Thursday, June 18, 2026

The Good Old Days?

 An interesting quote about a bargain getaway in Spain:

"We stumbled across Lloret de Mar on a hike up the coast from Barcelona. It was five miles from the railroad, set in the half-moon of a wide, sandy beach under the foot-hills of the Pyrenees. Tess liked it at once. So did I. We found a furnished house on the beach - three storeys, ten rooms, two baths, central heating. When the proprietor said the price would be fifteen dollars a month, we paid the rent for a year. Our expenses, including rent, have averaged sixty dollars a month."

Sounds great, but it comes from William L. Shirer's memoir, Berlin Diary, and the date was January 11, 1934.

Tough times were ahead.

2 comments:

Jean said...

Sounds like a dream. With the nightmare to follow.

Michael Wade said...

True. The Spanish Civil War was lurking as well as WWII. He left Spain for a newspaper assignment in Paris just in time to see a riot where fascists and communists fought the police, then he was off to cover Nazi Germany. Crazy times!