The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-02-02
TRAVELLING IN SPAIN.

lChas. Dudley Warner. in Atlantic Mon;blxi
 The real Spain is the least attrac.;y. country in Europe to the tourist. The traveller goes there to see certain unioue objects. He sees them, enjoys them is entranced by them, leaves them with re- gret and tender memory. and is glad ,o get out of Spain. There are six ,hings ,o see-the Alhambra, the Seville and AL cazar, the mosque of Cordova. Toledo and its cathedral, the gallery at Madrid and Monserrat. The rest IS mainly mo- notony and weariness. With the excep- ton of the Alhambra, which has a spell that an rdle man finds hard to break. and where perhaps he could be con,en, indefinitely, there IS no place in Spain that one can imagine he would like "a live Tn for the pleasure of living. Taking out certain historical features and mont. ments, the towns repeat each other in their attractions and their dsagreeables.
 Every town and city in Italy has it's in- dividdal character and special charm.
 To go rom one 10 another IS always 70 change the scene and the delight. This Is true of the old German towns also
 Each has character. The traveller sees many place in each country where he thinks he could stay on from month 10 month, with growing home-like fleeing.
 l think there IS nothing of this attraction Tn Spain. The want ot it may be due ,e the country itself, or the people. fan ey that with its vast arid plains, treeess and tiresome, its gullied hills and its bare escarped mountains, Spain resembles New Mexico. It is an unsofened, unre- lieved landscal e, for the most part. some times grand in its vastness and sweep. but rugged and unadorned. The wan, of grass and gentle verdure is a serious drawback to the pleasure of the eye. no, compensated by the magic tricks of the sunlight, and the variegated reds, browns and yellows of the exposed soil and rocks and the spnngtime green of the nascent crops. speak, of course, of the general aspect, for the mountain regions are rich in wild flowers, and the cultivation in the towns IS everywhere redeeming feature.
 The traveller. of course. gets his l:3- pressions of people from the outside. These are correct so far as they go, and i, IS in sense safe 10 generalize on them, though not to partieularize. He catches very soon the moral atmosphere of a strange land. and knows whether l; ls agreeable or otherwise. whether the peo- pie seem pleasant or the reverse. He learns to discriminate, for example be- tween the calculated gemuthlchkiet of Switzerland and the more spontaneous friendliness of Bavaria. He can pro- nounee 3, once upon the cordial good humor of the Niennese. the obligingness of the people of Edinburgh, the agreeable ness of the Swedes, simply on stree, knowledge, without ever entering a pr,- vate house or receiving any personal hospitality. He knows the willy, poetical ways by which he is beguiled h I:aly. but grows fond of the sunny race.
 In Spain he IS pretty certain to be rubbed the wrong way mos, of the time. He is conscious of an atmosphere of sus- picon, of distrust, of contempt often. He cannot understand, for instance, why at tendants in churches and cathedrals are so cur, and disobliging. keeping him away, on one pretense or another, from the sights he has come so far to see and for which he is willing to pay. Incidents oc<u red both at Granada and Toledo that could be accounted for only on the supposition that the custodians liked 10 discommode strangers. If we had been Frenchmen, whom the Spaniards hate as the despoilers of churches and galleries. we could have understood it. By repu.a- ton the Spaniard is a, home hospitable. on acquaintance gracious and generally willing to oblige. But the national a. mosphere Is certainly not what the Ger mars call gemu;hlich. In no other Ea- ropean country is the traveller likely 10 encounter so much incivili,y and rude ness. so little attempt at pleasing him and making him ike the country. At least, the attitude is tha, of indifference whether the country pleases him or not. Perhaps this springs from noble pride and superiority. Perhaps it is from a provincial consciousness of being abou: zoo years behind the age But. else where. the pleasantes, people to ,ravel among are those whose clocks stopped two centuries ago. Individually. have no doubt, the Spaniards are charming. Collectively, they do not appear to wei come the stranger or put themselves ou, to make his sojourn agreeable.