alfonso manuel lejaretta

i like to travel across europe. in my car. so i do. and sometimes things happen and on the road from bilbao to skopje, where i'm going to spend a week in dec. at our family-estate together with friends, i stopped at a little roadside restaurant near vitoria-gasteiz. the owner was sitting outside. wife and grandchildren, too, and because i have diplomatic numberplates he came over to ask where i was from.

after some talking, i sat down at the table outside for tapas and local sherry, and then his old friend showed up. we talked some more and his friend and i began to come to the conclusion that his father and my grandfather had not only fought on the same side in the spanish civilwar but both had been captured by german troops and brought to a war-camp on the french side of the pyreenes. and not only that. both had also escaped and went to live in hiding in marseille that winter. the winter of 1938.

we sat looking at eachother. the owner filled our glasses. noone could believe this was happening.

after some years his father settled in santander and lived a quit life as a carpenter, raising four children away from the ww2, whereas my grandfather took a joint brigade through the balkan as a soviet cononel, before he settled in skopje and did the same. well, he also raised four children, one being my father, but then got called to the moskovskij kreml for some time before finally moving to split with me which is another story.

but like i said. i like to travel by car across europe.