La Vida Alcalaína

Walking up the Calle Real last night after enjoying a wonderful concert of classical music, I said to my friends "if Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-0 now, it will be a perfect evening".  Well, they didn't of course, they beat them 5-0; perfection + 2.  But enough gloating for now. The concert featured the Orquestra Joven del Bicentenario , the Youth Orchestra for the Bicentenary (2012 sees the 200th anniversary of the signing of the first Spanish Constitution in Cádiz).  The orchestra was formed by Matthew Coman, a classical musician who lives in Alcalá and who also organises the classical music festival here every August.  Assisted by fellow members of the Soloists of London, Matthew has trained thirty musicians aged between 13 and 20, from all over the Province of Cadiz.  The aim is to have a high-quality orchestra to participate in the 2012 celebrations. The orchestra was led by award-winning violinist David Le Page, and the programme comprised...

You've probably noticed that the Spanish are rather keen on football.  And rather good at it; they are currently European and World champions.  I was never a football fan till I watched the Spanish national team in the European Cup finals in 2008, when it soon became evident that their style of play was as different from that of the depressingly predictable England side as - I'm struggling to find a comparison here - Marilyn Monroe from Paris Hilton?  The National Ballet from Strictly Come Makeatwitofyourself?  A fillet steak from a McDonalds burger?  You get the gist ... It is largely acknowledged that la Furia Roja (the Red Fury, as Spain's national team are known) owes its success to its ability to play as a team.  There are no superstars who are only on the field to score goals.  They play a clean game; they rarely dive to try and get penalties and they were near the bottom of the lists for the number of fouls committed and yellow cards show...

Yesterday we went on a trip organised by various agencies involved in the Parque Natural Alcornocales, with the aim of educating local people about the natural environment and activities in the park.   This included a walk in an area which is undergoing repoblación , i.e. the native trees and shrubs have been replanted following widespread clearance back in the 1960s.  The rainclouds kindly held off until about five minutes before the end of the walk! The start of "Sendero La Teja", on the old A381 just north of Los Barrios Explaining the principles of repopulation Gorse, pine and cork-oak November is the time of year for setas (a general term for edible wild mushrooms) Climbing up the firebreak Blooming Heather Baby pines rapidly turn into ... . .. full-grown pine trees! The Alcornocales is one of the few remaining habitats of the insectivorous plant Drosophyllum lusitanicum . L ook closely and you can see its lunch. Cattle nee...

WORKING ROUND THE OBSTACLES In 2002 Alcalá became one of the first towns in Andalucia to launch a programme of  Rehabilitación de Viviendas del Casco Histórico , the rehabilitation of dwellings in the historic part of town. The aim of the programme was to restore dwellings deemed unfit for habitation ( infravivienda ), thus providing quality housing for local people, creating work for local builders and  labourers, and generally improving the appearance and ambience of the old town.     Because of the way old Alcalá was built, with houses piled on top of and extending sideways into each other, working out the boundaries of individual dwellings created a bureaucratic nightmare for the project manager, Gabriel Almagro, and his team.  To complicate matters further, the Spanish law of succession states that on the owner's death a property is divided equally between his or her children and can't be sold without the consent of all parties...

The Alcornocales Natural Park forms part of a belt of of cork-oak forests stretching across southern Europe and northwest Africa, and cork has played a large part in the economy of Alcalá de los Gazules for over a hundred years. Cork is a natural product found between the outer bark and the woody inner stem of the cork-oak, Quercus suber  or  alcornoque ("Alcornocales" means cork-oak groves).   Once the tree is 25 years old the cork is harvested by hand, taking care not to damage the capa madre ( mother-layer) or  cork cambium  from which the cork layer will eventually grow back.  Following the Civil War when traditional cork-cutters were for various reasons thin on the ground, Franco sent in unskilled workers who did irreversible damage to thousands of trees because they weren't aware of the significance of this. The colour of a freshly-peeled tree is rich chestnut red, like a conker, but it quickly turns almost black.  Cork is is...

No, not the tall metal things that seem to be a permanent feature of Alcalá's skyline these days.  I'm talking about Grus grus, Common cranes, currently spending their winter holidays at nearby La Janda.   (Interestingly the Spanish word for the tall metal thing, g rúa , is not dissimilar to that for the bird, grulla .  Just thought you´d like to know that.) Standing at up to 130cm and weighing up to 6 kg, the Common or Eurasian crane is one of the most impressive visitors to our area.  They breed in wetlands in northern parts of Europe and Asia, and migrate south for the winter, some heading across to Africa, others staying in Southwest Spain.  They became extinct in the UK in the 17th Century, but have been reintroduced in the Norfolk Broads and the Somerset levels.   They are omnivorous, but are apparently particularly partial to cranberries, which may be where that fruit got its name. The Plain of La Janda, stretching from Benalup dow...

If you've seen Pedro Almodóvar's wonderful film  Volver , you might remember that the opening scene is set in a cemetery where Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) and lots of other women are busy cleaning and decorating the graves of their ancestors.    ANY EXCUSE TO DRESS UP IN CÁDIZ! Returning to one's home town to pay respects and make  ofrendas  (offerings, usually in the form of flowers) to deceased relatives is one of the traditions of the Fiesta de Todos los Santos (All Saints Day), which falls on 1 November and is a public holiday in all Catholic countries.  In Spain, florists have their busiest day of the year and in some places (including Cádiz), special parades and processions take place.   Traditional foods consumed today include roast chestnuts (castanadas), roast yams or sweet potatoes (boniatos) and Huesos de Santos (Saints´bones)  - little marzipan cakes. CATRINAS IN MEXICO In other Latin American countries they go...