Travels in Britain: A Young Spaniard’s Journey
A Spaniard’s Journey Through Britain
The narrator, Antonio, is a young Spanish man. He studied at Salamanca University, where he met several British students. He makes different trips to England to visit relatives and friends from school and childhood. His hosts take him to see the sights in their area. His anecdotes deal with historical facts and British culture, traditions, and celebrations. He tells us about the new people he meets, the places he visits, and his personal experiences.
Introduction
Antonio is a young Spanish man whose father is American. He spent a long time in the United States. Antonio has just finished university. He studied at Salamanca University and met some foreign students there whom he likes to visit in Britain. He visits London, York, Oxford, Cardiff, Cornwall, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Scotland, in this order.
Antonio goes to a pub, carnival, theatre, old market, cathedral, castle, restaurant, and a football match. In a conversation with his friend Mark, Antonio is introduced to the idea that generalizing about British people, customs, etc., is wrong.
London: First Impressions and Cultural Encounters
Chapters 1 and 2
Antonio visited London with a Spanish friend, Pablo. They went to a typical British pub but were surprised to find that most pubs in Britain close so early. The next afternoon, Antonio took his friend to a good hotel in the center of London and they had tea in a tearoom.
On New Year’s Eve, Antonio and Pablo went to Trafalgar Square to listen to the bells, but they couldn’t hear them because there were a lot of people. They went to the Globe Theatre on the south bank of the River Thames and saw a Shakespeare performance. Later, they traveled by The Tube, one of the most special places in London, and they were surprised to see a Muslim woman whose eyes were the only part of her uncovered. I can’t understand this reaction because in Spain this image is very usual.
They ate in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown and later went to see the Caribbean carnival in Notting Hill. They took a typical London taxi, and the driver talked to Antonio and Pablo in Cockney rhyming slang, which they couldn’t understand.
York: History, Mystery, and a Minster
Chapter 3
York is a county with much history. Antonio traveled alone by train and met Barbara Green, who told him that he could stay in the Green Guest House, which was cheap. In this house, he ate a typical, enormous breakfast.
Antonio visited the Jorvik Viking Centre and arrived at Coppergate Market (based on 948 AD). Later, in the streets of York, a man asked Antonio about the way to York Minster, and he decided to visit it with the man, who was from Chicago.
York Minster is the biggest Gothic cathedral in Europe. It took more than 250 years to build and was finished in 1480. It has very impressive stained glass windows.
They visited the Castle Museum and talked about the ghosts who are said to live there.