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

Art Deco in Spain. Nice.

And, for history buffs, Napoleon’s Spain.

This is a place my old friend and I visited late February. I wrote about it here, here and here. I guess that, thanks to articles like this one, it’ll become less and less ‘laid back’. In fact, I’d say that it’s not just many of the honey-coloured stone buildings that have been converted into small hotels, low-key restaurants, and museums, but virtually all of them. If you haven’t already read it, one of the above posts of mine cites a nice account by the English travel writer H V Morton of his arrival in Trujillo in 1957. A rather different place back then. Like all of Spain.

Cousas de Galicia

Tourism in Pv province in March was 9% up on last year. One wonders when this will end, especially as regards the ‘pilgrims’ who now start to come en masse in that month. At the risk of being drenched every day from Oporto to Santiago de Compostela. And when another ‘authentic’ camino dating from the 10th century will be discovered, to the delight of the bar and restaurant owners on it. But perhaps not to their surprise.

LA LA Land

The transcript of the Time magazine interview featured here is hard to believe, Or, rather, by now it isn’t remotely hard to believe. Though it might well be in a history book written even only 20 years from how.

It’s been commented that the US Constitution has far more rules, norms and customary practices than anyone thought. And that these can be ignored by an unscrupulous – not to say power-mad – president. Which has come as something of a shock, leaving some us wondering it the US Constitution is everything it’s been cracked up to be.

Trump, it’s been said many times, is ‘performative’. So, I guess it’s no surprise that his sycophantic Cabinet members are effectively performing seals. All of these are so desperate to please Trump that I’m reminded of the Ian Kershaw’s point that Hitler didn’t need to issue specific demands, as everyone knew what he wanted and ‘worked towards it’.

Those peace talks . . . Imagine being welcomed by an open-armed Putin with a huge smile on his face. Wouldn’t you be a tad wary?

The dreadful Karoline Leavitt . . . If some of her predecessors at times seemed uncomfortable with selling the logical leaps that are necessary when tasked with defending Trump, Leavitt has always seemed to be as inside his head as possible. She relishes dispatching mainstream reporters’ hardballs with dismissive quips and, increasingly, welcomes right-leaning influencers’ softballs. She has amped up Trump’s anti-media tirades while playing loose with the facts, breaking longstanding precedents for how the White House interacts with the press.

Quote of the Day

Youth may fade, but immaturity can last a lifetime. Something to be grateful for . .

Spanish

Petardo: I now know that the text should have been That’s 250, petardo. not That’s 250 petardo. And that petardo here means neither fire-cracker nor euros but gilipolla (dickhead).

English

Two suggestions for an alternative to ‘pilgrim’ have been received: camineer and nutter. The former is possibly more acceptable., though it doesn’t trip off the tongue. Caminoeer, even less so, I guess.

Oh, and Perry has just suggested perry, derived from peregrination . . . Plural perries, I guess. But that sounds a tad canine in Spanish.

Did You Know?

I heard that this site allows you to find how you can receive any TV program or film/movie but it seems to demand (free) email registration and I didn’t bother to do this, so can’t confirm this.

You Have to Laugh

From Private Eye . . .

Finally . . .

I enjoyed a glass or two of this at yesterday’s long Spanish lunch . . .León limonada is a traditional, sweet, and spiced drink based on red wine and fruit. It is neither a conventional lemonade nor sangria, although they share some ingredients and preparation methods. It is an emblematic drink of Holy Week in León, consumed between processions and at family gatherings. Its origin is said to stem from the need to use up surplus wine and the custom of consuming lower-alcohol drinks during Lent. Although it might resemble sangria, its distinguished by the use of figs, raisins, cinnamon, and a long maceration process. There’s no single recipe or official regulation, but multiple local and family variations. This is one traditional recipe:-
3 litres of red wine from León [Very probably rich, fruity Mencía]
0.5 kg of lemons
1 bag of raisins
1 bag of dried figs
2 cinnamon sticks
400 g of sugar

Mix all the ingredients and let it sit for several days, stirring daily. Serve chilled and strain the fruit before drinking.

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 . . .

I can also be read on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/colin.davies.752861 or on Substack at https://doncolin.substack.com/

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. But see here on this. 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.

Getting a mortgage in Spain: Some advice on this challenge.