History lessons

Today we went to lunch at Nacho's parents’ house. We were joined by Nacho's abuela, Brigida, who recently turned 95. At that age you can’t really expect much, but the señorita is lucid and spry as can be. Somehow we got on the topic of the Spanish Civil war and Brigida began to tell stories about her memories from those years. She remembers spending two days in one of the metro stations during a bombing of Madrid and even when the explosions were farther away her house shook from the impact. People fought over food and ate what they could find. With my recent interest in Spanish history it was a fascinating lunch.

When we left their house and headed home we changed buses near the Puerto Toledo. As we strolled down Ronda de Toledo we passed a small park that holds the Chiminea del Gasómetro - the only remaining part of the old gas factory built in the mid 1800's and closed in the late years of the 20th century. This picture doesn't do justice to the impressive height of the tower. With the factory producing coal gas the output of the chimney would have been an ugly smoke. Menos mal that the chimney was tall enough to give the residents below some breathing room. Take note of the graffiti at the base of the chimney. It's a shame. (I went searching on the internet for some additional information about the chimney and the factory. I found it here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=7179028&postcount=60. The page is in Spanish but the pictures are interesting and give a better idea of the size of the chimney.)

Recent History

Living here in Spain has made me realize how ignorant I am of the modern history of Europe. In school it always seemed like my history teachers ran out of time at the end of the year and we never made it much past World War I (if that). Even my AP European History class didn't get to World War II. The history of Spain, in particular, has begun to fascinate me - I think because it feels so recent. I remember when I was living here before and they were celebrating 25 years of democracy. 25! So, in light of this newfound ignorance, I decided I was going to look for a book on Spanish history and this morning I headed to Casa del Libro up near Goya. It was there that I was confronted with confirmation of my ignorance. A number of the banks up around the bookstore had been covered in these posters in honor of the upcoming election (this coming Sunday).

They say, simply, "The Spain that fights votes for La Falange." (I think. It might say, "The Spain that fights. Vote La Falange.") Now, like I said, I don't know much about recent Spanish history, but the name Falange stuck in my mind. If I remember correctly the Falange was the main political party controlled by Franco during his 35 years of power. I THOUGHT they had disappeared shortly after his death in the '70s. But then I see these posters... I find it fascinating that some of the defining history of recent Spain is really so recent. So much so that people who pass me on the street each day lived through it. I tried to take these pictures somewhat discreetly because I didn't know if it was somehow disresepectful. I really need to find a good history book!