PEOPLE  AND  POLITICS

 

 

There is a tendency in traveling to take pictures of exotic-looking people.  Since most of the folks we saw look very, well, European, we didn’t do much of that.  But we do have some shots of the locals:

Women drying and selling fish.  Nazare, Portugal.  This was the only place where we saw people in “traditional clothing”.

Nazare

“Rooms for rent”    Nazare

The townfolk in Ture, a village in Andalucia, put on a passion play at Easter.   It certainly wasn’t Oberamergau, but getting good seats wasn’t too hard.

In  Madrid, chess in the park is not just for old men

Madrid.  We never figured out the game these men were playing

Barcelona.  At a Catalan Pride music fest.  That’s the flag of Catalunya they’re wearing.

Bullfight crowd in Seville.  Actually, the building was more interesting than the people (or the “fight”).

Barcelona.  Every Sunday afternoon the band plays in front of the city hall as people dance the Sardana.

Barcelona.  The Sardana, a stately circle dance known by Catalonians of all ages.

In Seville, they dance the ritualized but flashier Sevillana.

It seems every girl in Seville knows the Sevillana.  Never saw a teenage boy doing it.

Once a year, Seville gathers in a fairgrounds of over 1000 booths.  They drink, they visit and the dance the Sevillana

But more than anything else, they gather to see and be seen in their flamenco outfits.

Every woman in Seville owns at least one fancy outfit for the Feria

We weren’t the only folks in downtown Seville walking over the bridges toward the Feria and marveling at the flamenco outfits.

One tradition during the Feria de Abril in Seville is to get yourself and your horses all dressed up and then to ride around the city and the Feria

 

 

An ex-American, trying to earn $$ by selling homemade chocolate chip cookies in Granada

Many folks earned $$ as street mime performers.

 

 

 

 

Political issues always caught our attention. While we were in Spain, American rhetoric over Iraq moved to full war.  The Spanish government (though few of its citizens) backed the war.  This led to visible opposition.  But there are always other local issues as well:

 

A wall in Jerez

“No A La Guerra” (No To The War) signs on the town hall, Ronda

Make honey, not war

Mayday rally in Madrid

Mayday in Madrid.  (Mayday, by the way, is our anniversary.  Seeking out Mayday rallies is our traditional celebration)

A hunger strike protesting the sending of ceramics work to cheaper Morocco.   Seville

Seville.   Naturally, the strikers wanted us to sign petitions

Cordoba.  Demonstration outside the historical Mosque/Cathedral in protest against the new Burger King’s location across the street.

Cordoba

Basque rights demo.  See Travelogue #10 for details.

Elie and Avi entered France as a series of marches and strikes began against a government pension erosion proposal.

 

 

 

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