As a spaniard myself, I can confirm this is an accurate description of what siesta looks like on most cases. Short nap on the couch after a coffee, for those who take lunch at home, or just on the weekends otherwise.
hmm.. i believe this is pretty the same in Greece, at least during weekends, holidays and work-free days.
In every lunch-gathering with close relatives, or close friends, at least one or two person take a short nap on the couch after the lunch, while the rest are having a relaxed and low voice chat. Usually the persons who fall asleep are males.
My mothers and sisters sleep too (Spain). But I remember that when I was I child, at my grandfather's house (my granny died before I was born), it was the men that slept because the women were busy in the kitchen doing the washing up. Here I'm talking about big family lunches. Thus, men could sleep because of the macho culture. Fortunately, this changed in one generation, at least in my family. We all clean everything up together and go to have coffe afterwards.
Napping is actually a big part of the culture. You'll see many people catching naps on trains, buses, and other public places, even while standing up.
Japan has its own word "inemuri" for the practice of sleeping on the job, which is sometimes even faked to make it look like they're working hard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inemuri
Given the right architecture (high ceiling, verandah, stone walls) a shift in work day like this can offset high temperatures without using huge amounts of electricity for air conditioning.
PS: Judging by the Chinese overseas students I meet I think 16 hour work days may become a memory in a generation or two.
This comment is very disrespectful. Spaniards work hard. That's not the problem. The problem is bad management of public affairs due to complex causes, being the most recent one a 40 year long dictatorship where the political class used the state for its own benefit. That no relationship whatsoever with naps or coffee, which is the subject we are discussing now.
In every lunch-gathering with close relatives, or close friends, at least one or two person take a short nap on the couch after the lunch, while the rest are having a relaxed and low voice chat. Usually the persons who fall asleep are males.