1936 On the Continent

Paradise
    A few really great paintings by Murillo can be seen at the Hospital de la Caridad, which is a home for the aged and poor. The existence of this establishment is due to the many sins of one Don Miguel de Mañara, an hidalgo who is alleged to be the original of Byron’s
Don Juan
. If Don Miguel had been a good man there might be no home for the aged poor in Seville.
    If you are tempted to visit the Museo Provincial de Pinturas, take my advice and don’t. But Casa de Pilato (Pilate’s House) may give you a thrill when you learn that it is only a private residence.
    As a relief from the sights you may visit the environs of Seville, which are surrounded by vineyards, olive and orange groves and wheatfields. A veritable paradise, so long as you are able to forget the many commissions that growers have to pay and the whole sordid process by which the grapes and oranges reach you at home. However, if you come across a grower he is sure to give you an earful about Covent Garden.
    Seville has one hotel that is as luxurious as any in the whole world. They charge the visitor nothing at all for looking at it. The minimum charge for a room without board is 25 pesetas, while the maximum for board-residence is somewhere among the clouds. However, the hotels Gran Via, Lion d’Or and San Sebastian will “keep” you at around 20 pesetas per day, while if you prefer tofeed outside there is the Las Delicias and the Suizo Chico on the Calle de las Sierpas. There is an American bar on Plaza de San Fernando, in addition to “native” cafés, which you will find everywhere.
    But do not take my lady to the ordinary cafés, where Andalusian songs and dances are performed for the especial benefit of tourists. Whether you ought to go yourself—well, you have been warned!
    There are many excursions from Seville, most of which can be made by bus. Carmona is a very picturesque little Moorish town. Huelva is a picturesque place at the confluence of the Odiel and the Rio Tinto, and from here you can make pleasant excursions to Rabida and Palos.
    However, the omnipresent
Patronato Nacional de Turismo
in Seville will tell you all about excursions and, if required, plan for you a whole series of them.
    We came to Seville from Granada, but, of course, you can reach it more easily from Algeciras if you enter the country via Gibraltar.
    Before we leave Andalusia let me warn you not to pronounce the word “snake” in the presence of an Andalusian—male or female—who understands English. For some reason that no one seems to know Andalusians have a horror of snakes, even of harmless ones, though Andalusia is not particularly infested with snakes. If you do happen to say the word your companion or companions will look horror-struck and will make strange exclamations in chorus.
Valencia
    From Seville to Valencia is a long jump, but we are not proceeding according to a predetermined plan and you may travel to the province where the almonds flourish either from Alicante or from Madrid and, of course, by sea. If you are romantically inclined you can leave the train at some wayside station and enter the capital of the province, Valencia or—to call it by its official name—Valencia del Cid—by a
tartana
or covered cart, which you can easily hire hereabouts.
    In fact, it is best to see the immediate environs of Valencia first—an endless garden watered by the Turia and the Guadalaviar. The irrigation of the whole
huerta
is in the hands of a few elected farmers and peasants, who gather every Thursday morning in the gateway of the Apostles in Valencia to hold a
Tribunal de las Aguas
. This tribunal was founded by the Moors, and it has met every Thursday for nearly a thousand years.
    Valencia has a university, so chum up with some young
caballero
and let him show you round.
    The principal characteristic of Valencia is fruit and flowers. It lies in the most fertile country in Spain, and although there are flowers all the year round, if you want to see the almost incredible beauty that nature can create out of huge masses of these fairy plants, go to Valencia in May. That, by the way, is a month of
fiestas
in Valencia, which is remarkably gay and picturesque even for Spain.
Fiestas, Fiestas, Fiestas
    The climate of Valencia is delightful for nine months in the year, but in summer it is too hot for the northerner, and during that season it is also said to be malarial. That reminds me of another thing that ordinary guides never mention. It is