Only in Spain
Feb 19th 2016 | 12:24 am
#31
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 6,255
Re: Only in Spain
The Costa de la Luz (light) used to be called the Costa del Viento (wind.) It was changed make it attractive after tourism was invented, but the wind there is truly horrible. It's called the levante, it comes from the Sahara and thereabouts and often deposits a layer of desert sand over cars and everything. It has a terrible psychological and physical effect on many people - your head aches, you feel confused, depressed, tired and slightly mad, just as badly indoors as out. It's well known that the number of suicides at Tarifa rises during a oeriod of levante (which usually lasts 5 or 10 days) and it was always said that sailors from other lands, who docked at Cádiz, were liable to go crazy and fight and commit murders (more than usual.)Further inland, a similar wind is called the Solano and is horrid, but less so and rarely lasts as long.I saw the Levante devastate a campsite - there were eucalyptus trees everywhere, with their shallow roots, and they were toppling onto awnings and tents (those that hadn't already blown away.
Feb 19th 2016 | 1:15 am
#32
Polished expat
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 18,685
From: Arcos de Valdevez "Onde Portugal se fez"
Re: Only in Spain
The Costas del Sol and Blanca are the worst affected I agree, but having travelled all of the coastline at one time and another there are very few unaffected areas and Spain has suffered much more from piecemeal coastal development than any other Med country I have visited.
Feb 19th 2016 | 4:05 am
#33
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 71
Re: Only in Spain
And returninng to Post 13 and the title "Only in Spain," it's the only country that hasn't compensated thalidomide victims.
Thalidomide: how men who blighted lives of thousands evaded justice | Society | The Guardian
https://www.change.org/p/gr%C3%BCnen...domida-como-yo
How wicked is that?
Thalidomide: how men who blighted lives of thousands evaded justice | Society | The Guardian
https://www.change.org/p/gr%C3%BCnen...domida-como-yo
How wicked is that?
Feb 19th 2016 | 5:47 am
#34
Thread Starter
On the road again.
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 17,507
From: On Top of the World
Re: Only in Spain
Part of the very few I mentioned.
A while since I was up there but I do recall one or two favourite spots on the coast, it would be nice to think they still haven't been messed up yet.
Inland Galicia is quite interesting also.
I crossed the border there into Portugal a few times as well, couldn't believe how backward it was at the time, not that I minded, I really enjoyed it.
A while since I was up there but I do recall one or two favourite spots on the coast, it would be nice to think they still haven't been messed up yet.
Inland Galicia is quite interesting also.
I crossed the border there into Portugal a few times as well, couldn't believe how backward it was at the time, not that I minded, I really enjoyed it.
Last edited by Dick Dasterdly; Feb 19th 2016 at 5:50 am. Reason: Add on
Feb 19th 2016 | 6:09 am
#35
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 71
Re: Only in Spain
I bet, if one lived there, it'd be very, very interesting indeed, because it's one of the ancient Celtic nations, with Cornwall, Cymru (Wales, PaÃs de los Gales) Isle of Man, Eire, Scotland - misty, magical, proud, brave, independent, free-thinking, musical, tough and of high intelligence.
Once I was on a ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff a couple of days before St. Patrick's Day; there were lots of musicains, amateur and some professional, from those places and they told me that they'd met one year and had kept on ever since going back to Roscoff to play in the streets and bars. It wasn't formalised - they all just turned up. At about 11 p.m. a couple started playing, then more and more un til there were more than forty players, of all ages and with all the wierd instruments they have, all jamming and in such harmonyy of understanding - they played all night - it was so uplifting, I couldn't tear myself away.
Once I was on a ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff a couple of days before St. Patrick's Day; there were lots of musicains, amateur and some professional, from those places and they told me that they'd met one year and had kept on ever since going back to Roscoff to play in the streets and bars. It wasn't formalised - they all just turned up. At about 11 p.m. a couple started playing, then more and more un til there were more than forty players, of all ages and with all the wierd instruments they have, all jamming and in such harmonyy of understanding - they played all night - it was so uplifting, I couldn't tear myself away.
