I love the Mediterranean climate.

Who doesn’t?

Almost never really hot. Almost never really cold. Not much rain. Like here in Long Beach, California.

Like in Sydney and Perth, Athens and Istanbul, Algiers and Barcelona, Cape Town and Santiago. Like nearly all of Italy.

Consider the description:

“Because most regions with a Mediterranean climate are near large bodies of water, temperatures are generally moderate with a comparatively small range of temperatures between the winter low and summer high (although the daily range of temperature during the summer is large due to dry and clear conditions, except along the immediate coasts).

(Note: In Long Beach, the Fahrenheit extremes, near the Pacific, are 40 to 85.)

“Temperatures during winter only occasionally fall below the freezing point and snow is generally seldom seen. In the summer, the temperatures range from mild to very hot, depending on distance from a large body of water, elevation, and latitude.

“Even in the warmest locations with a Mediterranean-type climate, however, temperatures usually do not reach the highest readings found in adjacent desert regions because of cooling from water bodies, although strong winds from inland desert regions can sometimes boost summer temperatures …”

Yes. Paradise, pretty much.

Check the map (above). Note that most of the bits of Mediterranean climate also are between 30 degrees and 40 degrees of latitude (north or south of the equator).

We have been enjoying the Mediterranean climate of southern California for the past couple of weeks. Others have come to visit us, and almost immediately said, “Oh, this is nice!” Even when it seems just a bit too warm to those of us who have grown conditioned to perfection.

With all due respect to the other slices of Mediterranean climate, I believe that the greatest bit of it is the 150 (or so)-mile stretch from San Diego to Santa Barbara. You want to live in that stretch, if you can, preferably close to the water — where the extremes are even less extreme.

The problem is … it is expensive. Someone who has a good idea about these notions recently told us: “You can’t afford to live in this part of California.”

But we can visit.