Dispatches from Spain 11: Northern Spain

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.]

Dispatches from Spain 9

by Rich Gilbert

[My friend Rich Gilbert has sent an e-mail from Pamplona, where he and Sallie went after leaving Madrid.  (Yes, he ran with the bulls.)  They’ll be traveling, first in Spain and then farther afield, for six months before returning to the States.  Check back for Dispatches 1-8 (30 November, 10 December, and 20 December 2014, and 14 January, 8 March, and 20 April 2015) to catch up with the story.  They’ll be going to Italy next and, in the meantime, he reports on some interesting and potentially significant developments in Spanish politics and some perhaps less portentous ones in football/soccer, too.  As usual, Rich’s account of his and Sallie’s travels make us feel as if we’re sharing the adventure in Spanish culture and lifestyle.  I recommend that you all also follow Sallie’s blog, Rambling Solo, at http://ramblingsolo.blogspot.com.es.  Rich promises that his next dispatch, from Rome, will arrive soon.]

Leaving Spain‏

Pamplona – July 14, 2015

Dear Friends and Family

Pamplona / San Sebastian

I know I am jumping ahead, but for those of you who have known  me long, yes,  we are in Pamplona.  This is the last day and the closing ceremony, “Pobre de mi” [“Poor me”] is both fun and touching. I ran with the bulls safely on the 7th of July, my birthday, and again on the 13th, but not on the other days. Other than my actual birthday, I often decide each morning, depending on the night before and my gut feeling. Our friend Charlie has been seeing we get fed occasionally in some good restaurants, so Sallie is better with the Fiesta.  Nonetheless, this time, Sallie and [I] got away to San Sebastian for a few days in the middle of the Fiesta, as well as a day trip up through the Roncevailles pass (The Song of Roland) to France for lunch.  San Sebatian is  a really lovely city with some really great tapas, and I am not talking about olives! So much different than when I almost got trapped there during the riots in 1978.  Much better this way. 

One story you may enjoy concerns the location of our hotel in San Sebastian.  It was in the city, but really a bus ride, albeit short, cheap and frequent, away from the places we wanted to see.  There was really only one restaurant within blocks.  We walked up and saw the their tasting menu was 200 Euros [about $220]! No way!  As we walked back, I said “who do they think they are – a Michelin three star restaurant?”  I looked them up on-line and – you guessed it – they really were a Michelin three star restaurant! Turns out the owner is a legend in the Basque Country. Would like to try it someday but on a fixed trip when I know how much the trip will cost and how much we have to splurge.  This is not that trip.

Delays In Writing

I suppose many of you are wondering what has happened to Sallie and me.  It has been well over a month since we left our apartment in Madrid.  I meant to write an email about leaving, but the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had other ideas.  Ten days before we were to leave Madrid, I received an order to file a supplemental brief in one of the cases which I argued when I flew home in January. It is a rare request, and often means that the Court is really struggling with an issue.  However, they wanted it filed by the day we were to fly to Italy.  I have a colleague, Kristen Hughes, who is second chair, so I spent a lot of the time before leaving Madrid drafting the brief and she was able to put [it] into final [shape] and get it filed on time.

Since then we have been traveling.  Between traveling to different places, sightseeing, and sometimes problems with internet, it has been hard to find the time to write what is becoming a longer and longer story.

Leaving Madrid

Leaving Madrid was difficult for us on several levels. Logistically, we had to decide what to send home, what to store at the apartment for later trips, and what we were going to take with us. We had other errands to accomplish as well as planning our trip. (Not to mention writing my brief for the Court of Appeals.) But it was also difficult on an emotional level. We had developed some budding friendships and also good relationships with some of the local merchants, bartenders and restaurant owners. Before leaving I tried to take photos of most of them.  All were gracious about it and most said they would miss us, and probably meant it. There were many parts of Madrid and its surroundings that we never got to visit. I think Sallie and I both felt we could have stayed longer. We would be off traveling without a home to come back to, although our landlady / friend agreed to let us store some things with her. So on the morning of Saturday, June 23, we left Madrid, by train for Malaga.

Malaga

We spent about 10 days visiting parts of Andalucia, the southern province in Spain, we [had] not visited before.  We had been to Sevilla, Cordoba and Grenada on several occasions, so we headed for Malaga, a relatively large city on the coast.  We rented a car there, which was good because the “airbnb” apartment we stayed in was pretty far outside of town and difficult to get to without a car.  It was in a lovely house on a hillside in an exclusive neighborhood and we had a lovely view of the Mediterranean. Good place to relax, but driving downtown was sometimes a challenge. We got to see Roman ruins, the Alcazaba, an old Moorish palace not as well maintained as the Alhambra in Grenada, and the home where Picasso was born and lived in his youth. We ate seafood on the beach but did not go swimming.

Gibraltar

After three days we headed to Gibraltar. We had lunch on the beach in Marbella, a picturesque beach town down the coast. We stayed the night in a hotel in Linea de la Concepcion, the small Spanish city on the other side of the border with Gibraltar. Sallie had booked a bird watching tour of the “Rock.” We did not see many birds other than gulls, despite our guide’s efforts, but it was fascinating anyway. About half the trip was spent hiking on top of the rock, with spectacular views, and plenty of military gun emplacements, most abandoned. (Parts of the top were still being used by the British military, so we could not go there anyway.) Of course, we saw the famous monkeys that are allowed to range freely on the Rock, although they are fed regularly to keep them from coming down into the town. The rest of the time was basically spent driving around the peninsula. Gibraltar’s population is that of a small city and most of them are crammed into a relatively small  stretch of land, much of it reclaimed from the sea. It was odd to hear English spoken and to have to pay in pounds.

Make no mistake, Gibraltar is still a significant source of political controversy. Spain still wants it back – badly. Our guide, who was born and raised in Gibraltar, told us that the locals have no desire to return to Spanish rule.  (The Spanish position is undermined somewhat by the fact that Spain has two such enclaves on the coast of Africa in what would be Morocco, which they plan to hang onto.) Caught in the middle are the literally thousands of Spaniards who cross over from Linea de la Concepcion every day to work in Gibraltar. (We had parked our car at the border and walked over, so we knew what a stream it was.) My guess is, and it is only a guess, that those Spaniards would prefer Gibraltar become Spanish – as long as the same level of economic activity and opportunity existed.

Cadiz

Upon leaving Gibraltar, we drove to Cadiz. We stopped outside Tarifa, the southernmost Spanish city on the mainland, at a stunning viewing point where we could see directly to Africa and see the huge boats sailing through the straits of Gibraltar.  I would like to described the cultural and historical highlights of Cadiz, the port city from which Columbus set out on his first voyage to the Americas. The truth is, however, that we had a hotel on the beach and so we decided to goof off for a day and a half.

Ronda

After leaving Cadiz, we set out to travel to Ronda, the most famous of the “white hill towns” in Andalucia.  We drove through several other towns on the way.  These are all towns located on tops and sides of hills in the mountains, probably for protection originally.  Whether by regulation or by custom, the buildings are almost always painted white. They present striking images when viewed from afar or from the other side of the valley.  Driving in them can be hair-raising because, being towns from a different century, the streets are narrow, go up and down at quite a slope and are often one way with no clear directions. We simply gave up in Arcos de Frontera, perhaps the second largest of [the] hill towns, tried to get out of town and stick to the main highway, which is like a two lane highway in the United States. Things were a bit easier in another little town we stopped at for lunch, but getting in and out was still a challenge. We got to Ronda in the evening. Throughout this drive we crossed several mountain ridges, with spectacular views. I may have mentioned this, but Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland, so the images you may have seen of the dry, flat plains of La Mancha, while accurate, are not representative.

Ronda might qualify as a small city.  It straddles a deep gorge which separates the truly old, and partly Muslim, part of town from the newer town.  Our hotel, along with others, straddles the gorge and the views were striking.  Ronda also has the first formal bullring in Spain and we took a tour, which was more interesting than I thought it might be. They let us walk into the center of the bullring and standing there in the sun looking up at the rows of seats, you got some sense of the excitement / tension a matador might feel waiting for the bull to enter the ring.

We also went for a hike outside of town, which led us down a rural country road for far longer than we thought it would be.  When we got back to the edge of town, we were tired, hungry and thirsty, so we  stopped at the first place we could find.  It was a small restaurant, clearly frequented by locals, as [we] were still on the outer edge of the town, away from the tourist sites.  It was actually quite good food, with a new treat, deep, but lightly, fried olives. They were delicious, and we have not seen them before or since.

Tour Groups

Since, up until Ronda we had avoided the more famous tourist spots in Andalucia, Ronda was our first, but not to be our last, encounter on the trip with throngs of tourists, especially tour groups. Interesting at first, they became somewhat of a nuisance during the remainder of our trip, because they involved large groups all trying to see the same thing at one time or trying to get to one place at the same time.

A large number of these tour groups were Asian, which surprised us, but probably should not have. After all, there is a lot of money in China, Japan and Korea, even if not distributed equally, and the desire to see and experience new things is, I am sure, common across all cultures. I suppose in the overall scheme of things this influx of Asian tourists into Europe is a good thing bringing an exposure to different cultures; however, the Asian tour groups were more of a nuisance because, probably due to more complete unfamiliarity with the language, they tended to stick very close to the tour leader and each other. If they were coming, just get out of the way.

Of course, there were many other Asian tourists in small groups, often families, who behaved just like any other tourists, so I am not attributing this to any cultural distinction, with one possible caveat. While hardly unique, we noticed the Asian tourists almost universally tended to want to take “selfie” photographs of the sights, perhaps just to show that they had been to the Leaning Tower of Pisa or Palace of the Popes in Avignon. Not a problem of course (unless you were in their shot), just amusing.

We thought the tourists in Ronda were bad, but little did we know. First of all there were no cruise ships for hundreds of miles. And Ronda is nowhere near as well known as Rome, Venice or Florence. (See next email covering Italy.)

Cave Paintings

About an hour outside of Ronda, there is a cave with cave paintings which date back, according to our guide, some 30,000 years.  He said they could be dated because the pigments contained animal fat and could be carbon dated. Apparently the cave was used as a site for prehistoric art for thousands of years; interestingly, the most realistic paintings were the oldest ones. It was remarkable, even though caves are not my favorite places, and this cave was not illuminated in order to keep down changes in temperature and humidity which can destroy the paintings. They also make you go in small groups to minimize those -changes.  To avoid the crowds, and waits, we choose to drive out on Monday morning, on our way out of Ronda. There were just three couples, one from Germany and one from England and us.  Fortunately the guide could speak passable English.

After a beautiful drive out of the mountains, we drove back to Malaga.  We spent a night in a hotel near the airport.  On Tuesday, June 2, we flew to Rome.  I do not want to make this too long, so I will break up our travels.  Italy will be the next email, I promise.

Spanish Politics

I have not been always able to buy El Pais every day, so I have to pick up the latest in Spanish politics piecemeal.  The short answer is that it is a bit of mess right now.  They had elections at the end of May  in many cities and some provinces.  Nowhere did any party win an absolute majority, so governments were built by cooperation, which was a messy process. The national general elections will be this Fall, so the parties are still leery of being too closely identified with other parties.  (I think there is no chance that one party will [win] an absolute majority in those elections either; then things will get really interesting!)

The big losers were the Popular Party, the ruling conservative party.  They lost control over a lot of provinces and major cities including Madrid and Barcelona. By and large, the left gained ground by agreeing to cooperate more with each other.  Both Madrid and Barcelona have new mayors from the populist parties (to be distinguished from the Popular Party, which is conservative) and both cities will be introducing new left-leaning measures.  In Madrid it will be to stop evictions, and in Barcelona to freeze the number of tourist accommodations in the city for several years.  Still, there is much unrest in the parties. The PP has shaken up its leadership, although not at the top where Mariano Rajoy, the current president, will lead their ticket. Pablo Iglesias, the leader of Podemos, the strongest of the populist parties, and perhaps the most left-wing, is quarreling with about everybody else on the center and the left, so it may be hard for him to form a government either.

The separatist movement in Cataluña is somewhat disorganized.  They want to run a single ticket of independence supporters in the provincial elections scheduled for September, but they claim that they do not want “politicians,” so we will see how that ends up. Recent polls show that if there were a clear choice as to independence, it would narrowly fail.  As I understand it (and predicted earlier), the other members of the European Union have indicated that they would not automatically grant an independent Cataluña membership or allow them to continue to use the Euro.  This would make independence a costly affair (see Greece!), and I think it will narrowly fail.

Given the heating up of our presidential race in the United States, it is easy to think that Spanish politics is merely an amusing sideshow.  It is, I suppose, but it does have  consequences for the United States.  Of all of the political parties in Spain, I think that the Popular Party, which is the most conservative, has been, and would be the more reliable partner with the United States in international matters of mutual interest.  I cannot bring myself to cheer for them however, because there is just so much corruption in the party.  They are not the only ones, but have been much more tarnished by it.  I simply think that they have squandered the right to govern. Whether a Socialist government would still work with the United States is certainly possible, but I think a Pablo Iglesias-led government will be very prickly to deal with on international matters.

Spanish Football

Well, my favorite team, Barcelona, pulled off a rare triple crown by winning the Spanish premier league, (which is decided by league standings; there are no playoffs as such,) the Kings Cup, which is a tournament open to all Spanish clubs, and finally the European Champions League Tournament. There is no active football in Europe for the summer, so more time on my hands.

Of course, being soccer, the other news was off the field.  The most important was the indictment by the United States government of many top officials in FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, for taking bribes to award tournaments, such as the World Cup, and marketing contracts. Probably will be plenty of plea agreements, further indictments, and embarrassment all around. No one thinks this will be the end of it.  It caused the resignation of Sepp Blatter, the Swiss who has be head of FIFA for decades, which many believe was long overdue. (In all fairness, Blatter was not named in the indictment, but there is no telling if he might have been later.)

Meanwhile, consistent with my “rich get richer” complaint, both Real Madrid and Barcelona are busy trying to buy the best players from other clubs in the league.  Do not expect their dominance to fade any time soon.

             

Dispatches from Spain 8

by Rich Gilbert

[Once again, my friend Rich Gilbert has sent me an e-mail from Madrid, keeping me up to date on his and Sallie’s continuing adventure.  Check back for Dispatches 1-7 (30 November, 10 December, and 20 December 2014, and 14 January and 8 March 2015) to catch up with the story.  Rich and Sallie are about halfway through their sojourn in Madrid, and they haven’t decided where they’ll go next, but they’re still learning about life in Madrid in the meantime.  There have been some interesting and potentially significant developments in Spanish politics Rich explains, and some perhaps less portentous ones in football/soccer, too.  As usual, Rich’s relation of the details of his experiences make them come alive for those of us not so familiar with Spanish culture and lifestyle.  I hope you are all also following the blog Sallie maintains on her own, Rambling Solo, at http://ramblingsolo.blogspot.com.es.]

Madrid at six months‏

Madrid – April 12, 2015

Dear Friends and Family,

This coming week will bring Sallie and me to the halfway point in our year abroad.  It is hard to believe that it has gone by so quickly.  Perhaps equally important, it means that we will have a little over a month left on our lease in Madrid.  We have been comfortable here and, even though traveling will be exciting, we will miss having a “home” to come back to. (After I got out of the Army in 1982, I travelled around Europe for over three months, so I know both the fun and hardships of extended travel.) 

Daily Life

We have had rain and some colder weather recently.  A bit of a shock coming after so many clear, sunny days. A couple of weeks ago it was in the 70’s and people were sitting outside at the sidewalk cafes.  I expect that we will again soon, but I was glad I had not sent our winter clothes back just yet.

Both Sallie and I have had some disappointment in how our Spanish is coming. To be sure, we are both getting better, but it has not been as easy as we hoped / expected. Sallie is still going to class every weekday morning for 4 hours and diligently doing several hours of homework each night. Her grammar is getting much better although she still has trouble figuring out which of the many possible verb tenses and moods to use in a given case. My reading comprehension is pretty good now, although I still need a dictionary to fully understand the political pieces, and the sports stories about soccer. (The sports writers seemed determined to outdo James Joyce in describing a simple game and its players.)

Our real problems remain in hearing and speaking, in other words conversational Spanish. I get a little more practice, and am a bit less shy than Sallie.  I try to banter with the shopkeepers and bartenders / barristas I see regularly, but it is not the same as sitting down and having a real conversation.  Although they have different names, Spanish bars can serve alcohol whenever they are open, but also will always have coffee available.  For example, each morning after the gym and shopping, I drop into Cerverceria (which means a place that serves beer) Chispa to have a cafe solo (which is an expresso) and chat with the owner and glance at the paper. Her beer tap does not even work.  In addition, Spanish bars always have non-alcoholic beer available, sometimes even on tap.

We have made some friends here, although we do not see them as regularly as friends back in DC, but even then we usually speak English. We have decided to try some private lessons at Sallie’s school, just a teacher and us, to see if that helps.  We are also trying to make an effort to watch a bit more Spanish TV. We are also able to see movies out, but have usually opted to watch the same films you probably see in English although with Spanish subtitles.  We do ask for menus in Spanish, even when offered ones in English, although the English menus can be helpful with guests.

I can usually get by in simple situations, although my Spanish sometimes betrays me. I still do most of the shopping and have my favorite small merchants for the different products I buy. For convenience, Sallie prefers the supermarket around the corner; I regularly walk three blocks out of my way just to buy the bread I like best. I know that once our time here in Madrid is up, we will miss having the occasional home cooked meals; I cook a big meal for lunch two to three times a week and we often have light meals in the evening and for breakfast.

One interesting experience recently was that I had run out of some medicine which I need to take.  I had ordered more and had it sent to my post office box where a friend picked it up and mailed it to me here in Madrid.  Well, it has not gotten here yet, so I went into a pharmacy to see what it would take for them to refill the prescription.  To my surprise, I found that they could sell me the medicine over the counter. It was a larger size pill, but could be easily broken in half. She handed me a box of 50 pills, which would be equal to 100 of the pills I was getting, and said it would be two fifty. I grimaced a little and reached into my wallet to pull out five 50 Euro bills. The clerk laughed and explained that she meant two Euros and 50 centavos, less than three dollars! I was astounded, but obviously pleased.  I will have to see whether some of my other prescriptions can be filled so easily and cheaply. Does make you wonder why even with Medicare and Medicare supplement assistance, medicines in the United States are so much more expensive.

Semana Santa (Holy Week)

Easter is a considerably bigger deal in Spain than in the United States. Although there are activities throughout the week before Easter, things start off in a big way on Thursday.  The stores and business often close for Thursday through the weekend, and the ones that are open on Thursday close at lunch. Thus, it is often a four day weekend and many Spaniards travel over the holiday.  It is comparable to our Thanksgiving holiday weekend as far as travel is concerned (without the Black Friday pre-Christmas sales).

One notable aspect of Semana Santa are the religious processions.  The major churches in a town or city (always Catholic) have very elaborate “floats,” usually two, one showing Jesus carrying the cross and one showing the Madonna grieving over Jesus’ body (called the Dolorosa). These are traditional, sometimes many years old, usually covered with gold and other ornamentation. The difference is that they are carried by a team of men carrying the floats on their shoulders.  Their ability to march in lockstep through narrow streets and around tight corners puts my old ROTC drill team to shame. It is grueling work and the procession often stops for a break.  As the procession proceeds through the town, there will be spontaneous cries and cheers, and also planned activities at given places, including the town hall. There is no concern about mixing Church and State here in Spain.  The floats are accompanied by many other members of the congregation who carry candles, icons, other articles. The disconcerting thing is that these people are all wearing robes and tall pointed headpieces that look exactly like what the Ku Klux Klan used to wear.  You have to remind yourself that these costumes predate the discovery of the New World and have nothing whatsoever to do with the Klan.  (Whether the Klan borrowed the idea, I do not know, but it seems likely.)

We caught up with one in Madrid on the Thursday evening.  We never got very close because of the crowds, and like many others would try to move ahead of the procession to see it at different places. The crowd was basically respectful, but there was still a bit of a holiday atmosphere.  (Nothing like Mardi Gras however.)  In other places. such as Seville, we understand the crowds are more reverential.

To further experience the Spanish experience, we then rented a car Friday morning and left town.  I think we must have gotten one of the last rental cars in Madrid, probably because it was a stick shift.  I did not think that they even used manual transmission in rental cars, but at any rate our growing up in the 60’s helped. It had a push-button starter though, which was harder to get used to.

We spent two nights in a Parador in the Gredos Mountains (Sierra del Gredos), a beautiful mountain range about three hours to the west and north of Madrid.  Most people do not realize that Spain is actually a pretty mountainous country.  I read it was second only to Switzerland, but am not sure how Norway figures into that.  The difference is that there are numerous ranges all over the country, not just one or two chains.  We have not seen the Picos de Europa in Asturias in the north of Spain, which are the highest.  From pictures they look much like the Rockies.  (We will let you know this summer.) The mountains we saw were older, more like the Appalachians. Still, it was good to get out the hiking boots and poles for a day. 

Paradores are national hotels, usually located in historic old buildings like monasteries, palaces, castles, etc. They are nice, but not five star luxurious, and the kitchens specialize in food from the region. The one in Gredos, was the first Parador, founded in 1926 in what had been a mountain monastery.  We were surprised how many families with small children there were.

On Easter Sunday, we left and drove to Caceres, an old city in the southwest of Spain, closer to Portugal than Madrid.  The Parador there is in the center of the old town and very hard to drive to.  This was made more difficult by several street closures due to a procession, about which, of course, our GPS knew nothing.  While not as old as Barcelona’s old town, Caceres dates back to before the Roman conquest of Spain. Like other cities in Spain, it was later fought over by the Moors and Christians, in the centuries before Columbus left Spain.  

The procession was still going on when we got settled.  As we walked around the old town, we could hear the drums and flutes, but could never find it.  The narrow streets and high stone buildings created confusing echoes. Later, however, we heard a racket outside our hotel room with several men moving metal poles and lumber.  It turns out they were putting away one of the floats, which we realized when we saw the statue of the Virgin Mary lying in the back seat of one of the cars.

I gather it is the beginning of cherry blossom time in Washington, D.C.  On our way to Caceres, we came through a mountain pass in the Sierra del Gredos and into a beautiful, steep valley that had cherry trees in full bloom on the hills on both sides.  This went on for miles. It was quite spectacular and cars were stopped wherever they could on the narrow roads. So we were thinking of those of you back in D.C.

Spanish Politics

On March 22, elections were held for the regional government of Andalucia, which is the largest region in Spain, encompassing Sevilla, Cordoba, Grenada, Malaga, Cadiz, and other towns and rural areas.  The Socialist party had a surprising victory, gaining almost twice as many seats in the legislature, which in turn elects the regional president.  The incumbent president, Susannah Diaz, a Socialist, was pretty popular and the party actually focused on her in the campaign.  The election was a huge defeat for the Popular Party which is the governing party at the national level. As expected the two populist parties, Podemos and Cuidadanos, both gained seats.  (A left wing party barely got five seats, and another national party from the center was shut out, causing all sorts of upheaval at their national level.)

Diaz did not get an absolute majority, however, and the last several weeks have been about maneuvering.  Either Podemos or Cuidadanos could give the Socialists a majority if they joined the government. Both are holding out for certain concessions, the foremost of which is the dismissal of a regional senator, who was an ex-president of the region, and of another deputy as both are implicated in a corruption scandal.  Neither has been formally charged, much less convicted, so the Socialists are resisting. Such horse-trading appears to be the future of Spanish politics for the foreseeable future as none of the four major parties appears likely to win any election outright.  

The loss threw the conservative Popular Party into disarray.  They were hoping to run on the genuine improvement in the economic situation in Spain, but I think the corruption scandals, more of which involve the Popular Party, are just taking their toll.  Mariano Rajoy, the President of the Government, who is also the head of the Popular Party, called a major national meeting of the party’s leadership. One interesting thing that came out of the meeting was that local candidates were encouraged not to criticize too harshly candidates from Cuidadanos, which is the more center based of the two populist parties.  To me, this signals that Rajoy realizes that any hope of continuing to govern nationally will depend on finding a partner, and that Cuidadanos represents the most plausible alternative.

Spain has elections for some other regions and for municipalities all over Spain in May. Andalucia was a Socialist bastion, so the results from other regions will be interesting.  In September, there will be a regional election in Cataluña.  As I have mentioned before, the plan of the separatists is to run a single slate with representatives from all of the parties favoring Catalan independence.  If they win an absolute majority, they will declare that to be a binding referendum with an intention of declaring independence 18 months later, after a period of negotiation with the national government.  It is not certain that the separatists will win, but it will be close.  See Scotland. Stay tuned. National elections will be at the end of the year, after Sallie and I are back.  

Spanish Football

As expected, Real Madrid, Barcelona and to a lesser degree Atletico Madrid continue to dominate.  Barcelona won the rematch with Real Madrid in league play and now leads by two points with eight games to go. (A team gets 3 points for a win, one point for a tie and nothing for a loss.)  Barcelona and Real Madrid do not play again, so Real Madrid needs help, and must avoid losses or ties themselves. For example, Real Madrid won Saturday while Barcelona was tied by Sevilla, which narrowed the gap which had been four points. (Atletico also tied, thus did not gain ground.)

All three teams remain in the European Champions League tournament, which is down to 8 teams.  The next round is a set of home and away games starting this coming week.  Real Madrid and Atletico drew each other, so the city will be close to shutting down this coming Tuesday night. Meanwhile, Barcelona faces Paris Saint Germain, who knocked out English club Chelsea.  That should be a good set of matches.   Bayern Muenchen lurks in the other bracket, probably as the overall favorite.  France also has Monaco, while Portugal and Italy each have one team remaining.  To their embarrassment, no English club is left in the tournament. So much for Premier League domination!

Of course, this being football (soccer), there are always problems off the field.  The ex-manager of Osunana, a second division club, just went to jail for fraud. The Catalan regional prosecutors are prosecuting the head of the Barcelona club for tax fraud in conjunction with multi-million dollar contract with the Brazilian forward Neymar.  (Barcelona as a team also was barred from signing any new players for the coming year for violating the rules in conjunction with Neymar’s signing. )  Of course, none of this is as bad as Turkey, where someone opened up with a shotgun at the team bus carrying the players for one club.  Meanwhile FIFA had to face reality and recognize that the 2022 World Cup, which they had awarded to Qatar, could not possibly be played in the summer there, so it will be played in December of that year.  This will wreak havoc with the European leagues who normally play then.  It will not affect Major League Soccer which plays in the spring, summer and fall, but I seem to recall that there is another form of “football” played in the United States during that time of year which draws some mild interest. We will see how a World Cup quarterfinal matches up to, say, Packers – Patriots. That is in 7 years though. Time for other scandals to bubble up.

Rich

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Two nights after I sent my email, we were having a plate of fried baby squid at the bar of a seafood / paella restaurant when the owner came in. He knows us a little and has taken a shine to us.  He is from Asturias in the north of Spain where we plan to visit in July, so he gave us some tips. Shortly afterwards another customer came in with a present – several large pieces of salted tuna which she had gotten in Murcia (a city in the southeast of Spain, near Valencia) where it is a specialty.  The owner cut some up for us; with tomatoes and olive oil it was delicious.  (These things almost always taste better than they sound.) So I settled my bill, left a big tip and asked him to give the other customer a drink on us.  Well, the Spanish may be reticent on the street, but once the ice is broken, they are quite friendly. So the other customer started talking to us, then the other couple at the bar joined in. (The owner had given them a sample of the tuna also.)  Turns out he was a lawyer, so we started talking.  Ended up discussing the role of Spain, and its navy, in the formation of the United States. Meanwhile Sallie continued to talk to the female customer.  Several rounds of drinks later, some of them on the house, we had to leave., with assurances that we would be back.

Key fact – all of the conversations were in Spanish.  It was my longest Spanish conversation, and most interesting, to date, and it was Sallie’s first one of substance. So we not only had a great time, but got some renewed confidence in our Spanish.