Thoughts from Galicia: 6.8.17

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.

Life in Spain:-

• It’s finally happened, says city resident, Don Quijones . . . After years of surging public opposition to unrestrained growth of the city’s tourist industry, Barcelona has witnessed a rash of coordinated attacks against tourist targets in the last week.  See his article here.
• It's reported that more and more 'pilgrims' are wending south from Santiago de Compostela to the Portuguese shrine in Fátima. I've certainly noticed this odd trend. Last week, I passed 3 South Koreans(?) shrouded in hats, face masks and long-sleeved shirts, and taking fotos from one of our bridges. I tend not to ask people if they know they're going the 'wrong' way, having been irritated by this when I've done some local stages 'backwards'.
• Talking of pilgrimaging . . .  The Spanish national train operator is now offering  El Tren Peregrino. This starts in Madrid and gives you 5 nights aboard a sleeping car. I guess you do have to do some walking during the days. The local papers only mention local towns, north from Tui, suggesting it only covers the Galician bits of the old and new Portuguese caminos. €650 seems a bit steep to me but maybe not. The new route is the so-called variante espiritual, 'rehabilitated' a year or two ago.
• I clocked this poor bastard being flagged down as I walked into town just now. 

No idea what he's accused of but, as they've just come from a large roundabout, it's very possible it's of being in the wrong lane. But, as the police are just as confused as everyone else here on this subject, I guess he's got a great chance of a successful appeal, if this is the case.

By the way, I've probably committed an offence by taking this foto of the police in action. For 'disrespecting' them. Not quite Venezuela but . . . .

Damn. So far here in Pontevedra we've avoided the cruise ship blight which has hit Vigo in the last few years. But now I read there's a boat coming here from Hamburg on 8th October, en route to Lisbon. Only 155 passengers but the thin end of a wedge . . . I might start a local branch of the Catalan anarchist group.

Finally . . . . Spain's producers and suppliers are now ramping up prices at levels, in some cases, way above inflation levels. This is a national phenomenon but readers of the Voz de Galicia might well feel, on the basis of this headline today, that Galicia is being victimised. Localism. Though not nationalism.

Today's Cartoon:-