Wise After The Event

Ever since we arrived here, we have been promising ourselves that we would schedule time to visit other cities and other parts of Spain. Having to sort out the house and other things meant that we never quite got around to it. However, a friend came over to stay this month and we took the opportunity to head off with him to Cordoba and Granada. This way we got to visit two of the iconic Islamic sites in Andalucia.

The Mezquita was even larger than I had imagined, and more impressive, too. I was sad, though, that all but one of the arches leading from the Patio de los Naranjos into the mosque itself were closed off with doors and windows many years ago. So the interior is not flooded with light as it would have been originally. Of course, it´s not a mosque anymore. At the Reconquista it was turned into a Christian cathedral. For almost three hundred years this simply involved ´change of use´, but eventually the cathedral chapter managed to persuade the king - Carlos V - to allow them to build a coro in the centre of the building. I found myself in agreement with what Carlos said after they had finished; "You have constructed what you could have constructed anywhere. And you have destroyed something that exists nowehere else in the world".
Shame he didn´t think of that before he gave the go-ahead!

The Eco-friendly Carwash

About 15 minutes along the coast is the town of La Herradurra. It has a drive through carwash, common in the UK, but rare over here. For three euros it shampoos and washes the car then waxes it and blows it dry.
Unfortunately, at this time of the year our weather comes from North Africa, and with it a lot of windborne dust and sand which gets all over the car. So a new trip to La Herradurra was called for (It´s just too hot to go out with a bucket and sponge.). Right now though we´re busy getting the house ready to move into, so it got left and then it got left a bit longer. Bad enough for someone to write "Limpiarme" (clean me) in the dust.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning I was awakened by a terrific clap of thunder, followed by the patter of rain, which just got heavier and heavier. It rained for about five hours. And when I went out at 9 o´clock, there was my shiny clean car sitting at the kerb waiting for me!
Now I have a newfound respect for procrastination.

The Festival Is Over

But what a festival! This is a new blog and so far has very few readers. Well then, I can share this with you. But please, this is strictly between ourselves, OK? I don´t want the village swamped next year. For four days (Thursday to Sunday) over the last weekend in August, the place to be is Frigiliana. That means actually staying in the village, because the best bits happen in the evening and at night. We had a tapas route with 12 bars each serving up a separate tapa. We had gastronomic days with a christian, a muslim and a jewish lunch. We had around 50 market stalls with food and crafts from all over Spain as well as local stalls. We had open-air concerts every night at 11pm, followed on two nights by open-air disco. Plus art exhibitions, workshops, seminars. Plus activities for the children. We went to three of the concerts by Klezmatica, by a Rajahstan gypsy group and by a leading collector of traditional folk music and dance, Eliseo Parra.
Soon I should have my own broadband connection up and running. Then I´ll post some photos.

III Festival de las Tres Culturas

We fly back to Spain next Tuesday, just in time for the Festival of Three Cultures which starts in the village on 28th August. Frigiliana is a village which dates back to Moorish times, and which was the site of the final battle in 1569 between the Morisco population (Muslims who had - often forcibly - converted to Christianity after the Reconquest) and the Christian armies reinforced by troops sent by the pope from Italy. Before this date, Muslims, Jews and Christians had lived harmoniously together in this region for several hundred years. The festival, inaugurated three years ago, celebrates this fact and argues that what happened here in centuries gone by could happen again worldwide today.

Culture and tradition are very important to the people of Frigiliana as a visit to its website will show. Although the year-round population is only about two and a half thousand people, each fiesta sees the streets crowded with eager participants.

I've not managed to be here for the previous Three Cultures Festivals, so I'll save comments on what happens until I've actually experienced it for myself.

Broadening the scope

For some time I had a blog relating to my work as a magistrate on a metropolitan bench in the North West of England, and for a while after arriving in Spain I continued to post the odd item on that blog. However, very quickly I began to realise that now I have retired I was getting left behind as more changes came along, and that any thoughts I had about legislation and court procedural changes was increasingly based on ignorance and prejudice. Time to bow out gracefully; that blog has now closed.

On the other hand, I enjoy blogging and I remain interested in what is happening around me and commenting upon it, so this new blog is designed to permit me to post on any topic under the (mainly Spanish) sun. Having said that, the irony is that this initial post is being written whilst staying with my daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters in Surrey - a planned trip, but one which has allowed us to escape the high summer heat and humidity of the Costa del Sol. The past three or four weeks we have had temperatures consistently in the high thirties teamed with humidity over 70%. I never thought I would find the modest efforts of an English summer so congenial. My wife is particularly enjoying snuggling under a duvet! Of course, it's attractive because we know that in a couple of weeks we'll be back in the sun and back to the mainly outdoor life - some of which I hope to share with you!