Madrid to Gibraltar Great Continental Railway Journeys


Madrid to Gibraltar

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I'm embarking on a new railway adventure

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that will take me across the heart of Europe.

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I will be using this,

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my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide, dated 1913,

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which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel

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for the British tourist.

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It told travellers where to go,

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what to see and how to navigate

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the thousands of miles of tracks criss-crossing the continent.

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Now, a century later,

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I'm using my copy to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,

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when technology, industry, science and the arts were flourishing.

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I want to rediscover that lost Europe

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that in 1913 couldn't know

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that its way of life would shortly be swept aside

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by the advent of war.

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A train in Spain,

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and though I'm hundreds of miles from my London house,

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I feel at home here because my father was Spanish,

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because Spanish blood runs in these veins.

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And though I visit this country maybe once a month,

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every time I come here,

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I feel the excitement of being in a place where I feel that I belong.

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My family's Spanish roots are in Salamanca, in the north-west.

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My father came to Britain as a refugee

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at the end of the Spanish Civil War.

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I grew up in England with a love of Spain and the Spanish language.

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Today, my journey starts in the capital.

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Madrid is the beating heart of modern-day Spain.

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I'll travel south-west to historic Cordoba,

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a city with ancient Moorish roots,

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before crossing the southern Spanish region of Andalusia to Seville

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and on to Jerez in the south-west.

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The hilltop town of Ronda will be my final inland stop,

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before I descend to the Costa Del Sol.

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My journey ends on the Rock of Gibraltar.

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On this journey, I explore the rich culture of Spain,

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which drew our 1913 Bradshaw's travellers

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in search of a taste of the exotic.

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'I meet my most unusual dance partner ever...'

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Gracias.

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'..Immerse myself in Cordoba's fair...'

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'..Discover in Jerez

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'how we have been getting a British tradition so wrong'.

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-How do we drink sherry?

-Well, in England, very badly.

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'..Celebrate the ingenuity of British rail engineers.'

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180km through very difficult terrain,

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and they literally had to bevel out the tunnels from pure rock.

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'And find out the lengths that the British went to

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'to keep the Rock of Gibraltar.'

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Six men were prepared to entomb themselves

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literally inside the rock. It's a total James Bond story.

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Oh! It's an absolutely perfectly designed lookout.

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Madrid is the highest capital in Europe,

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surrounded by mountain ranges.

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Before the railways, it was easier to move goods

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from Barcelona to South America than it was by road to Madrid.

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My Bradshaw's Guide, 1913, tells me

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that Madrid is "a fine, attractive city,

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"the capital of the kingdom of Spain,

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"built upon an eminence rising from a wide stretching plain."

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Think of the Iberian peninsula as a square,

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and Madrid is at the very centre,

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the perfect place for a visitor to begin

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an exploration of the Spanish regions.

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Atocha Station.

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This fine structure of brick and iron and glass

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was built at the end of the 19th century.

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But with high-speed trains,

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it was necessary to have longer platforms and a wider space,

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and so they moved all the trains down the line,

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making out of the old station a conservatory,

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a railway terminus with a tropical touch.

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But Madrid has been drawing the world to it for hundreds of years.

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In the 16th and 17th centuries,

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it was the mighty nerve centre of the Spanish Empire.

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It's still the country's political heart today.

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Back in the time of my Bradshaw's guide,

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Spain avoided the rivalries that would embroil Europe in war.

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It was distracted by its own economic and political troubles.

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I'm meeting Kirsty Hooper,

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reader in Hispanic Studies at Warwick University,

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to discover more.

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In the early years of the 20th century,

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-what sort of condition was Spain in?

-Pretty poor.

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In 1898, Spain had lost its last Atlantic colonies

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to the United States as part of the Spanish-American War,

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which is known in Spain as El Desastre, or The Disaster.

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So while the British Empire was growing,

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and the most powerful empire on earth, the Spanish Empire was reduced

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to a tiny number of possesions, mostly on the north coast of Africa.

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As Spain's imperial fortunes fell,

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the British, still basking in their own colonial might,

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were keen to indulge in a bit of dynastic diplomacy.

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Britain's King Edward VII, connected by birth or marriage to most of

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Europe's royal families, understood the power of these royal alliances.

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In 1906, at the Real Monasterio de San Jeronimo,

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an event occurred which linked Britain firmly with Spain.

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Behind the scenes, Edward had arranged for Queen Victoria's

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19-year-old granddaughter, Princess Victoria Eugenie,

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known as Ena,

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to marry the 20-year-old King Alfonso of Spain.

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How did people feel in Spain and Britain about this union?

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The establishments in both countries were not terribly happy

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when it was first announced.

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Alfonso himself was very keen on the idea of a British bride

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and he'd worked his way through a couple of Queen Victoria's

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granddaughters before, in the previous year, who had,

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for whatever reason, turned him down until he ended up with Ena.

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But the Spanish aristocracy were not terribly happy

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because Ena wasn't Catholic. The British were rather surprised

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because she was very low-ranking, and they weren't sure about losing

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one of their princesses to the Catholic Church.

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Determined to see his glamorous niece on the Spanish throne,

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Edward allowed Ena to convert to Catholicism, her fiance's religion.

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Well, it has the rich grandeur of a royal chapel.

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I'm thinking with an English princess and a Spanish king,

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-it must have been a big royal event.

-It was enormous.

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Really, it was one of the first global royal weddings.

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Although he didn't attend,

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the King saw off the royal party at London's Victoria Station.

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And they travelled down through France, Alphonso met them

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at the border and the royal train processed on to Madrid.

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But as the world watched,

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the wedding day celebrations turned to tragedy.

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Now, Bradshaw's says it was from a window on the top storey of number

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88, Calle Mayor,

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that the bomb was thrown at the carriage of the king and queen.

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And indeed this commemorates it. What an appalling incident.

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Who was it who did it?

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It was a young Catalan anarchist called Mateu Morral

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who had taken rooms up at the top of the building

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where you can see the rosettes.

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He believed that the social injustices in Spain were so great

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that only through an event designed to raise the consciousness

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of the public would he be able to really get his message across.

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The bomb was thrown, it was part of a bouquet, it was thrown,

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it bounced off the tram cables that lined the streets.

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So although it missed the royal carriage, it exploded,

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killing many horses and up to 30 people.

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Bradshaw's is mentioning it as though it was a place that tourists

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-might want to come.

-It was one of the most notorious events of its time

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and British people were very keen to see the place where their princess

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had been attacked, and so they added it to their itineraries.

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The king and queen were lucky to escape with their lives.

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But Mateu Morral shot himself rather than face arrest.

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Today, over 100 years later,

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this tragic assassination attempt is still remembered locally.

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-Hola. Buenos dias.

-Buenos dias.

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Foto?

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What is that photograph of?

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-MAN SPEAKS SPANISH

-It's an authentic photograph?

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It was taken just after it happened. It shows a dead horse here, there is

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a carriage here that must've been part of the royal procession.

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There's a little X that marks the window from which the bomb was thrown.

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MAN SPEAKS SPANISH

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He's saying that every year he goes out and he puts a bouquet

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on there in memory of the 25 people who were killed

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and the many who were injured.

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How long have you been here?

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MAN SPEAKS IN SPANISH

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He says he's been doing it ever since the monument was opened

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and he had to open the monument himself.

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He said no-one was coming along to do the ceremony

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so he went out there with a broom and a Spanish flag

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and he performed an opening ceremony on the monument.

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THEY CONVERSE IN SPANISH

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-Hasta luego.

-Hasta luego.

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Having made their royal pilgrimage, Bradshaw's travellers' spirits

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could have been lifted by the crowds

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and the noisy chatter of one of the city's most popular meeting places.

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This is the lovely Puerta del Sol at the very heart of Madrid.

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Bradshaw's tells me that the cafes in and around here

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may be used without question during the day

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but at night are not suitable for ladies.

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Especially those cafes where music is provided in the evening.

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Luckily, I'm male. And this is the midday sun, so I should be safe.

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But one tip - in Madrid, always look up.

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The architecture is wonderful, particularly these balconies

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with their marvellous wrought-iron work,

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so typical of Spain.

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-Hola.

-Una cana, por favor.

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I defy any traveller, Edwardian or otherwise,

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not to fall in love with Spain's tapas.

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These small snacks originated from Andalusia in the 19th century

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to accompany sherry.

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Traditional dishes range from olive, meats and cheese

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to these croquettes.

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Very, very nice. They've got cod and flour and a little butter.

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Um, milk.

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A bit of nutmeg, and then breadcrumbs and egg on the outside.

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And then they're...

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deep-fried and they're lovely. Gracias.

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Despite being the most reluctant European country to join

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the railway age, Spain proved very much a magnet

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for Bradshaw's 1913 railway tourists.

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One of the biggest draws would have been Madrid's stunning

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royal art collection.

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Any young artist who came to the Prado Art Gallery

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around the beginning of the 20th century would have studied

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Diego Velazquez, the greatest genius of Spanish painting history.

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A man who made his fame and fortune with religious paintings

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and portraits of the royal family,

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but whose real greatness lay in the way that he captured light

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and the way that he portrayed ordinary people, workers,

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drunks, the lowest rungs of society.

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Velazquez was at the height of his powers in the 17th century.

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Early 20th-century travellers might have been more drawn to one of

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their era's most brilliant artists, who was also a devotee of Velazquez.

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I'm heading to his studio.

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This grand mansion was formerly the home of Joaquin Sorolla,

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and has changed little since he died in 1923. It now houses his works.

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I'm meeting the director of the museum, Consuelo Luca de Tena.

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He lived here for the last ten or more years of his life.

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-He had this house specially built for him.

-It's absolutely magnificent.

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-I recognise these people. This is Victoria Eugenie, isn't it?

-Yes.

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And King Alfonso XIII.

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-The king must have been a friend of Sorolla.

-Yes.

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And this says, "To Don Joaquin Sorolla, I am supposing that

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"you're going to like the contrast of the light in this photograph."

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It's quite a nice little joke, isn't it?

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Sorolla portraited the king in the open air.

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The king is covered with spots of light that comes through

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the trees and it's very special.

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Born in Valencia, Sorolla used the train to travel back to

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the coastal city to paint some of his finest work.

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This is a huge room.

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I imagine, with all the light here, this would be where the artist

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-was painting.

-Yes.

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We have so many paintings that show how Sorolla depicted light.

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I mean, here, for example, these ladies on the beach -

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the intensity of the light on their clothing

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-and reflecting off the sea, this is quite typical.

-Very typical.

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Sorolla was very fond of painting the beach, the light in the open air

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and particularly the light reflecting itself in the waters.

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In complete contrast is this poignant picture,

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painted in 1895, called The White Slave Trade.

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A group of young women travelling in a third-class railway carriage

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is being taken to the city to work as prostitutes.

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So, did Sorolla paint a lot of this kind of social realism?

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Not so many paintings.

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He disliked the insistence of some artists and writers

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of his time on the poor social conditions of Spain in that moment.

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He was a very optimistic man and very positive

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and thought that it was better to find the good part of things.

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How do you think we should remember Joaquin Sorolla?

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I think his paintings, many times, make us happy.

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He is very contagious in his optimistic feelings.

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Sorolla has left us a wonderful vision of the early 20th-century Spain,

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even if most of his scenes are rose-tinted.

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Across the city, in the Retiro district of Madrid,

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is another building with royal connections.

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When guests arrived in 1906 for Alphonso and Eugenie's wedding,

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they discovered that they had nowhere suitable to stay.

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Afterwards, the couple honeymooned in the Ritz in Paris.

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And they liked it so much,

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they decided to commission one for Madrid.

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While I'm in this magnificent hotel,

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I'm sneaking a view of the Royal Suite.

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Edward VIII stayed here with Wallis Simpson

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and Prince Rainier with Princess Grace.

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And they enjoyed all this elegance and luxury.

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I'm going to enjoy the view that they had.

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No time to get used to this royal luxury, as today I'm heading

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south-west out of Madrid.

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Early 20th-century visitors from Britain to the high central

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plain of Spain would have found their fair share of strange noises

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and smells, but at least Madrid, with its royal family

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and its works of art was familiar enough.

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Those visitors might have needed a fortifying breakfast of omelette

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and ham and cheese before venturing south over the mountains to

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somewhere altogether more exotic, with its Islamic history,

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its gypsies, its bullfighting, its crimes of passion

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and other thoroughly un-British activities.

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I'm taking Spain's high-speed train from Madrid, the Ave,

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and travelling about 400km to Cordoba.

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Bradshaw's has warnings for the British traveller.

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First-class carriages are tolerably comfortable.

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Second-class carriages are wanting in comfort.

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Third-class carriages are unsuitable for British travellers.

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Railway speed is slow, rarely more than 15mph.

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Well, since today there is a club class and a preferential class

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and I'm in tourist class, you could say that I'm in third,

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but now the speed is more like 170mph on the high-speed trains

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that were introduced in Spain more than 20 years ago.

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But I remember the really slow Spanish trains.

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When I was eight, I travelled to meet my Spanish family

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and the trains felt not a lot faster than in Bradshaw's day.

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The seats were wooden and extremely uncomfortable. But it WAS exciting.

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-Hello.

-Hello, how are you?

-Do you mind if I join you for a moment?

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-Not at all, it's a pleasure.

-How do you do?

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Do you regularly use this train?

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Regularly, yes, to go to Seville, to Barcelona.

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It's a big, big difference with the past.

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How is it that Spain has made such a big change?

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I think it's our generation who has started after Franco's

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death, I think the political transition has created common ground

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to grow together.

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Well, my guidebook from 1913 tells me

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that third class is not suitable for British travellers.

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-Do you think this is suitable for British travellers?

-I think so.

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I am a chairman of a company in Spain with 6,000 people working in it.

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Precisely today we go to our shareholder meeting.

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-And all the board, we are in tourist.

-You're all going tourist class.

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Because we are in times, we need to save money and secondly,

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I'm not seeing any difference between first, second and tourist.

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Travelling at this speed, in an hour and a half, we go to a different

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climate, to a different people, with a different take on life.

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We swap the austerity of Castile for the exuberance of Andalusia,

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people who bear the influences of centuries of Islamic

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rule during the Middle Ages and of Gypsy culture.

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And in their singing, their dancing and their bullfighting,

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they are fired by an inner spirit known as duende, which

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drives them to poetry and passion.

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Cordoba's period of greatest glory began in the eighth century

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after the Moorish conquest.

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With 300 mosques,

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it became the greatest Islamic centre in the Western world.

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Ever since Roman times, it's had a unique position

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as the crossroads of Spain, because of its bridge.

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Situated on the mighty Guadalquivir River, Jews from the east

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and Arabs from the south were funnelled through

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the city by this natural geographical divide.

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I find this really very moving.

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I am walking across a Roman bridge that has spanned

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this river for 2,000 years and is still doing its job today.

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And I can now see the perimeter of the Islamic mosque,

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one of the great mosques of the world -

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and then imprinted in the middle of it

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is a Catholic cathedral.

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The three cultures mixed in one moment.

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With its towering walls, the Great Mosque, dating back 13 centuries -

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is a masterpiece of granite, jasper and marble.

0:22:230:22:26

I wouldn't feel comfortable speaking inside the cathedral, so let me say some thing now.

0:22:280:22:33

It was originally a mosque, begun in the eighth century,

0:22:330:22:36

and the Muslim architects used pillars

0:22:360:22:38

and columns that has been recycled from the Roman and Christian

0:22:380:22:42

civilisations and they support arches so that as you're

0:22:420:22:45

moving around inside, sometimes it's as though you're moving

0:22:450:22:48

through an avenue of trees, but also as you look to left and right,

0:22:480:22:52

it's as though you're in a forest, you're not quite sure where you are.

0:22:520:22:55

That simple device of pillars and arches is repeated again

0:22:550:22:59

and again on a grand scale.

0:22:590:23:02

But it also provides a feeling of spirituality.

0:23:020:23:05

And embedded in its centre, this remarkable

0:23:090:23:13

Gothic Catholic Cathedral edifice, added in the 16th century.

0:23:130:23:17

Cordoba is a living expression of the different cultures that

0:23:220:23:26

have existed here.

0:23:260:23:27

I've met up with local guide Isabel Martinez to learn about this

0:23:370:23:41

remarkable city's more recent Christian culture.

0:23:410:23:45

You're curious.

0:23:450:23:46

I am very sure that you will be enlightened, what you will see.

0:23:460:23:50

In 1570, King Philip II ordered

0:23:510:23:54

the building of the Royal stables.

0:23:540:23:57

His ambition was to create a pure Spanish thoroughbred,

0:23:580:24:02

the Andalusian horse.

0:24:020:24:04

Today, the Royal stables are home to an intriguing equestrian display.

0:24:050:24:09

FLAMENCO MUSIC

0:24:180:24:21

This is the most extraordinary sight -

0:24:320:24:34

a horse dancing with a woman.

0:24:340:24:36

I told you that it will be a very big surprise!

0:24:360:24:40

This is something very special here from Cordoba,

0:24:400:24:43

combining the horse dancing, of our famous Andalusian horses

0:24:430:24:46

together with the famous flamenco dancers.

0:24:460:24:48

This building is obviously very, very historic.

0:24:480:24:51

It's a beautiful royal stable of the 16th century.

0:24:510:24:55

-What sort of horse is that?

-It's the Pura Raza Espanola as we call it -

0:24:550:24:59

the pure Spanish race, the Andalusian horse.

0:24:590:25:03

It's a very noble animal, very intelligent

0:25:030:25:07

and it was very admired in all of Europe.

0:25:070:25:10

In fact, during the 16th and 17th centuries, the pure-breed

0:25:100:25:13

Andalusian horses were THE horses of the British court.

0:25:130:25:17

Is flamenco gypsy?

0:25:170:25:19

Flamenco is a melting pot which received

0:25:190:25:22

influences from very different countries and cultures.

0:25:220:25:26

You will recognise Indian movements if you look at the hands, her hips...

0:25:260:25:31

-Oh, yes.

-..and very passionate.

0:25:310:25:33

It's something you want to express with your body language.

0:25:330:25:37

APPLAUSE

0:25:380:25:41

Congratulations. What's it like to dance with a horse?

0:25:430:25:47

REPEATS IN SPANISH

0:25:470:25:49

SHE REPLIES IN SPANISH

0:25:490:25:51

So she says it's a very, very beautiful dance

0:25:560:25:59

and she's kind of absorbing from the horse the elegance

0:25:590:26:02

of the Andalusian horse, those beautiful, beautiful movements.

0:26:020:26:05

-ASKS FIRST IN SPANISH:

-Would you like to show me how to do it?

0:26:050:26:08

Si, claro.

0:26:080:26:10

IN SPANISH

0:26:100:26:13

IN SPANISH

0:26:180:26:20

I have to go very, very slowly, she says.

0:26:230:26:25

This is definitely a first for me.

0:26:260:26:29

Look at the way the horse dances.

0:26:290:26:31

Absolutely fantastic!

0:26:310:26:33

Gracias!

0:26:390:26:40

What a lovely dancing partner!

0:26:430:26:45

Thank you so much.

0:26:450:26:47

I really enjoyed that. Thank you.

0:26:470:26:49

As the heat of the day begins to cool,

0:26:540:26:57

I feel the duende calling me to the Andalusian city's nightlife.

0:26:570:27:01

Every town and village in Spain has its feria, or fair.

0:27:040:27:08

In some ways, they're like British funfairs -

0:27:080:27:10

you've got Ferris wheels and terrifying rides,

0:27:100:27:13

but the special thing about Spain is that the ladies in particular

0:27:130:27:16

get dressed up and people ride on horses

0:27:160:27:19

and there's flamenco dancing... Oh, and did I mention booze?

0:27:190:27:24

I'm pretty sure that Cordoba's feria would have surprised

0:27:290:27:32

and transfixed Bradshaw's 1913 travellers.

0:27:320:27:36

-Hola!

-ALL:

-Hola!

0:27:380:27:40

Buenas tardes. Are you having a nice time?

0:27:400:27:43

THEY CONVERSE IN SPANISH

0:27:450:27:47

HE SPEAKS IN SPANISH

0:27:500:27:53

I'm saying they're very young -

0:27:530:27:55

is the enthusiasm for the ferias growing with the young people?

0:27:550:27:58

SHE REPLIES IN SPANISH

0:27:580:28:00

Whether you're young, whether you're old, we all enjoy the fair.

0:28:000:28:03

SHE REPLIES IN SPANISH

0:28:030:28:04

Ah, that's what special!

0:28:040:28:06

The Cordoba girls are what are special!

0:28:060:28:09

IN SPANISH

0:28:140:28:17

Let's see if we can get...

0:28:190:28:21

THEY SING AND CLAP

0:28:210:28:24

THEY CHEER

0:28:370:28:39

Estupendo!

0:28:390:28:41

What I LOVE about the Spanish feria is the energy, the passion

0:28:450:28:50

and the zest for life.

0:28:500:28:51

When this guidebook was published, the exotic

0:29:100:29:12

and adventurous rail journey across Spain would have been slow.

0:29:120:29:16

Now the country has over 3,000km of track and its high-speed system

0:29:160:29:21

serves a staggering 60% of the population.

0:29:210:29:24

I'm heading further south-west to Seville,

0:29:270:29:29

a journey of around 130km through Andalusia's rolling hills that

0:29:290:29:34

today will take me only 40 minutes.

0:29:340:29:37

Bradshaw says that Seville is the capital of Andalusia.

0:29:410:29:45

"The streets present a bright cheerfulness of life

0:29:450:29:48

"and a charm that go far to justify the boast..."

0:29:480:29:51

HE QUOTES IN SPANISH

0:29:510:29:55

"Who hasn't seen Seville has not seen a wonder", and indeed,

0:29:550:29:59

with its avenues and fountains and gardens and cathedral, all enveloped

0:29:590:30:04

in the scent of orange blossom,

0:30:040:30:07

it is indeed one of the world's wonders.

0:30:070:30:10

Seville's fortunes have been shaped by its river port.

0:30:150:30:18

The 16th century was its golden age, when it became the major

0:30:200:30:24

European point of departure for the New World of the Americas.

0:30:240:30:28

During the 19th century's rapid industrialisation,

0:30:290:30:32

rail connections brought an influx of artists and intellectuals,

0:30:320:30:36

keen to escape the manufacturing cities of northern Europe.

0:30:360:30:40

Touring the city of Seville in 1913 would have been made easier

0:30:450:30:48

for the traveller by the tram system.

0:30:480:30:51

Bradshaw's tells me that the cathedral in Seville is

0:30:560:30:59

"a Gothic edifice of surpassing architectural and historic interest.

0:30:590:31:04

"It suffered much from earthquake and two or three times,

0:31:040:31:07

"the dome has collapsed, the last collapse being on August 1st, 1888".

0:31:070:31:13

I've often been in Seville and I didn't know that.

0:31:130:31:15

But what I DO remember is that the vast majority of the steeple

0:31:150:31:20

was formerly an Islamic minaret and it has an exact twin in Marrakech.

0:31:200:31:25

I love Seville so much that now I have a house near here,

0:31:310:31:36

in a town ringed by Roman walls.

0:31:360:31:38

It means that I can truly enjoy this beautiful city

0:31:390:31:42

and THIS place has always intrigued me.

0:31:420:31:45

"The tobacco factory is usually included among the sites

0:31:460:31:49

"of Seville", says Bradshaw's. I'm curious to know why.

0:31:490:31:53

"It's an immense building where are employed 5,000 cigareras" -

0:31:530:31:56

that is, of course women cigar workers.

0:31:560:32:00

That could be the clue.

0:32:000:32:01

Columbus's sailors brought the first tobacco plants

0:32:020:32:06

from the Americas at the end of the 15th century.

0:32:060:32:09

By 1728, Spanish King Philip V began work on what is

0:32:090:32:14

possibly the grandest tobacco factory ever built.

0:32:140:32:18

Originally, only men were employed in the tobacco industry,

0:32:180:32:21

to make snuff, but by 1829,

0:32:210:32:24

the nimbler and cheaper fingers of women were in demand to make cigars.

0:32:240:32:28

Today, the Seville factory houses the city's university.

0:32:290:32:33

I want to find out why it became such a tourist attraction.

0:32:330:32:38

My Bradshaw's guide recommends visitors to come to the factory

0:32:410:32:46

and I'm just wondering why visitors would want to come here.

0:32:460:32:49

Most of the 19th-century travellers came to Spain

0:32:490:32:53

escaping from the dreary life of industrial Europe.

0:32:530:32:58

The first thing they visited was a factory, which is

0:32:580:33:01

a bit of a paradox!

0:33:010:33:03

But of course there was this added charm of seeing lots of ladies.

0:33:030:33:09

And how would the tourists see them?

0:33:090:33:12

They had to be invited by the administrator,

0:33:120:33:14

but normally people of some standing,

0:33:140:33:17

some social standing, had no problem in getting here.

0:33:170:33:21

And were these women very beautiful?

0:33:210:33:23

Well, according to the visitors, yes, they were.

0:33:230:33:26

But in fact, the photographs we have of them taken at the end

0:33:260:33:30

of the 19th century show that most of them were pretty awful.

0:33:300:33:33

It's a myth of the cigareras - it was obviously an imaginary thing!

0:33:330:33:38

Well, my experience of Seville women is that they're very beautiful!

0:33:380:33:42

My experience, too!

0:33:420:33:43

MUSIC: "Habanera" from Carmen by Bizet

0:33:440:33:48

These fierce cigareras were immortalised by the French

0:33:480:33:52

composer George Bizet in his passionate opera, Carmen.

0:33:520:33:57

Bizet depicted the heroine Carmen as an amoral seductress with

0:33:570:34:01

both men and women behaving badly.

0:34:010:34:05

Did Spanish people get a bit offended that their women

0:34:050:34:07

-and their men were being represented as libertines in opera?

-No.

0:34:070:34:12

Not really, I don't think so.

0:34:120:34:14

This sort of reaction took place in the very recent

0:34:140:34:19

times in the dictatorship of Franco

0:34:190:34:22

when some composer decided to create a figure which was the good

0:34:220:34:26

and virtuous Carmen, which embodied the virtues of the Spanish people,

0:34:260:34:31

to come to balance the influence of the French Carmen,

0:34:310:34:34

which was, er...rather libertine.

0:34:340:34:38

It was composer Manuel Quiroga who wrote the more reserved

0:34:380:34:41

Spanish version.

0:34:410:34:43

WOMAN SINGS IN SPANISH

0:34:440:34:47

Ole!

0:35:150:35:17

Seville would have seemed risky, exotic and a little rough around the

0:35:280:35:32

edges, but as the Edwardian tourists headed south, they were about

0:35:320:35:36

to discover a taste of Spain that would have been far more familiar.

0:35:360:35:40

Because the next stop on my journey is Jerez de la Frontera -

0:35:440:35:48

the sherry capital of the world,

0:35:480:35:50

thanks to the town's perfect conditions for growing

0:35:500:35:53

the palomino grape.

0:35:530:35:54

As well as being famous for its fortified wine,

0:36:020:36:04

Jerez is the transport and communication hub of its province.

0:36:040:36:08

Mucho gusto.

0:36:140:36:15

Adios. Hasta luego.

0:36:150:36:18

Throughout my Spanish journey so far, I've been at stations

0:36:210:36:24

which are utilitarian, modern, made of concrete and glass, reflecting

0:36:240:36:28

how much railway building has been done in the last two decades.

0:36:280:36:31

It's so nice to arrive now at a traditional station,

0:36:310:36:34

here covered in ceramic tiles in these brilliant, bright colours,

0:36:340:36:38

so typical of the south of Spain.

0:36:380:36:40

Jerez's success and the British love affair with sherry all

0:36:440:36:47

started with a military incident.

0:36:470:36:50

In 1587, Sir Francis Drake made a daring raid on the Spanish fleet.

0:36:500:36:54

His triumphal return from Spain included

0:36:540:36:57

a cargo of 2,900 butts of sherry.

0:36:570:37:01

His liquid spoils of war were instantly popular.

0:37:010:37:04

In 1855, British businessmen Robert Byass joined forces with

0:37:040:37:10

Manuel Gonzalez and their sherry empire started

0:37:100:37:14

with the production of 7.5 hectares of vineyards.

0:37:140:37:18

Today, it's his great-great-grandson

0:37:180:37:22

and my friend Gonzalo del Rio who is a leading light at Gonzales-Byass.

0:37:220:37:26

-Gonzalo!

-Michael!

0:37:310:37:34

Lovely to see you. I'm good. Is it time for a little sherry?

0:37:340:37:38

I've heard you love sherry, now you follow trains!

0:37:380:37:42

I do, I'm a trainspotter!

0:37:420:37:44

-Is there any connection between sherry and trains?

-Yes, a lot.

0:37:440:37:48

Look, this is a book written by my grandfather and where he does a

0:37:480:37:52

big description about the project of the railway

0:37:520:37:55

to Jerez Puerto in 1829.

0:37:550:37:59

This is about the time of the very earliest railways in England.

0:37:590:38:03

So this is going down to the port?

0:38:030:38:05

This is going down to the port of Santa Maria.

0:38:050:38:08

This was a way to try

0:38:080:38:10

and transport the barrels of wine

0:38:100:38:13

in a faster way and in a better way.

0:38:130:38:16

And the founder of this company, my great-great-grandfather,

0:38:160:38:20

-he financed all that project.

-So he was very forward-looking?

0:38:200:38:24

Yes, and used to go all the way through the different

0:38:240:38:29

sellers of the winery to fetch the barrels of wine.

0:38:290:38:32

-So the railway wasn't just picking up from this bodega?

-No, no.

0:38:320:38:36

All the different wineries - or bodegas - had their own place

0:38:360:38:42

to put all the barrels inside the train.

0:38:420:38:45

Sherry is produced in a variety of styles, from the driest

0:38:500:38:53

and palest fino to the darkest and smoothest oloroso.

0:38:530:38:58

The grapes are harvested in September, lightly pressed

0:39:000:39:03

and then the juice or "must" is fermented in vats.

0:39:030:39:07

The longer the sherry spends in the 600-litre oak barrels, the more

0:39:090:39:13

character the wine takes on in terms of taste, colour and alcohol.

0:39:130:39:18

Probably the oldest brand is Tio Pepe.

0:39:200:39:24

..Michael Portillo.

0:39:240:39:26

-How do you do?

-He's going to give us a glass of Tio Pepe.

0:39:260:39:31

At last, I thought you'd never ask!

0:39:310:39:34

Now, Gonzalo, how do we drink sherry?

0:39:380:39:40

Well, in England, very badly!

0:39:400:39:43

We failed in that - it's not your fault, it's our fault.

0:39:430:39:46

We haven't shown people how to drink sherry properly.

0:39:460:39:49

Two different ways - one way, because they don't have it cold.

0:39:490:39:54

In the second way, they open it on Sunday lunch

0:39:540:39:57

and after three months, they go back to it.

0:39:570:40:00

A bottle of wine should be drank immediately.

0:40:000:40:04

You're absolutely right.

0:40:040:40:06

I remember I had some lovely aunts and they would always

0:40:060:40:09

serve us a glass of sherry, but we might go there every three

0:40:090:40:11

months and it would be the same bottle again and again and again!

0:40:110:40:15

Then you agree with me?

0:40:150:40:16

Yes, but I didn't realise it was a bad thing to do -

0:40:160:40:18

-sherry doesn't last that long, no?

-No, no. This is alive.

0:40:180:40:22

So, two easy rules - drink it cold and drink it fast!

0:40:220:40:27

To sherry and to the railways!

0:40:270:40:28

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

0:40:280:40:30

-Mm!

-How was that?

0:40:330:40:35

-I

-think it's pretty good!

-Smell it, smell it.

0:40:350:40:38

It's REALLY good!

0:40:380:40:40

I can't think of a better way to finish my day than

0:40:430:40:46

a glass of sherry, catching up with an old friend.

0:40:460:40:49

A new day and I'm taking the Algeciras to Bobadilla line,

0:40:590:41:03

climbing high into the Andalusian mountains.

0:41:030:41:06

My next stop will be Ronda.

0:41:110:41:12

Bradshaw's tells me "it's a finely-situated,

0:41:120:41:15

"interesting town, 2,460 feet above sea,

0:41:150:41:20

"on a projection of the Sierra Nevada,

0:41:200:41:22

"in the midst of a magnificent range of mountains.

0:41:220:41:26

Ronda's impregnable position made it one of the last Moorish strongholds.

0:41:370:41:41

Its fame as the spiritual home of bullfighting made it

0:41:460:41:50

a magnet to the Edwardian tourist.

0:41:500:41:52

Nowadays, there are few bullfights at the Plaza de Toros,

0:41:550:41:58

but every year, a traditional festival is held

0:41:580:42:01

in honour of Pedro Romero, one of Ronda's most famous matadors.

0:42:010:42:05

Arriving here early, I, like the rest of Spain, need my traditional

0:42:130:42:17

breakfast and it's definitely best eaten freshly cooked.

0:42:170:42:20

-Buenas dias.

-Buenas dias.

0:42:210:42:23

HE ORDERS IN SPANISH

0:42:230:42:27

Si, senor.

0:42:270:42:28

I've asked for churros, which are a kind of floury,

0:42:280:42:32

battery, sausage-like thing cooked in very hot oil

0:42:320:42:37

and then you dip them in chocolate, you can have them with coffee, too.

0:42:370:42:41

He plunges the batter into the boiling oil...

0:42:410:42:46

..and then they come out all crisp and golden.

0:42:470:42:49

Sometimes, they get covered in sugar as well.

0:42:490:42:52

Gracias. There's my chocolate, as well.

0:42:540:42:58

So... Just break off a little piece of this...

0:42:580:43:02

dip it in the chocolate...

0:43:020:43:04

Wow. That is amazing.

0:43:060:43:08

I don't recommend that you do this every day,

0:43:090:43:12

but on the other hand, you DEFINITELY have to do this once.

0:43:120:43:16

Bradshaw's tells me that here in Ronda, the old

0:43:340:43:38

Moorish town is separated from the modern quarter by the "tajo",

0:43:380:43:42

an imposing gorge over the River Guadalevin,

0:43:420:43:47

350 feet deep.

0:43:470:43:49

This is known as the New Bridge, built in the 1790s, but the

0:43:490:43:53

previous effort collapsed into the ravine

0:43:530:43:56

with massive loss of life.

0:43:560:43:58

You might think this is pretty unpromising territory

0:43:580:44:01

for railway builders, but that would be to underestimate

0:44:010:44:05

British engineers at the height of their powers.

0:44:050:44:09

To discover more about how they tamed this rugged

0:44:140:44:17

and inaccessible landscape, I'm travelling on the Ronda to

0:44:170:44:21

Algeciras line, heading south towards my final stop, Gibraltar.

0:44:210:44:25

I'm meeting railway enthusiast and guide Mani,

0:44:270:44:30

who knows about the engineers' epic achievement.

0:44:300:44:34

-Hello, Mani.

-Hi, Michael.

-Well met!

0:44:390:44:42

I think this ride is quite a treat, isn't it? Beautiful scenery.

0:44:420:44:46

-Yes, it really is.

-Who built this railway line?

0:44:460:44:49

It was built by the British, Greenwood and Company, out of London.

0:44:490:44:53

-Did they have experience of difficult terrain?

-Yes,

0:44:530:44:56

they had been... The owner of the company was called Mr Henderson

0:44:560:45:00

and together with Morrison, they'd already installed

0:45:000:45:02

lots of the trains in South America, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina.

0:45:020:45:06

So this was 180km through very, very difficult terrain,

0:45:060:45:10

but to them, it wasn't too much of a challenge.

0:45:100:45:13

For the British, there was

0:45:130:45:14

also another reason for wanting to build the railway.

0:45:140:45:18

Beyond the end of the line is Gibraltar,

0:45:180:45:20

which was totally cut off and only reachable by sea.

0:45:200:45:24

Originally, they wanted to take the train

0:45:240:45:25

all the way to the border with Gibraltar

0:45:250:45:27

and the Spanish didn't allow that - that's why this train

0:45:270:45:31

finishes in the Spanish city of Algeciras. Because they couldn't

0:45:310:45:34

take the train there, Mr Henderson's company had to build a link by sea

0:45:340:45:38

and there were two steamboats that crossed the Bay of Gibraltar.

0:45:380:45:43

With the line in place, soldiers stationed at the British

0:45:430:45:45

garrison on Gibraltar had a chance to escape and relax,

0:45:450:45:49

drawn by the excitement of the bullfights

0:45:490:45:51

and the hilltop pleasures of the Ronda.

0:45:510:45:54

And what were the challenges of the terrain?

0:45:540:45:57

They were vast, one because of the elevation - climb -

0:45:570:46:00

sea level to Ronda is 750m.

0:46:000:46:03

And the second because of the actual terrain.

0:46:030:46:06

We're just about to go into the gorge,

0:46:060:46:08

we're following the track of the river, the Guadiaro River.

0:46:080:46:11

They literally had to bevel out the tunnels from rock, from pure rock.

0:46:110:46:17

They had to build a series of switchbacks over the river -

0:46:170:46:20

16 tunnels and about six bridges.

0:46:200:46:24

-Tunnel number one.

-Tunnel number one!

0:46:240:46:27

So what was the impact of this railway when it opened

0:46:270:46:29

at the end of the 19th century, on the communities here?

0:46:290:46:32

Vast - they called it railway fever.

0:46:320:46:35

The great thing about this railway and I suppose all railways

0:46:350:46:38

that opened at that time is that they transcended class.

0:46:380:46:42

They were important for everybody,

0:46:420:46:43

because all these communities were very,

0:46:430:46:46

very cut off and it gave them all a vital lifeline to the rest of Spain.

0:46:460:46:50

-What is the future of the railway?

-Right now, it's up in the air.

0:46:500:46:54

Renfe, the national rail company,

0:46:540:46:56

they are studying the closure of about eight lines in Andalusia.

0:46:560:47:00

It makes me very sad that this is one of the lines that might be close.

0:47:000:47:03

-And is there a fuss going on about that?

-Yes.

0:47:030:47:06

A lot of people are reliant on this railway, not just for pleasure

0:47:060:47:09

but to get to work, to get to school, to go shopping.

0:47:090:47:13

So there's a campaign under way

0:47:130:47:14

-and some poor politician has to make the decision!

-I think so.

0:47:140:47:19

I can see what a valuable lifeline this route is.

0:47:190:47:22

Britain's experience with the 1960s Beeching cuts was that once

0:47:220:47:26

a line had closed, it rarely reopened.

0:47:260:47:29

My last stop by railway is Algeciras,

0:47:370:47:41

which was very different in 1913 from what it is today.

0:47:410:47:44

The then-quiet beaches are now obscured by a vast

0:47:460:47:49

network of cranes, ships and lorries.

0:47:490:47:52

It's Spain's second-busiest container port.

0:47:520:47:55

Having constructed the railway line,

0:48:010:48:03

Mr Henderson built a hotel for his travellers in Ronda.

0:48:030:48:07

Its sister hotel is here in Algeciras.

0:48:070:48:10

This irresistible advertisement in Bradshaw's guide has

0:48:120:48:16

brought me to the hotel Reina Cristina.

0:48:160:48:19

"Modern hotel, furnished by maples.

0:48:190:48:22

"Frequent saloon steamers daily to and from Gibraltar.

0:48:220:48:27

"Best sanitary arrangements."

0:48:270:48:30

It's also the very first hotel to be built on the Costa Del Sol

0:48:300:48:34

and very early in its history, it welcomed Winston Churchill

0:48:340:48:38

to the Algeciras Conference to resolve the Moroccan Crisis.

0:48:380:48:42

In 1905, Germany was eager to expand its empire to rival

0:48:450:48:49

those of Britain and France.

0:48:490:48:51

Kaiser Wilhelm landed in Morocco and controversially backed

0:48:510:48:55

the Sultan in his bid for independence from France.

0:48:550:48:59

The French were furious and the Algeciras Conference was

0:48:590:49:03

called to try to get France and Germany to negotiate.

0:49:030:49:07

A diplomatic solution was found,

0:49:070:49:09

but Britain, France and Russia allied themselves against Germany.

0:49:090:49:13

-Hola, buenas tardes.

-Hola!

0:49:140:49:17

Michael Portillo, por favor.

0:49:170:49:20

The hotel became a firm favourite with the garrison officers

0:49:220:49:25

in Gibraltar, who wanted to get off the Rock to relax,

0:49:250:49:28

which is exactly what I'm going to do.

0:49:280:49:31

Algeciras is very definitely in Spain, but this morning I've

0:49:410:49:45

chosen an English breakfast, because Gibraltar is very close by and it's

0:49:450:49:50

my next destination, so today, it's eggs, bacon and baked beans.

0:49:500:49:55

Gibraltar is 2.5 square miles of Jurassic limestone,

0:49:580:50:02

rising in a bold headland fronting the Straits of Africa.

0:50:020:50:06

On a clear day, you appreciate how narrow those straits are

0:50:060:50:10

and why that little stretch of water was so important to the British.

0:50:100:50:14

For three centuries,

0:50:140:50:15

British artillery on the Rock has been able to deny access to

0:50:150:50:19

shipping from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean and vice versa.

0:50:190:50:23

Given its strategic importance, you can see why

0:50:230:50:26

the British have clung to it like a limpet to a rock.

0:50:260:50:30

In 1704, the British took Gibraltar by force and ever since,

0:50:370:50:42

there have been Anglo-Spanish tensions.

0:50:420:50:45

The best place to understand why the British were prepared to

0:50:450:50:47

fight to keep possession of Gibraltar is up here.

0:50:470:50:50

BIRDSONG

0:50:540:50:57

Hello.

0:50:570:50:59

It's like taking off in a plane, the views come rushing into sight.

0:51:090:51:14

We're going up 412m, so we're going up about the height

0:51:140:51:20

of the very top of the Empire State Building in New York.

0:51:200:51:24

I think the panorama today is going to be spectacular.

0:51:240:51:28

Spain is laid out before me today like a map.

0:51:380:51:41

The coastline snaking away there towards Malaga,

0:51:410:51:43

and on that side towards, eventually, Portugal.

0:51:430:51:46

Ronda will be up there, and then of course the railway

0:51:470:51:50

snakes its way down to...Algeciras, there.

0:51:500:51:55

And my early 20th-century travellers would then have taken

0:51:560:52:01

a saloon steamer across here

0:52:010:52:03

to Gibraltar.

0:52:030:52:05

But my crow's-nest view also reveals why the British

0:52:110:52:14

so badly wanted Gibraltar.

0:52:140:52:17

It was only 14 miles away from the coast of North Africa

0:52:170:52:19

and the waters were a shortcut for shipping through to the

0:52:190:52:23

Mediterranean and the rest of the British Empire.

0:52:230:52:26

Without access to Gibraltar, ships would have had to go all

0:52:260:52:29

the way round the African coast, taking more time

0:52:290:52:32

and more risks.

0:52:320:52:34

With tensions over Africa hotting up between the European powers,

0:52:340:52:38

Gibraltar looked as though it might be the front line in war.

0:52:380:52:42

I'm meeting Prof Clive Finlayson, director of Gibraltar's museum.

0:52:430:52:47

Clive, in 1913,

0:52:470:52:48

we're only, as it turned out, a year away from war and already

0:52:480:52:52

the colonial powers were in dispute over bits of North Africa.

0:52:520:52:55

The visitor from Britain, clutching his Bradshaw's guide,

0:52:550:52:57

what might he have noticed in Gibraltar at that time?

0:52:570:53:00

Well, intense activity related to the dockyards

0:53:000:53:03

and the whole of the port was built over a period of 12 years.

0:53:030:53:07

That really transformed the whole of Gibraltar.

0:53:070:53:09

There was intense quarrying,

0:53:090:53:11

the whole physical landscape of Gibraltar changed completely.

0:53:110:53:13

It was of course related to the fact that the British knew

0:53:130:53:16

the German submarines, U-boats, posed a threat

0:53:160:53:18

and they wanted to construct a torpedo-proof harbour.

0:53:180:53:21

So that's what they would have seen.

0:53:210:53:22

Was this traditionally the Royal Navy area of Gibraltar?

0:53:220:53:27

Right from the start, in 1704, the port had been in the North,

0:53:270:53:31

but suddenly, the enemy was in the North, so they had to move

0:53:310:53:34

the harbour, the naval facility, away from the land and the guns.

0:53:340:53:38

So it was brought here.

0:53:380:53:40

Tunnels begun in the 18th century were used to store naval

0:53:400:53:43

ammunition during the First World War.

0:53:430:53:46

During the Second World War,

0:53:460:53:48

they were developed into a clandestine network and Clive's got

0:53:480:53:51

a recently-declassified top-secret surprise for me.

0:53:510:53:55

Well, we've come through a huge number of tunnels - what was

0:53:560:53:59

the purpose of this, Clive?

0:53:590:54:01

Well, this was one of the most secret projects of the Second World War.

0:54:010:54:05

The British planned that should Franco reach an agreement

0:54:050:54:10

and allow Hitler through Spain, Germany took Gibraltar.

0:54:100:54:15

Six men were prepared to entomb themselves,

0:54:150:54:19

literally inside the Rock and spy on the Germans from the inside.

0:54:190:54:25

It's a total James Bond story.

0:54:250:54:27

So we're coming through another tunnel, we're now pointing west.

0:54:280:54:32

If you don't mind, to go up there and look through that little slit.

0:54:320:54:36

Ho!

0:54:360:54:37

This tiny slit, which can only be what, six inches long

0:54:390:54:42

and half an inch wide, I can see all the bay down to Algeciras...

0:54:420:54:46

And actually, I can see down to the wharfs of Gibraltar as well.

0:54:480:54:51

An absolutely perfectly-planned lookout.

0:54:510:54:55

From inside, you could see any movement of enemy ships

0:54:550:54:58

and then push an aerial out at night when nobody is watching

0:54:580:55:02

and transmit that information back to London.

0:55:020:55:04

Hopefully, they'd be able to come and re-take Gibraltar.

0:55:040:55:07

Having served as Defence Secretary, I can appreciate here that the

0:55:090:55:13

Rock is the best sentry box in the Mediterranean.

0:55:130:55:16

Although the Rock was bombed

0:55:180:55:20

during the Second World War, Nazi Germany did not invade Gibraltar.

0:55:200:55:24

But in the years after the war,

0:55:250:55:27

struggles between Spain's military leader General Franco

0:55:270:55:30

and the British have left their mark on its 30,000 inhabitants.

0:55:300:55:35

To find out how it's affected this multinational population,

0:55:350:55:39

I'm meeting local, Tito Vallejo.

0:55:390:55:42

-Hello, Tito.

-Hello, Mike. How are you?

-Good to see you.

0:55:420:55:45

I see you're here with your fish and chips

0:55:450:55:48

and of course I see the post-boxes

0:55:480:55:50

and telephone boxes - all of it very reminiscent of the UK.

0:55:500:55:54

But you're a Gibraltarian - what does that mean, really?

0:55:540:55:56

We are British, obviously, British subjects, but the English

0:55:560:56:00

usually call us Spanish and the Spanish call of English.

0:56:000:56:03

But we cannot say that,

0:56:030:56:04

because we have our own roots - for example, I am half and half.

0:56:040:56:07

Given there are so many nationalities in Gibraltar,

0:56:070:56:10

why are they so pro-British?

0:56:100:56:11

I wonder if it's partly

0:56:110:56:13

because of the difficulties that there have been with Spain.

0:56:130:56:15

That is one of the main problems. The constant strangulation of Gibraltar.

0:56:150:56:20

It didn't intensify until the Queen came to Gibraltar in 1954.

0:56:200:56:24

Franco got annoyed.

0:56:240:56:26

He said, from now on, I'm going to strangle Gibraltar

0:56:260:56:28

and I want it back. From then on, things started to heat up.

0:56:280:56:32

Because of that rift,

0:56:320:56:33

our young children are now losing the way of speaking Spanish.

0:56:330:56:38

It's a very great pity about that.

0:56:380:56:40

-How do you describe your nationality or ethnicity?

-British.

0:56:400:56:43

British to the core. But how about you? You're in the same boat!

0:56:430:56:46

Well, I regard myself as British AND Spanish,

0:56:460:56:49

but I think they're both so different and so marvellous

0:56:490:56:53

and so distinct, I don't see them being put together in one country.

0:56:530:56:58

I find it frustrating that Spain and Britain are in dispute.

0:57:020:57:07

If the two countries could only work together, Gibraltarians

0:57:070:57:10

and Spaniards could reap richer rewards.

0:57:100:57:13

I've travelled down across Spain on fast and efficient trains,

0:57:170:57:21

quite a change since my guide book was written.

0:57:210:57:24

The early 20th-century traveller would have been struck at the end

0:57:240:57:27

of the journey as I am that Africa

0:57:270:57:30

is almost within touching distance.

0:57:300:57:32

Invaders from there occupied Spain for centuries.

0:57:320:57:36

Perhaps that helps to explain why, for all its modernity,

0:57:360:57:41

in its food, its customs, its dances and its architecture,

0:57:410:57:46

Spain remains today unlike anywhere else in Europe.

0:57:460:57:51

Next time, I find out how the Edwardian traveller

0:57:590:58:03

discovered a love of the high life.

0:58:030:58:05

A traveller with my Bradshaw's guide in 1913 could have gone

0:58:050:58:09

-up in a plane and seen this wonderful view.

-Absolutely.

0:58:090:58:13

And on the Grand Canal,

0:58:130:58:14

I hear about the amorous conquests

0:58:140:58:17

-of Venice's most famous son.

-Casanova loved women.

0:58:170:58:21

He only had 130 lovers.

0:58:210:58:22

-That's extremely moderate.

-Absolutely!

0:58:220:58:25

Viva Italia!

0:58:270:58:30

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