October 12 - Columbus Day, Spanish National Day, For Spanish Speaking Countries and people worldwide

Problem
Where can I go and what can I do to celebrate on October 12th?

Answer
Columbus Day is celebrated in Spain, the USA and several other countries. It is also called Day of Spanish, and is celebrated as day of the Spanish Military.

In Madrid the King and the Queen watch a military parade, the usual thing, with colourful uniforms and marching bands. My favourite item is the goat which is the symbol of the Spanish legion. I've seen pictures of a white goat with a red fancy blanket over its back, as well as a black-faced goat wearing a blue covering.

Spanish fly-past

Spain.

Statues of Columbus include one in Barcelona.

The Monument to Columbus in La Rambla, a major street in Barcelona, Spain.

Miniature of the Columbus monument in the garden miniatures, about 17 miles outside Barcelona, Spain.

At the opposite end of the scale, the biggest Columbus monument is in Puerto Rico. It was turned down by several cities in the USA but welcomed by Puerto Rico where it is hoped it will regenerate tourism.

The Columbus statue, called Birth of the New World, in Puerto Rico, seen close=up.

The Columbus monument in Puerto Rico from a distance, showing the scale and surroundings.

If you wish to travel around Spain I recommend staying at the Paradores, hotels built by the government in converted historic buildings to encourage tourism to and develope areas in all parts of the country. The Paradores are good value and the restaurants serve regional food. I have stayed in several on more than one trip. My favourites were the one in Seville and the one on the frontier with Portugal. If you can't afford a room, or they are fully booked, try to book a meal. 

Portugal has a similar system of Pousadas. 

To learn Spanish for free, start by using Duolingo.

Spanish speaking countries

Over in North America many cities are called Columbus. 

Statues of Columbus are in New York's Central Park and Providence, Rhode Island. The statue in Central Park has been desecrated with the words Say No To Hate, which seems ironic. A statue in New England was also desecrated.

Spanish is widely spoken in North America. You will see Spanish signs in many public buildings. The name Columbus is popular for cities and towns, in Ohio, Georgia, and Mississippi and more. 

I looked at the city of Columbus, Ohio and noted that it had a German quarter which would be a good place to visit for Oktoberfest next September-October. I was looking for a statue of Columbus and came across something amazing and amusing, what I think of as the basket building, headquarters of the Longaberger building in Newark, Ohio. As a keen photographer, I would put that on my list of places to visit on my next trip around the USA and Ohio.

Building in Columbus, Ohio, USA

A giant statue of Columbus, named The Birth Of The New World, has been installed in Puerto Rico and is predicted to increase tourism. That statue is gigantic, taller than the one of Christ the Redeemer in Rio, and taller than the Statue of Liberty. Several cities in the USA rejected it but the Puerto Ricans are delighted to have it.

If you can't get to any of these, you could celebrate Spain at home with a trip to a Spanish restaurant or a meal at home with Sangria or a Spanish wine such as Rioja or a c a v a, a sweet white wine, the Spanish equivalent of Champagne.

Useful Websites

www.visitusa.org.uk

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain

http://www.spain.info/en_GB/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Learning Spanish from place names such as Costa Rica (and growing pineapple tops)

Problems
Spanish is handy, widely spoken, and a second language or first language of many people in the USA, tn there territory of the island of Puerto Rico, as well as central America (Costa Rica) and several countries in south America. Over in Europe, Spanish is spoken in Spain and popular islands such as Mayorco, Minorca and Tenerife. How do I remember place names? How do I pick up a few words of Spanish quickly?

Answers
Translate a few place names from Spanish into English. I learned one today. Costa Rica means rich coast. What could be easier!

Spanish - English
Costa - coast
Costa Rica - rich coast
Rica - rich

English - Spanish
coast - costa
rich - rica
rich coast - C o s t a  R i c a

It seems obvious, but only after you know it. My first guess was that Costa meant cost. No - coast.

Notice that in English the adjective is before the noun. But in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun.

One account says that Christopher Columbus named the area rich coast. With water on both sides, and a volcano in the middle, and green and red birds, and gold, the words rich and coast are apt.

I found another place name, Cocos Island. In Spanish Isla de cocos.  Coconuts Island.

Spanish - English
coco(s) - coconuts
isla(s) - island (s)

English - Spanish
coconut(s) - coco(s)
Island(s) - isla(s)

I was just writing the above when I looked down at the wast paper bin and decided to empty it. At the bottom was a label. I looked at it and it said Pineapple from Costa Rica.

My goodness, it travelled a long way. The label says that pineapple is called ananas in almost every language except for English.

Spanish - English
anana(s) - pineapple(s)

English - Spanish
Pineapple(s) - anana(s)

Wikipedia reminded me that pina is also pine, or pineapple, as in pina colada.

The piña colada (/ˌpiːnjə koʊˈlɑːdə, -nə-, -kə-/;^[1][2] Spanish: piña [ˈpiɲa], "pineapple," and colada [koˈlaða], "strained") is a sweet cocktail made with rum, coconut cream or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.

Spanish - English
pina - pine
colada - strained

English - Spanish
pine - pina
strained - colada

Apparently, if you cut the top off a pineapple, you can grow it.You suspend it over water so it grows roots. When you see the roots, you bury the roots in compost in a pot in a conservatory. Keep it watered and within a couple of years time you will probably have another pineapple.

Photo of pineapple by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Pineapple

You can pull out the top or cut it off.

The base you have cut off should be fixed by a horizontal cross of toothpicks and the underside should touch the water. 

(An alternative is to dry it and then bury it.)

What about Puerto Rico?

Wiki says:

Puerto Rico^[a] (Spanish for "Rich Port"),

Spanish - English

Puerto - port

rico - rich

Puerto Rico (literally rich port)

Notice the adjective after the noun in Spanish.

English Spanish

port - puerto

rich - rico (o matching a masculine noun)

Spanish - English

adios - goodbye 

LANGUAGE TIPS  Learning Tips

Spanish is widely spoken in the USA, Equitorial Guinea (on old maps Spanish Guinea), Andorra, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile and Guatemala. Cuban Spanish is more usual in Florida, Puerto Rican Spanish in New York.

(Brazil is the country which speaks Portuguese, but people who speak Portuguese can mostly understand Spanish.

To learn the Spanish language decide whether you want to speak Spanish as in Spain, Europe, or Spanish  as spoken in Mexico and South America.

Duo lingo.com - free internet teaching of Spanish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

https://www.thoughtco.com/varieties-of-spanish-3078185

https://www.thoughtco.com/ways-spanish-english-verb-tenses-differ-3079929

TRAVEL TIPS

Mexico

www.visitmexico.com (beta - meaning website in the planning and testing stage)

Puerto Rico 

Tourist information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico

Spanish Tourist Board

6th Floor, 64 Noter Row

London W1K 7DE

Tel: +44 0207 3172011

6th floor, 64 North Row

London W1K 7DE   

www.spain.info/en_GB/

Costa Rica tourist information:

essentialcostarica.com

www.visitcostarica.com

Also see wikitravel and TripAdvisor.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. I have several more posts on learning languages and visiting sights. Please share my posts.

Christopher Columbus Statues, Stories, Monuments and Relics

Problem
Where was Christopher Columbus born, where did he live and die, was he Christian or Jewish, where is he buried and where is his statue?

Answers
Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, say the Italians. You fly into Liguria, a ribbon of land on the Italian coast on the Ligurian Sea, to Christopher Columbus airport.

Photo by Alain Rouille from Wikipedia.

A grand statue of Christopher Columbus is in Piazza Aquaverde, Genoa, Italy.

Columbus in Europe
He offered his services to the King of Portugal, and eventually was sponsored by the King and Queen of Spain. His brother was a map maker.

Columbus Statues, Cities, Memorials
SPAIN
A statue of Columbus is in Barcelona, Spain.

PORTUGAL
A statue of Columbus is in Funchal on the Island of Madeira which is Portuguese.

USA
You can see statues of him in America in: New York city, New York; Denver, Colorado; Pennsylvania. Many cities and areas are called Columbus or Columbia.

PUERTO RICO
A statue is in Puerto Rico.

BOYHOOD HOME IN ITALY
His boyhood home is in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. You can read about it in Wikipedia and TripAdvisor.

Christopher Columbus boyhood home museum, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. Photo by Jose Antonio from Wikipedia.

Burial
His body was moved around.

SPAIN
Columbus's body is currently in the cathedral of Seville, Spain. DNA testing has shown the remains are related to those of his brother.

It is not the only country to claim to have his remains.

Whilst it is fairly common to have part of a saint's body in a Greek church, they seem to send off body bits in all directions to bestow sanctity on sub-churches. I've heard of many places which have the heart of somebody, or even a finger. But to have two skulls from the head of the same man would stretch credulity.

I read extensively around the theory that Columbus was of Jewish descent, and a converse, or converted Jew.

If I remember rightly, some people claim that his grandparents were Jewish and from an off shore island, and they and/or his parents moved to Genoa.

In order to gain sponsorship from the devoutly Catholic King and Queen in Spain he had to be Catholic.

He was due to sail on the day the Inquisition started, but was prevented by bad weather and went a day later.

Two converted Jews were connected with his voyage. One was the man who gave the money for the voyage, after Columbus got approval to sail officially under the Spanish flag on behalf of the Spanish rulers.

Another member of the crew, known to be a convert to Christianity, stopped off at an island and did not go back to Spain. If Columbus were seeking a refuge for fellow Jews, why did he not stop there himself? Did he go back to tell others?

Or did he turn to Spain to protect his family who were in effect held hostage. Surely he could have sent the ship back, with the story that he had died and been buried at sea?

Christopher Columbus left instructions to his son to always write their surname in a particular way, a very elaborate series of squiggles, thought to conceal yet reveal to the knowlegeable a Hebrew letter which was a code to tell others he was a convert who wished to keep in touch with others who, despite having converted, were always at risk.

Others say this proves nothing. Besides, he was buried as a Christian in a Christian cathedral and that settles the matter. However, the mystery and controversy keeps interest in a story from centuries ago, the statues. and monuments on the tourist circuit. He took not one but four voyages. For those of us who find preparing for any long trip a challenge, he deserves his statue and it is worth a stop and a photo.

In Genoa you can see the house of Columbus.

For more, see Wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liguria
http://wikitravel.org/en/Genoa
http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/liguria.html
https://www.umbriatourism.it
Also see the tourist boards for Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico and the USA
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share posts.

Italian regions: eg Liguria, Christopher Columbus, Genoa and Portofino

Problems
Which regions of Italy contain which well known town?

Answer:
Here's a summary and some mnemonics or memory aids.
First which region is where?

I could look at them north to south.

For convenience I have put them in alphabetical order.

	North-West Nord-Ovest	Aosta Valley Liguria Lombardy Piedmont	Milan
	North-East Nord-Est	Emilia-Romagna Friuli-Venezia Giulia Trentino-South Tyrol Veneto	Bologna
	Centre Centro	Lazio Marche Tuscany Umbria	Rome	1
	South Sud	Abruzzo Apulia Basilicata Calabria Campania Molise	Naples
	Islands Isole or Insulare (adj)	Sardinia Sicily	Palermo

ABRUZZO
AOSTA VALLEY
APULIA
BASILICATA
CALABRIA
CAMPANIA - (Positano, Amalfi drive; I've had a painting of pretty Positano on the kitchen wall for decades!)
EMILIA-ROMANA
FRUILI-VENEZIA GIULIA
LAZIO
LIGURIA - Genoa (Portofino, San Remo)

LOMBARDY
MARCHE
MOLISE
PIEDMONT
SARDINIA
SICILY
TRENTINUO-SOUTH TYROL
TUSCANY - Florence
UMBRIA - Perugia
VENETO

Regions[edit]

Flag	Region Italian name							Capital city				Metropolitan cities
	Abruzzo Abruzzo							L'Aquila				-
	Aosta Valley Valle d'Aosta							Aosta				-
	Apulia Puglia							Bari				Bari
	Basilicata Basilicata							Potenza				-
	Calabria Calabria							Catanzaro				Reggio Calabria
	Campania Campania							Naples				Naples
	Emilia-Romagna Emilia-Romagna							Bologna				Bologna
	Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia							Trieste				-
	ITALY							Rome
	Lazio Lazio							Rome				Rome
	Liguria Liguria							Genoa				Genoa
	Lombardy Lombardia							Milan				Milan
	Marche Marche							Ancona				-
	Molise Molise							Campobasso				-
	Piedmont Piemonte							Turin				Turin
	Sardinia Sardegna							Cagliari				Cagliari
	Sicily Sicilia							Palermo				Catania Messina Palermo
	Trentino-South Tyrol Trentino-Alto Adige							Trento				-
	Tuscany Toscana							Florence				Florence
	Umbria Umbria							Perugia				-
	Veneto Veneto							Venice				Venice

Here are my memory aids for the major cities and regions:
AA Aosta is in the Aosta Valley.
FT Florence is in Tuscany.
GL - GenoA is in LiguriA.
ML Milan in Lombardy; MiLan in LoMbardy.
NC - knackered and camping outside Naples in Campania; good and bad Company in Campania in Naples.
RL Rome is in Lazio. rOme is in laziO. Roaming through lazio, I am lazing oh.
UP - Umbria is the region whose capital is Perugia; UmbrIA and perUgIA
PS - Palermo is in Sicily
PT and TP - Piedmont you'll find Turin; Turin in Piedmont; Turin, turning in at the foot of the Mountain; pIedmoNT -TurIN
TTT Trento in Trentino-South Tyrol. TRENTO in TRENTinO- sOuTh TyrOl.
VV - Venice is in Veneto. VENice is in VENeto.

Story
The Liguria Tourist board PR company sent me a story about Liguria having lots of highly rated blue flag beaches. I frowned at the email. I'd never heard of Liguria where was it. Why hadn't she sent me a map which showed the location Liguria and some well known towns.

LIGURIA
Where is Liguria? Do I know it?
Of course the tourist board's job is to pump out focused stories. My job as a journalist to to research the area and make it popular and snappy and visually appealing and exciting. As Gandhi said, 'be the change you wish to see'. I looked up Liguria. Of course I know Liguria.

My next question is, anybody famous, any famous historical event connected with the area. Genoa. Birthplace of Christopher Columbus. You can't get more famous than that! You can't miss Columbus. You fly in to Christopher Columbus airport in Genoa.

Now I have set myself the task of memorising all the regions of Italy.

More story and pictures about Genoa and Christopher Columbus, including pictures, are in the next post.

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liguria
http://wikitravel.org/en/Genoa
http://www.italia.it/en/discover-italy/liguria.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.