The Catholic World, Vol. 09, April, 1869-September, 1869Various
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 09, April, 1869-September, 1869
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
Yesterday, at six in the morning, we leave Barcelona for "the
City of the Cid," arriving at ten o'clock at night; a long,
fatiguing, but interesting day. The railway runs by the blue
Mediterranean, with stern, bleak mountains close on the other
side; or through vineyards, and fig and olive groves, with which
are mingled peaches, apples, and quinces, showing that all
varieties of fruits meet together in this favored clime. In
passing Martorell, the third or fourth station from Barcelona, we
have a fine view of Montserrat; a picturesque, jagged mountain
1000 feet high, where is a monastery, one of the most celebrated
pilgrimages in Spain. On the opposite side is a famous old Roman
bridge (over the Llobregat river) called "del Diablo," built in
531 B.C., by Hannibal, in honor of Hamilcar. At one end is a
triumphal arch. Here the views are particularly fine.
Villafranca comes next, the earliest Carthaginian colony in
Catalonia, founded by Hamilcar. Next we see Terragona, an ancient
city, on a steep and craggy eminence, founded by the Scipios. It
was long the seat of the Roman government in Spain; now famous
for its fine wines.
Here the costume of the peasants begins to look more eastern. The
full, short linen pantaloons, (on each leg a petticoat;) a red
handkerchief, worn as a turban; sometimes leather leggings, but
more frequently legs red from the wine-press, where they have
been treading out the grape-juice. The peasants are simple and
friendly, and, seeing few strangers, look upon them as guests,
and seem never disposed to speculate upon our ignorance of the
prices of things. One of our party offered to pay for a tempting
bunch of grapes which we saw in a man's basket, who pressed to
look at us in one of the stations. With difficulty he was
prevailed upon to take a real, (five cents.) He then offered
more, which we in turn declined.
{204}
Waiting till the train moved off, he sprang forward, and dropped
into my lap a bunch which must have weighed several pounds, and I
looked back to see him smiling most triumphantly. At another
station (a poor place in the mountains) a modest, clean-looking
woman came forward with glasses of water. No one paid anything
for drinking it. But when she came to our carriage, one of the
party gave her two reals, (ten cents in silver.) The poor thing
shook her head sadly, saying, "No tengo cambia." (But I have no
change.) When she was made to comprehend that she was to keep it
_all_, her face glowed with delighted surprise; and as we
moved off, we saw her showing the money to all around her. No
doubt she took my friend for the queen herself!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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