1936 On the Continent

entirely by donkey power. In fact, if you have never seen “the lion lying down with the lamb,” here in Santillana you will see the donkey lying down with his master, for the people live under the same roof with their domestic animals.
    And here is a useful tip. If you know how to handle a camera you can pay for your holiday
and
make a bit towards the next, by taking photographs at places like Santillana.
The Marriage Market
    Oviedo and Gijon are the last places you will touch—if you like—along the northern coast of Spain. Oviedo used to be known as a “holy” city, but that need not frighten you away. At the moment it is—or was just after the last revolution which started there—in an unholy mess, and all the sights, except the cathedral, have been smashed up. Gijon is about half the size of Oviedo and is really a lovely place, whose inhabitants are too busy lounging and talking football to start revolutions. Gijon, after all, deserves a visit if you want to know not only Spain but also the Spanish. It is the general belief in England that Southerners are very strict in the matter of morals, that is to say, feminine morals. Well, the following scene, which you may sometimes witness at Gijon as well as at other Spanish towns, may be interpreted either as a contradiction to or as a confirmation of that view. Of a summer evening part of the main street is closed to traffic, a policeman driving a painted stake into the ground at each end of thespace to be cleared. All the eligible girls of the town, wearing their best shawls and etceteras, walk up and down the clear stretch, accompanied by their mothers or sisters. On each side there is a cordon of young men, for whose benefit the young señoritas exhibit themselves. The show lasts for about an hour, during which one young man after another detaches himself from the cordon, and walking up to a chosen damsel invites her for er … for a walk. Thereupon the chaperon—didn’t I say that they were amenable to reason?—vamooses. And when the majority of the young
caballeros
—and señoritas—have been “suited,” the policeman collects his pretty stakes and the traffic restarts. Of course, it sometimes happens that two
caballeros
take a fancy to the same damsel and walk up to her simultaneously. In such cases one of the young men
may
gracefully retire, but he may also choose to provide an interesting spectacle for the crowds who, with their hands perpetually in their pockets, spend their time loitering in the streets.
Spanish Football
    Thus authority in Spain appears to be deeply concerned about the future of the race, and in this connection I am reminded of an interesting story I heard from a Spanish friend. As you will see for yourself in the part of Spain where we now are, there are remarkably large numbers of children of the baby class everywhere, but particularly in the villages. My friend explained that this was due to a rumour that was current among the people a few years ago to the effect that all fathers were going to receive so many pesetas per week for each child. The people were eager to obtain “something for nothing”—and there you were. Then, when it was found that the rumour was only a rumour, the people ceased to take an interest in the increase of their country’s population.
    I do not know whether this is true or not, but it deserves to be true.
    Gijon, by the way, is the home of Spanish football. You will find that football is becoming increasingly popular all over the country, to the detriment of bull-fighting. You can see good football matches each week in mostSpanish cities, and the best Spanish footballers are quite good even according to English standards.
    Burgos, in Old Castile, can be reached from San Sebastian in a few hours. If you are interested in art treasures of all kinds—churches, archeological museums and the like—you can spend an enjoyable day, or year, at Burgos.
    But this is by the way, since you will find all the information you require about Burgos in the ordinary guidebooks.
The Spanish Blackpool
    On the other hand Corunna, which is within easy distance of Gijon, is interesting, in that it is the Spanish Blackpool. It is here that you land if you travel to Spain by steamer from Southampton. Corunna is crowded in the summer by foreign, as well as Spanish, visitors who, naturally, also bring their children. Corunna (or Coruña) is accordingly an inexpensive holiday resort, and the majority of the thirty or