Saints and sinners: Easter in Malaga

Dear Europhile,

My local cake shop window is a riot of color, with primrose-hued ribbons and vivid green felt as background for the elaborate display of chocolate fish. And chocolate eggs, chicks, ducks, and rabbits. It’s Easter this weekend, and sales of friture, or small fish, are speeding up. Although children are promised some of these for good behavior—supposedly “distributed” by the church bells that are said to fly off to Rome mid-week for their annual blessing—most of the chocolate is for grown-up gourmets, with dark versions of 70% cocoa outnumbering the white and milk choc options.
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Chocolate is only one part of the celebrations in France, the main interest being a leisurely lunch of lamb shank, roasted rare with rosemary, after the Sunday service. If the weather’s fine, many families in Paris will spend the Monday holiday cycling, roller-blading (parents included), or strolling in the park.

Read on to find out what happens in the south of Spain…

Bests,

Leigh Fergus
Editor, The European

P.S. Watch out for our new Classifieds section, coming soon. If you'd like to advertise your European property for sale, rental or exchange, or if you're looking for property, just drop Maria Savage a line at theeuropean@internationalliving.com

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Tapas and tronos: Holy Week in Malaga

by Mike DeSimone

The wail of a saeta, a mournful flamenco-style hymn, greets your ears at the same moment you become aware of the steady pounding of a drum nearby. As you turn the corner, you catch the first glimpse of an enormous trono, or throne, bearing the image of the Virgin of Sorrows. You can tell her apart from the other images of Mary you are likely to see this week: She is the only statue draped not in velvet, but in flowers. Thousands of pink and white lilies flow from the hem of her dress to form a sea of blossoms at her feet, covering the entire truck-sized litter on which she is carried.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Malaga, a city southwest of Granada in southern Spain, is a spectacle not to be missed. Holy Thursday (April 5 this year) is said to be the best day for viewing the many religious statues that are carried through the city. The processions start on Palm Sunday (April 1) and are held on Wednesday, Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.

Six-ton floats
Each church in the city sends out one float—reportedly weighing up to six tons—that is carried on the backs, necks, and shoulders of hundreds of robed penitentes, or penitents. The penitentes belong to cofradias, or brotherhoods, which are parish, neighborhood, and trade organizations dating back hundreds of years. Some members are blindfolded, some are barefoot, but each time a rest is signaled by the ring of a bell, almost all of them swiftly light up a cigarette for an urgent smoke.

Although numerous websites list times and places for best viewing, you can let your ears guide you toward the numerous cavalcades snaking through the ancient streets. And don’t forget to stop and refresh yourself with a glass and a plate at any one of Malaga’s tapas bars. Just be thankful that you are free to move about as you please, without the weight of a float or a year’s worth of sins bearing down on you.

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Lunatic Swiss art

by Steenie Harvey

Disturbing paintings of human heads drooping on flower stalks… mask-like faces composed of seashells… regiments of black, silhouetted figures all with skulls turned to the left. You don't have to be mad, bad, or eccentric to have your art displayed in Lausanne's Art Brut collection—but it does help if you’re a bit of a weirdo.

A mythical sea monster for your living room?
According to the gallery guide, Art Brut (Outsider Art) is mostly produced by loners, mavericks, prisoners, psychiatric patients, and people on society’s fringe who never really integrated into the community. Although you may not want one of the mythical sea monsters by the murderous “Prisoner of Basel” adorning your living room, the gallery begs the question as to why critics consider some art to be worth millions, yet judge other works as disposable.

Tracy Emin* was feted for her unmade bed, but the art world ignored François Portrat— perhaps because he was a blue-collar guy who spent his life working in a chemical factory. Here in the Art Brut museum, you can marvel at his obsession with film stars and historic figures. The faces of Brigitte Bardot, Napoleon, and many others peer out from cement frames studded with broken glass and fragments of dinner plates. Portrat collected the material for his frames from Parisian flea markets and junkyards.
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I bought a 15-Swiss-franc ($12) poster of Carlo's silhouettes of vaguely human shapes with holes in their heads. I don't know Carlo’s second name, and neither does the gallery. For most of his life, Carlo was confined to a lunatic asylum in Verona, Italy.
Art Brut Collection, 11 avenue des Bergières, Lausanne, Switzerland; tel. +41 21-315-2570, website: www.artbrut.ch. Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Entrance: 10 Swiss francs ($8).

To get there, take the number 3 bus across from Lausanne railway station and get off at the Beaulieu stop.

*Tracy Emin: one of the most notorious of the Britartists group, or Young British Artists. Much of her work has attracted controversy—including her piece “My Bed,” which literally consists of her rumpled bed and various (unmentionable) bedside objects.

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Getting to grips with Belarusian etiquette

by Anne Coombes

As a dinner guest visiting a Belarusian home, you should always bring a gift: Wine, a cake, chocolates or flowers are all good choices and will be accepted with pleasure. If bringing a small bouquet, however, make sure it has an odd number of flowers (even numbers are used for funerals and considered bad luck).

As you approach your host, don’t try to shake hands over the threshold, as this is thought to bring bad luck. Don’t be surprised if you are expected to remove your shoes when you enter a Belarusian home—either bring a clean pair of your own or accept a proffered pair of your host’s slippers.
At the table
Try to sample a little of everything. Your hostess will have gone to a lot of trouble to prepare a tasty feast, and it’s your duty as a guest to show your appreciation. Make sure to compliment your hostess on all the dishes, eat as much as you can, and endeavor to clear your plate—leaving food is considered bad form. It’s also quite acceptable to use bread to soak up any remaining gravy.

When the vodka toasts begin, do your best to show you’re willing by taking at least a few sips. As long as your hosts think you’re enjoying yourself, they won’t expect you to drink like a local. Men tend to be in charge of pouring drinks and will keep filling up your glass until you genuinely protest.
Cutlery cautions
Try not to play with your knife or spill salt—both are seen as signs of imminent bickering. If you pour wine for someone, be careful not to turn the bottle “backward,” as this is considered insulting. Once the bottle is empty, place it out of the way, never back on the table—its presence is thought to encourage bad luck in the form of future financial hardship.

Don’t worry if you drop your cutlery, though: A dropped spoon or fork is simply thought to mean a female guest will soon arrive; A fallen knife indicates a male visitor. Incidentally, unmarried diners should never sit at the corner of the table—superstition holds that they may never marry. If 13 people are at the table, guests will joke that two of those present are in love, even if they are unaware of it at the time.
Don’t whistle
Whistling indoors isn’t a good idea. Some see it as a coded message that you think the room is dirty—unlikely to go down well with old-fashioned baboushkas. At best, it’s thought to be unlucky—your money will fly out of the window along with your whistled melody.

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How to find a rental in Paris

by Thomas Springett

Finding an apartment within your means in Paris can be a nightmare. The shortage of affordable rentals in the city is due to both lack of space and cautious landlords who fear the long legal procedures involved in removing tenants who default on their rent (you cannot evict tenants during winter, for instance). And, if you are looking for a small place to live in September and October, you’ll also be competing with thousands of students.
The two most common approaches to apartment hunting in Paris are to use a weekly paper called De Particulier à particulier (website www.pap.fr), in which landlords advertise directly to prospective tenants, or to use a realtor or agent immobilier.

If you are expecting to stay for any length of time, don’t mind paying a fee, and don’t want to waste time, a realtor is probably the best solution. The agency should be able to offer a range of properties to suit your budget, will act as your interface with the owner for payment and any repairs needed, and can arrange several visits before you sign the lease.

A fee of one month’s rent
This service is not free, however. Be prepared to fork out approximately three months’ rent at the outset: agency fees are roughly equivalent to one month’s rent; a returnable deposit (or caution) of one month’s rent is required for breakages; and the first month’s rent is payable in advance. Unfurnished 200-square-foot studios start from 500 euro or $670+ a month. The owner will receive your rent each month via the agency, minus a handling fee. If work needs doing on your apartment, you may face delays, as the agencies tend to work office hours and may not be able to contact the owner easily.

Most of the large real estate agency chains, such as Century 21, www.century21.fr,and LaForêt, www.laforet.com, are reputable and have online databases for you to access, but local agencies in the area you’re interested in may have lower overheads and fees.
Act quickly
De Particulier à particulier, on the other hand, cuts out the middle man, allowing owners and tenants to save money. Dealing directly with the owner may also give you more flexibility to negotiate your lease and payments. And, once you’ve found what you’re looking for, it’s in the owner’s interests to get you installed as soon as possible.

The drawback is that this publication is so successful that you need to act quickly: apartments advertised in this way are often rented on the same day, and generally offer a single viewing opportunity—along with everyone else who is interested. As the owners are not easily made answerable to dishonest claims, you may also find yourself wasting time visiting apartments that don’t correspond to the advertisements. Added to this hurdle is your profile: It may not be what the landlord is looking for, and opportunities for discrimination are rife.

That said, if you have a limited budget, don’t mind the occasional wild goose chase, and are not hunting at the beginning of the school year, De Particulier à particulier is a good way to save money. If time is your only obstacle, an agent immobilier is the most efficient way to move into your new home quickly.

Furnished accommodation is another story—along with the arrival of independent rental websites—and will be covered in a future article.

Further Reading:

Your New Life in Paris is your guide to planning and making the move, a hands-on reference of what to expect and how to go about it. Use the hard-earned knowledge and in-the-trenches experience of those who have gone before you to make the process of moving to the world's most popular city a whole lot easier.
Soon you could be browsing through the contemporary art galleries on rue Louis Weiss...strolling along the Canal Saint-Martin...or relaxing on a terrace with your aperitif while you watch the city go by.

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