markets

Today in the Market 2

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

There is no excuse in Granollers for wearing ancient threadbare knickers.
You can’t buy hot chillies or coriander but almost every second market stall sells pants

I am not easy with taking photos in the street – can’t wait to get my Smartphone so I can secretly snap one while pretending to write a text.
It does look a bit suspicious photographing underwear so I went to a stall and asked the woman
‘Te molesta si hago una foto de tus calçetes?’

This is a mixture of castellano and catala (which is how I normally speak here) and in English means
‘Would it bother you if I took a photo of your pants?’

Surprisingly she told me to go ahead!

Not Spain Not France but Catalunya

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

I wrote about our trip to the hot sulphur bathes at St Thomas in Catalunya Nord but I want to add a few photos `and some more information about this region. Before living here I had never heard of Catalunya Nord. Looking at a map I would have thought the area, sometimes known as Rosselló (Roussillion), and which includes Perpinyà (Perpignan), was in France…..and officially it is but it is also an area claimed by Catalans as part of Catalunya. In 1659 this part of the region was handed over to France as part of the Treaty of the Pyranees. This may seem like a long time ago but an important factor in this is that Català is still spoken here although French is the official language. I felt aware of the Catalan influence here but I also noticed that most people were speaking French. As always, there has been a history of repression of Català – Louis XIV forbade its use in official documents in 1700, it was banned in schools until the 1950s and it was only in 2007 that the Pyranees-Orientale Council proclaimed Català as one of the languages of the department, alongside French and Occitan, to try and promote it in public life and education.
In the market in Prada there was a stall which proclaimed its Catalan identity – we bought some very delicious potatoesThe area is dominated by the mountain called Canigó (Canigou), 2785m We set out to climb to the top but after van problems (not accustomed to climbing so high over 20 km of unmade up road), and the arrival of a thick sheet of mist just as we neared the topwe turned back and will have to go another day to feel the high that rewards you at the summit.This is one of the mountain villages that dot the landscape. Now I knew I wasn’t in ‘Spain’ as it is not surrounded by a horrible ‘urbanisation’ like so many places on this side of the border. Perhaps France has stronger rural protection laws or at least has not had the history of Francoist encouragement of unregulated development.

Market Day

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Thursday is market day here in Granollers and I went to meet a friend for coffee and then to buy some fruit and vegetables for the week. I have always found it a rather stressful experience going alone – the pressure to speak well in front of a queue of onlookers, not knowing all the names of the vegetables, not really having a good grip on grams and kilos (still? I know we use them now in the UK but I continue to think in pounds and ounces)
In my imagination it is an enjoyable experience – all the colours and sounds and smells of the market and the excitement of choosing from such an abundance of choice. But if I am truthful I have always felt a bit shy in French and Catalan markets and spend a long time choosing which stall to use on the basis of whether the stallholder looks friendly rather than on the quality of the produce. And as I don’t like an audience I often chose one which is quiet – and shouldn’t I be doing the opposite?
But…two weeks ago my experience changed. Perhaps with greater confidence in my powers of speech I took my time chosing a stall with the freshest salads and the greatest variety of potatoes. I was relaxed, I chatted, I took my time like all the other people who don’t hurry this important moment of buying food. I enjoyed the experience.
And yesterday when I went with my friend I had an extra game to play – I had learnt as many words in Catalan as I could stuff into my already very full brain and I ordered everything (well almost everything) in Catalan…..with the help of the very friendly stall holder. Here are some of the words with their castellano equivalents – Eng/Cat/Cast.
Courgette – Carbassó – Calabacin
Onion – Ceba – Cebolla
Potato – Patata – Patata
Pepper – Pebrot – Pimiento
Cherry – Cirera – Cereza
Banana – Platan – Platano
Strawberry – Maduixa – Fresa
Apricot Albercoc – Albaricoque
Peach – Préssec – Melocotón