Page:A Handbook for Travellers in Spain - Vol 1.djvu/36

[20] is a rara avis indeed, and prices have not been raised or the natives spoilt by tourists. If hired for not less than a couple of months, your servant’s wages should not exceed 12s. a week, hire of a mule for him and horse for yourself about 2l. 10s. per week. At the commercial hotels in large cities, such as San Sebastian, Pamplona, Zaragoza, Burgos, Valladolid, Avila, Segovia, Toledo, and the like, the universal charge is 6s. per day for yourself, and 3s. for servants, without any extras whatever. This includes chocolate and bread in the early morning, an excellent breakfast of eight courses at any hour between 11 and 1, an equally good dinner of ten courses between 7 and 8 , good red wine ad libitum, and a comfortable bed. In Madrid, at the Fonda Peninsular, the charge for the same accommodation is 6s. 5d. a day for yourself, and 3s. 2d. for servant. On the other hand, in country towns and villages it seldom exceeds 4s. per diem for master, and 2s. for man. Fodder for the two animals should be 1s. a day. As regards distances, you will find the country saying of una legua una hora (one league, one hour) pretty exact if you take the good going with the bad. A standard league is 3·45 English miles, and from 20 to 40 miles a day can be done, according to the best available halting-places, resting one or two days a week. I always get under way between 6 and 7, after the morning chocolate, travel till about noon, when a fountain or stream, with a Shady tree or two handy, is resorted to for the al fresco breakfast and siesta, which occupy till 2 Then on the road again till 7 or 8 , when one should arrive at the quarters for the night. Spanish horses never trot or canter, but invariably go at an amble. Hence the comfortable albardilla, or saddle of the country, is preferable to, and much less fatiguing than, an English one. Likewise abhor an English great-coat, which can never be made to fold and pack properly on the saddle-peak, and invest in a graceful and sleeveless Castilian manta. All baggage must be carried in your own and servant’s saddle-bags. Consequently every drachm of weight and inch of space saved is of vital importance. Two or three enamelled iron plates and half-a-dozen knives, forks, and spoons, packed in a roll-up case, are indispensable. An English picnic basket is not worth the wicker work it is composed of, as it will not travel in saddle-bags. Two leathern wine-bottles of the country are taken, one holding about three pints for current use, and another two gallons kept in reserve. Out of the large towns provisions should always be carried. A young lamb, fowl, rabbit, or hare is the best meat. The bread is excellent, and don’t forget some lettuces, oil, and vinegar for a salad, and raisins for dessert when fresh fruit is not in season. I always replenish my provender-bags at every available opportunity, and see that enough meat is cooked overnight for the next day’s picnic breakfast. In the provincial posadas, ventas, and mesones, an Englishman must remember that he will be received by no smirking landlord, bowing waiter, or courtesying chambermaid; nor will he find the comforts and conveniences he does on this side of the Pyrenees. Except in the fondas of large cities bed-room washing accommodation is conspicuous by its absence. During May and June last the only tubbing I ever got was a swim in the lordly Ebro, Duero, Tagus, or one of their tributaries. Soap and a hand-looking-glass must be carried with you. Riding is the only comfortable way of visiting many of the