A bit of Culture Never Hurt Anyone

[scruffy1]

We have seen all manner of important and practical information passed along on the forum, anything and everything concerning arrival times, boots, bedbugs, pilgrim menus, albergues etc etc etc. Most of us are walking through a country which at best we have but a smidgen of knowledge concerning the centuries of history, art and architecture, we think we know what a Flamenco or a Fado might be but we don't. Gypsy Kings will pass but they certainly represent a syncretism, wonderful in their own right, but not really Spanish not Gypsy, not Moorish. So don't be Philistines, start here before you go. Seek out the good stuff when you hit Galicia.

 

[scruffy1]

PS Feeling nostalgic for Galicia? Try this one!

 

[Peter Fransiscus]

Love it, thank you for sharing.
Wish you well, Peter.

 

[Old Gringo]

If you want a quick background on modern Spain I recommend Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett. He's a British journalist whose lived in Spain 20+ years. It doesn't have any Camino information but covers a lot of cultural issues and background of modern Spain.

 

[scruffy1]

If you want a quick background on modern Spain I recommend Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett. He's a British journalist whose lived in Spain 20+ years. It doesn't have any Camino information but covers a lot of cultural issues and background of modern Spain.

I will certainly give it a look - however - my favorite remains Gerald Brenan of course, an all but forgotten British writer (excepting admirers of Virginia Woolf) a Hispanist who spent much of his life in Spain. He is best known for "The Spanish Labyrinth", a historical work on the background to the Spanish Civil War, and for "South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village". A man who knew how to write!