by Rich Gilbert
Coming Home
– Where Has the Year Gone?
[My
wandering friends, Rich and Sallie, are traveling again (after all, that’s what
they do!), this time up to Northern Spain, somewhat off the beaten track for
the usual tourists in Spain. Rich explained that they were moving so much
that he wasn’t in one place long enough to write up their experiences until
they stopped briefly in Greece (their subsequent destination). After the
trip described here, Rich and Sallie made their meandering way from northern
Europe (Belgium, Holland, Denmark) through central Europe (Germany, Austria) to
eastern Europe (Slovakia, Hungary); they’ll be returning to the States in less
than two weeks now. Check back for Dispatches 1-10 (30 November, 10
December, and 20 December 2014, and 14 January, 8 March, 20 April, 23 July, and
6 September 2015) to catch up with the odyssey so far. As usual, Rich’s
account of his and Sallie’s travels is interesting and full of fascinating
little details above the usual travelogue (which, in fact, he’s deliberately
skipped). I recommend that you all also check in at Sallie’s blog, Rambling Solo, at http://ramblingsolo.blogspot.com.es.]
Mykonos, Greece – October 2, 2015
Where
has this year gone? We are now in Mykonos, in Greece. Not so sunny and pretty
windy, but hopefully, it will clear up in the week we are here. A couple of
days in another island, Hydra, closer to the mainland, then on the 15th of
October we fly back to the United States. We are looking forward to enjoying
some parts of life in the States, even if the Nationals will not be playing in
the postseason. Still, we will miss Madrid and Spain.
I
am finally enclosing the promised report on our trip to Northern Spain [see
“Dispatches from Spain 10,” 6 September]. I tried to make it a bit informative,
not just a travelogue. I also added a short section on the results of the
Catalan elections of September 27. (It will be a real mess, maybe not so
different than United States politics right now.)
The
Geography of Northern Spain
To
understand where we travelled in July, get out (or download) your map. Start
in the northwest corner of Spain, above
Portugal. That is the province of Galicia.
Galicia is bounded by Portugal on the south, the Atlantic ocean on the
west, the Cantabrian Sea on the north.
Immediately
to the east of Galicia, sharing a northern coastline, is Asturias. The majority of Asturias is mountains,
including the Picos de Europa, the highest peaks in Spain. To the east of
Asturias is Cantabria. It also shares the
same coastline; that’s why it is called the Cantabrian Sea. Cantabria also shares the mountain ranges
making up the Picos de Europa. In both Asturias and Cantabria there is only a
narrow band of moderately flat land in the north between the mountains and the
sea. Cantabria is a bit less mountainous
than Asturias, but not by much.
To
the south of Asturias and Cantabria is the province of Castilla y Leon. It shares some of the Picos de Europa region
, but has no coastline as it is bounded on the west by Portugal. Castilla y Leon is a larger province and once
out of the mountainous north is relatively flatter. (Remember Spain is the second most
mountainous region in Europe, after Switzerland.)
To
the east of Cantabria is the province of Pais Vasco, or the Basque
Country. Its largest city is Bilbao. San
Sebastian, a large but lovely city on the beach, is also in the Pais Vasco. At
this point, the coastline turns north towards France. The capital of the Pais
Vasco, which we did not get to, is Vitoria. Vitoria lies in a mostly
agricultural region in the southern part of the province and is not on the
coast.
To
the east of the Pais Vasco is the province of Navarra. Pamplona is its capital.
It has no coastline. To the north,
sharing the Pyrenees mountains, is France.
To the east is the province of Aragon, and to the south, the smaller
province of La Rioja, where many of Spain’s finest red wines come from.
Our
Route
Because
the landscape was important to our trip, we rented a car and left Madrid on
July 4. We spent that night in Burgos in
Castilla y Leon, arrived in Pamplona for the fiesta on July 5 and stayed
through the 15th. In the middle of the
fiesta, we took a break and went to San Sebastian for two nights. We also took a day trip through the pass of
Roncesvalles into France (site of the Song of Roland for those of you up on
your French medieval poetry) to St.-Jean-Pied-du-Port. After Pamplona we spent two nights in
Bilbao. Then we went to the mountains to
spend two nights at an old hotel / spa on the banks of the reservoir of the
Ebro River on the edge of the mountains, which was in Castilla y Leon, just
over the border from Cantabria. After that we moved along the coast to the
Asturian beach town of Llanes. We stayed there four nights which included day
trips into the mountains as well as some beach time. We then went for one night
to Ribadeo, a port town just over the border into Galicia, then one night to Ferrol,
a port town on the Atlantic Coast in Galicia.
We then spent a night at a country inn just outside Muxia, a small
fishing town in Galicia. We then went to
Santiago de Compostela, the destination for the Camino de Santiago, the
pilgrimage route, and stayed three nights. We then went south along the
Atlantic Coast to the Isla de la Toja, a small island semi-luxury resort off a
larger island. After two nights, we
headed inland to Leon, obviously in Castilla y Leon. After two nights, we spent
one night on the outside of Valladolid, also in the province of Castilla y
Leon. We drove back into Madrid on
August 3.
Language
The
Gallegos, as the people from Galicia are called, are descended from Celtic
tribes who settled in the area before the Romans. They speak their own dialect,
also called Gallego, It is similar to what we call Spanish, but which is called
Castellano in Spain to distinguish it from Gallego and Catalan. Usually
important signs will be in both Gallego and Castellano, but we saw historical
markers and other signs that were only in Gallego.
The
Basque language is like no other language in the world. I have read somewhere that the closest
language to it was ancient Phoenician, and elsewhere I have read that it
resembles some dialects spoken in the eastern Caucasus mountains. The truth appears to be that no one really
knows; the Basque legends do not give a clue. To me, the ancient Phoenician
makes a little more sense, because they might have gotten through the
Mediterranean and up around Spain into the Cantabrian Sea, but there were
certainly closer places they could have colonized, and in some cases did. The
Basque language, like Catalan and Gallego, was vigorously suppressed during the
Franco years, and is making a comeback.
In Bilbao in the northern part of the Pais Vasco, most street signs are
in Basque first and Castellano second. The teaching of which language as the
primary and/or only language in the schools is a matter of substantial
controversy. I understand that there is less Basque spoken in the region around
Vitoria than in Bilbao or San Sebastian.
Castellano
is the primary language in Asturias, Cantabria, and Castilla y Leon.
Politics
Politics
in the North of Spain are complicated.
Like the Catalans, the Basques have sought independence for decades. One
difference is that about 40 years ago the independence movement in the Basque
country basically got hijacked by the ETA, a left wing, terrorist group,
responsible for a number of assassinations in the Basque country, which also
includes some Basque-speaking provinces across the border in France. Interestingly
some of those assassins are get now getting out of jail after 20 years or so,
especially on the French side, and there is a lot of resentment. There are now
Basque political parties in the Basque country, some of them advocating
independence but they are nowhere near as organized as the Catalans.
Navarra,
of which Pamplona is the capital, is even more complicated. Navarra is also a partially Basque speaking
province, but Navarra was also an independent kingdom in medieval times before
the unification of Spain. So you have political parties who support Basque
independence and want Navarra to be part of that new nation, but there are also
parties that think that Navarra will be better served by remaining apart from
the Pais Vasco and trying to leverage more autonomy within a decentralizing
Spain. Of course, there are parties which are completely comfortable with the
status quo. Although a majority of residents of Navarra do not support
independence, the leader of the provincial government, through a series of
political deals, is an unabashed Basque separatist. The big fight, as I indicated, is currently
about the teaching of the Basque language in the public schools. Not sure how
that will work out.
There
is no appreciable independence movement in the other provinces in the north,
but part of that is because Galicia, which has a strong sense of separate
cultural identity, is so far away from Madrid and the other major political
power centers. Plus the current President of Spain, Mariano Rajoy is from
Galicia.
A
quick word about Cataluña. The independence movement succeeded in pulling
together a single slate of candidates from most of the major separatist
parties. One radical left wing party
(CUP – Candidatures d’Unitat Popular [Popular
Unity Candidacy]) also supported independence, but chose to run
separately. The separatists had hoped that their slate would gain an absolute
majority in the regional elections held on September 27. Had they done so, they
intended to treat it effectively as a referendum on Catalan independence. What
they got was a real mess. Due to some Spanish proportional voting laws, which I
do not understand exactly, the separatists, with the support of CUP, gained an
absolute majority of seats in the regional legislature. They did not however,
gain an absolute majority in the popular vote, which is how one normally counts
a referendum. Now what?
For
its part, CUP has already said that the failure to achieve an absolute majority
in the popular vote means that as a referendum, the effort failed. They have announced they do not believe a
unilateral call for independence would be valid and have rejected Artur Mas,
the current president in Cataluña, to head the new government. This means that
the separatist majority in the legislature may fall apart quickly.
Meanwhile,
the national government, led by the conservative Popular Party, is opposed to
Catalan independence and does not accept the vote as a referendum in any form.
The Popular Party, headed by Mariano Rajoy, the current President of Spain, is
currently adamant about making no changes in the system, to include the Spanish
constitution, although members of his own party are urging more flexibility. The other national parties are trying to
carve out a more nuanced position, suggesting ways, including changing the
constitution, to allow Cataluña more autonomy while remaining part of Spain.
All of this is important because of the looming national elections this Fall.
The Socialists promise “dialog” with Cataluña.
The leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, promises to let Cataluña have a
real, sanctioned referendum if he heads the next government (although he says
that he would recommend a “no” vote.) Cuidadanos, the other populist, center
party, which also opposed independence, was the second largest vote getter in
the Catalan elections.
These
are my predictions. You can expect the
struggle to play out in the press. the national legislature and the courts for
some time, but I do not think there is currently any legal basis for
Catalan independence, and the rest of Europe is not going to recognize a
Catalan state which does not have the approval of the Spanish government. So, I
do not think independence will happen. The intransigence of Rajoy, coupled with
the huge loss in confidence in the Popular Party due to all the corruption
scandals, means that they will lose the general election. They may get the largest single number of
votes, but they are “toxic” and I do not think any other party will join in
forming a government with them. Whichever party does form the government will
likely be more willing to discuss the relationship between the Spanish
government and Cataluña. This discussion
will likely also include the other major regions, such as Andalucia and the
Basque Country.
At
least you can take comfort in the fact that United States politics is not alone
in its dysfunction.
Weather
Northern
Spain, especially Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, are the rainiest, cloudiest
regions of Spain. Unfortunately, this was to play a role in our trip; given the
nearly perfect weather in Madrid and during our earlier trips, however, I guess
the law of averages had to even out somewhat. Pamplona was at times cold and
rainy, then very hot and sunny.
Food
If
you want an argument, tell a Gallego that the best food is in Asturias or vice
versa. While I am sure that Spaniards
from every province will stick up for their own regional cuisine, my sense is
that if asked off the record most Spaniards will give the nod to either Galicia
or Asturias. The cold waters of the Atlantic and Cantabrian Sea has given both
regions (and the rest of northern Spain) access to wonderful, fresh seafood and
shellfish. I think Sallie would give a
slight nod to Asturias, while I might go with Galicia, but we are definitely
open to further evaluation! In fact, the food throughout northern Spain was
good. We remember, for example:
Peppers in Burgos,
Steaks in Pamplona,
Pinxos
(little skewers of food like tapas)
in Pamplona and San Sebastian,
Fish throughout the North, but
especially in a truck stop outside Bilbao
Tortos
(fried corn pancakes with meat and eggs) in Asturias
Pulpo
(octopus) outside Muxia, Galicia
The
Camino
If
you are in northern Spain in the summer, you will frequently encounter the
Camino de Santiago, the route of the pilgrimage of St. James. From medieval
ages, pilgrims have made their way to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela,
the capital of Galicia. Nowadays one can cycle the Camino as well as walk it.
(There are also bus tours, but that seems to take away from the point.) The
most common route starts in the French town of St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, goes
through Roncevalles into Pamplona, then south of the mountains through Leon
into Santiago de Compostela. There are, however, marked routes all over the
north of Spain. After all, pilgrims come from all over. There is a northern route along the
Cantabrian Sea, and a route up from Portugal.
We even saw Camino signs, a yellow seashell, coming from Fisterre, in
Galicia, the presumed most western portion of Spain.
Where
you see the Camino sign, you see pilgrims, usually on trails off the road, but
going through the towns and cities. I understands that they can buy a
“passport” which they get “stamped” at the major churches along their
route. The passport also gives them
access to cheaper accommodations at albergues
along the way. (Our hotel in Llanes also had an albergue attached to it, which we were not eligible to stay in;
other pilgrims stayed in the rooms next to us.) The tradition is for a pilgrim
to carry a stone with them, supposedly to remind them of their sins or whatever
has motivated them to undertake the Camino. The pilgrims come from all over the
world, and I suppose undertake the Camino for many different reasons. We
sometimes encountered groups of English-speaking pilgrims, but, understandably
they tended to talk with themselves, usually about their adventures. It was
kind of neat when we were in Santiago de Compostela to see the pilgrims who had
completed the pilgrimage. Sallie, as is her wont, is intrigued by the Camino
and would love to make one of the shorter routes. Frankly, I have no interest
in doing so myself, but I can understand both the challenge and charm.
Burgos
We
arrived in Burgos on Saturday, July 4.
We had a hotel room that overlooked the cathedral, a magnificent
structure. Being a nice Saturday in July, there were several weddings taking
place in the cathedral and we got to watch the couples exit. One was a military
wedding with service members in different uniforms forming a canopy with their
swords. As we walked through the old town, which dated back to medieval times,
there were all sorts of sidewalk cafes and restaurants and they were full. Turns out Burgos was in the middle of its
annual fiesta and the whole town seemed involved. At the end of the evening there were
fireworks – so we had our Fourth of July fireworks after all. We regretted
having allocated only one day to Burgos. Still Pamplona was calling.
Pamplona
Those
of you who know me well have heard probably more than you want about Pamplona,
if indeed, you have not been there with me. So I am not going into detail about
the fiesta. (Buy me a beer when we are
back in the States and I will be glad to tell you all about it.) The fiesta
starts at noon on the 6th of July, and the first run is the morning of the 7th, which is my birthday, so
I always try to run that morning. The
first 36 hours of the fiesta are the worst as far as crowds, especially of
drunken young people, go. Of course, there are plenty of older folks who are
drunk, but they usually have more experience in holding their liquor.
We
had rented a room in the apartment rented by our friend Charlie Leocha, who has
been to the fiesta consistently for nearly 40 years. The apartment was
centrally located in the heart of the party section of town, which had its
advantages in going out, but not so much if you were trying to sleep. This
bothered Sallie more than me, but we had agreed that we would take a break in
the fiesta and go to San Sebastian.
After the first 36 hours, the fiesta calms down somewhat and you begin
to see more families downtown with their children. Thanks to Charlie, we got
into some restaurants we would not have otherwise, and so ate pretty well. This
included a breakfast at a gourmet cooking club that Charlie became a member of.
I
ran with the bulls twice this year, once on my birthday, then on the 13th. Yes,
we went to the bullfights twice, including the last day, the 14th. At the close
of the bullfights on the last day, all of the penas, which are the social clubs which provide the energy for the
fiesta, the way that the “krewes” do for Mardi Gras, pour into the bullring and
they mingle and their bands play together (every pena has a band!) A positive spectacle. (For those of you who abhor bullfights, I
fully understand and respect your position.
You may be interested to know that a movement to ban bullfighting is
growing in various regions and cities in Spain, but it is still a long way off from for becoming law
nationwide.)
San
Sebastian
Sallie
and I got away from Pamplona for two days to visit San Sebastian. I had not been back since being caught in the
riots there in 1978. [I presume Rich is referring to the violent protests by
the ETA, the Basque separatist movement, which left many dead and sparked riots
all over the Basque regions of Spain in the mid- and late 1970s.] I now have
much fonder memories. San Sebastian has
a large beach so we got in a day of relaxing on the beach. Our hotel was a bit
out of town; the only restaurant around was a famous Michelin-starred
restaurant with a $200 testing menu! Probably have to do that some time.
Instead, in the evenings we would go into town to eat pinxos or pinchos, which
are like tapas. They are a real tradition in the Basque
region. We went to a number of
restaurants sampling their fare. It was great getaway and the scenery between
Pamplona and San Sebastian was striking – a hint of what was to come.
Bilbao
We
stayed downtown but across the river from the old part of town, where we
primarily went to eat and drink. Our most memorable meal, however, was at what was
essentially a truck stop on a state road about an hour outside of Bilbao. Sallie was dubious, but we were hungry and
there were a lot of cars and trucks in the parking lot. The food was very good. Sallie thought her fish was the best she had
on the entire trip through the North. (Sorry, Galicia and Asturias.)
Bilbao
is home to one of the Guggenhiem museums, one designed by Frank Gehry. The building is absolutely fabulous, the art
interesting but pales compared to the building itself. Otherwise, we had an
interesting time, but would not bump Bilbao up over Madrid, Barcelona or the
cities in the South, or even over San Sebastian.
The
Picos Region
For
a complete change of pace, our next two nights were spent in an old hotel / spa
on the edge of the mountains. The hotel
was funky and had clearly seen its better days in the 1930’s, before the
Spanish Civil War. The hotel was on the edge of the reservoir formed by damming
the Ebro River, which eventually runs southeast through Spain, flowing into the
Mediterranean about halfway between Barcelona and Valencia. We took a day trip
to the mountains to the west to travel to the Picos de Tres Mares (Peaks of the
Three Seas), a lookout where one could see valleys which contained the
headwaters of three rivers which ran in three directions, to the Mediterranean
(the Hijar which flows into the Ebro), to the Atlantic (the Pisuerga which
flows into the Duero which crosses Portugal) and to the Cantabrian Sea/ Bay of
Biscay (the Nansa). The roads were good, but small. Clouds hovered around, but we were able to
see the mountains. Little did we know this was as good as it was going to get
in the mountains.
Llanes
We
left the Ebro Reservoir and headed north to the coast, to the beach town /
fishing village of Llanes, on the Cantabrian Sea in Asturias. We stayed in a simple hotel about 20 minutes
walk from the center of town, which shared an albergue for student groups and for pilgrims. Llanes is a picturesque
town, but the most original thing about it is the breakwater for the harbor
which is composed of concrete cubes about six feet on each side. They have permitted local artists to paint
one or more sides of the cubes. It is quite colorful.
Llanes
lies on the seashore of a long, narrow, relatively flat area of land. To the south, away from the coast is the
first of several mountain ranges culminating in the Picos de Europa. Our plan
was spend a day at the beach and then two days traveling in the mountains.
There are lots of beaches, many of them relatively small, surrounded by large
rock formations. These beaches are not
highly developed; there is usually no concession for beach chairs, umbrellas,
kayaks, etc. Frequently, there is no restaurant or even a place to use the
bathroom. We chose a beach near Llanes that we could walk to and which had a
restaurant nearby. The water was relatively clear and cool. Clouds loomed over
the mountains, but never came down onto the ocean side.
The
next day we took off for the Picos de Europa.
The roads in the area are “challenging,” as was the weather. The roads
were narrow, with lots of turns and changes in elevation. We encountered both
cyclists and cattle on the roads. (Not sure how the two interacted with each
other.) As we got into the area of the Picos we encountered very heavy fog, the
kind where you can only see a few feet ahead of you. Since we did not know the
roads we were unsure if we could turn around, much less where. When we crested
one pass, the clouds lifted somewhat so we went on to Valdeleon, a valley town
nestled in the Picos. There were clouds
all around. It became a bit of a joke
with us as we could only catch brief glimpses of the peaks within the clouds.
We only got “peeks” of the “peaks” (try explaining that pun in Spanish). We had
lunch then headed back a different way. The weather was waiting for us. We encountered a strong hailstorm, which left
some villages looking like they were in snow.
You know those “falling rocks” road signs, but there never any rocks on
the road? We found the rocks. Slow
driving all the way. When we crossed
over the last mountain range, the sun was shining in the coastal area.
So
we tried again the next day to go to a couple of mountain lakes we were told we
should not miss. Different roads, but still narrow and twisting. When we got to
Covadonga where we had to park and take buses up to the lakes, we were told not
to bother, the lakes were completely fogged in. So we had lunch and looked
around. There is large catholic church and
monastery there because Covadonga is where, in the 10th century, the local
Christian king handed the Moors their first defeat, thus starting what in Spain
is called the “Reconquest,” which took until 1492 when the last Moorish King
was expelled from Granada.
The
Galician Coast
After
a few days in Llanes, we headed west towards Galicia, driving along the coast
when we could. We stopped in Ribadeo, a large fishing town just over the border.
A small hotel was located in a pedestrian area. Just like you may have heard
about Spain in the old days, the townspeople came out and strolled around or
sat in the park or cafes (or bars). A makeshift band played. All quite charming. The next morning we drove
to “Cathedral Beach,” so named because of the huge eroded rock formations, many
of which had caves or even arches produced by the water. Very striking.
We
kept driving west, visiting the northernmost cape in Spain and ending up in
Ferrol, a small city on the coast near where the coast begins to turn south. We
decided to stay on the outskirts of Ferrol, so never got down to the old city
or port. We just went out to eat and have some drinks at various bars along the
main street in that part of town, near the hotel. The most interesting thing
was the last bar we ran into, the Café Vanessa.
The bar was surprisingly well stocked with good gins, scotches, even bourbons.
We asked the owner-bartender about it and got into a nice conversation about
spirits, the liquid kind. You got the feeling that most of the local customers
were not really into relatively expensive quality spirits, and he was quite
proud of his selection. We were sorry it was the last bar we went in, and hated
to leave, but we had a ways to go the next day.
The
next day, we continued to drive around the coast, stopping at lighthouses and
other sights. Like Asturias, the roads in Galicia, once you left the Autovia,
Spain’s excellent version of the Interstate highways, were narrow and twisting,
but this is where you could see the small villages and the rugged coastline
itself. Spain is continually expanding its Autovia system. Coming into Ferrol, we got on an Autovia and
used the GPS to find our hotel. The
problem was that we had borrowed the GPS from our friend in Madrid, rather than
buy or rent one. Our friend had not
updated the maps, however, so as we were driving into Ferrol on the Autovia it
instructed us to “turn left on an unpaved road.” No! We finally learned we had
to actually get into a town or city before trying to use the GPS for detailed
directions.
We
spent the night after Ferrol at a country inn outside the village of Muxia. We
spent a relaxing afternoon and then had dinner in the restaurant which was
quite good for being in the middle of nowhere. The highlight was a dish of
octopus served three ways – cold, in kind of a salad; boiled along with
potatoes; and grilled. All three were
excellent, but grilled was our favorite.
You
may have noticed a lack of evening exploits, which is a bit atypical of
us. That is because traveling by car in
the north is tiring. Not as tough as walking the Camino, of course, but
spending several hours in a small car and then hiking out to capes, cliffs and
lighthouses all day can be draining. As
was the case in the Picos region, the coastal roads in Galicia are narrow and
winding, so you have to be on guard all the time. The coast in Galicia differs somewhat from
Asturias and Cantabria. I am not sure
why, but the rivers in Galicia that run west to the Atlantic cut deeper
valleys; almost no deltas. The Spanish call
these valleys “Rias,” not rios which
means rivers, and the Galician coast is divided into the Upper Rias and the
Lower Rias regions. I have seen Rias
translated as fjords, but they’re not quite as steep as the pictures I have
seen of Norway. The landscapes are really beautiful and we tried to stop
wherever there was a good view (and a place to pull off the narrow road). We
would normally try to stop for lunch at some small restaurant with a view of
the sea.
After
staying in Muxia, we made our way around a couple of peninsulas and then headed
to Santiago de Compostela for the night. By now, we were ready for an upgraded
hotel, with a real pool, bar and restaurant. We turned around the next day
however and headed back to the coast for the day. Among the places we hoped to see was Fisterra,
supposedly the westernmost tip of Spain.
(I think Fisterra is probably a Gallego variant of Finisterre, meaning
the end of land.) The fog was so thick however that once we got there, we could
not even see the water below. We did however get to visit Cabo Tourian, which
also claims to be more westerly than Fisterra (and looks that way on the
map.) There we did have some nice views
of the coast and the sea. We went back to Santiago for the night.
We
spent a day visiting Santiago. The cathedral is the final destination for the
pilgrims of the Camino. They have special masses for them and the pilgrims can
line up to hug the statue of Saint James, which is Santiago in Spanish. One
unusual thing about the cathedral is there is a really huge incense burner
which hangs from the ceiling and can be swung back and forth across the cathedral. We are told its purpose was to mask the
stench from the pilgrims who had not bathed during their long pilgrimage.
(There are more services available to modern pilgrims.) The incense burner was
not in operation while we were there, but I have seen clips of it and it seems
quite impressive.
While
walking around Santiago, we stumbled upon what can best be described as a
Galician folklife fashion show. There
was a raised runway built into a plaza and a large crowd watching. Various people and groups would get up on the
runway and walk up and down displaying their traditional native costumes from
different regions of Galicia. There was a bit of the striptease about it as
they would remove various layers to show the clothing that made up the costume;
(not underwear, of course, there was nothing raunchy about it.) It was fun and
interesting, but the thing that struck me most was the pride in their heritage;
these were not models, just ordinary people, not ashamed to dress up in what we
would consider funny dresses and hats and then get up in front of a huge crowd.
After
a few days in Santiago we headed down the coast to something different. We stayed a couple of nights at a resort
hotel on Isla de la Toja, a small island attached to another larger island
connected by a causeway to the mainland. Isla de la Toja was composed primarily
of a couple of resort hotels and upscale housing, either apartments or single
family homes, with a golf course, tennis courts, even a skeet range. Tourist
buses would come in for the day, but not stay. Sallie was feeling a bit under
the weather, so we mostly hung out on the island rather than go exploring.
Two
aspects of the island were unusual.
First, at low tide, the shallows would be full of people out in the
water digging up what we assumed were clams or something similar. Presumably
these were not the wealthy residents, although it was hard to tell in some
cases. The other thing which I found unusual was that the government had set up
a vehicle inspection station for the residents’ convenience. It was completely
mobile; it could be taken down and moved somewhere else. I assume that they
went around to the smaller towns in the area, so that the citizens would not
have to drive into one of the relatively few large cities.
After
Isla de la Toja, we headed inland to Leon for a few days. Although we drove
through the mountains, we eventually left them behind and entered into the
flatter region of Spain’s interior plateau. We stayed in a modern hotel on the
outskirts of the city. It was about a 30
minute walk into the core of the old city.
The cathedral had the best collection of traditional stained glass, in
what was otherwise a kind of stark church. (Sagrada Familia, the Gaudi designed
cathedral in Barcelona, has more stained glass, but it’s a completely different
setting being modern.) Leon, like Burgos, also had a lively nightlife with full
sidewalk cafes and a lovely Plaza Mayor, which was turned into a open air
market on Saturday morning. In this respect, Leon reminded us much more of
Madrid than the northern coast. There were clearly tourists, including some
pilgrims on the Camino, but most of the crowds were Spanish.
When
we left Leon, we had one day left. We
drove to Valladolid. Our hotel was
located in a large, new, modern, and somewhat sterile housing development. It turns out it was some distance from the
center of town and it was a Sunday. We walked around the neighborhood, but
really did not do too much. Perhaps anticlimactic,
but it had been a long, but fascinating
trip, so we just relaxed. The next day we drove into Madrid, to see our friends
and get ready for the long two-and-a-half month trip through Europe.
Realistically,
you have to make an effort to get to Northern Spain. It is a ways from Madrid
and even further away from the traditional sights of Barcelona, or Andalucia,
so it does not fit in well with most people’s planned trips to Spain. Indeed,
if I were giving advice on a first trip to Spain, I would recommend Madrid,
Barcelona, Sevilla, Granada, Cordoba, and Ronda. There is obviously much more
to Spain than those traditional highlights and Northern Spain is part of
that. It was worth the three weeks,
apart from Pamplona, that we took to see it.
[It’s
exhausting just to read Rich’s account of this marvelous trip. I’m very envious of Rich and Sallie, by the
way. They got to see the Bilbao Guggenheim! How great!! The
one here in New York City is one of my favorite buildings (designed by Frank
Lloyd Wright, also an innovator in his day) and museums. As it happens, too,
there’s a relatively new theater here for which Frank Gehry designed the
interior. (It’s in a high rise in the design of which Gehry had no hand.
I blogged about the new space, the Pershing Square Signature Center, when
it opened. See my article, “The Signature
Center” on 18 February 2012.) I go there often—for the theater,
not the architecture—as readers of ROT will know from my performance reports.
[I
also once went to a bullfight in Spain when I was probably 16 or 17. I
figured the bullfight would happen (and the bulls killed) whether I was there
or not and I ought to see one for myself once. (My brother wouldn’t go;
he said he’d root for the bull!) I’ve never been back to one again—not even
in Mexico, where I believe the bull is not killed.
[Rich’s
remark about trying to explain an English pun in Spanish reminds me of a couple
of instances when I faced the dilemma of translating a pun into another
language. When I was in high school in
Switzerland and was assigned my first essay in French, I tried to make an
English pun work in French. I don’t
remember the assignment, but it had something to do with the French proverb Qui
veut, peut (‘He who wishes, can’), which
is the equivalent of the English saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” I wracked my brain for some idea and finally
decided to try punning on ‘way’ and ‘whey’ (as in “curds and . . .”). In French, however, ‘whey’ is petit-lait, and there was no way, even by the most tortured
route, to make the pun work in French!
(I don’t recall what grade I got on the paper. Fortunately, it was judged not on its
literary value, but its grammatical correctness.)
[Years
later, when I was living in New York and studying acting, my scene partner and
I were assigned a scene from the 1935 play Tovarich. Now,
Tovarich is a comedy, and after my
partner and I got the scripts, I discovered that it was originally a French
play. I got the French text from the
library (New York Public Library is amazing!) and found that the scene my
partner and I were assigned was light and amusing (which wasn’t obvious from
the English translation), but it was based on a French pun. The joke was built around the similarity of
the phrases fond d’artichaut, or
‘artichoke heart,’ and fond d’argent,
‘money fund.’ There was no way in the
world we could make the pun work in English (if there had been, I suspect
Robert E. Sherwood, the English adapter-playwright, would have used it)—it was
just lost. All we could do with our
knowledge was lighten up our approach to the scene since we now knew that the
characters, a husband and wife, were having fun with one another.]
No comments:
Post a Comment