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Alcocebre with Ángel, Elsa and family

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Sunday 20th: left Valencia for Alcocebre and got there by 12:30. Wonderful to see Elsa’s mum, Antoñita, again after maybe 10 years. She is a lovely lady for whom I’ve always had a special affection.  We went out for lunch, exquisitely prepared and presented. The artichoke menu was the popular choice, each course of which featured the in-season vegetable, even the cheesecake. Finished off with the perfect carajillo:

Artichoke soup with quail egg
Grilled artichoke with octopus
Paella with duck and artichoke
Cross-section of cheesecake
Carajillo

 

After which Jávi and I legged it up to the hermitage perched on top of the hill behind the town (chatting about Rupert Sheldrake and Carl Jung (no less!) on the way): 

 

Monday 21 Feb: early run (barefoot) on the beach:

 

Then Ángel, Elsa and I drove to the nearby Bardomus olive farm to buy some of their finest at source. From there to Peñiscola to visit the imposing castle built on top of a seemingly impregnable promontary, and which featured in Game of Thrones. You gradually work your way up stairs and tunnels, and across courtyards to finally come out on the top of the battlements, with amazing views in all directions. Lots of history explained in exhibits and film, particulary about the Knights Templar and Pope Luna who had his base here in the period when there were 2 Popes: 

 

After dinner we cracked out the instruments – guitar and mini-keyboard – for a swiftly-organised concert:  Summertime, a Latin minor groove, and Don’t Worry, Be Happy:

 

It was a real pleasure to spend this time together, especially as they always welcome me so warmly and treat me as one of the family, which is so very gratifying.

Comments

3 responses to “Alcocebre with Ángel, Elsa and family”

  1. Gaia Avatar
    Gaia

    What a dramatic castle! I think it became Mereen in Game of Thrones (a city on Slaver’s Bay)

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  2. Catherine Avatar
    Catherine

    Rupert Sheldrake – interesting. What is his field? I’m about to start his son’s fungus-y book!

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    1. RB Avatar
      RB

      Well, he’s a biologist-cum-philosopher whose big idea is Morphic Resonance, which sounds wafty but is in fact backed by data from rigorous studies and experiments. There are some videos on YouTube worth checking out – one about dogs who know when their owners are coming home, and another with the 4 Nolan Sisters who show an uncanny ability to guess which of the 3 other sisters was telephoning … confirming, too, that telepathy is stronger between people who know each other. He also applies the theory to bird migration, which has always fascinated me: everyone know it happens but no one has yet explained it. Most work centres on how birds navigate (a mixture of sound, magnetic fields, position of the sun and stars) but that doesn’t tell us how they know where to go. Sheldrake deduces/proposes that there is an invisible link (Morphic Resonance) between bird and destination, which seems a reasonable hypothesis. The difficulty is that it is, by definition (like dark matter), invisible. Fascinating stuff …

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