[BLANK AUDIO] [BLANK AUDIO] The Mediterranean has always been the scene of great voyages, filled with adventures and misadventures. Everyone remembers The Odyssey, but there are many other examples. Today we�re going to talk about the greatest Spanish-language author of all time: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. The author is known for his work, but his life is also very interesting. It�s very closely linked to the sea, and specifically to the Mediterranean. After some years in Spain where he had ups and downs, in 1569 Miquel de Cervantes decided to move to Italy. It seems he had run into some trouble with the law and decided to remove himself from the situation. He went to Italy, crossing the Mediterranean. First he spent some time in Rome, then he decided to enlist as a soldier on the galleys that patrolled the Mediterranean. It was a very decisive moment. Why? Because in 1570 it led to him being in one of the greatest battles in the Mediterranean of the time, a battle between Christians and Muslims, the Battle of Lepanto on 7 October 1571. The Battle of Lepanto took place in the Gulf of Lepanto and Miguel de Cervantes was there. Things did not go well for him. He was injured, which led to the loss of the use of his left arm, of his left hand. He always remembered this as one of the major events in his life, not just in his life, but in history, the �grandest occasion the past or present has seen,� as he wrote. During those years he travelled as a soldier on galleys to Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, Genoa, and finally he decided to return to Spain. He planned to return to Spain on the galley Sol, but he ran into some bad luck and never made it back. When he was about to reach the Catalan coast near Rosas de Palamos, he was taken prisoner by Algerian pirates, who took him to Algiers. He was captured in 1575 and he remained there until 1580. The five years he spent in Algiers left an indelible mark on his life, as well as on many of his works. Later, after trying to escape four times, very courageously, because he was risking his life, he finally was freed and returned to Spain, crossing the Mediterranean yet again and arriving at the port of Denia. In the works of Cervantes there are many references to the Mediterranean, references to battles, references to life in Algiers, and references to life on the galleys. But today I am going to read you a very beautiful text that also reflects the Mediterranean, specifically, when Don Quixote and Sancho Panza arrived in Barcelona and saw the sea for the first time. It�s an episode in the second part of Quixote, which was published in 1615, 400 years ago. Don Quixote and Sancho now beheld the sea, which, to them, was a wondrous novelty, and seemed so boundless and so vast that the lakes of Ruydera, which they had seen in La Mancha, could not be compared to it. They saw the galleys too, lying at anchor near the shore, which, on removing their awnings, appeared covered with flags and pennants all flickering in the wind, and kissing the surface of the water. Within them was heard the sound of trumpets, hautboys, and other martial instruments, that filled the air with sweet and cheering harmony. Presently the vessels were put in motion, and on the calm sea began a counterfeit engagement; at the same time a numerous body of cavaliers in gorgeous liveries and nobly mounted, issued from the city. Cannon were discharged on board the galleys, which were answered by those on the ramparts; and thus the air was rent by mimic thunder. The cheerful sea, the serene sky, only now and then obscured by the smoke of the artillery, seemed to exhilarate and gladden every heart.