduced to the Canary an ...

. The most common reptiles are turtles, with a native species (

Emys orbicularis The European pond turtle (''Emys orbicularis''), also called commonly the European pond terrapin and the European pond tortoise, is a species of long-living freshwater turtle in the family Emydidae. The species is endemic to the Western Palearc ...

) which is in critical condition due to the heavy expansion of the Trachemys scripta scripta and

Trachemys scripta elegans The red-eared slider or red-eared terrapin (''Trachemys scripta elegans'') is a subspecies of the pond slider (''Trachemys scripta''), a semiaquatic turtle belonging to the family Emydidae. It is the most popular pet turtle in the United States, ...

, most known as

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

turtles, which are introduced species in

. Other species of reptiles are Tarentola mauritanica,

Podarcis hispanicus ''Podarcis hispanicus,'' also known as Iberian wall lizard, is a small wall lizard species of the genus ''Podarcis''. It is found in the Iberian peninsula, in northwestern Africa and in coastal districts in Languedoc-Roussillon in France. In Spa ...

and Natrix maura amongst others. The most common and native mammals are the

European rabbits The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It has b ...

( Oryctolagus cuniculus), the European hedgehog ( Erinaceus europaeus), the greater white-toothed shrew Musaranya comuna (

Crocidura russula The greater white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura russula'') is a small insectivorous mammal found in Europe and North Africa. It is the most common of the white-toothed shrews. This species is found along the Mediterranean, Netherlands, Belgium, Irel ...

), the European bat (

Pipistrellus pipistrellus The common pipistrelle (''Pipistrellus pipistrellus'') is a small pipistrelle microbat whose very large range extends across most of Europe, North Africa, South Asia, and may extend into Korea. It is one of the most common bat species in the Brit ...

) and the wild hog (

Sus scrofa The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is no ...

) amongst others.

Climate

The climate of Gandia is Mediterranean ( Köppen climate classification: ''Csa'') with mild winters, and hot summers. The annual average temperature is between 18-19 °C. Gandia receives about 600mm of rain per year, the majority falling from September to November.

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall in American English and Canadian English, is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September ( Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Sou ...

is the wettest season. - Canyís a l'ullal de l'Estany, Gandia

Sports

The local football team is CF Gandía.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Gandia is twinned with: *

Laval Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...

in France

Public transport

Regarding public transport, Gandia has an extensive bus network and two Renfe stations that connect the city with Valencia (despite the fact that one of them only has three daily services). About buses, the Gandia area is operated by the company La Marina Gandiense and L'Urbanet. There are two La Marina Gandiense lines, line 1 that connects Gandia with the nearby municipality of Real de Gandia and sometimes with the University and line 2, which connects Gandia to the beach, which is 5 km (3,107 miles) away from the city. Referring to L’Urbanet, there are three lines, although one of them is divided, which would be counted as four. The following lines are: Line 3: Circular. Starts and ends at the Renfe station in Gandia city Line 4: Gandia train station - San Francisco de Borja hospital Line 5: This line has the peculiarity that despite being the same line it makes two totally different routes, which are: * Gandia train station - Marenys de Rafalcaid * Gandia train station - Marchuquera There are also bus lines that connect Gandia with nearby villages such as Daimuz, Guardamar de la Safor, Oliva, etc. There are also some buses which connect Gandia with cities such as Madrid, Salamanca, Medina del Campo, Tordesillas, Teruel, Zaragoza, Bilbao,

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

, Barcelona,

and

Andalucía Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

. Referring to train services, Gandia has two train stations which connect Gandia with Valencia. Both of them are terminal of line C-1 from Cercanías Valencia. The following stations are: * Gandia * Platja i Grau de Gandia (this one gives service to Gandia’s beach, causing only three daily trains to reach this station)

Notes

References

External links

Town hall of Gandia

Official Tourism of GandiaGandia Information
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