Basque horses

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On the left these beautiful pottok horses on Bianditz mountain, in Navarra. Behind lie the Aiako mountains. The Pottok (Wikipedia) is an endangered, semi-feral breed of pony native to the Basque Pyrenees. This image by Mikel Ortega won an award on Wikipedia.

On the right, another native Basque breed is the Basque mountain horse. This photo in the Parque Natural de Pagoeta is taken by Gorritxiki1 (wikipedia).

The standard Basque name for horse is zaldi, which I like. In plural, it’s zaldiak.

This is a great book:The Basque Country: A Cultural History by Paddy Woodworth: Full of analysis and fascinating facts. Overall, an excellent balanced account.

Spanish castle magic

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Zafra castle

Spanish castle magic. Castillo de Zafra,聽Guadalajara, Dating from the late 12th century it is built on a sandstone outcrop on top of a previous Moorish fort, and stands on the borderlands between Christian and聽Muslim-ruled territory.聽 Castillian, the language from the Land of Castles.

Incidentally, the castle featured as the Tower of Joy in Games of Thrones. 馃摲 Diego Delso, Wikipedia

Iberian emerald lizard

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A splendid looking male Iberian emerald lizard聽(Lacerta schreiberi) in the Sierra de la Culebra, Zamora. These largish lizards (~40 maximum in length) are endemic to the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. After taking this, standing on one leg, arm outstretched, I fell into a bush of thorns.

In Spanish they are called Lagarto verdinegro.

Puente Mocho

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Puente Mocho. I would love to walking over this medieval bridge now, following the Roman road through dehesa woodland, past Iberian pigs, black storks and imperial eagles overhead. Near Ledesma (Salamanca). Photo Wiki

Zumaia flysch cliffs

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Sakoneta, Flysch de Zumaia, spectacular sea cliffs, rock beach, brooding sky, scuttling crabs.

This is one of most amazing geological formations I’ve ever seen. These vertical layers run for 8 kilometres along the Basque coast, each a rock page, forming a book covering 60 million years of planet’s history. Created when Iberia crashed into Europe and things went all squishy.

(I also learnt here crab in Basque is karramarro).

Montearag贸n

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On the way up to Montearag贸n castle, taken by the POUM mlitia in September 1936.
Ridiculously beautiful wildflowers like a Monet, a griffon vulture sonewhere above. Always a vulture somewhere over your head in Arag贸n. With the Orwell Society one May.

El Greco’s Toledo

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El Greco”s mesmerising and dramatic View of Toledo. Painted around ~1600. I love the threatening clouds, the hills seem about to swallow the town or perhaps slide into the Tajo below. This is one of the earliest examples of a landscape painting though it is not a true topographical representation.

View of Toledo

El Greco鈥檚 later painted View and Plan of Toledo (1608). This canvas offers a multiple viewpoint; a panoramic. The River Tajo聽is seen here asa  sculpture pouring water and so prosperity, apparently part of the town’s propaganda聽campaign to convince聽Philip II聽and his court聽to return to Toledo from聽Madrid.

View and Plan of Toledo

A strawberry tree

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Lovely walk in the wild limestone massif of the Serra del Garraf just southwest of Barcelona. The strawberry trees (madro帽o in Spanish, arbocer/arbo莽 in Catalan) were laden with fruit. They have a reputation of being a bit dull – their scientific name Arbutus unedo is Latin for  “I only eat one”) but these were sweet and tasty enough so I had about 30.

Popular knowledge has it that if you eat too many madro帽os you get drunk. The Portuguese have a prized madro帽o liquor (medronho) but I haven’t tried it yet.

A bear feeding on a strawberry tree is also the symbol of the city of Madrid.

They’re also known as arbustus trees in English.

Cap de Creus

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Cap de Creus, where the Pyrenees ends, falling into the sea in a riot of schist and fantastical erosion. Last year’s sky swept clean by the Tramuntana wind, crystal clear light. Salvador’s childhood landscape, Dal铆’s dreamscape.

Spanish mermaid

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They write from Galicia in Spain that some fishermen lately took on that coast a sort of monster, or merman, five feet and half long from it’s foot to its head, which was like that of a goat. It has a long beard and moustaches, and black skin somewhat hairy, a very long neck, short arms, and hand longer than they ought to be in proportion to the rest of the body: long fingers like those of a man, with nails like claws, very long toes, joined like the feet of a duck, and the heels furnished with fins resembling the winged feet with which painters represent Mercury.

From Scots Magazine 1739.