Luis Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, Vizconde de la Torre

What people wore

Painted Stocking Seams

Women who could not afford real stockings sometimes painted a line down the back of their legs with eyeliner to simulate a seam.

Getting around

Regional train speeds in Malaga

Until the tracks were dismantled in 1965, the steam and later diesel train between Malaga and Coin covered 38 kilometers in approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

At the table

Failed rationing and long queues

Official daily rations were never respected, and people often stood in line for hours only to find that bread and other basic items were sold out.

Music

Accordion as a wartime companion

The accordion was a ubiquitous rural instrument during the Spanish Civil War, used in trenches to play popular dances and tangos as a way to cope with boredom and fear.

Daily life

Daily chores and crowded home life

Cooking was done over wood or straw fires in small kitchens, and many children had to leave school as early as age seven to help with farm work, such as sifting straw or guarding cattle. Domestic life was often crowded, with multiple generations and up to eleven people sharing small stone houses.

What it cost

Cooking oil prices in 1938

In 1938, a liter of cooking oil with an official price of 3 pesetas could reach 100 pesetas on the black market.