Awake, for evening in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the day to flight.
And, lo, has caught O Burgo bridge 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/Galicia

Travelling to Spain? You can see here the EU’s Q&A on its imminent EES scheme.

I’m not sure there was ever much doubt who kicked off the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. I’ve certainly never seen any other name than the [deluded?] original owner of the bones cited here. BTW . . . The graphic shows only some of the 40+ Caminos you can tackle en route to the casket of some other bones. We now await DNA proof that St James The Elder was the owner of these. And that the whole shooting match/charade is justified on other than financial grounds.

To paint Spain as anti-tourist is completely misguided. And: The Spanish do still love British tourists – but only those who follow these rules. A good article. Even if it does gloss over the fact that the natives can be very noisy too . . .

Here’s Lenox on the briefest of encounters with an insect.

Good to read that a princess could face a fine for a motoring offence. If not, why not?

While airports down South are breaking passenger volume levels, here in Galicia these fell in July. Pretty solid evidence, I think, for my view that having 3 small ’international’ airports is madness. Especially as traffic in nearby Oporto’s airport has significantly increased too. All my visitors fly to and from the ‘Airport for all Galicians’, as it cleverly promotes itself. Poking fun at Galician localism/inadequacy.

15 years ago we had just one ‘pilgrims’ hostel (un albergue) in Pv city. Now have 2 public and maybe 7 or 8 private ones. In nearby Arcade, an albergue does well enough to have a robot server bring you your food.

The UK

Freedom of speech? What freedom?

Riots . . . One commentator writes, uncontroversially, that: We need to look at why people get involved in disorder and do our best to address these grievances, no matter what the cause.  But this Guardian columnist feels that, whatever grievances folk have, these aren’t in any way caused by excessive immigration. I’m not sure many people will agree with her. Or that her recommendations will solve the problem, assuming they’re ever implemented. Another (unimpressed) columnist has accused her of skirting around just about every substantive argument on immigration. I imagine that everyone on the Guardian believes that anyone opposing excessive immigration is a ‘far Right’ racist and fascist.

On this subject, I was wondering why Spain had happily increased its population by 10% in the last 5-10 years despite this being primarily via welcoming immigrants. As I’ve said a few times, the major reason is that it’s not very difficult to assimilate South Americans. And then it struck me that another factor might well be that no South American immigrant has ever committed an act of terrorism. Or even tried to kill locals with a knife or machete. So Spaniards don’t fear South Americans the way Brits fear Islamist Muslims. As the contrary columnist puts it: At its most basic level, response to immigration is determined by numbers and by the cultural impact. The larger the number and the greater the cultural disparities, the more likely it is that there will be anti-immigrant feeling.

France

Pigs will fly before the EU dares fine Macron’s France. Some of us formed this view this decades ago . . [In contrast, Spain does get fines, but just doesn’t pay them.]

The EU

More generally, from the same article: The uniquely unstable nature of Europe’s currency union is plain for all to see. Member states refuse to comply with the degree of fiscal restraint that is meant to underpin monetary unity. Is the German cheque book forever to underwrite the fiscal profligacy of Germany’s eurozone bedfellows? At some point, Berlin’s patience will break. 

This a calm and informed podcast on the future of the EU. With interesting observations on, inter alia, Hungary and Turkey. The latter is something of a Trojan horse for China, it seems. I can’t say the podcast left me any more optimistic for the future of The Project.

The USA

That Trump-Musk interchange that didn’t involve much interchange . .

The Way of the World/Social Media/Quote of the Day

On the shocking reality of teaching teenage boys . . I’ve taught for 20 years but the level of rude disregard for female staff is unprecedented – and phones and TikTok are to blame. . . . What may surprise you is that the[UK] school I work in is highly regarded and serves an affluent community. These are the children of doctors and professionals. Yet there is a huge disconnect between what the parents believe their kids are watching and their actual online lives.

Spanish

Un manjar: A delicacy. Delicious.

Did you know?

This is a paean of praise to a restaurant in Pv city which is so fulsome that I was astonished I’d never heard of the place. Especially as I must have walked past its location a thousand times. Turns out that it was only opened 2 months ago, on the Camino route in Rúa de la Peregrina. Anyway, it gets 4.9 on Google and the article writer claims the rice dishes are as good as those down in Valencia. Praise indeed. So, friends and I will be checking it out in September, when the crowds have gone.

Finally . . .

The latest spam Whatsapp message. . . . ​?Estás ahí? Necesito hablar contigo. From ‘Naresh Sahu’ in India.

The Usual Links . . .

• You can get my posts by email as soon as they’re published. With the added bonus that they’ll contain the typos I’ll discover later. I believe there’s a box for this at the bottom of each post. Note: If you do this but don’t read the posts, I will delete your subscription. So perhaps don’t bother if you have other reasons for subscribing . . .
• 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.
• 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. And this is something on the so-called Beckham Rule, which is beneficial – tax-wise – for folk who want to work here. Finally, some advice on getting a mortgage. And this article ‘debunks claims re wealth and residency taxes’. Probably only relevant if you’re a HNWI. In which case, you’ll surely know what that stands for.