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 . .

The UN has warned Spain that new laws proposed by rightwing and far-right regional coalition governments to “whitewash” the Franco dictatorship could contravene international human rights standards. More here.

Meanwhile, the left-of-centre government takes a swipe at Spain’s Fiesta Nacional. See here and here.

Quite a find . . . More than 17 centuries after a Roman-era trading ship carrying a cargo of oil, wine and fish sauces sank off Mallorca, its treasure has been uncovered near a tourist beach. Let’s hope they don’t take the tops off the jars of fish sauce – garum – when they’re still close to bathers. It didn’t smell good 1,700 years ago. . . .

Portugal

Tolls might be scrapped on the roads into the country from Galicia and Andalucía. But I fear it won’t mean an amnesty for all the ‘gantry created’ tolls I’ve evaded driving to and from Oporto airport. There might still be a day of reckoning for me and many other travellers.

The UK

So, what happens in June? The thin end of a wedge? An insect plot?

The USA

Hope ceases to spring eternal for Donald . . .

Ukraine

The honeymoon with Poland is well and truly over, it’s claimed here.

The Way of the World

One of the few parts of the world where vultures are missed.

The article took me back to my failed attempt to see inside a tower of silence outside the desert city of Yazd in Iran. Which I later learnt was no longer in gory use.

Quote of the Day

Spain rejects an Argentinian claim its PM is causing ‘poverty and death.

Well, you would, wouldn’t you, even if it were true.

Do You Know?

There’s an amazing array of films to watch free on BBC iPlayer. Assuming you’re in the UK or have a VPN orientated appropriately.

Finally . . .

Last night, I started to watch the 1937 film Damsel in Distress, starring Fred Astaire and the lovely Jane Fontaine. The setting was London, though it was almost certainly shot in the USA. You could tell where the action was taking place since 1. there were some weird British accents on display – think Mary Poppins and Dick van Dyke – and 2. every time folk stepped ‘outside’, they were enveloped in swirling fog.

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. F

If you’re thinking of moving to Spain, go to one of my early April posts to see a link to an excellent guide on this.