Life in Ciudad Rodrigo

In Alicante it wasn't unusual to go to some sort of Fiesta and to be offered free paella. In Ciudad Rodrigo the "signature" dish is a spicy sausage called farinato which is normally served with cut up fried egg. The "Friends of the Farinato" were serving it up in one of the town's squares today. We got our share.

I was hanging around in town today waiting for a display of birds of prey. A couple of fur coats caught my attention and I was reminded that it is still considered chic to be seen in fur in Spain. I'm with the majority of Brits who, as I remember, think it's a bloody shame to be seen in fur. Maybe it's all fake fur but I don't think so somehow.

Last year Maggie chanced upon a craft fair sale here in Ciudad Rodrigo. She went in to see if they had any Christmas cards. The group of mature women who had organised the sale soon recognised her for a Brit and insisted that she talk to one of their members - Señora Bromfield - a Spanish woman who had married a Briton and spent 27 years living in the Midlands. A year later Maggie is still friends with Mrs Bromfield. Indeed we were invited to lunch with her today. Our meeting place was to be the craft sale organised by Manos Unidas a Catholic based charity that sells "Third World" handicrafts to raise money for humanitarian projects. We brought a brilliant nativity scene made up of a Peruvian Mary, Joseph, baby Jesús, Kings and donkeys. I was impressed by the hard sell, no holds barred advertising for the craft sale. You will see, in the photo, the huge hoardings and eye catching displays the group mounted to entice passers by into parting with their cash. Well, if you enlarg...

They were putting up the Christmas lights in the town today. Before you know it they'll have Christmas stuff in the shops in September, just like in the UK!

Back in the summer there was a bit of an ooh aah about electricity prices here. The poor old generators and distributors said they were on their uppers - giving the stuff away, it was so bad they were wondering about retiring to their yachts in the Caribbean. One of the biggest complaints from the consumers who need to heat and power their homes was that the generators wanted to scrap the cheap "off peak" rate. And, to be honest, with my imperfect Spanish I thought that is what had happened. In winter it gets a bit parky in Spain. Back in Alicante with marble and tiles everywhere, with draughts blowing under doors and windows, even in the sort of temperatures that would seem mild in a UK winter, our house felt like the inside of a fridge. That's because everyone reckons Alicante is warm so the houses are designed to deal with the heat; not with the cold. In Salamanca it's different. People expect ice and freezing winds in winter so the houses are built for it. Our ren...

It's a hill, 1723m high (Ben Nevis, for comparison, is 1344m) about 50kms from Ciudad Rodrigo. Apparently a French chap found an image of a Black Virgin Mary in a cave there in the 15th Century. Within a couple of years of the "discovery" the Dominicans had the place sewn up tight and they set about building a monastery, church and what not on the summit. I presume that the TV repeater station came later. I understand the good folk of Ciudad Rodrigo carry one of those big Holy statues all the way there, and up the hill, on their backs each September It was a cracking place. Crisp air, blue sky, views over to the snow on top of the Sierra del Bejar and the religious buildings looked really stocky and solid as though they really should be there. When we were in the church I noticed we were blowing smoke, all those monks doing all that kneeling and praying for all those years crossed my mind. But, in my overcoat and with the heater in the Mini proving to be first rate I didn...

Years ago I visited a museum in Newcastle upon Tyne. In the natural history section there was a stuffed sparrow and an explanatory note about how the museum had been missing an example of the common spuggie for many years. They were such an everyday sight that nobody had ever thought to add one to the museum's collection - at least till then. That's why I don't have a picture of anyone walking and had to use this snap! Whenever we go on one of our little trips we encounter tens of people walking along the road. They can be anyone of any age but older people out walking alone or as a couple make up the vast majority of sightings. And often there appears to be no habitation for miles - goodness knows how far they've roamed. Maggie's pal, Maria Luisa, invited us to stroll. Each evening she walks the 3 or 4km to meet her husband at his smallholding in the countryside near the village of Ivanrey. Maggie has done it several times before but, for me, it was a first.