TRAVEL IN SPAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 170, 20 July 1935, Page 1 (Supplement)

TRAVEL IN SPAIN.

HISTORY AND COLOUR.

KIND AND HAPPY PEOPLE.

(By S. A. HOLLAND.)

Sunny Spain! Land of romance and flowers, of song and dance! Land of the orange, the olive and the vine! How it grips one's heart and ever calls one back! Wherein lies its wonderous charm ? It lies, I think, in its Orientalism, or the mingling of the Spanish and Oriental which distinguishes it from all other countries of Europe. This Orientalism is to be found mostly in Andalusia, tho most southerly province. Of all the cities of Spain Seville is the most truly Spanish, with a considerable mingling of the Oriental. Who, having once seen it, can forget the view of the city from the Moorish Giralda, the tower of the ancient Mosque, or the Alcazar, the beautiful Moorish palace, set in its delightful Arab garden? Who can forget the wonderful Gothic Cathedral, the fascinating old Moorish houses, the ivy-covered Roman walls, or the paintings of Murillo in the museum ?

Romance and Colour. Here nearly all the women still wear the high tortoise-shell comb and black lace mantilla in the street. This is the one city in Spain in which this old custom still prevails and it gives the streets a cTiarming, old-world effect. Here the lover still woos his "novia" (sweetheart) from the street and she answers him from a lattice or a balcony above and, perhaps, throws him a rose. The air is laden with the scent of orange blossom. The streets are gay with flowers, as, in nearly all the little balconies, they are growing in pots— carnations, geranuims and hanging vines. The best time to visit Seville is Holy Week, when one sees the magnificent processions, with their beautiful "Pasos" or sacred tableaux, carried through the streets on carved platforms. Hundreds of penitents pass silently along, carrying enormous lighted candles. They are dressed in embroidered cloaks of silk or velvet and wear conical-shaped headdresses which completely hide the faces, only the eyes being visible. The "Paso" of the Virgin is magnificent. She wears a golden crown and a starry halo, studded with precious stones, her velvet mantle is richly embroidered in gold and jewels. On each side of this paso march soldiers with fixed bayonets. The streets are thronged. Men and boys pass backwards and forwards among the people carrying old-fashioned water jars, and their cries of "Agua, Agua" mingle with the "Saetas," or pious ejaculations of the women. Others are

selling food of all kinds, salted almonds and sweets, while others again balloons. It is a colourful and animated scene, a curious mixture of the sacred and the profane. The Alhambra.

When one thinks of Granada it is the Alhambra that immediately rises before one's eyes, that exquisite fairy-like palace of legend and romance, rising trom its wooded hill where, morning and evening, the nightingales sing and the mumur of fountains is heard cm every side. It is surrounded by embattled walls in which are many strong towers, a marvel of Moorish architecture with its- famous Lion and Myrtle Courts, its arabesques and coloured plaster work, its wonderful halls with their stalactite ceilings and archways, its intimate little rooms with their latticed windows and hollowed recesses that hold the perfumed waters. From charming little patios the scent of flowers floats on the air. It is like a wonderful fairy tale.

The view of the city of Granada from the watch-tower of the old fortress is very fine. At sunset a rosy, mist floats over the Vega, or plain, the Alhambra is almost blood-red in the rays of the setting sun and, behind it, are the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, their snow-capped peaks a delicate pink. It is a magnificent and never-to-be-for-gotten sight.

Cordoba and Ronda are two other interesting towns of Andalusia. The former was once the centre of Moorish culture. To its wonderful university came students from all over Europe, including England and Scotland. The marvellous old Mosque still stands. Its interior resembles a forest of palms with its hundreds of pillars supporting double horseshoe arches painted black and white. Ronda, with its old bridges, gates and bastions, is a beautiful old town of the middle ages, scarcely changed by time. It is built on a high rock which is divided in two by a deep gorge spanned by a magnificent bridge. The old part of the town bears a Moorish aspect with its narrow, steep and crooked streets and old Moorish houses. Its bull ring is one of tlie finest in Spain.

Spanish Markets. The Spanish markets are colourful and interesting, with their exotic fruits, their great piles of golden oranges, baskets of chirrimoyas (custard apples), barrels of olives and quantities of luscious grapes. Here you can see the countrymen in their picturesque clothes, wearing wide-brimmed hats and "alpargatas," the shoes worn by the peasants. Here also come the fishermen with wide scarves of brilliant colours wound round their waists. The fish are very curious, from the tiny octopus which is often served in its own ink and is a favourite dish of the Spaniards, to the enormous tunny fish, cut into steaks. It is an animated scene and the noise is almost deafening. The country folk are kind and courteous. They love the simple joys of life. Eivery "town has its annual fiesta,

at which the typical Spanish dances are performed in costume to the music of guitars and fiddles, and with the dances go the songs, some full of the magic of the East, others of the spirit of the Celts. I was in Seo de Urgel, in the Spanish Pyrenees, during the "Fiesta Mayor." In the Cathedral Square there was country dancing, in circles, to the music of the village orchestra. Anyone can join in. You just take hands or link arms, then, backwards and forwards and round you go, to the merry shout of laughter and song and the scraping of the violins. In another square the Sardana, the typical Catalonian dance is given. It is done in couples, the girls, who are very beautiful, wearing the typical costume of the province and the men the red Pyrenean cap. And, in the principal square, there are the more sophisticated modern dances, from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. There are bicycle races for the boys and cross country ones for the men. A spirit of gaiety pervades the town; for three days no one works, everyone, from the oldest to the youngest, is at the fiesta.

Free Libraries. In all the largest parks in Spain there are free libraries, , with seats arranged nearby, where anyone can sit all day and read. In Madrid's magnificent park, "El Retiro," I had a talk with the man in charge of the library and, when I told him I was English, he said he had many English books and proudly showed me the "Voyage of the Sunbeam" and Spanish translations of Shakespeare's plays and Sir Walter Scott's novels.

Also all over Spain there is what is called "El Dia del Libro" (book day), when the prices of all books have to be reduced. Every bookseller has stalls outside his shop and they are also arranged along all the principal streets. The prices are very low and all day long the stalls are thronged. Book day, curiously enough, comes on Shakespeare's birthday.

There are many delightful excursions to be made from Madrid, one of the chief of which is to Toledo, a fascinating old town of the middle ages, for centuries noted for the manufacture of the celebrated Toledo blades. They are, indeed, marvellous. They can be bent double or even rolled up like a watch spring, yet always come straight again and never lose 'their keen edge. The handles are beautifully damascened. Toledo was the home of the celebrated painter, El Greco, and there one can still visit his house in which there is a very fine collection of his paintings. Travelling in Spain is comfortable and cheap. I went through a great part of the country during the Revolution of 1931, and was never inconvenienced in anv way, everyone was most kind Since the Republican Government came into power the people in the cities and towns have changed a little ana, even in the country, they have become a little more sophisticated, but bpain still remains one of the most interestin"- and alliirin<r countries in Europe, and I can assure anyone who intends visiting it that he will not be disappointed.