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

According to a poll of tourists, this is the best monument to visit in Spain. For readers who didn’t see my recent dyspeptic comments on my last visit to it, these are reproduced at the end of this post. Or see said recent post here.

Teruel’s trufflish treasure.

Castles are king in rural Spain’s plan to save villages. Spain has more than 10,000 castles, many of them deeply neglected, but they may be key to bringing life back to swathes of areas threatened with depopulation.

A friend commented – accurately – that Pv city was packed with folk midday on Xmas Eve, taking an aperitivo before their large meal. This custom has a name, it seems – Tardebuena, a play on Nochebuena.

Cousas de Galicia

The consensus seems to be that most of the Galician words said to come from German are now obsolete.

The UK

Progressives lost their minds in 2024 – and alienated people with their nastiness and extremism . . . The big problem for social justice warriors now is that on every issue about which they have chosen to obsess (to the detriment of any constructive, meaningful ideas) the result is pushback.

The EU

Germany joins an EU club that no country should really be a member of.

Spanish

• Hostia: Eucharist but also golpe o bofetada. Which are said to be malson,
• Malson: En un diccionario se refiere a algo que es despreciable, inútil o molesto. Se deriva del latín y se utiliza en contextos que indican una connotación negativa.
• Ansias: Cravings: Desire.

Did you know?

Christianity grew very rapidly after a slowish start, for the reasons adduced – controversially? – in this Guardian article. If it’s true, was the causal event literally a [Christian]godsend​??

You Have to Laugh

This, in my experience, is very true . . .

Finally . . .

Jesus Christ is known as The Lamb of God. Which is possibly why it’s a traditional meat at Xmas in Spain. I love it and was very pleased to have it at both of the meals I was invited to on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day. Which, TBH, is the only remotely religious thing I – as a lapsed Catholic – did over the 2 days.

Finally, Finally . . .

Endorsing my view on our Teutonic origins, We are all Franks, says one of contributors to this podcast on the on demise of the Frankish empire in the 10th century. And on why the EU loves Charlemagne.

Horticultural/Culinary note

This is a weed – common purslane/hogweed/pursley – I’ve been regularly killing in my garden. Proper name – Portulaca oleracea.

It turns out that:-

• All parts of purslane are edible, raw or cooked.
• The seeds can be eaten raw or used to make flour
• It’s eaten throughout much of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Mexico. 
• It can be eaten as a leaf vegetable.
• It has a slightly sour and salty taste [Due to oxalic and malic acid, which is at its highest when the plant is harvested in the early morning].
• It can be used fresh as a salad, stir-fried, or cooked like spinach, and
• Because of its mucilaginous quality, it is suitable for soups and stews.

The Grand Mosque in Córdoba

I admit to finding it hard to stomach the numerous guided groups which clog the narrow streets of Córdoba’s glorious medieval quarters. But visiting the Great Mosque for the second time was a personal nightmare. Maybe my recollection is wrong but I have a memory of last time being virtually alone there, stupefied by the beauty of it all. This time it was like a bloody railway station on a busy main line. Hundreds and hundreds of folk wandering noisily around, taking endless selfies. Even more irritating for (bad mood) me was the immense amount of Christian tat which despoils the original construction. I must be wrong but I don’t recall all the side chapels along every wall. Nor the altars set up between the columns. And don’t start me on the cathedral plonked by vandals in the middle of the majestic masjed. And then there are all the display cabinets in the corners. I’d still recommend that you see it before you die but, unless (maybe) you go very early in the morning in mid-winter, you need to be prepared for a very mixed experience. Which must surely be even worse in the high season. Though not if you’re a practising Catholic who finds all the grotesque iconography meaningful. Comforting even. Been there, done that. Lapsed. [I’ve since read that Córdoba’s Grand Mosque is free early in the morning, before the first Mass in the Catholic cathedral plonked in the middle of it. Well worth taking advantage of.]

My thanks to those readers who take the trouble to Like my posts.

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.