Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable.
Christopher Howse: A Pilgrim in Spain
Spanish/Galician Life
A bit more on Santiago . . .
- I pondered paying the fees for the cathedral museum and for a sight of the restored Portico de Gloria of the cathedral but decided against both of them. So, I was pleased to see this picture of the latter in the Pilgrimage museum:-
The museum also boasts at least 20 representations of Santiago on horseback, slaughtering Moors. Two examples:-
- The amusing aspect of this is that - if you were able to see the statue of the saint in the cathedral - you wouldn't be able to clock the dying Moors, as there's a screen of lilies which prevents the feelings of visiting Muslims from being hurt. I assume it's assumed none of them will ever go to the museum next door.
- Likewise, I learnt that, when Franco came to the city with his guard of Moroccan soldiers, the Moors were blanketed, so as not to upset them.
- I suspect there are even more beggars in Santiago than in Pontevedra city. But the difference is that, in the former, they are more docilely sedentary - even kneeling with head down - whereas in my city they are far more in-your-face. And annoying.
- I revisited the Museum of the Galician People yesterday - O Museo do Pobo Galego.It's a lovely place, housed in an old church building of granite and wood. The dozens of exhibits range over the whole gamut of Galician agriculture, industry and culture, and there are some enviable models of boats, houses and even villages. Well worth the euro I had two pay.
- It's a feature of Galician/Spanish life that, when you tell, say, the woman at the ticket counter of a museum that it was hard to find because there was no sign for it, the answer is virtually always something like a blunt 'Yes'. Never anything like: 'Yes, sorry. We keep telling them about that'.
- Some advice for visitors to Spain . . If you're walking on a narrowish pavement(sidewalk), it's best to put yourself next to the wall or shopfront. You might well be compelled to flatten yourself against it but at least you won't be forced into the road.
- The other night I listened to a friend of a friend going on for 20-30 minutes about the narrow-minded, gossipy nature of Pontevedra city's 80,000 residents. Then yesterday I read that Eleanor Roosevelt had said: Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
- Reading a local newspaper an hour later, it stuck me that if you're going to publish a local paper every day, you're going to have to print - alongside the syndicated national and global news - an awful lot of trivia. Perhaps there's a connection.
Nutters Corner
- Good one, Dave.
Spanish
- Words of the Day:-
- Meteorism: The swelling of the gut because of gases, as in cows and pigs.
- Empaste: A dental filling: 'The perfect mixture of colours and tints in a painting'. I've seen it used as regards an orchestra's playing.
Finally . . .
- As I got on the train at Santiago station this stormy, windy, rainy, cold morning, a group of 5 young men and 1 young woman got off, after a night out in La Coruña - all in only shirtsleeves. Not a single pullover, jacket or coat between them. I thought this sort of madness only happened in Newcastle.
THE PROMO
Galicia Living is a new property development outfit here in Southern Galicia (As Rías Baixas), owned by a friend of mine. So, if you're looking for a house here, get in touch with them. And, if you're particularly interested in the lovely Miño area down on the border with Portugal, let me know on doncolin@gmail.com and I'll send you my write-up on it.
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