Thoughts from Galicia: 27.8.17

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.

- Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain. 

If you've arrived here because of an interest in Galicia or Pontevedra, see my web page here.

Note: Yesterday's post was published very belatedly at 6 this morning. If you scroll down and read it, you'll realise why I was a tad distracted yesterday.

Tour Notes

Today finds me – walletless - in Pastrana, an utterly charming little town in the hills north east of Madrid. I'm staying in the excellent Hotel Mayno, conveniently situated on th edge of the town, directly below what was the Muslim quarter, constructed after the expulsion of the Moors, when an enterprising local noble brought 200 Morisco families here from the Alpujarras to work the land. La dueña of the hotel is a fount of knowledge on the town and gave us a slide show of the Palacio Ducal over breakfast. And answered my several interjected questions very politely

As I have a full schedule for today, here's just a few items:-

Here and here and thoughtful articles on the Barcelona terrorist attack, referencing the politically inspired lack of cooperation between Cataluña and Madrid. 

And here is a even more thoughtful article on the same theme. As the author says:- Changes in immigration policy should be adopted urgently; the labyrinthine system of national, regional, and local police corps must be rethought and simplified, and the counterterror units centralized. But above all, the authorities should start talking sensibly to our citizens, beginning with a clear definition of the enemy. People were chanting in the streets of Barcelona the day after the attacks, “We are not afraid.” But not being afraid of dying is not what is needed. What is needed is courage and valor to confront terrorism and terrorists. Spain is not there yet because Spain still believes it is different.

And here is a yet more serious article on the Catalan independence issue and its implications not only for Spain but for the entire EU. I was surprised – but pleased - to read in it this sentence about Brexit: The vote by Britain to withdraw from the EU was put down to racism, but ,while anti-immigrant sentiment did play a role in the Brexit, that argument is a vast oversimplification of what happened. I couldn't agree more.

Something lighter – one of the more bizarre of Spain's usually-odd fiestas.

Finally . . . A good-news story from Galicia

One of the fotos of Pastrana from the web here:-