La Vida Alcalaína

Alcalá is surrounded by cattle, and not just the scary great black toros bravos - fighting bulls - bred around Medina Sidonia and destined to face Death in the Afternoon. This land produces some of Spain's finest beef. Drive out in any direction and you will see large herds of reddish-brown beasts with huge white horns, peacefully grazing or being rounded up by mounted vaqueros . There is usually a flock of cattle egrets in attendance, and occasionally a tiny calf just finding its feet. These are the raza retinta , our own native breed, and they are very special. The word retinta refers to their colour, which can range from chestnut red to dark brown. The breed Bos taurus Turdetanus (I kid you not) probably originated in North Africa, but has been in the Iberian peninsular since ancient times and can be seen in cave drawings. Today it is found mainly in Andalucia and Extremadura, though there are small herds in other parts of Spain including the Balearics. Retinta cattle

Seventy-five years ago this month, the Mayor of Alcal á de los Gazules was executed by a firing squad.  His crime was failing to support the military coup against the elected Republican government. Antonio Gallego Visglerio was born in Alcalá in 1893.  He ran a bar, the Cafe los Serios , and also owned a lorry used to transport goods.  He was elected as a Councillor in July 1931, following the establishment of the 2nd Spanish Republic , and became Mayor in October 1933, remaining in office until the socialist administration was dismissed by the right-wing provincial governor Luis de Armiñán a year later.  Gallego was reinstated as Mayor, along with the rest of the elected council, following the Popular Front victory in the 1936 elections. Gallego wrote a document outlining his hopes and plans on being elected to serve the newly formed Republic after many years of dictatorship and the collapse of the monarchy.  He describes the difficult and disagreeable task that l

On the long summer evenings the skies above Alcalá come alive with an aerial ballet of swifts, swallows and house-martins.  We sit on our roof terrace and watch them swooping and soaring, hoovering up flies on the wing.  They are often chased by our resident lesser kestrels, but they rarely succeed in catching one.  White cattle egrets flap lazily along the river valley towards their nocturnal roosting tree, usually in V-shaped groups of a dozen or so, but with the occasional latecomer anxious to catch up with the flock.  Doves and pigeons are here in abundance, nesting in the special pigeon-holes made for them in the rocks of the Coracha above us. Then just before dusk the bats appear, taking over the flycatching from the hirundines as they return to their nests.  After dark, the whoo-hoo of the tawny owl can often be heard, or the distant screech of a barn owl. Cicadas chirrup in the bushes, and some temporally challenged cockerel will usually sound his quiquiriquí alarm at around

Diez Razones (Ten Reasons), a TV show made by Canal Sur, spotlights a different locality in Andalucia each week, and last night it was about Alcalá de los Gazules.  You can watch it online here . Their ten reasons are: EL MUSEO VIVIENTE - the "living museum" run by the Adult Education Centre .  A bit misleading this, as it's only open one week of the year!  LOS MALETILLAS - tributes to famous bullfighters from Alcala.  A rare chance to see inside the town's old bullring, the outside of which was converted into flats years ago. EL GAZPACHO CALIENTE - hot and thick, the traditional way to eat gazpacho in the winter. LOS EXVOTOS - the enchanting and poignant drawings and paintings offered in thanks to Our Lady, lining the walls of the Sanctuary chapel. LOS ARTISTAS INGLESES - the two English artists shown here are musician Matt Coman, who runs the annual classical music festival, and painter Andy Russell who gives art lessons to locals and visitors

Back in March I commented on the opening of a new nursery school in Alcala, with places for 120 children.  This has become the subject of the first public clash of swords between the former and current Mayors - and I suspect it won't be the last. According to a press release on Wednesday , the nursery has had to be closed because it was in too dangerous a condition.  The new administration claims that it was opened before getting its official licence for first occupation, and hadn't been finished off properly; the air conditioning wasn't working, the kitchen wasn't finished, and most significantly, an electrical cable was suspended in the air and not buried underground, as required by a technical report that was discovered in the Town Hall on 7 June. This has given the new regime a splendid opportunity to write to all the parents of the children informing them of the shortcomings of the old one.  It is claimed that the former Mayor, Arsénio Cordero,