Another Spain When the weather turns for the better, however temporarily, and the end of year approaches for school children across the country, thoughts turn to escape. Away from the day-to-day hurly-burly, (such as the inevitable traffic jam in Coulsdon caused by muppets blocking the road as they attempt to ram their very expensive, oversized, pretend off-road 4 x 4 into an already full Aldi’s car park to save pennies, when they could have saved thousands by buying a car that just did the job they needed it for) away from work, away from home. The overseas holiday, despite, or maybe because of, the ongoing Brexit row, remains increasingly popular according to the Office of National Statistics. The locations vary, as last year’s must see becomes this year’s has been, but since the dawn of the package tour in the 1960’s, Spain remains uppermost in the average British holidaymaker’s mind. Personally, I haven’t been. I’ve seen some of France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. Explored parts of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and the Czech Republic. I’ve even got as far as bits of China, Canada, the USA and Australia. But somehow I’ve managed to miss Spain. I’ve not done it deliberately. At least, I don’t think so. Then again, perhaps in my subconscious I am rebelling against the near-reflex action for so many to just jump on a cheap flight South, and head for the Costa del Sol or the Balearics. Marbella, Torremolinos, Benidorm, the last now the title of a TV sit-com, all sum up a certain attitude to holidaymaking that I just don’t get. Magaluf, nicknamed ‘Shagaluf’ in many quarters, has British-staffed emergency medical centres close to its bar and club strip to cope with the copious victims of binge-drinking, the result of low alcohol and fast food pricing. It’s got so that the reputation of Magaluf is affecting the tourism for elsewhere on Mallorca. There is in many, this seemingly very British attitude to travelling abroad, which is to be in a foreign country but not experience it. They want the weather, warm, sunny, dry, but they also want fish and chips, the brands of lager they get at home, Sky Sports and British papers. For some you can add clubbing, for others golf. But on their return, they’ll be no more familiar with the country they’ve just spent 10 days in than they were before they left. Which is frankly bonkers. Now that’s a personal opinion, but really? Spain as a country has a positive wealth of culture, cuisine and history, due in no small part to its Moorish occupation for seven centuries. It was one of the first truly global empires, pre-dating the British and leaving as a legacy 500 million Spanish-speaking people, making it the second most widely-spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese. The Alhambra in Granada, a Moorish fortress that became a spectacular palace, and the whole of the Old City of Toledo, once capital of the Kingdom of the Visigoths (How ‘Game of Thrones’ does that sound?), are UNESCO World Heritage sites worth hours of one’s time. But there are 44 other such sites across Spain, and only two other countries in the world have more. Spanish red wine, tapas and dancing versus cheap lager, a kebab and clubbing. I shall get to Spain, hopefully soon, but I might see a very different country to the one so many choose. But then, a holiday is a holiday, and a very personal choice. Have fun, whatever you decide to do, but maybe, just maybe, look just a little further afield than the usual tourist strip and the beach. You might be very pleasantly surprised. Hasta la vista… Paul M Ford writes for GrayDorian – The Writing Bureau 60 Log into www.cr5.co.uk your local community website! The Alhambra in Granada
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