Los banys arabes, Tortosa

(backblipped ...)

We had an interesting evening on Thursday. We'd booked a guided tour of the old Jewish quarter in Tortosa, starting at 8:30 in the evening. We went in earlier to visit the museum, which, believe it or not, is housed in an old abbatoir. It turned out not to be quite as interesting as we thought it would be, so we spent quite a while sitting on a cafe terrace people-watching and drinking beer, before walking up the hill to admire the (not very spectacular ...) view from the castle ramparts.

The tour was presented by a woman in medieval dress who sang and story-told her way around the route, recreating the daily life of the Jews in the 15th century, until in a spectacular own-goal, Ferdinand and Isabella, los Reyes Catolicos, booted all Jews out of Spain in 1492, setting back intellectual and commercial life by centuries, especially when they followed it up by throwing the Moors out later. It was very well done, although we'd spoiled it slightly by exploring the quarter ourselves a couple of weeks ago.

Afterwards she took us to this bar in the former Arab baths of Tortosa to taste some kosher wine -- although she did warn us that if we were Jewish we shouldn't be drinking it because it was Passover. It's a lovely, atmospheric building. She'd also come up with the bright idea of partnering with some Tortosa restaurants, so after this S and I headed to los Paiolets nearby for a Middle-East themed meal. It was a lovely restaurant, and the food was delicious (hummus, aubergine pate, and couscous salad, followed by salt cod with almonds and then some home-made baklava and pastellets, a Tortosan pastry). 26 euros each, including bread, coffee, and a bottle of locally made kosher wine. It turned out we were the very first customers to try the themed menu, so we gave them very positive feedback.

When we came out it was about 11:30, and we'd intended to go straight home, but we saw groups of people in satin capes carrying pointy hats passing by and realised that we were just in time for the first of the Easter processions, at midnight, so we followed them to the church of Santa Inmaculada. There were a surprising number of participants, probably over a hundred, in different hooded outfits. At one point I spotted a group of people in black satin dressing gowns with wide red sashes, an oriental appearance reinforced by logos on them saying "Tae Kwon Do". We spent a few minutes discussing how such an organisation could take part in a Christian procession, till S pointed out that the logo was for a marching band featuring tambors (drums) and nothing to do with martial arts at all. Well, in my defence, it was dark.

I find these processions quite sinister. Especially as this one set off from the same spot where we had met our Jewish guide earlier, and she had described the persecution and expulsion of the Jews. The procession of hooded, candle-bearing Christians set off around the streets of the Jewish quarter in silence apart from the menacing, repetitive beat of dozens of drums. It seemed a clear warning to the Jews:"Get out, we don't want you here." Catalans generally are sociable, noisy people, and the silence of not only the participants but the spectators was very striking. As the last drums faded into the distance, we headed back to the car and home.