La Mancha: Don Quijote’s land, giants’ land

José Bosco Camacho Miñano.                           

La Mancha is a region located in the centre-south of Spain. Its territory is share between the provinces of Ciudad Real, Toledo, Cuenca and Albacete. This region is famous all around the world because of Miguel de Cervantes’ work “Don Quixote de La Mancha.” It is a flat region where aridity is the predominant tendency but also it is possible to find lakes full of water.
La Mancha owes its name to the Arabic term “Mantxa” that means literally “dry land.” But like in most of Spanish territories, the name also has another explanation: many experts in the area say that the name La Mancha comes from the following expression: the wider (la más ancha). Other acceptable theory asserts that La Mancha is named in that way because if you see the physical map of Spain, this region looks like a brand, a mark due to the flatness. A good example of this fact is that turning the head to the right, and then to the left, you always will see flatness. There is also an explanation that is a local belief but it is complex to understand unless knowing a little about Spanish society at the turn of the 16th Century: Cervantes uses La Mancha as settings of his famous work because it talk about a nobleman whose most of his ancestors were Jewish. In that age, in Spain, there was a rule establishing that people whose ancestors were not Christians in actions and in mind, cannot be part of the nobility. To mock this social class, Cervantes chose as a “hidalgo” (a lower nobleman) a character that in addition of being fool, his ancestors were Jewish or even Muslims. It is interesting seeing how the author wanted to discredit Spanish nobility through a fool low-nobleman reflecting how at this time, upper-classes in Spain were decaying.
As you can see, there are many theories about the name. Apart from this I encourage you to visit this to-discover region. I come from a town located in the heart of La Mancha and I assure that worth a visit.

Fisterra

 

Ildara Enríquez García

I remember the first time I came to Fisterra. I must have been only eight years old. I remember being completely astonished by the roughness of the place: the fearsome combination of the cliffs, the strong winds, and the waves that danced aggressively under my feet. They called it Fisterra after the Latin words Finis terrae, which literally mean “land’s end”. Long ago people believed that this cape was the actual place where the world ended, and many men refused to sail those waters in fear of falling down the edges of the earth. Before the Romans came this place was the home of the Celts, who settled in the highest geographical points to protect themselves from the enemy. At the very top of this mountain they built an altar to the sun, which was later called the Ara Solis by Decimus Junius Brutus. As the story goes, the Celts used to come here to see how the last beams of the sunset would carefully drown themselves into the sea water. It became a sort of ceremony, and so many people started to do their own pilgrimage to admire the death of the sun.
 Now I’m one of them. I’m standing here today, at the end of all things, at the verge of this abrupt cliff where the world seems to disappear and suddenly reappear with the strikes of thousands of solitary waves. As I stare at this dark sea, somehow hypnotized by the calm waltz of the waves, I think about all the people that came here before me; I think about their pilgrimage and the burdens they carried with them. I wonder if they were as heavy as mine are. I think of the voyage they made in search for an answer, and I wonder if they did get what they were looking for. I can hear their voices from the distance, mingled with the soft murmur of the sea. The wind plays gently with my hair and I wait for the spectacle to begin. I am a descendant of the Celtic tribes, and I’m standing here, at the end of all things; at the end of the world, where the sun meets the sea.

SANTO DOMINGO DE SILOS: the sound of silence

 

Marijuán González

Santo Domingo de Silos is a small village of Burgos, with a population of 165 inhabitants. It is named after Saint Domingo,  who  was a hermit,  an abbot and  a restorer who lived in the abbey of the  village. In 1088 he died  and was buried inside the church, which had been built by him a few years before. Today this abbey is everything to the village.
The  art, history, and cloister attract thousands of tourists to the Abbey  of Santo Domingo de Silos.  I have been there several times. My parents took me for the first time eight years ago and the only things that called my attention were the souvenir shops outside the abbey. The last time I visited it, six months ago,  it was completely different. It was  the quietness and beauty of the place what called my attention.
It´s impossible for me to make a  detailed description of the abbey. The cloister is magnificent. It has ninety-six arches, each one with its capital. All the capitals are different and unique: It is a museum of medieval sculpture in itself.
Inside  the cloister there is a nice garden with different plants and flowers, and near  the middle there is the landmark of the abbey : the cypress which inspired Gerardo de Diego to compose his well-known sonnet.
                                  
That view also inspired me. Everything was still, without movement, so I stopped,  and  the only thing I could hear was the sound of  "silence". It was a magical moment.
Apart from the cloister and  the chapel in the abbey   something you can' t miss is to listen to the monks singing live the Gregorian chants. They sing at the services several times every  day. People wait  quietly and patiently inside the church until the monks are in the choir, pray for a while and then sing some Gregorian chants. When you listen to them you are transported to old times and  are fascinated to listen in silence to the beautiful  sounds of the Gregorian era.    

Lázně Kynžvart, Bohemia

Barbora Kaprálová

Lázně Kynžvart is the name of a small town in the western part of Bohemia, or if you wish Czech Republic. It is a forgotten, unimportant village with population of around 1500 people. The word “lázně” means spa but the second part of the name doesn´t make any sense in Czech language. Nobody really gave it any thoughts because it is really common in this part of the country that the names are very unusual or even strange. The rest of the cities or villages on the east, north or south are mostly derived from old Czech language, Celtic or Slavic names, but the west is special. The names are part of the history, but unfortunately the very part that was being suppressed for a long time and now there is almost no one to remember. The reason is that most of these names are German and admitting the German origin of these names leads naturally to the question how did they appeared in a country where is the majority of over 94% of Czech or Moravian people.
The truth is that over three millions of Germans were living side by side with Czech people, mostly near the borders with Germany; they had been living there for centuries as Czech king´s subjects. But after WWII they were expelled from the country on behalf of collaboration with Hitler´s Third Reich. As much as we can understand the craziness of that time and the fear for the future of the republic even the thirst for retribution, there cannot be found any justification for the way these people were driven out of the land that had belonged their ancestors, how they were robbed and humiliated and many of them hurt or even killed. The west became a land of ghost, but not for a long time. The houses and lands were offered to destitute Czech people and the land was settled again. The only way these new settlers could live in peace on this stolen property was not to ask about the history and forget the little they had already knew.
...
The name means Königswart – “king´s guard”, a proud name of a town founded by one of the most respected Czech kings in the history, for many generations settled by Czech, German and Jewish people. Let´s not forget.

The German minority in the Czech Republic 1921-2001 in %.

La Casa de las Muertes

Irati Rúa Ariztegi

In the Bordadores Street, in the Spanish city of Salamanca, there is a building which has an enigmatic and dark name: La Casa de las Muertes or, literally, the House of the Deaths.
According to the legend, Doña María la Brava, an important figure of the 15th century history of Salamanca, ordered that two Manzano brothers were beheaded after a familiar quarrel. The bodies of these unfortunate brothers were found in this house, fact that would explain its name.
However, there are other legends originated in the 19th century which attribute this uncommon name to the murder of a priest in this building.
The last explanation, the most logical and simple one, reminds that, in Salamanca, “muerte” meant «skull» as well as «death».
The reason why these skulls were originally cut in the façade of La Casa de las Muertes, however, is still a mystery and these four little pieces of stone that fascinate tourists nowadays were, in the past, a bad omen which people carefully tried to avoid.

BÉJAR

Jorge Hernández Bernal           
                        
Bejar is a town near Salamanca. It has a population from sixteen thousand about. Bejar is a word from Arabian origin. This takes place from one of the traditions called “ Hombres de Musgo”. They get dressed from Musgo because the custom tells that they expelled to the Muslims from Bejar

Firstly, its history is related with Vetones who arrived at 400 b.c and Romans arrived at 400 b.c although without relevance.
However, it produced an important fact. Muslims enter to Spain in the year 700 a.c and as a consequence Bejar is conquered by Muslims during many centuries. Therefore, Bejar's name has an interesting meaning.

On the other hand, its relevance to explain that Bejar's dukes lived during the sixteenth century in a castle and they had an important repercution because they helped to promote Quijote's book the first part which belongs to Miguel de Cervantes.

In addition, there is  an excellent forest and an excellent mountain where you can find magnicifent animals and nature. Bejar is known owing to the water is very healthy and it goes down the mountain. This water is very crystal, clear.

Bejar has a peculiar expression like example “ to y de bejar” and it also has an Extremaduran accent because it's a village that finds the south from Salamanca

It's a town which has changed very much and it has suffered many transformations
   

Los Arribes/Las Arribes

Raquel Morin Rogado

One interesting place to take a walk along the Duero river and to have a nice time is the Natural Park of Arribes del Duero. Situated in  the autonomous community of Castile and León, between the provinces of Salamanca and Zamora, is a natural area and one of the best conservated parks with a landscape of singular beauty and environmental quality. This amazing natural heritage also forms the national boundary between Spain and Portugal. The main characteristics of this natural space are its biodiversity and its variety of valleys. These valleys have been originated by the erosion of several rivers, such as Águeda, Duero, Esla, Huebra, Tormes and Uces. This natural scenery is known as “Arribes”, from where the reserve name come.  The term "Arribes" appears for the first in 1885, and it was used by the natives of Salamanca’s region, La Ribera, referring to geographic depressions caused by the Duero and other rivers of this territory, which I have already mentioned. However, in regions of Zamora and also in Portugal, the same geomorphology was termed “Arribas”. Consequently, in the seventies, the term "Arribes" changes its gender depending on the sector of the park where we are situated. Zamora’s part of the park has begun to call “Los Arribes”, while Salamanca’s part has begun to call “Las Arribes”.