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

Lenox Napier comments here on the Spanish (‘tribal’) approach to the Israel-Palestine ‘mess’.

As was predicted, I suspect . . . The housing law sinks the supply of flats for rent by 30% in 5 months.

A big day in Madrid on Sunday . . .

Some ‘secret places’ in Spain – said to be only known about by locals. None in Galicia, sadly. But I do know, from more map-perusing this morning – that we have thousands of tiny villages/hamlets up in the mountains. Many with the same bloody name. Portela, for example.

Nice to see an entire page dedicated to the English footballer Bobby Charlton in the Faro de Vigo yesterday.

Which reminds me . . . Pv FC achieved another goleado on Sunday. They’ve scored 18 goals in their last 4 matches without conceding any. At 2nd place in the 4th Division, they’re on their way to returning to the 3rd, from which they were relegated last year. If so, they’ll be meeting Deportivo La Coruña next season, unless the latter pass them on their (continuing) way down. Reader David had reminded me of what Deportivo achieved in the early years of this century, when in the Prima Liga. Indeed, I saw them play Liverpool one year in an international match, and was duly insulted by a Scouser because I was wearing a blue and white scarf – the colours of both Everton and Deportivo. I was, of courses, able to give as good as I got. Which left said Scouser rather nonplussed.

Just in case you’re visiting . . . According to ‘research’ done by the VdG (or DdP) among the young folk of Pv city, the best places in which to ligar are the bars of Gramola and La Hama, which are conveniently close to each other, in and off the Plaza de Méndez Núñez down in the old quarter near the fish and seafood market. I was told – a while ago – that La Hama was for older folk. Perhaps it really is.

The final quote from Cees Noteboom’s Roads to Santiago: [On the Monte de Gozo, towards the end of the Camino de Santiago] There is no one to be seen on that high ground, nothing at all, a somewhat bare field, a closed chapel, a few boulders. I climb onto one of them and stare into the distance, and then, slowly, as if a veil is lifting, I discover the cathedral, almost hidden behind a ripple of green hills and a transparent screen of trees, three fragile towers drawn in infinitesimal detail, a vision in a dream, and whether I like it or not, an indefinable chemistry floods my heart with their joy, and I sit there until dusk creeps up the slope and the cars down in the misty valley turn on their lights and beam towards the city in sinuous ribbons of light. Here I am at last, now I can arrive in Santiago.

Well, that was back in the 1980s, before the Camino became fashionable, to be walked by getting on for half a million folk. Now, there is a huge modernistic statue there and a vast hostel – complete with pool – for the hundreds of ‘pilgrims’ who want to stay on the Mount of Joy before they trek through the suburbs of Santiago de Compostela.

It would be hard now to have a spiritual experience there. Progress. Perhaps.

The EU

Social Media

English/Spanish

In my Pilates class yesterday, the subject turned to English, with one of the Gallegas telling me that, although Spanish has fewer vowels than English, it has many more verbs. I rather doubt this and am left wondering if it’s one of the myths Spanish speakers tell each other.

Spanish

Desalentador: Discouraging; Disheartening.

Anyone know the difference between a piso and an apartamento? Other than piso can also mean an entire floor.

Did you know? . . .

This is how to tell if your boss is a psychopath. Politics is a fertile ground for psychopaths. As is the law and the media. And the occasional girlfriend/wife, I guess. Or boyfriend/husband, of course. But I never went out with one of them . . .

Finally . . .

A nice tribute to some other Scousers . . .

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.

For those thinking of moving to Spain:- This is an extremely comprehensive and accurate guide to the challenge, written by a Brit who lives in both the North and the South and who’s very involved in helping Camino walkers.