Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts
the stars to flight.
And, lo, the hunter of the east 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

A new book seeks to prove Cervantes was wrong in dismissing his poetry and to show that, to the contrary, he was not only the creator of what scholars deem to be the first modern novel but also one of the great poets of Spain’s Golden Age.

As we all know by now, The Economist has (here) been laudatory about the Spanish economy, believing it has lessons for other countries. For example, get an awful lot of sun and a huge sandy coastline to cover in concrete and glass. But anyway . . . Spain offers the best rejoinder to those who say Europe is doomed to stagnation. Its economy is reaping the reward of past reforms. That offers lessons for the rest of the continent, but should also serve as a warning for Spanish policymakers today.

Another article on the same theme.

And in the same mood . .. Spain is increasingly becoming vital to Europe, owing a little to failures/misfortunes elsewhere.

AirBnb has come a long way since its rent-out-your-spare room days. Essentially, ever since individuals and companies realised how much money could be made through it. I recall, for example, reading of the Russian mafia renting rooms in Barcelona for a whole month and then sub-renting them for 31 separate nights, at a massive profit. So, it’s no surprise, in the current climate, that Spain clamping down on multi-property owners.

This purports to be a guide to retirement in Spain but I imagine there are better ones around. A good starter, perhaps.

Cousas de Galicia

As if we didn’t know already, the VdG tells us that: The Galician sky is underused: Nearly 6 million travellers have passed through Galician airports this year. In the 3 airports. there is capacity and business for 14 new international destinations. A flight to New York has been searched for more than 70,000 times by Galicians but, as there is no direct flight, only 8,000 ended up travelling there via connections. I imagine a good percentage of the other 62,000 flew from to Oporto in North Portugal. Back in 1999 this was very much a Third World facility but you should see it now. When it was first opened I wondered whether it would ever reach anything like capacity but the Portuguese clearly knew how stupid Galician politicians were back then. And would remain.

France

I got to wondering when the Germanic Franks, having invaded Gaul, began to change their language to Latin and then French. An AI engine gave me a lot of info, of which this is the summary: The Franks transitioned from speaking a Germanic language to adopting Latin-based dialects primarily due to their integration into Romanized Gaul, bilingualism among elites, and the cultural dominance of Latin. The process spanned several centuries, beginning in the 5th and concluding by around the 9th–10th centuries. In the North, Viking invasions and settlements led to the Norman French variant. Painfully introduced into England in 1066.

The USA

Trump’s latest lies . . . Canada sends significant amounts of Fentanyl to the USA and also contributes significantly to the alleged immigration problem.

More on the reaction to that CEO murder – The Left’s glorification of Luigi Mangione is depraved. Contrasting reactions to deaths of health CEO and aggressive homeless man lay bare the distortion of public discourse.

Russia

My old friend in Hamburg asked me if it was true that Russia had offered 10,000 troops to Cataluña back in 2017. I said it sounded insane but I’ve since learned it’s cited in a Germano-French documentary on Russia’s nefarious activities in Western Europe. An AI search came up with this: It is alleged that the group proposed sending 10,000 soldiers and offering substantial financial assistance, including $500 billion, to help Catalonia achieve independence. This happened on the eve of Catalonia’s parliamentary vote to declare independence. Spanish authorities later suggested that accepting such an offer could have led to a tragic conflict with an unknown number of casualties. Investigations also revealed Russia-backed disinformation campaigns promoting Catalan independence on social media. The Kremlin has denied these accusations, dismissing them as baseless. And I suppose they might be. The 2-part documentary is available in German and French but not yet Spanish or English.

Spanish

• “Kweré” = QR [reader]
• Zozobrar: To founder, fail
• Estiba: Stowage, load
• Estibador: Stevedore

Did you know?

A well preserved Phoenician boat has been discovered down South.

Finally, finally . . .

The Autodidact Professor brings us here another battle which determined the history of both Spain and Europe –The Battle of Tours in 732 followed 2 decades of Umayyad conquests in Europe which had begun with the invasion of the Christian Visigothic Kingdom of the Iberian peninsula in 711. These were followed by military expeditions into the Frankish territories of Gaul, former provinces of the Roman Empire. Umayyad military campaigns reached northward into Aquitaine and Burgundy. The victory of Charles Martel is widely believed to have stopped the northward advance of Umayyad forces and to have prevented the Islamization of Western Europe.

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts, either after reading them on line or in my FB group Thoughts from Galicia.

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. 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.