Spain – If Orwell Could See It Now!

I’ve just returned from a short but thoroughly enjoyable holiday in southern Spain, my first visit to the country for almost twenty years. Spain then had been a member of the EU for just four years or so, and the effect of membership had not yet taken hold. Seeing the changes that have taken place since then, I couldn’t help wondering what George Orwell would make of it if he were able to see the country now.

Orwell in Spain. He is the tall figure on the right at the back. His wife, Eileen, is crouching just by his left leg.

While Spain retains much of its Moorish character and charm (in some places anyway), recent construction along much of the southern coastal region is a mish-mash of tasteless development catering for tourists and sun-seeking retirees from northern Europe. Even the ancient mountain-top town of Ronda, long a magnet for tourists and literary luminaries (Hemingway, Eliot), is blighted by modern construction. The first sight that greets you as you see Ronda for the first time at the end of the tortuous drive up from the coast, is a huge tower crane serving the construction of a monolithic new hospital.

Ronda- The Old, And The Not So Old

As far as I’m aware, Orwell never ventured any further south than Barcelona, a place that I have yet to visit. I would be surprised though, if that great city had managed to avoid the sad architectural mess of the south. Definitely not George Orwell style.

Idyllic Spain?

Reassuringly, Spain remains a beautiful country despite modernity. Its people have to live somewhere, but I just wish that developers would use just a bit more imagination. Orwell served in the front line near the ancient city of Huesca. Now I’m not sure if he actually spent any time in city itself, but if he did, I can’t imagine what his reaction would be to the apartment blocks that blight the place now. It’s such a shame. Couldn’t the Spanish have learned from the mistakes that we made here in Britain in the 60s and 70s?

Regardless of Spanish modernity, I have started planning my next visit. Huesca! That’s where I’m going. To see where Orwell himself saw action.

IR 24/07/11