La Vida Alcalaína

TURRIS LASCUTANA For years we've been meaning to visit one of the most celebrated historical sites around Alcalá, referred to in every guidebook and tourist information website about the town.   La Mesa de Esparragal (lit. Plateau of the asparagus beds) is the location of Lascuta, one of the first stable settlements in the area and famous for the Lascuta Bronze, one of the oldest Roman finds in Spain (189 BC), which was discovered here in 1867 and is now in the Louvre. BRONCE DE LASCUTA Engraved on the bronze is an edict granting freedom to slaves from the nearby city of Hasta:.   Lucius Aemilius, son of Lucius, Imperato, decreed that the subjects which the Hastansians have in the Tower of Lascuta will be free. As to the land and fort which they owned at that time, they were to keep and have it, he ordered, as long as the People and Senate of Rome saw fit. All that remains of the site is a tower and and some bits of a wall and pa...

BIBIANA AÍDO ALMAGRO, MINISTRA DE IGUALIDAD For a town of just a few thousand people, Alcalá has made an impressive contribution to Spain´s recent political landscape. It is known as la cuña de socialismo andaluz  - the cradle of Andalucian socialism. Alfonso Perales Pizarro , one of the leading lights in the PSOE ( Spanish Socialist Workers Party ) was born here, and when he died a few years ago President Zapatero himself came down for the funeral. Since the restoration of democracy in the late 1970s the PSOE has always controlled Alcalá´s town council, leading to complaints of of cliquism and clannishness by the opposition parties PP (Popular Party) and IU (United Left) alike, probably the only thing they agree on. Bibiana Aído , Minister of Equal Rights in the Spanish government, is the latest and brightest star in this particular firmament. Her father is Francisco Aído, the first post-democracy mayor of Alcalá, and her mentors include Manuel Chaves , former head of the J...

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS (aka CRISTOBAL COLÓN) Today, 12 October, is a public holiday in Spain. Unlike the UK where all public holidays fall on a Monday, here they stick to the date, and when one falls on a Tuesday or Thursday many people take the intervening day off to make a long weekend.  This is called a puente (bridge) and can be a source of confusion and frustration when you first move here, because you can never tell which shops will be open, if any.  It is safest to assume nothing will be open for four days and stock up the freezer accordingly. My US readers will be briefly wondering why the Spanish are celebrating Columbus Day, until they remember where Columbus first came from.  This day in 1492 is apparently when he first set foot on American soil. 12 October is celebrated in most South American countries and is variously called the  Día de la Hispanidad (Argentina, where it first became a national holiday),  Día de las Americas  (Uruguay),...

I've just sat through a highly depressing set of videos on YouTube entitled "Spain is Dying". Filmed by an embittered Britsh ex-expat on the Costa Blanca, it shows scenes of boarded-up shops and bars, apartment complexes abandoned half-finished, rows of unsold dwellings in  urbanizaciones where lawns and flowerbeds are no longer maintained. We are told how expats are seeing their dreams collapse around them and are fleeing back to Britain in droves, or living in fear of criminal gangs, while lazy Spanish postmen throw their Christmas cards into the sea because they can't be bothered to deliver them. Brits who tried to "live the dream" and run their own bar are going bankrupt because there are no customers any more, or because of excessive bureaucracy and inflexibility shown by the Spanish authorities. The British media are reporting similar tales of doom and gloom, with people's dream homes being demolished or appropriated under the "land grab...

The Alcornocales Natural Park is home to at least 800 pairs of griffon vultures, and these magnificent if somewhat scary-looking birds can often be seen circling slowly on the thermals in the skies over Alcalá.   They like to nest among inaccessible crags, and there is a nesting site within walking distance of the town, past the campsite along the sendero de los molinos .   The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) or buitre leonado as it is known in Spanish, is enormous.  It grows up to110 cm (43") long with a wingspan of around 2.5 metres - just over 8 ft.  First-time visitors often mistake them for eagles, but as a general rule eagles fly solo and vultures fly in groups.  They are also a completely different shape, with a bald head (more hygienic for burrowing deep in the entrails of a cow), very broad wings with "fingers" on the end, and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff and yellow bill.  VULTURE NEST SITE NEAR ALCALÁ They f...