Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.
And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light!
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable: Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’
Cosas de España
Everyone in Spain knows that, in the late 1970s and early 80s, there was a frenetic, anything-goes reaction to the repression of the Franco era, called La Movida and centred on the barrio of Malasaña. Which is still thought of as rather Bohemian but which, in fact, is slowly being gentrified. I thought of this yesterday when hearing a British historian theorise that the famous liberality of Amsterdam was a reaction to Nazi repression. Perhaps a stretch.
There are Jewish museums all around Spain, even here in Galicia – in Ribadavia. But Madrid doesn’t have one. The gap that will be remedied in 2025(?), when the ‘first large-scale’ Jewish museum will open its doors there. The new museum will focus on the contribution of Sephardic heritage to Spanish culture and, by extension, that of the entire Spanish-speaking world. I look forward to visiting it.
The price of petrol/gas has reached new heights this month. In some places down South, it’s €1.80 a litre. How much this reflects price gouging at a time when millions of Spaniards (and tourists) are on the road is impossible to say. But 2 things are certain: The petrol companies aren’t charities, and they won’t be investigated.
Talking of driving . . . Here’s the latest gen – from UK Gov – on the challenge of exchanging your British licence for a Spanish one. Which is a lot easier than it was when my daughter in Madrid – resident here for more than 10 years – tried to do this a couple of years ago.
There’ll be 2 corridas (bullfights) in Pv city in the next 2 weeks, as part of our annual, 2-week Peregrina* fiesta/extravaganza. When I came here in 2000, there were 4, which tells you something. Anyway, here’s an on-cue article from Eye on Spain of this centuries-old tradition deeply woven into the cultural fabric of Spain. Which you must never call a ‘sport’.
- Virgen thereof.
The UK
AEP worries here about the threatened loss of Britain’s leading position in ‘clean-tech’. To the Chinese, of course.
Quote of the Day
As Baby Boomers can testify, ageism is the last acceptable form of discrimination.
Less true of Spain than it is of the UK, I believe. Thank god.
The Way of the World
The Guardian comments here on the alleged threat to the (already-pretty corrupted) world of football posed by Saudi Arabia’s billions and their plans to use them on further sportswashing..
Spanish
Reader David says he’s noticed the increasing use in the business world here of gender-neutral words such as todxs and amigxs. Which are so ugly they might catch on. We’ll know they have when spell-checks don’t query them. Which WordPress’s just did.
Did you know?
I suspect the great majoirty of Westerners are ignorant of just how powerful Persia (modern Iran) was back in the day. As I would surely be, if I hadn’t lived there for a few years. And read books like this one.
Finally . . .
Another fine obituary of the estimable John Brierley, the man who invented Camino guides. Well, the modern ones, anyway. Not the Codex Calixtinus, of course.
To amuse all adolescents out there . . .
For new readers:- If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there – updated a bit in early July 2023.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 
The Eagle & The Lion. Added to my book list. Thank you Mr C.
LikeLike
There is the Centro Sefarad-Israel in Madrid, though it’s more of a cultural center with itinerant showings of art.
Ageism does exist in Spain, and it’s expressed in the workforce. Before hiring anyone over 50, an employer will hire a 20 year old with no experience. That way, they can pay them less, keep them for a few months, then hire another one, mostly to take advantage of any rebates the regional or national government might give for hiring young people. It still happens, though perhaps not as much as a few years ago.
When I exchanged my US license for my Spanish one, I was told I needed proof of residence in the US of at least the six months prior to obtaining my license. I took them expurgated copies of my school report cards and my IRS tax files for the last few years I lived there. A little more than six months. I encountered no problem.
LikeLike
I take it you have missed the fact AEP is advocating keeping Net Zero. I for once,
for the first -and possibly the last -time agree with AEP. Britain is once more – under the malignant influence of its right wing media establishment – casting away the possibility of leading a technological revolution. Add to that the possible abandoning of the HS2 – and what you have is acrudderless country ruled by a cowardly elite that seems happy to see competitors take the lead and embrace the future. Just take a look at the huge number of electronic chip and battery factories being built on the continent. And compare that with Britain’s paltry tally. It would be sad of it wasn’t so desperate. Simply frustrating.
LikeLike
How could anyone miss it?
If you live in the UK, have you ever thought of leaving it to its fate, as you see it?
LikeLike
The Goldsworthy book review by Pratinav Anil is a bit trite.
“The Eastern Roman emperor Heraclius put up stiff resistance, and a war of attrition played out for three decades”.
Byzantium was Greek. After Heraclius recovered Aelius Capitolina (Jerusalem) from the Sasanid Empire in 629 AD, he styled himself as Basileus, the Greek word for Sovereign, rather than Augustus, as he originated from Armenia. Aelius Capitolina was captured by the Sasanid Empire in 614 AD. In 2008, archaeologists uncovered a hoard of 264 gold coins minted at the beginning of the reign of Heraclius, between the years 610-613 CE, in excavations at the Giv’ati parking lot in Ma’alot ir David Street in Jerusalem. The coins had been hidden inside the wall of a dwelling, whose presumably Greek owner did not return after the Sasanid occupation.
In 2013, a hoard of rare gold coins, silver and gold jewelry, the Menorah Medallion treasure was discovered on the Ophel, at the foot of the southern wall of the Haram (Temple Mount). After the city fell to the Sasanid Empire in 614 AD, Jews returned intent on rebuilding their homeland. Some had even assisted the Persians in taking the city, with the promise that they would be allowed to rebuild the temple. However, as Sasanid power waned, so did their support for the Jewish population. To appease the rising power of Christendom, the Sasanids betrayed the Jews
& expelled them from the city, before they also withdrew. It is postulated that the treasure was abandoned in haste around 629 AD. Seven years later, Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb took Aelia Capitolina.
“The Arabs crushed Rome at Yarmuk in 636 AD”.
The Byzantines (not Rome, which had fallen to Odoacer, who deposed the last Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 AD) lost only Syria to the Rashidun Caliphate. Byzantium, later Constantinople, was colonized by Greeks from Megara in the 7th century BC & remained primarily Greek-speaking until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in AD 1453.
LikeLike