Let’s make one thing quite clear: I’m NOT a Christmas person. Bah humbug, I say! There’s not a scrap of tinsel to be detected in my barracks, nor any loose baubles rolling around under the sofa. No Sir! This is a 100% Christmas-free zone.
However, I do like the pretty lights outside. And to make up for the disturbing shopping centre art post from a few days ago, I thought I’d treat you all to something a bit easier on the eye: a few pics of Toledo decked out in seasonal splendour.
It’s worth mentioning that the issue of municipal Christmas decorations is highly contentious in Spain right now. Public spending on virtually everything has been severely curtailed, including on essential healthcare services and education. People are demonstrating furiously against these brutal cut backs every day.
But because Toledo is very popular with tourists, and a significant part of the town’s revenues depend on visitors, being dolled up in festive glitz is an absolute must, at least for the historic centre. However, to compensate for the expense, the authorities have cut down on street lighting in other areas of town. On many streets, only every second street lamp is in operation (not a bad idea!), and in some, the lighting has been turned off altogether. A friend of mine lives in these “blackout” streets, and every time I go to and from her house in the evenings (which is at least once every week), I end up stumbling over a pavement slab or treading into a pile of cat pooh.
[The pictures look a lot better when they are bigger – you can click on them, and that will take you to a screen with a larger version]
I love these! Really tasteful and nicely done. Not sure that some streets should have no lighting… bit scary and dangerous. Those reindeer (?) look very shifty…
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Funnily enough, tonight when I went to S’s house, the lights were back on!
I love those reindeer 🙂 There’s camels at the other end, apparently, but I haven’t spotted them yet.
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Great shots! My favorite is the star. No need for the bah humbug!
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Lol, thanks 🙂
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I love the pics 🙂
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Not as good as yours….!
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I associate exuberant Christmas lights with Paris, though parts of Moscow get a good seasonal treatment too. But it’s especially lovely to see this in a small ancient town – gives it a total fairly tale feeling.
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It does have that… minus the snow.
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Funny enough, Moscow can be a hit or miss with the snow. It can be a month of -20C and barely a snowflake has touched the ground. I am sure there will be many, many posts on the Russian winter in the 8 months on Home&Away….
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