PICTURESQUE SPAIN
PICTURESQUE SPAIN
ARCHITECTURE * LANDSCAPE
LIFE OF THE PEOPLE
BY
K. HIELSCHER
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD
LONDON : : ADELPHI TERRACE
MOST HUMBLY DEDICATED
TO
HIS MAJESTY KING ALFONSO XIII.
OF
SPAIN
Spain is one great open-air museum containing the cultural wealth of the
most varied epochs and peoples. On the walls of the Altamira cave is
blazoned that much admired steer painted thousands of years ago by men
of the Ice Age. In Barcelona stand the fantastic buildings of
neo-Castilian present-day art. Celts, Iberians, Romans, Carthaginians,
Moors and Goths have fought and struggled for supremacy in Spain. Of all
this the stones tell us to-day. They are the chronicles. They relate of
bitter strife; of the culture and art aspirations belonging to times
gone by. Much has vanished into dust and ruin. That which has survived
time’s fretting tooth serves as a giant bridge to lead us back to the
past.
Fate was kind enough to let me spend five years in Spain. Caught there
by the war while engaged in studies, I was cut off from home. I made use
of my involuntary stay to become acquainted with the country in its
furthermost corners. I roved to and fro from the pinnacles of the
Pyrenees to the shores of Tarifa, from the palm forest of Elché to the
forgotten Hurdes inhabitants of Estremadura.
On all my lonely wanderings I was accompanied by my faithful camera: we
covered over 45000 kilometres together in Spain. We kept our eyes open
diligently. I say we, for in addition to mine was a precious glass eye
in the shape of the Zeiss lens. Whereas my eyes only made me the
intellectual recipient of what we saw, that of my travelling companion
made it a pictorial permanency. I took over 2000 photographs during our
peregrinations. This volume only presents a small selection. It was not
easy to make the final choice. Many a picture had to be omitted to which
I was attached, either for its peculiarity or its character.
I went at no one’s instigation through Spain but that of my own in
search of the beautiful. I was not guided by any constraining
professional principles. Beautiful art treasures, geographical
peculiarities, enchanting landscapes, interesting customs that attracted
my attention were retained by my camera. I followed the same lines in
making my selections for publication.
I entitle this volume “Picturesque Spain". Much will be unknown to many.
I begin however with a spot famous throughout the world.--And yet I was
bound to. Like the pilgrim who is drawn to the fabled Fontana Trevi once
he has drunk of its waters, so too was I drawn again and again to
Granada in my wanderings. I believe too that I have succeeded in
presenting the Alhambra from one or two different points of view. Who
indeed could exhaust this well of beauty?
Nor could I pass heedlessly by Cordoba, Seville and Toledo, for these
towns are starting points.--Finger-posts to unknown Spain. Without these
monuments of ancient times, those parts of Spain situate far from the
high-roads remain an almost insolvable riddle.
My pictures must speak for me. Those who know how to ask them will find
that they tell much. For this reason I shall limit myself to but a few
initiatory words. They serve to connect the known with the unknown; to
throw light on the paths along which I journeyed in Spain.
=Granada!= Thy name is music; a joyous chord of beauty! To pass the spring
within thy gateways is to walk the heights of life.
Spring has cast a shower of blossoms over the town and woven a delicate
green carpet around the Alhambra. How many many centuries has it not
worshipped thus yearly at the feet of the castle? Long ago passionate
Moorish women decorated their raven hair there with rosy almond
blossoms.--It is long since that the glory of those days has departed.
Perhaps this is why the castle walls look down so sadly at the beauty of
this blissful vernal soil.
Bidding defiance in the grandeur of their strength the towers of the
Alhambra arise. Their fiery red lights skywards like the flames on giant
altars.[A]
Is it possible that these massive cyclopean walls should hide a
fairy-land?
Impatiently we climb the castle mount. Reaching an old stone gateway
ornamented with pomegranates, the noise of the streets is left behind as
we enter a yew grove whose ancient giant stems are ivy-grown; blue
myrtle covers the ground, the lights gleam golden through the foliage,
the wind murmurs among the branches, nightingales sing in the boscage,
swallows dart twittering over the tree tops, water hurries babbling down
the hilly slope.
All this seems like a miracle in Spain so poor in forests. It is as
though another world had opened its gates.
The great Gate of Judgment is passed, and an inconspicuous door leads to
the Court of the Myrtles. Here one feels surrounded by the spirit of the
Orient. Delicate jasper and alabaster columns support the airy arches
which are swung like lace veils from arcade to arcade. The emerald-green
waters of the fountain gaze dreamily skywards and at all the bright
beauty of the scene.
Then there is the Court of the Lions, subject of so many songs, with the
filigreed architecture of its covered walks. Enchanting in its delicate
tracery and beauty, it is a fairy-tale, a poem in stone, infinitely
rhythmic with music. And indeed, music is the only language that can
render such beauty.
The magnificent halls are full of a wealth of ornamentation. The walls
are rainbow-like with the colours of Persian carpets and Cashmere
shawls. Arabic inscriptions are scrolled along these labyrynths of
colour, praising in exalted words the mystic beauty of the halls. One
runs joyously: “God has filled me with such a plentitude of beauty that
even the stars stay in their course enchanted to gaze on me."
Once beautiful sultanas looked out from the “Seat of Admiration" (as the
Arabs called that jewel of the Alhambra, the Mirador de Daraca,) into
the pretty garden filled with the heavy scent of roses, jasmines and
oleanders. A swaying mass of tangled climbing plants are festooned from
laurel to cypress, and from cypress to orange-tree. In the middle there
is a marvellously delicate fountain basin from the edges of which the
water slides and drips with tuneful sound as if it fain would tell of
long forgotten beauteous days.
We leave the glittering fairy-palace full of memories of the Arabian
Nights, and our lips whisper the wish of the Arabic poem writ over a
little niche:
“May Heaven’s blessings rest upon these castle halls
As long as pilgrims wend their way to Mecca’s walls!"
Nay, as long as clouds sail the skies, and seekers after beauty rove on
earth!
This is the mood one is in when climbing further up the mountain to the
Moorish summer palace, the Generalife.
We are met, as it were, and shown the way by a double row of slim
black-green cypress--dark trees of silence.
The Generalife is enthroned far up on the heights, and embedded in
terrace-shaped gardens.
The gardens! In them nature has enfolded all her abounding wealth of
colour. Crimson-ramblers, wistarias, vines and ivy smother the walls.
Mangolias, oleanders, almond trees, laurels, cypresses, araucarias,
olive trees, agaves, palms and mimosa vie with one another for
precedence. Flaming pomegranate blossoms, blood-red roses, violet
mallows, blue fleurs-de-lis, white jasmine, yellow narcissi, and golden
oranges in dark green foliage are a riot of colour. Ball shaped myrtles
surround the little fountain, listening to the babbling of its silver
waters, and in the twigs the song of birds greeting nature in her
holiday garments.
Wondrous peace broods o’er this land. Through trees and halls and wall
arches there is a magnificent view of the Alhambra and the
multi-coloured houses of the town at its feet, and further on to the
picturesque Albaicin, and over cactus-grown Sacromonte with its gypsy
cave-dwellings, and still further to the snow-capped Sierra Nevada.
Another glance shows the fertile plains of the Vega through which the
clear waters of the Genil flow.
However full of radiant happiness the day may have been, it is outshone
by the sinking sun casting a golden halo over the country-side. The
walls of the Alhambra, once so fiercely fought for, stand forth as
though dipped in blood. The distant mountains glitter golden-bronze, and
the snowy sides of the Sierra Nevada scintillate in flames. Slowly the
fair fires die down, and a chill spectral white falls upon the snow
summits. The eventide is there and with it the stars.
The Spaniards have coined a proud sentence: “Quien no ha visto Granada,
no ha visto nada!" He who has not seen Granada has seen nought! And I
should like to add: He who has seen Granada and the Alhambra on sunny
spring days, bears with him a talisman to ward off sorrows in dull days,
and can never be completely unhappy again in life.
* * * * *
The =Mosque, Cordova=. A nation set forth to convert the world to its
faith. Its battle-cry in this holy war was Allah! Victory after victory
was gained, till finally the triumphal march of fanaticism was stopped
by the opposing faith of its religious adversaries. The waves receded,
and the Cross triumphed over the Crescent. This struggle of two faiths
and two continents left indelible marks on the fields of battle.
These wars had been carried on in the name of God. Sacred edifices were
erected to the victor. On the ruins of the mosque arose the most
beautiful cathedral in the world as token of victory. Spain never would
have received the impress she bears to-day without those bitter
religious wars.
Cordova was the jewel among Moorish occidental towns, destined to
outshine the sister cities Damascus and Bagdad in the far Orient. It was
here that all the wealth and pomp of Moorish domination was displayed.
Cordova’s population exceeded a million souls. It was the seat of Arabic
art and profound learning; the centre of religious life. The muezzin
called the faithful to prayers from 3000 minarets. Cordova became a new
Mecca which drew crowds of pilgrims from the East to the West.
What has now become of this metropolis? A shadow! Wandering through
narrow streets of the town one seems to be in Cordova of a thousand
years ago. The old cobbled pavements are probably the same, the houses
too, behind whose trellised windows the harem was hidden. The old
crooked, narrow and confused mass of streets are still there. Once in a
while a palm is seen leaning over white walls across the street; open
doors offer views into pleasant court-yards.
The Mezquita, the Mosque, stands like a dark rock surrounded by the
white trembling light of the sea of houses.
A wonderful gateway leads to the Orange Court. The fruit and flowers of
these trees perfume the air with incense. High up, backed by the blue
sky, the palm trees are waving in the wind. Fountains are plashing. Once
they served to refresh burnoosed dusty and foot-sore pilgrims come from
afar to serve their God here. The faithful bathed in these fountains
before purifying their souls in Allah’s house.--Now the fountains are
perpetually surrounded by the town maidens who come to fetch a cooling
draught in their finely curved earthenware jugs.
The impression on entering the forest of columns that support the mosque
is both unexpected and overpowering. Is this not a petrified palm wood?
And does not this stony grove incorporate the conception of infinity?
There is a mystic dusk among these columns that lends to them an endless
space of silence and eternity: the symbol of belief.
It is to the credit of the victorious Christians that they did not cool
their religious ardour by destroying this Islamitic place of worship. It
is extremely regrettable that their descendants have treated this
monument of Mohammedan culture with such carelessness.
The mosque became a Christian church. Where once the cry of “Allah illah
Allah!" echoed thousandfold, “Praise be the Lord!" is now sung. The
first deed was to erect altars in the door-niches. Then seventy pillars
were laid low, and a choir with the High-Altar erected in their stead: a
church within a church. Charles V. was reluctant to give his permission
for these alterations. When he came to Cordova and saw what had been
done, he exclaimed in perturbation: “What you are building can be seen
anywhere. You have destroyed what was unique in the world."[B]
Untouched in its pristine beauty, hidden in semi-darkness, not far from
the Holy of Holies of the Christian church, stands the Holy of Holies of
the mosque, the Mihrab or prayer-niche in which the Koran was kept. It
is a jewel of Moorish art. Whereas the rest of the mosque columns are
connected by double horse-shoe arches, banded in red and white, here the
beautifully chased dentated arches rise straight to the lovely curved
dome. The niche socle is white marble of lace-like texture above which a
profusion of colours glow: blood-red, rust brown, dark blue violet
interwoven with a sublime sheen of gold. Perhaps the mosaic walls and
lettered scrolls upon them have in some mystical manner caught the light
of the thousand swinging lamps that once had cast their soft rays
through the dim shades of space. For six long centuries all these
glowing colours were hidden. Before Cordova was surrendered to the
Christians the sanctuary was walled up. It was only discovered in 1815.
We pass entranced along the colonnaded aisles, enthraled by the wondrous
beauty of this miracle in stone. It is like awakening from a fantastic
dream to set foot again in the blinding sun of the silent town that has
become the shrine of one of the most precious jewels in the world
(50-60).
* * * * *
=Moorish scenes far from the beaten track=: A burning hot day in
August.--The air trembles in the heat over the olive trees. The day
hangs heavy in the blue vault of heaven. I had been wandering for long
long hours, when all of a sudden my eyes were caught by a fata morgana:
wafted perhaps from the coast of Morocco? No, it was no mirage.
Impossible! Yet it did not disappear as I approached. Strange indeed was
the scene: houses scattered like dice over a mountain (91).
A timid lad of whom I asked the name of the spot, slunk shyly past me.
My map was of no assistance to me. At last I was informed that I had
arrived at “la muy noble y bel ciudad Mochagar, llave y amparo del reino
de Granada". “What," I asked “this hamlet still calls itself the key and
guardian of the kingdom of Granada? But that kingdom was destroyed half
a thousand years ago when the Moors were driven from Granada."
A miracle must have happened here that time should have remained
stationary. Here was the pure Moorish impress. Most of the houses are
windowless. The flat roofs are sometimes the road to the higher houses,
and always their foot-stool. And although the water of baptism has
wetted the women’s hair, they pass veiled in the Moorish fashion along
the streets. With tucked up skirts and naked legs they step lightly
along the steep alleys, returning from the fountains with water
amphorae. They eye the foreign trespasser suspiciously and curiously.
And when I requested the veiled women to let me take their photographs
they stared at me, for they had never even seen a camera. I showed them
a picture, and explained that I wanted to have theirs too. They refused.
Finally one girl agreed. But an old scold hurried up and beat her for
her frowardness: throwing herself away like that! In this Christian
country I found shamefacedness and adherence to the laws of Mohammed.
Let no mortal body serve as an image!
An old man with whom I spoke about this incident told me that if a girl
no longer veiled her face, but hid her legs, there was not much left to
spoil about her.
But I was determined that I would not leave without a picture of one of
the veiled beauties. At last I succeeded, with the consent of the mother
of one of the girls. The eye of my camera winked slyly when I took my
snap-shot. In thanking the girl, I held out my hand, but she seemed
quite taken aback, and hid her hands behind her. I pressed her to shake
hands. I should not do her any harm. But her mother apologized for her
saying: “No, she doesn’t mean to be rude, but it is not the custom in
our country for a girl to let a man touch her hand before marriage."
Perhaps this little incident explains the once much-used expression
employed by wooers “will you give me your daughter’s hand?" (90)
* * * * *
=The Palm Forest of Elché= (100-103). The only palm forest in Europe. It
numbers more than 115000 trees, and is also a Moorish heritage. They
caused the water to flow to this spot from a distance of 5 kilometres in
order to create an oasis here in the desert--for the district is to-day
little else. Palms must grow with their roots in the water and their
crowns in the glaring sun. For years no rain has fallen on this spot.
The view is strange from the church-tower down on white houses over
which the palm tops are spread like a canopy. Beyond the palm forest the
grey-yellow desert plain surrounds this isle of peace. In the far
distance the blue ocean sleeps in proud majesty. Death and life are here
in close juxtaposition.
* * * * *
=Easter in Seville.= The train is rushing southwards over the arid
Castillian high plateaux, which in summer are as empty as a beggar’s
palm. The bare treeless Mancha has put on its modest spring garment
which now shows in the distance like delicate green velvet. A
short-lived joy! In but a few weeks the scorched ground will again be
covered with a yellowish-gray pall.
At present the fresh breeze comes down from the mountains of the Sierra
de Guadarrama. Scarcely, however, has the train wound its way through
the wild cañons of the Sierra Modena, when spring opens wide her gate. A
warm damp hot-house atmosphere is wafted into the carriage windows.
We are soon surrounded by meadows that are like a great flower-garden in
which the blood-red poppy and golden-yellow primrose struggle for
supremacy. Once in a while a village is seen dreaming like Sleeping
Beauty among the flower groves. For a long stretch agaves and cacti
fringe the track. Finally Seville sends forth her messengers in the
shape of blossoming rose-gardens and orange groves laden with their ripe
golden fruit. An ancient mangolia stretches a rosy blossom branch
towards us, lingering on in its old age in this scene so full of
yearning life. Tall slim palms nod to us, and yet new children of Flora
crowd upon us to bring us Seville and spring’s friendly welcome.
Heedlessly the train clatters past all this beauty towards the white
maze of Seville’s houses, above which towers that beautiful emblem of
the town, the Giralda. At last the engine snorts noisily into the
station.
But how different is everything to-day in front of the station. No
yelling hotel porters, no carriages awaiting the passengers, no
electric-car with clanging bell, no hooting of motor-cars.--The square
is lifeless at this early afternoon hour. It is the “Semana santa",
Passion-week, that has cast this almost oppressive spell of silence over
the great city. Even the brazen voices of the church-bells are muffled,
as though that had gone into sacred mourning. The wooden banging of the
Matraca calls hoarsely to prayers with dry and unmelodious voice.
The further you penetrate into the town, the more the sacred holiday
stillness is ousted. All Seville is crowding, chattering and laughing to
the Cathedral to see the procession. At last you have to stop. There is
no getting through the impenetrable human wall. It is a strange
procession that is passing by, as though conjured up from the Middle
Ages. Huddled figures stalk past slowly and stiffly. They appear like
spectres. Old pictures of witches and inquisitionary trials are recalled
to my mind, for nowhere else have I ever seen such terrifying
apparitions; never in life. Black cowls are wrapped around their bodies,
and on their head are huge black conical hats a yard high. Long sable
cloths, in which only two eyelets are pierced, are suspended over their
faces down to their waists. A corded rope is wound round the penitential
garments. The hands of the apparitions clasp rough wooden crosses, or
metal staves, as tall as themselves. These figures march in front of a
portable dais on which a life-like statue of the Virgin Mary is
enthroned clad in magnificent garments thickly encrusted with gold.--The
procession stops. The dais is lowered. A young woman steps from the
crowd, turns her eyes to the Queen of Heaven and sings her praise.
When the twenty or thirty bearers who carry the heavy dais on their
shoulders, and who are hidden by drapery suspended round the frame, have
rested enough, the signal to start is given by knocking on the front of
the dais. A jerk, and the procession moves on a few paces. One religious
body of brethren follows on the heels of the other. Each of them wear
their own distinctive multi-coloured badges. Some have a blue pointed
hat, others white, brown, violet or other coloured garments. Next to a
father his ten-year old son in the same vestments is often seen, as well
as the miniature penitent of fifteen in the procession.
The various brotherhoods are filled with an ardent ambition to outdo the
others in the magnificence of their Pasos as the daises are called. The
whole story of the Passion from Gethsemane to the burial of our Lord, is
shown on them as they pass before our eyes.--Of course the clergy in
full canonicals, as well as the town and state officials are also
represented in the procession. At intervals, groups of Roman legionaries
of Christ’s day appear, then angels, and St. Veronica carrying the
kerchief. Interspersed bands bray and flourish the same march without
cess.
Each brotherhood in the procession is cerimoniously received by the
chief authority of the town in Constitution Square which looks like a
huge theatre auditorium. It is filled with rows of chairs of which not a
single one is empty. The surrounding balconies are a sea of heads.
Hour by hour passes. Night falls. And now hundreds of wax-candles blaze
forth on the daises, and each penitent carries a gigantic taper in his
hand. Thus this endless and mysterious procession of lights moves on to
the cathedral, passes through its magnificent nave, and out again
through the other doors into the streets.
The cathedral has opened its treasure-house for the “Semana santa" and
displayed all its pomp. The candles of the gigantic bronze candelabrum
(the renowned Tenebrario) as well as on the altar the sacred wax-candle
weighing several hundredweight. A huge sepulchre has been erected to the
glory of Christ, in which the Holy of Holies is kept during Passion
week. Hundreds of lamps and candles illuminate the golden-white
four-storey edifice, which is over 30 metres high, and flooded with a
wondrous glowing halo.
The celebrated miserere of Eslava is performed in the cathedral on the
night of Good Friday. But, alas! it is impossible to enjoy the sacred
tunes owing to the general noisy inattention around. Weary forms are
sitting on the steps of the chapels and around the grave of Columbus.
Here a mother is suckling her infant, there an animate heap of rags is
wrapt in sleep, and all the while there is a continual pushing and
elbowing to get to the front.
However we must not judge of all this in the light of serious northern
church festivals. This would only lead us to drawing both severe and
wrong conclusions. Perhaps this manner may be an historical development.
Has not our Teutonic Christianity also wedded itself to much that is
ancient heathenism? For instance Christmas and the winter solstice
festival. Much that is Moorish obtains in Spain to this day. Perhaps
even--unconsciously--the conception of the purpose of a place of
worship. Was not the mosque often enough a secular place of meeting for
the Moslems, and at the same time a university? However, enough of
conjectures. It is a fact that the worship of the Lord and the Virgin
Mary is for the Spaniard a service of love. Whether the occasion be
Trinity or Passion week, it is one of joyful praise of Heaven.
I shall always remember one quiet hour permeated with the holy spirit of
Easter among these joyful and yet pious Easter days.--I had mounted the
Giralda, that jewel of erstwhile Moorish minaret architecture, the
cathedral tower. At my feet lay the white sea of houses. The town was
bathed in sunshine. The beautiful blue dome of heaven spread its mighty
arch over the holiday-making land as though protecting and blessing it.
The faint music of the mass far below was wafted up to me, when suddenly
a booming vibration filled the air, and all the tower bells, which had
been silent so long, peeled out across the sunlit country: Christ is
arisen! The sister bells of all the other towers echoed the message
across the spring clad country.
* * * * *
=The Patio= (40, 42-49). It is a favourite expression to call Seville the
town of bright court-yards. Those court-yards which light and fill the
house with sunshine. The Sevillian house, or rather the Andalusian
house, is not a building such as our houses, fronting on the street, but
one that fronts to an inner court, turning its back on the street. The
outsides of the houses are bare of ornament, almost windowless; a secret
to the passer-by. All their beauty is displayed yardwards. There wealth
obtains in all its pomp, and poverty unfolds its modest ornaments. The
narrow passage--the Zaguan--leading from the street to the court is
closed by a railed gate. The gallery--to which access is gained by steps
leading from the court--is supported by columns. The rooms of the upper
stories lead to the gallery. To cool the air there is a fountain in the
middle of the court surrounded by palms, araucarias, laurels,
orange-trees, oleanders and flowers in pots. The walls are covered with
multi-coloured tiles. Against them brightly up-holstered furniture,
chairs, and sometimes even a piano; the inevitable guitar is in a
corner. Climbing plants festoon the court.
Practically this is the centre of the whole family life. Friends are
received here, hours passed in argument, singing, music and
dancing--whether in company or alone, dreaming away the hours, listening
to the plashing of the fountain, it is in the court--the soul of the
house--that most time is spent.
* * * * *
There is nothing commonplace about Spanish houses. They still retain
their peculiarity impressed on them by the patina of age. Many have
tumbled down under the burden of years. Many are dead; but they “died in
beauty". The period of their prosperity still lingers on in the churches
and ornate façades of deserted squares.
Toledo is the most Spanish of towns. It was once the heart of the
country, pulsating with the great rhythm of epic history. But its heart
no longer beats.
Resting on steep granite hills above the deep Tajo valley stands the
yellow-grey heap of houses as though rooted in the rocks. Two gigantic
bridges span the river. Narrow alleys lead up hill and down dale;
many-cornered and dark. The whole town seems in a fighting mood. Huge
gateways and towers, the houses fort-like, the doors studded with heavy
nails. Indeed, there is hardly a town that has seen so many battles
rounds its walls. Spain’s history has passed over it with heavy steps.
And to-day? Rent walls, ruin and silence: the town the accumulated
wreckage of a thousand years (139-148).
Segovia, Toledo’s sister city is situated similarly on rocks arising
abruptly from the plain. It is dominated by a great cathedral tower, and
guarded by the well-proportioned Alcazar which stands forth like a fairy
castle. A miraculous building, erected one would say to brave eternity
in the days when Christ was born. But otherwise Segovia is different to
Toledo. It is the Nuremberg of Spain, gay in its leafy setting
(157-164).
There are other brave old companions-in-arms of these two veterans,
dating from ancient war days: circumvallated Avila (165-169), Cuenca and
Albarracin with their swallow-nest houses clinging to lofty crags (120,
121, 192-194), Daroca protected by two mountains over which the whole of
the battlemented walls have climbed (195-197), Alquezar in the Pyrenees,
the northern outpost of the Moors in Spain (210-212), Sigüenza, Jerica,
Trujillo, Caceres, Niebla, Carmona, Martos, Antequera, and many bold
castillos.
Ronda is the most boldly situated town lying on a high plateau encircled
by a wide mountain arena (62, 63). Running through the rocky plateau is
a huge crevice which looks as though it had been split in rage by the
mighty fists of giants.
The streams thunder down in all their wild force over the boulders,
hammer threateningly against the rocky walls, break into scintillating
spray, rush round in whirlpools, and hurry on their course. And in close
proximity to all this turmoil, the rocky walls stand unshaken in their
immobility against the sky-line, an emblem of eternity cast in stone by
the hand of God. The rainbow in the spray has been copied by man in the
shape of a bridge high over the abyss joining the rocky heights upon
which the town stands.
Let us pass from these stubborn old battle towns to a more smiling
scene: San Sebastian (286-290) known throughout the world for its
incomparably beautiful situation on the sea. The view from Monte Ulia, a
mountain guarding the entrance to this paradise, is wonderful beyond
words. Here nature has modelled and painted a masterpiece. The sea hugs
the land in two gracefully curved bays and catches the beauties of the
town in the reflection of its waters.
* * * * *
=Cave-dwellings and the simple life.=--This time I decided to leave the
destination of my wanderings to chance. I could have chosen no better
guide. I set out long before the dew was dry, or the sun had risen. The
palm trees were just beginning to shake themselves in the early breeze
when I approached a strange rocky landscape. Dark holes in the rock
stared at me like dead eyes. But nevertheless life was hidden there.
Human forms stepped out of the holes to greet the morn.
What I saw was a towering rock wall with hundreds of cave-dwellings next
to each other and over each other. Some of them were even five storeys
high and approached from the outside (92). Where the rocks were too
steep, the approaches had been dug from the inside, and upper storeys
created with outlook holes and loggias high up in the rocks. Tunnels had
been cut in the soft stone to get from one rock valley to the other.
The children were running about in the costume God had given them. But
it is not to be supposed that they were troglodytes, and as unaware of
culture as those who lived in the ice period. High on the rocks you can
read in large black letters on a white background “El Retiro".
Every Spaniard knows, at least by name, Madrid’s beautiful park the
Retiro. For this reason it seems somewhat of a joke to suddenly come
across the name in such a spot far up on the rocks. El Retiro, like
Sanssouci, means solitude, retreat, place of rest. An enterprising
hotel-keeper has levelled his portion of rocks into roof-terraces where
the favourite gossip hour (tertulla) is spent, skittles played, and
merry dances performed. Hence the alluring words on the wall for the
benefit of passers-by. On another rock is graven the brief significant
inscription: “Dios, Pan y Cultura" (God, Bread, and Culture. 92-95).
During the course of another stroll I was again equally surprised. I saw
smoke arising in the distance from ground that looked like fantastic
mountain erosions. Surely this was not the site of volcanic activity?
Indeed this was out of the question. And on drawing nigh I discerned
human figures moving among the columns of smoke. I then saw to my
astonishment that little smoking towers--not unlike champagne corks in
shape--were chimneys projecting out of the ground. I had again strayed
among cave-dwellers. What Homeric primitiveness was there! The valleys
are the streets, the mountain sides the fronts of the houses, the
pinnacles villas. Front gardens are once and a while supplied by giant
cacti and spiky agaves. My wanderings in this interesting
world-forgotten primitive spot lasted for hours as I passed up and down
the so-called streets (96-99).
My greetings were met with a cheerful response, and I was invited to
enter a cool cave, provided with a drink of fresh water, and shown the
treasures of the modest household: the bed on the ground, the hearth
with a copper kettle, the earthenware pitcher, the stool, the oil-lamp
and the image of the patron saint.
“Now as to work?" I asked. “Well we don’t do too much in that way. We
cultivate what we need over there where the river runs. We make bricks
for the towns where the people live in houses."--Truly a picture of an
enviable state of modest requirements. There are still those who are
satisfied with the tub of Diogenes. Indeed you may find many such all
over Spain. I remember when at a little railway station finding only a
lad deep in his after-dinner nap. For the rest, there was no one else to
take my luggage, so I woke him up and asked him to help me. He stretched
himself in all the bliss of laziness, took a couple of coppers out of
his pocket, and showing them to me said: “I’ve earned 25 centimos to-day
already; that’s all I need," turned over, and went to sleep again. I
continued on my way recalling the words of the Indian philosopher: “He
who is without wants is nearest to God."
There is no cause to shrug one’s shoulders. Diligence and happiness are
but relative conceptions. And just the poorest in Spain understand the
art of doing nothing combined with extracting joy from next to nothing.
They need a little shade in summer, and the sunshine in winter; a piece
of bread, a tomato, a drop of wine. The whole earth with the sky for a
roof is their bed-room; the highroad their field of labour. There is no
master they would exchange positions with; they are their own masters;
masters of their own time--verily a great possession this. Why then
should they not spend it generously? “He whom God helps will go further
than he who rises betimes" runs a Spanish proverb. And the Bible tells
us: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them."
* * * * *
=Feria in Sepúlveda.=--A bull-fight. There is high holiday in Sepúlveda,
(172, 173) an ancient little town far from the turmoil of the great
world, and far even from the railroad, which indeed is nearly 100
kilometres away. The feria is the greatest day of the whole year. Men
and women crowd into the place on horses and donkeys. Old friends meet
again. Once more they see ‘life’. Above all it is the bull-fight that is
the greatest attraction. It has been for weeks already the only topic
worth speaking about. As however our little town has no arena, the
market-place is used instead. All day the lively rat-tat of hammers is
heard there. The windows of the picturesque dignified old town-hall gaze
smilingly down on the lively scene. At last there is really something
worth looking at again. Another long tedious sleepy year has gone by.
There is hardly any one who does not go the hour’s walk outside the town
to admire the bulls which have come from a long way off, and for the
present are being kept at pasture.
When the great day has come, every one is up with the sun. The arrival
of the savage animals is feverishly expected. The bravest show their
courage by going forth to meet the procession.
A cloud of dust on the highway announces its approach. And finally forms
emerge from it. At the head a picador on horseback with a lance, behind
him the black bodies of the bulls surrounded by tame steers, and
followed by a second picador. As they rush through the narrow streets to
the market-square a mighty cry goes up: “Los toros! Los toros!"
Shouting, whistling, howling, yelling, and a general pandemonium rends
the welkin.
Finally the bulls are secured, and it is only in the afternoon that the
longed-for hour arrives.
The forenoon has its own pleasures. Young men demonstrate their daring
by teasing a young bull specially selected for the purpose, and earn
acclamation or mocking laughter as the case may be. These young heroes
try to put into practice what they have seen at the Torero; only it is
less dangerous. No blood is shed, only torn trousers and bruises are the
honorific mementoes of the great day (174, 175).
My thoughts naturally harked back to the first bull-fight I had seen--in
Madrid. The impression was stupendous: fifteen thousand gay spectators
in the great sweep of the arena all impatient for the nerve-racking
fight to begin. The arena was filled with the babble of voices. It was a
chaos of colours, cloudy lace mantillas, flower-embroidered shawls, fans
swaying nervously, jet-black glowing eyes.--Shouts of applause greeted
the bull-fighters. Yells saluted the great bull as he rushed in. The
game was a risky one for life or death. Deeds of audacity were met with
idolatrous cheers, the timid with desolating laughter. All of a sudden a
coloured form is tossed into the air. A single scream from a thousand
throats.--“Is he dead?" “No!" A sigh of relief.--“Go on!"--The condemned
bull is mad with rage, his opponent cold as steel. He wields the mortal
instrument, the sword flashes, and a hurricane of applause bursts forth
for the victor and his tottering victim. White handkerchiefs flutter
from every seat like pigeons. Hats are waved, a shower of flowers
descends, and the fêted hero returns thanks, nonchalant and proud.--The
trumpets blare and a new fight begins (125, 126).
* * * * *
=Crossing the Picos de Europa.=--Masses of high mountains with peaks about
2700 metres high rise among the Asturian Cantabrian coast range. They
bear the proud name of Picos de Europa (The Peaks of Europe). They are
the Dolomites of Spain. But they exceed these considerably in
inaccessibility.
Tourist facilities in Spain are of a very primitive nature. For this
reason there are no shelter huts for mountaineers in the Picos de
Europa, and there are likewise no trained guides. There are it is true
some game-keepers. Shepherds and miners acquainted with individual parts
of the mountains act once in a while as guides.
I had been at the gateway of the Picos de Europa when at Covadongo the
celebrated place of pilgrimage. Since then the desire had never left me
to become acquainted with this demure mountain beauty so alluring and
yet so stand-offish in her loneliness. Thus I started for the mountains.
My path led me from Unquera through the Deva valley to Potes at the foot
of the Picos. I very soon noticed that my task would be no easy one, for
shortly after leaving Panes the track winds through a mighty and deep
valley known as the Desfiladero de la Hermida. My reception was not a
friendly one. The rocky guardian of the valley looked down and frowned
at me, and the sky treated me at intervals to a cold shower-bath.
In Potes the clouds were low down on the mountain sides on which I was
going to test my prowess the next day. But I was so enchanted with the
spot, that I willingly renounced the view for that day.
The little town is a very ancient spot. It must once have been the seat
of many a knightly family. This is attested to by the various Spanish
coats of arms on the houses. But those times are now no more. Where once
Spanish grandees strutted by with buckled shoes and sword, clodhopping
peasants plod along. And the present generation is hardly aware of the
plentitude of beauty surrounding it. Bold bridges span the glen. Narrow
colonades with overhanging balconies cling to the steep river bank. A
multitude of archways offer innumerable enchanting glimpses. A high
watch-tower guards the houses clustering at its base.
Before the sun had risen on the morrow I had set out. Dark and
dismal-looking clouds hung low over the landscape. But the Picos
pinnacles had rent them asunder, and suddenly they stood forth in the
glory of the rising sun. Dark night lay behind me as I marched towards
the sunlight.
My guide met me by arrangement at Espinama. He was a grey-headed man
with weather-beaten face and smiling eyes. His feet were clad in leather
sandals, and under his arm was an ancient umbrella. We soon discussed
the itinerary, filled our _rucksacks_ and started for the Puerto de
Aliva. The old song came back to me:--
The sun on my way
In his golden array
Is my fellow and guide.
He casts my shadow
O’er flowery meadow.
I wander world-wide.
As we passed on our way, the houses of the village became smaller and
smaller. We soon left the last tree behind, and our path led over sweet
green slopes, till they too were lost under the stony debris of rocky
giants. There was a hunting-lodge close to the foot of the Peña vieja
cliff which the king of Spain visits nearly every year when chamois
hunting.
The day drew slowly to its end. Great streamers curled round the Peña
vieja, pale shadows floated by like silver grey cobwebs, and the mist
rose and fell with every breath of wind. The billowing fog had already
wrapped us in its mighty veil when we reached the miners’ inn at
Lloroza. An overseer invited us to spend the night there. And we were
right glad to find shelter, in spite of the fact that both the hut and
its furniture looked like the first attempts of primitive man to scale
the ladder of civilization. The night we spent on the hard ground was
not a very restful one, and we were glad when the approach of day called
us from our layer.
When we left the hut a surprising spectacle met our eyes. The fog which
had deprived us of any possibility of obtaining a view the evening
before now lay at our feet in the valley. The summits of the mountain
rose like islands in the sea of mist.
The moment had arrived when day struggled with night for predominance.
The full-moon’s silver disc hung in the deep blue of the western sky,
and the morning star held its own for a while against the rising light
in the east. At last both moon and star turned to pale glass when the
sun sent forth his herald rays. The horizon was tinged with pink; long
red streamers fluttered from the windows of heaven to greet us, and then
the sun rose above the misty expanse, gilded the crests, flooded the
eastern pinnacles with the glory of his light, and glowed on the rocky
wall to which our hut clung. O wonderful silence of that hour!
“A new day beckons us to other shores."
For yet a short distance the beaten path used by the king when stalking
showed us the way. Then we bent our steps over pathless boulders, sharp
edged rocks, mounds of debris, snow-fields strewn among the stony desert
with its jagged rock walls and towers.
Whole herds of chamois stared in astonishment at the strange intruders
in their paradise. For the rest, they showed little inclination to run
away. The mountain fastness became progressively more barren and wild in
its aspect. An infinitely dismal mood seemed to brood o’er the scene.
Yet the magnificence of these mountains augmented from minute to minute.
Grotesque stone giants--cast in burning ore by the furnace of high
heaven--stood guarding this great grave of nature.
Woe to the wanderer whose ignorant footsteps err here! Death lies in
ambush in the deep crevices and chasms.
At last we halted in front of the monarch of the magnificent mountain
empire. His throne stands high in everlasting snow; a golden crown is on
his head. His picture is known to all from the most distant mountain
valley to the shores of the restless ocean. All admire his beauty, all
know his name: Naranjo de Balnes.
This huge rock colossus rises 600 metres over its surroundings. Its
perpendicular walls show hardly a crevice. And it seems incredible that
nevertheless that bold mountaineer the Marqués de Villaviciosa de
Asturia climbed to its summit.
On our wanderings round this mighty and stubborn rock tower we seemed to
be lightened of all earthly burdens high up there in the solitude above
the depths of humanity.
We climbed up to the Ceredo tower. The rocks were as sharp as knives.
Again the ghostly mist rose from the valleys and whirled spectrally
around us.
It was 5 o’clock and the Cares valley with Cain to where our steps were
directed were not yet in sight.--I asked my companion: “How far yet?" “A
few hours more" was the not very consoling reply.--The mist, that enemy
of mountaineers was getting thicker. And ere long we could not see
twenty paces ahead. The feeling of insecurity grew apace. And the
sensation of climbing with mist-bound eyes was terrible. Again I
questioned my guide. “Severo, is there no hut or shelter on the
way?"--“I don’t think so." Once more long minutes of silent groping. At
last we were, at any rate for a while, rid of the stony region. Here and
there a rocky projection, but it was quite impossible to tell if we were
not suspended on it hundreds of meters over a yawning abyss. It was
impossible to see anything through that fog. And at a quarter past six
it was pitch dark.
Suddenly we came across a few low rough huts of unhewn stone huts
sheltered by a rock-wall. There at last we could spend the night. But my
guide wanted to go on. “Stop!" I cried. “Can we get to Cain to
night?"--“I don’t know." “Well then we’ll stay here!" Suiting the action
to the word, we crept into one of the huts, crouched down, and slept
fitfully through ten endless hours of night. But even they passed. The
morning meant a dangerous and nasty descent. We waded knee-deep in wet
grass, clambered over ledges with fog all around us. Woe to us had we
slipped! Then we got lost and had to stop and climb back with the
greatest care. Then we slid down a stony gully in which nearly every
step set rocks thundering to the depths below.
At last the moist grey mist began to lift. A rift showed the bed of the
valley far beneath us, and, as we thought, houses. But no, we were
mistaken. They were huge boulders, the wreckage of some avalanche that
filled the upper hollow. Down and down we scrambled till finally we
broke through the foggy screen. Our goal was at our feet. Cain,
strangely walled in by precipitous rocky cliffs rising sheer 1500 metres
high. We were there! And we could rest. Some bread and butter was all we
could find in the whole village to appease our hunger. We would gladly
have rested there a day, but the place was too inhospitable. We had
therefore to shoulder our _rucksacks_ again. The distance we had climbed
down the day before, we had to climb up again on the opposite rocks of
the Peña santa. Hours and hours of strenuous efforts passed till we
reached the ridge. We re-descended valleywards in a drizzling rain. Lake
Enol was the last spot of beauty to be hidden from our view. It was
there we struck the main road, and then marched another 10 kilometres
down to Covadonga which we reached as tired as dogs.
Night had already cast her shadow over the valley, and the stars were
beginning to shine forth. Welcoming lights were seen burning in
Covadonga. But it seemed as though we should never reach them. However
the prospect of a bed lent us strength, and at half past eight we
stumbled painfully over the threshold of a clean hospitable house. I
went to bed exhausted, and my restless dreams were haunted with the
beautiful and terrible wanderings in the Picos de Europa (266-274).
* * * * *
=My pilgrimage to the Yuste Convent (153).=--I left soon after midnight,
for marching is delightful in southern nights when the glittering stars
shed their soft light from the great vault of heaven. In the south the
cool night is succeeded by summer days that are the misery of the
pedestrian.--The hours melted by but slowly in the furnace heat of the
day. I was beset with all possible ills: infernal heat, thirst, and no
water. Not a tree or a shrub was to be seen for miles; no shade; hours
without passing a house; not a soul abroad; the melancholy mood that
comes in the train of solitude. My path was obstructed by a river--at
any rate, water--but nary a bridge! So I had to wade, and continue my
journey. At last I spied a shepherd. What joy to feel that I was no
longer alone!
“Is this the right road to Yuste?" I enquired of him.--“Yes, but where
doest thou come from, and what countryman art thou?" The good fellow
addressed me with the fraternal _tutoyer_, as though we were brothers.