Archive for Spain
Paris-Dauphine photograph competition [jatp]
Posted in pictures, University life with tags Alcàzar, Baños de María Padilla, competition, jatp, Sevilla, Spain, Université Paris Dauphine on March 22, 2017 by xi'an
Dos de Mayo [book review]
Posted in Books with tags Arturo Pérez-Reverte, Dos de Mayo, French history, Joachim Murat, Madrid, Napoléon Bonaparte, Spain, Spanish history, un dià de cólera on August 23, 2016 by xi'an
Following a discusion I had with Victor Elvirà about Spanish books, I ordered a book by Arturo Pérez-Reverte called a Day of Wrath (un día de cólera), but apparently not translated into English. 
The day of wrath is the second of May, 1808, when the city of Madrid went to arms against the French occupation by Napoléon’s troops. An uprising that got crushed by Murat’s repression the very same day, but which led to the entire Spain taking arms against the occupation. The book is written out of historical accounts of the many participants to the uprising, from both Madrilene and French sides. Because of so many viewpoints being reported, some for a single paragraph before the victims die, the literary style is not particularly pleasant, but this is nonetheless a gripping book that I read within a single day while going (or trying to get) to San Francisco. And it is historically revealing of how unprepared the French troops were about an uprising by people mostly armed with navajas and a few hunting rifles. Who still managed to hold parts of the town for most of a day, with the help of a single artillery battalion while the rest of the troops stayed in their barracks. The author actually insists very much on that aspect, that the rebellion was mostly due to the action of the people, while leading classes, the Army, and the clergy almost uniformly condemned it. Upped estimations on the number of deaths on that day (and the following days) range around 500 for Madrilenes and 150 for French tropps, but the many stories running in the book give the impression of many more casualties.
art brut
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel with tags Alcàzar, Andalucía, arches, Baths of Lady María de Padilla, Sevilla, Spain on August 9, 2016 by xi'an
cave art
Posted in pictures with tags beer, cave dwellers, cave paintings, honey, invention of fire, prehistory, Spain, The New York Times on August 7, 2016 by xi'an
stupid traditions are simply stupid
Posted in Running, Travel with tags bull fighting, Canary Islands, Catalunya, European Union, running bulls, Spain on July 17, 2016 by xi'an
Over the past weekend, several men were killed in Spain. By running bulls. Most in the streets of Pamplona. And one in a bullring. The argument behind those events is to invoke “tradition“. Which means it happened for several centuries. Starting (?) with the Minoan bull leapers. But that does not make an argument when live are at stake and animals turned into killing machines (and often injured in the process). A lot of other absurd and cruel traditions have rightly disappeared over the years… The European Union does not yet prohibit this animal mistreatment although it prohibits EU funds to be used as support, but it should as it is high time bull running and bull fighting are prohibited everywhere in Spain (as bull fighting currently is in both Catalunya and the Canary Islands). [I realise this is not the number one problem in the World and that many more people died the same weekend of deaths that could have been avoided, it is just that it would be so simple to eliminate this one (dis)reason.]
