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The siesta is making a comeback, recycled for the modern world.
Far from the afternoon snooze that consumes valuable working time, Spains siesta is being rebranded as an essential prerequisite for spiritual wellbeing and a balanced life.
Long hailed as the countrys greatest contribution to civilisation, the siesta
- "Spains secret weapon", according to this weekends ABC newspaper - is being relaunched in Seville.
Hoteliers in the southern hotspot seek to lure visitors back from the beach to the sizzling city by offering rooms between 3pm and 7pm at 30 per cent of the normal rate, to slumber through the hottest hours.
The idea is that you emerge refreshed to enjoy the late afternoon, sunset and after dark, which Spaniards savour as the finest moments of the day.
As part of the campaign, whose slogan is "after eating I sleep", you can even book your afternoon snooze from the very restaurant where you enjoy your leisurely, wine-soaked lunch.
That way you don't hit the road in an alcoholic haze - a disproportionate number of Spanish motoring accidents take place after lunch - nor stumble back to the office half asleep.
"Every decent lunch deserves a period of repose or rest afterwards.
And every day in this hot season needs a period of refreshment for the mind," Manuel Otero, president of the Association of Sevillian Hoteliers, said.
Many visitors wilt in high summer because they dont pace themselves.
"Midday in the summer in any Spanish city breaks the will of the most determined and stubborn person," Mr Otero says.
With global warming, Spanish summers are becoming increasingly ferocious, imposing an afternoon pause on those both at work and play.
Hoteliers say their campaign, organised jointly with the citys restaurants, represents a flexible solution to a slack season.
The initiative has been greeted with scepticism by the regions Hostelry Union, for whom it implies extra work just at the moment when their members might otherwise enjoy a little nap.
"It could be just a way of dignifying the old custom of hiring hotels by the hour," a spokesman said.
Experts reckon the optimal siesta is around 20 minutes long.
Shorter and you dont disconnect sufficiently, longer and you emerge groggy and bad-tempered.
Even companies recognise their workforce performs better after a mid-afternoon break.
Many, including the nationwide courier service MRW, have set aside soothing siesta zones with reclining chairs for their employees to snatch 40 winks, often with a 15-minute massage thrown in.
"A short siesta after lunch at work could soon become the norm," predicted La Vanguardia, the hardnosed newspaper of entrepreneurial Catalonia, last year.
Spain tried in vain to abolish the siesta and establish a daily routine compatible with the rest of Europe, in the 1980s before joining the EU, and two years ago in response to a globalised economy.
Employers now prefer to rehabilitate the ancient custom, once denigrated as Mediterranean sloth, as "iberian yoga" - a term originally coined by the Nobelwinning writer Camilo Jose Cela - and make it part of modern life, as essential as the creche, the gym and company-funded language classes.
The most satisfying siesta is recognised to be "in pyjamas" and shared with a companion, but that remains for most Spaniards a weekend luxury.
- INDEPENDENT
