Flores de Avila
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Flores de Avila is a rather small town in Spain. It might be described as picturesque - however, a distinguished visitor who saw it some twenty years before the events of our book, the Chevalier de Bourgoanne, dismisses it unkindly as "a miserable village" whose single inn offers the weary traveller nothing but hard beds and innumerable fleas. He goes on to find fault with the food ("frugal"), the constant importuning by the slovenly inhabitants, the incessant barking of their dogs and the assiduous thieving of their cats. In short he gives it a poor character, yet nevertheless Lord Wellington makes the place his headquarters for a while after the Battle of Salamanca, and it is there that Jonathan Strange rejoins him.
It is also there that Strange makes his unfortunate attempt at raising the dead Neapolitans. Truly, one cannot but feel that so grim an event cannot have endeared him to the people. Indeed one reflects that if the British Army perhaps felt small regret on leaving Flores de Avila, the compliment may well have been returned.
It is also there that Strange makes his unfortunate attempt at raising the dead Neapolitans. Truly, one cannot but feel that so grim an event cannot have endeared him to the people. Indeed one reflects that if the British Army perhaps felt small regret on leaving Flores de Avila, the compliment may well have been returned.