0:00:04 > 0:00:06I'm embarking on a new railway adventure
0:00:06 > 0:00:09that will take me across the heart of Europe.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I'll be using this, my Bradshaw's Continental Railway Guide,
0:00:15 > 0:00:20dated 1913, which opened up an exotic world of foreign travel
0:00:20 > 0:00:22for the British tourist.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26'It told travellers where to go, what to see,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29'and how to navigate the thousands of miles of tracks
0:00:29 > 0:00:31'crisscrossing the continent.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'Now, a century later, I'm using my copy
0:00:33 > 0:00:37'to reveal an era of great optimism and energy,
0:00:37 > 0:00:39'where technology, industry,
0:00:39 > 0:00:41'science and the arts were flourishing.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45I want to rediscover that lost Europe,
0:00:45 > 0:00:49that in 1913 couldn't know that its way of life
0:00:49 > 0:00:52would shortly be swept aside by the advent of war.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Following my 1913 Bradshaw's, today I'm exploring
0:01:11 > 0:01:13north-western Spain and Portugal.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Relatively little-known to visitors from Britain today,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23in the early 20th-century, British tourism briefly flowered here.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27Westward-facing and very different from the Spain I know best,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30this part of the Iberian peninsula
0:01:30 > 0:01:32is bursting with British connections,
0:01:32 > 0:01:35which my guidebook will help me to enjoy.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40I'm back in my beloved Spain, land of my father.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42But, as Bradshaw says,
0:01:42 > 0:01:44"Owing to the configuration of the country,
0:01:44 > 0:01:46"there are as many variations in climate
0:01:46 > 0:01:50"as there are contrasts in the character of the population."
0:01:50 > 0:01:56This is Galicia, cradle of the Celts, with its own language,
0:01:56 > 0:01:58and this green and rainy landscape
0:01:58 > 0:02:03would be more home to a Briton than to many a Spaniard.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06Travelling south into Portugal, as I will do,
0:02:06 > 0:02:08the early 20th-century traveller
0:02:08 > 0:02:12entered the warm embrace of England's oldest ally.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20'From the Celtic ties that bind Galicia to the British Isles...'
0:02:20 > 0:02:22- Muy bien. Gracias. - Gracias. Gracias.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28'..to the Atlantic fishing industry
0:02:28 > 0:02:31'that courted early 20th-century tourists...'
0:02:31 > 0:02:33Isn't that a beautiful beast? Isn't that fantastic?
0:02:33 > 0:02:36Beginning in the seaside city of La Coruna,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38my route will take me inland
0:02:38 > 0:02:41to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela,
0:02:41 > 0:02:46then follow the Atlantic coast as I travel via Pontevedra into Portugal.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52From Porto, I'll take the famous, scenic Douro valley line east
0:02:52 > 0:02:53before heading south once more,
0:02:53 > 0:02:57to the ancient university city of Coimbra
0:02:57 > 0:02:59and on to my final stop in Lisbon.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10My guidebook says of my first destination,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12"La Coruna is a prosperous trading town
0:03:12 > 0:03:15"and principal military station in North Spain."
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Today, the city known to Galicians as 'A Coruna'
0:03:22 > 0:03:24is still the region's economic powerhouse,
0:03:24 > 0:03:27with a thriving industry and a busy harbour.
0:03:28 > 0:03:33In 1900, barely a single British tourist had ventured here,
0:03:33 > 0:03:34but by the time of my guidebook,
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Galicia was a fashionable destination
0:03:37 > 0:03:39welcoming hundreds of Britons every year.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43And it's easy to see why this elegant city had such appeal.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49I love these glassed-in balconies which are so typical of La Coruna.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52They're practical. In winter, you shut the glass
0:03:52 > 0:03:53and you keep out the Atlantic gale,
0:03:53 > 0:03:57and then, in the summer, you open them up and the sun streams in.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06I'm taking a tour with historian Kirsty Hooper
0:04:06 > 0:04:09who has researched Galicia's early 20th-century tourism boom.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12At the beginning of the 20th century,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16what would have brought British travellers to La Coruna?
0:04:16 > 0:04:20Well, first of all it was the first stop on the big transatlantic routes
0:04:20 > 0:04:21from Southampton to South America,
0:04:21 > 0:04:24so lots of British tourists would have taken the opportunity
0:04:24 > 0:04:26to hop off after two days to see the city
0:04:26 > 0:04:28and to see something more of Galicia themselves.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30Galicia held lots of attractions for the British
0:04:30 > 0:04:32at the beginning of the 20th century.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35There was a large British business community
0:04:35 > 0:04:37and also British industry was quite well established here.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40We're talking about railways, the mines,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43also the sea port and the shipyards.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48These expatriate industrialists
0:04:48 > 0:04:52clubbed together with steam liner companies and local businessmen
0:04:52 > 0:04:53to woo visitors.
0:04:53 > 0:04:58But La Coruna boasted an attraction that needed no marketing.
0:04:58 > 0:05:00My Bradshaw's directs Edwardian tourists
0:05:00 > 0:05:04to the Jardin de San Carlos, to the east of the harbour,
0:05:04 > 0:05:06the burial place of Sir John Moore,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10whose death in 1809 had made him a war hero.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13At the time of my Bradshaw's guide,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15would Sir John Moore still have been well remembered?
0:05:15 > 0:05:18Absolutely, because your Bradshaw's was published
0:05:18 > 0:05:20very shortly after the centenary of his death
0:05:20 > 0:05:23which had brought him back into the British imagination,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25and the tomb formed a very popular stop
0:05:25 > 0:05:27on the battlefield tourism circuit
0:05:27 > 0:05:30which had begun in 1815, straight after the Battle of Waterloo.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34The Duke of Wellington's victory at Waterloo
0:05:34 > 0:05:37marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars which had raged
0:05:37 > 0:05:41as French forces occupied vast swathes of Europe.
0:05:42 > 0:05:44Sir John Moore's final battle
0:05:44 > 0:05:48had been part of a British attempt to oust them from Spain.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51He was leading the British Army in a strategic retreat
0:05:51 > 0:05:54from Salamanca further south, and when they arrived, they established
0:05:54 > 0:05:57a strategic position up on a hill and they managed to hold off
0:05:57 > 0:06:01the French until most of the army was able to embark
0:06:01 > 0:06:02upon the waiting warships to leave.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Unfortunately, Sir John Moore didn't go with them
0:06:05 > 0:06:08because at the front of his army, he was hit in the shoulder and died.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11It's a sort of early version of Dunkirk, this, isn't it?
0:06:11 > 0:06:15I mean, a retreat which is somehow converted into a victory.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Absolutely, that's a great comparison.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20People at home, initially, were very unhappy.
0:06:20 > 0:06:22They felt that Sir John Moore had let everybody down,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24but when it became clear that this defensive manoeuvre
0:06:24 > 0:06:27had in fact contributed to Wellington's victory overall,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29he was converted into a hero,
0:06:29 > 0:06:34and is remembered both here in Galicia and in Britain.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37Sir John Moore had said that he wished to be buried where he fell,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39and so a hasty grave was dug
0:06:39 > 0:06:44before the rest of the troops made their escape to fight another day.
0:06:44 > 0:06:45Today, his tomb,
0:06:45 > 0:06:49and a nearby pavilion decorated with poetry written in his honour
0:06:49 > 0:06:52still attract British tourists.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Hello. Hello. Have you come to see Sir John Moore?
0:06:55 > 0:06:57ALL: Yes.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00And what has brought you to see Sir John Moore?
0:07:00 > 0:07:01Saga!
0:07:03 > 0:07:06- Is Sir John Moore a little bit of a hero for you?- I think so.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10To tell you the truth, I hadn't heard about him before I came on this trip.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15And he seems an extraordinary person. The things he achieved in his life.
0:07:15 > 0:07:16How do you feel about the fact that
0:07:16 > 0:07:19the British were retreating when he died?
0:07:19 > 0:07:21Probably quite sensible!
0:07:21 > 0:07:23THEY LAUGH
0:07:23 > 0:07:26Who else wants to talk about Sir John Moore?
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Sorry, do you want... No?
0:07:28 > 0:07:29You're all running away now.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35It seems the British still have a talent for the tactical retreat.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Edwardian travellers arriving in Galicia
0:07:41 > 0:07:45were fascinated by local people's traditional costumes and customs.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Like the Irish, the Cornish and the Welsh, the people of Galicia
0:07:50 > 0:07:53trace their roots back to pre-Roman Celtic tribes.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57THEY GREET EACH OTHER IN SPANISH
0:07:57 > 0:08:03And a vital symbol of their Celtic identity is the Gaita, or bagpipes.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Alvaro Seivane's family have been making them for 75 years.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12How popular is the bagpipe now in Galicia compared with a century ago?
0:08:12 > 0:08:13HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Even though a century ago it was popular, there's no comparison.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Now, there are thousands and thousands of people
0:08:23 > 0:08:25playing the bagpipes.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27Alvaro's family has played a leading role
0:08:27 > 0:08:29in this extraordinary revival.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33His daughter is a famous piper who plays at music festivals
0:08:33 > 0:08:34all over the world.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37BAGPIPES PLAY
0:08:37 > 0:08:40And the family tradition looks set to continue.
0:09:00 > 0:09:02Muy bien, muy bien, muy bien.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04Who is this?
0:09:04 > 0:09:07HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:09:07 > 0:09:08This is your grandson, Brice.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11This is the youngest bagpipe player in the family?
0:09:11 > 0:09:14HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:09:15 > 0:09:18He's just turned six but he's already spent two years
0:09:18 > 0:09:20playing the bagpipe.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22HE THANKS HIM IN SPANISH
0:09:24 > 0:09:27Making bagpipes takes patience.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30The wood for the pipes is seasoned for ten years
0:09:30 > 0:09:31before it's ready to be worked,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36and it takes another five years to complete the instrument.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38BAGPIPES DRONE TUNELESSLY
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Despite Brice's performance,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44extracting music from the gaita isn't child's play.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53It's a modern composition!
0:09:53 > 0:09:55HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:09:56 > 0:09:58I have a big future as a bagpipe player, he says.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00I don't think so but gracias.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06In the middle years of the 20th century,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08during General Franco's dictatorship,
0:10:08 > 0:10:13Galicians were prevented from expressing their distinct identity.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15But since the 1980s,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18there's been a resurgence of interest in the local culture,
0:10:18 > 0:10:22flamboyantly expressed in La Coruna through the traditional dances
0:10:22 > 0:10:24that take place in the city square.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28PIPES AND DRUMS PLAY
0:10:37 > 0:10:40Edwardian tourists would have loved this spectacle.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43Back home there was a Celtic revival in full swing
0:10:43 > 0:10:46with renewed interest in folk dance and music.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51To Galicians, keeping traditions like this alive helps set them apart
0:10:51 > 0:10:53from their Latin Spanish neighbours.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- Muy bien. Gracias.- Gracias, gracias.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15Is this very important for you, as a Galician person, this dancing?
0:11:15 > 0:11:17Yes, for sure it is.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21Now, you're Celtic. Do you feel any connection with maybe Scotland,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25with Ireland, with Cornwall, any of those places?
0:11:25 > 0:11:28I definitely do. I do feel that we have similar characteristics
0:11:28 > 0:11:32in traditional dancing and music and so on.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36So, you feel Celtic, you feel Galician,
0:11:36 > 0:11:37do you feel Spanish as well?
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Yeah, I also do.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41- And European?- Yes, why not?
0:11:41 > 0:11:45But first more Galician than Spanish and European.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47First, I want to be Galician, then the rest.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Already, Galicia has been full of surprises.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59But before I leave La Coruna, I'm keen to uncover one more.
0:12:00 > 0:12:01- Ruben?- Hola, Michael.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Ruben Ventureira is showing me round a small museum,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10hidden away in this unassuming house.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Because this apartment is where Pablo Picasso came of age.
0:12:15 > 0:12:16By the time of my guidebook,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Picasso was well on the way to becoming a 20th-century master,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22though his more avant-garde works
0:12:22 > 0:12:25were too radical for most Edwardian tastes.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30But 20 years earlier, having moved to La Coruna with his family,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34the adolescent Pablo was still learning formal painting
0:12:34 > 0:12:38from his father, a tutor at the local Academy of Fine Art.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43So, this is by Pablo Picasso's father,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46it's the painting that has the most doves or pigeons in it.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49It was his favourite subject.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52It also then became the favourite subject of Pablo Picasso.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57The anecdote that is told is that the feet of the birds
0:12:57 > 0:13:01were actually done by Pablo Picasso, by the boy, by the son.
0:13:01 > 0:13:03How would you describe the relationship
0:13:03 > 0:13:05between Picasso and his father?
0:13:05 > 0:13:07HE ANSWERS IN SPANISH
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Here in La Coruna, the father and the son establish
0:13:16 > 0:13:19a teacher-pupil relationship, in which,
0:13:19 > 0:13:23curiously, the pupil ends up surpassing the teacher.
0:13:24 > 0:13:30It was in La Coruna that Picasso held his first exhibition in 1895,
0:13:30 > 0:13:33at the tender age of 13.
0:13:33 > 0:13:34In the same year,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38the family was touched by tragedy, when Pablo's seven-year-old sister
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Conchita died of diphtheria in this very room.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44THEY TALK IN SPANISH
0:13:56 > 0:14:01Picasso, when his sister was so ill, swore an oath to God
0:14:01 > 0:14:05that if God saved the girl he would never paint again.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07God did not save the girl
0:14:07 > 0:14:11and the world was given, instead of Conchita, the great artist Picasso.
0:14:20 > 0:14:24Later that year, Pablo Picasso's family moved to Barcelona,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27and it's time for me to wave goodbye to La Coruna too,
0:14:27 > 0:14:32and to continue my journey following my 1913 Bradshaw's guide.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44As evening sets in, I've bought myself a little snack.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47I'm on my way to Santiago de Compostela which is perhaps
0:14:47 > 0:14:50the most famous of all the destinations for pilgrims
0:14:50 > 0:14:53and over the centuries, they used to sustain themselves
0:14:53 > 0:14:55with this sort of Spanish pasty.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59It's called an empanada and this one is filled with scallops.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The fresh taste of the sea on a train.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21A new day, and I'm approaching my next destination not by rail,
0:15:21 > 0:15:25but on foot, following the Camino de Santiago,
0:15:25 > 0:15:27or the pathway of St James.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32Pilgrims must come prepared to walk in all weathers,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36for green and pleasant Galicia shares much by way of climate,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40as well as culture, with the British Isles.
0:15:40 > 0:15:42Some years ago, I walked for seven days
0:15:42 > 0:15:47the last stretch of the pilgrims' trail into Santiago de Compostela
0:15:47 > 0:15:50with my rucksack and my walking stick.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52It was an unforgettable experience.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56All the time, you are meeting other pilgrims
0:15:56 > 0:15:58and there is a sort of etiquette that you catch up with them
0:15:58 > 0:16:00for a short while and you have a chat.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02You only ever give your first name,
0:16:02 > 0:16:03you don't normally give much background
0:16:03 > 0:16:06about your reasons for walking the way.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08And all the time that I was walking,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10I could see a line of pilgrims behind me
0:16:10 > 0:16:12and a line of pilgrims ahead
0:16:12 > 0:16:16and quite a thought that the line ahead really stretched out
0:16:16 > 0:16:19for centuries since people first began to visit
0:16:19 > 0:16:21the tomb of St James.
0:16:23 > 0:16:28When I walked my little pilgrimage, I covered 130km,
0:16:28 > 0:16:31just more than the shortest distance that you can do
0:16:31 > 0:16:33to qualify officially as a pilgrim.
0:16:33 > 0:16:37But walkers set out for Santiago from destinations across Europe.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Good day. Congratulations, you're very close to Santiago.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44How far have you come?
0:16:44 > 0:16:50Me, I come from St Jean Pied De Port, that's about 780km.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53- That's a long, long walk. You've become friends on the Camino?- Yes.
0:16:53 > 0:16:55What made you think of doing the Camino?
0:16:55 > 0:16:57For me, it's the fourth Camino.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's like a drug, being on the Camino.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02It's the first time for me, yes.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06I have thought about doing the Camino for the last ten years,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09but I was always afraid of doing it alone because I thought
0:17:09 > 0:17:13I would be alone which turned out to be quite wrong, actually.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15So, now you've only got a few kilometres to go.
0:17:15 > 0:17:20You must be feeling what? Elated, excited, how do you feel?
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Elated, but also I think I'm a bit sad that it's coming to an end.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27I've done this for 30 straight days.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Thank you so much for stopping and Godspeed, pilgrims.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33- Thank you.- Thank you.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46The popularity of the Camino peaked in the Middle Ages,
0:17:46 > 0:17:51but the Reformation stopped pilgrims from Britain in their tracks.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57These days, around 100,000 people complete the challenge every year
0:17:57 > 0:18:01and as they take the last weary steps on their journey,
0:18:01 > 0:18:05the promise of reaching Santiago's magnificent cathedral
0:18:05 > 0:18:06inspires them onward.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Bradshaw's is full of superlatives about this building.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19"The cathedral is considered one the most impressive examples
0:18:19 > 0:18:25"of early Romanesque architecture in Spain, dating from 1078 to 1211."
0:18:25 > 0:18:30And then, "the Gothic cloisters are amongst the best in Spain.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35"Altogether it's one of the greatest glories of Christian art."
0:18:35 > 0:18:36This was the building that Christians felt
0:18:36 > 0:18:41they had to construct to house the tomb of St James the Apostle.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43And this is the destination
0:18:43 > 0:18:46of pilgrims who have walked for hundreds of miles
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and behind me, the Capilla Mayor,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53housing the tomb of the saint himself.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00The story goes that St James's body was brought to Spain
0:19:00 > 0:19:03after he was martyred in Jerusalem in 44AD.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08It was then rediscovered 800 years later,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12and before long, people began to journey to venerate his tomb.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23Medieval pilgrims didn't have the benefit of Bradshaw's.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26- INTO INTERCOM: - Buenos dias, Michael Portillo.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28But the cathedral houses an ancient
0:19:28 > 0:19:32illuminated manuscript that helped them on their way.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39Jose Manuel Sanchez is the guardian of this prized Latin text.
0:19:39 > 0:19:40Jose Manuel, I'm Michael.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Hi, nice to meet you.
0:19:43 > 0:19:45- Well...- So, what is this book?
0:19:45 > 0:19:47This is the Codex Calixtinus.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50It's one compilation of all the traditions
0:19:50 > 0:19:52related with the apostle Santiago in the Middle Ages.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54When was it written, do we think?
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was written in the middle of the 12th century.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01The book is an important source of information
0:20:01 > 0:20:02on the history of St James,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06but it also lays claim to being one of the world's first guidebooks,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08packed with handy hints for pilgrims.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12Give me some practical tips for going on the Camino.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14Yes, for example, we have, er...
0:20:14 > 0:20:19HE READS IN LATIN
0:20:20 > 0:20:24So, horses must not drink there because they could die.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26Because the river is...
0:20:26 > 0:20:27The river is dangerous.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30READING LATIN
0:20:33 > 0:20:38Very good water to drink or to refresh.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Limpha, dulcis and sana.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44So, clean, sweet and healthy.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Yeah, great! You did great!
0:20:47 > 0:20:50Next time I come on the walk, this will be the book I'll take.
0:20:55 > 0:21:00The Codex is a remarkable relic, but to continue my railway journey,
0:21:00 > 0:21:02I think I'll stick with Bradshaw's.
0:21:03 > 0:21:08My 1913 guide is not complimentary about Spanish trains,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13remarking on their slow speeds and uncomfortable facilities.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15But Edwardian tourists taking the West Galician Railway
0:21:15 > 0:21:18from Santiago might have been reassured to know
0:21:18 > 0:21:21that the company manager was British born and bred.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26I'm hearing the story from Javier Losada Boedo.
0:21:26 > 0:21:28- Hello, Xavier.- Hi, Michael.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Very good to see you.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34I'm interested in a great British railway man, John Trulock,
0:21:34 > 0:21:37and I believe that he is your ancestor. What's the connection?
0:21:37 > 0:21:40He was the father of my grandmother.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44He was the eldest of six brothers
0:21:44 > 0:21:48but his father died really young, when he was 15.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51So, he had to earn his living.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Trulock decided to seek his fortune in Galicia.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57And by the 1880s,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01he was running the West Galician Railway company.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04So what sort of a railway was this?
0:22:04 > 0:22:06It was the first railway in Galicia.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09It was from Carril in the coast to Compostela,
0:22:09 > 0:22:13Santiago de Compostela in the Galician centre.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18Begun in 1862, construction was overseen by a British engineer,
0:22:18 > 0:22:19and by Trulock's time,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23the railway had been bought by a British company.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26Trulock ruled the line for over 40 years,
0:22:26 > 0:22:29setting up home in Galicia where he continued to live
0:22:29 > 0:22:32in Edwardian English style.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37By the turn of the 20th century,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41James Trulock was helping to lure British tourists to Galicia.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45In 1910, he laid on a special train
0:22:45 > 0:22:48to carry journalists on a press tour.
0:22:48 > 0:22:50I'm getting off in Pontevedra
0:22:50 > 0:22:53to hunt down one of the more unusual sights that they saw.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59I do love to be beside the seaside,
0:22:59 > 0:23:04but here in the little village of Bueu, the sea is a place of work,
0:23:04 > 0:23:09and what comes out of the sea gives rise to light industry close by
0:23:09 > 0:23:11and that's the sort of light industry
0:23:11 > 0:23:15that was a magnetic attraction for the discerning traveller
0:23:15 > 0:23:17in the early 20th century.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Surprisingly, an Edwardian tourist's trip to Galicia wasn't complete
0:23:23 > 0:23:26without a visit to a sardine cannery,
0:23:26 > 0:23:28thanks to a local sardine entrepreneur
0:23:28 > 0:23:32who was one of the main promoters of British tourism here.
0:23:33 > 0:23:38I'm taking my own tour of this 21st-century fish canning factory,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41guided by export manager Jose Emilio Dopazo.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49Jose Emilio, it's an impressive and very noisy canning factory.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51When did this business begin?
0:23:51 > 0:23:55Well, this business has been here for 141 years now.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00We founded the company, the family Alonso, in 1873,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and it has been kept in the same family for five generations.
0:24:05 > 0:24:06Like so much in Galicia,
0:24:06 > 0:24:10there's a British connection to the region's canning industry.
0:24:10 > 0:24:14The idea of canning food came from a British merchant.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16In the beginning of the 19th century,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20he had the idea of preserving food in cans.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23The initial idea was a Frenchman,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26but the Frenchman was only doing it in glass,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and the English man said, "No, we can put this also in tins,"
0:24:30 > 0:24:34The idea rapidly expanded to the continent and came here.
0:24:35 > 0:24:37By Edwardian times,
0:24:37 > 0:24:41canned fish had helped to transform British people's diets,
0:24:41 > 0:24:45bringing delicacies like sardines within everyone's reach.
0:24:45 > 0:24:48At the moment, it's not the sardine season,
0:24:48 > 0:24:51but this factory packs plenty of other types of seafood
0:24:51 > 0:24:55including a million tins of octopus every year.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58- Hola.- Hola, buenos tardes.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:25:07 > 0:25:09They are washing the octopus.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12Just like washing the laundry, isn't it?
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Give that a good scrub
0:25:14 > 0:25:17Let's get those tentacles in there.
0:25:17 > 0:25:20HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:25:24 > 0:25:28I asked her whether she could actually still eat octopus,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31and she says she absolutely loves it.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42The thriving canning trade on this stretch of coast is
0:25:42 > 0:25:45thanks to the extraordinary bounty of the Atlantic
0:25:45 > 0:25:48and the unique geography of the so-called 'rias' of Galicia.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53So, the rias are part of an estuary,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56and are they like long fingers, something like that?
0:25:56 > 0:25:57They are long fingers.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01The legend says that God, when constructing the world
0:26:01 > 0:26:05put five fingers on the land, and these are the five Galician rias.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10In these estuaries, fresh water from the rivers
0:26:10 > 0:26:14mixes with the salty sea, creating ideal conditions for plankton,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17which in turn feeds the fish and other sea creatures.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22So, today we are fishing for octopus, are we?
0:26:22 > 0:26:26Yes, we have here a big devotion for the octopus.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29Devotion for the animal itself, for the taste,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32for the role in the factory, for everything.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35The fishermen have previously lowered traps,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38and now it's time to see what they've caught.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48- Oh, that is a weird feeling. - Very big one!
0:26:48 > 0:26:51It's a lovely big octopus, isn't it? Yeah, it is indeed,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54I can feel it pulsing and wriggling in my hand.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Look at its tentacles now, whoo!
0:26:56 > 0:26:59- Fantastic.- Wow.- Lovely one.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Well, you are a Spanish fisherman now!
0:27:02 > 0:27:07- Wonderful.- Isn't that a beautiful beast? Isn't that fantastic?
0:27:07 > 0:27:08It's a fantastic one.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11One of the things that's special about Galicia, eh?
0:27:15 > 0:27:19I'm not sure that Edwardian tourists were quite so hands-on,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22but if not, they missed out.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25And there's one last treat in store for me in Bueu.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31This is a wonderful way to end the day.
0:27:31 > 0:27:34A beautiful presentation of octopus.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37This is the very special recipe in Galicia.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41It's boiled, olive oil, and paprika.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46- How is it?- It's magnificent.
0:27:46 > 0:27:47I'm glad you like it.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53My Galician fishing trip has been the perfect way to draw
0:27:53 > 0:27:56the Spanish leg of my journey to a close.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03In Portugal, on the second leg of my journey,
0:28:03 > 0:28:06I'll explore this British home from home.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10Oh, yes! This is a fantastic view.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18And in Lisbon, uncover the turbulent events that shocked Edwardians.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20They're a group of armed republicans.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25In five minutes, they almost wiped out the entire Royal family.
0:28:25 > 0:28:29So this square was the scene of appalling horror.