In the second week of October my sister and brother-in-law were still here, and I continued to drive around with them to places they like, which in many cases are places on my cycling routes. It is nice to visit those places by car since it allows me to take pictures with better equipment than what I have with me when I come on my bicycle. Besides being with my visitors, I also had a meeting of the WeArt club committee, and the monthly meeting of the book club, during which we discussed the book we had just read, “Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro.
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On Sunday we drove to Relleu and Jijona, both places that I visit by bicycle. One of my favourite places along the road to Relleu is this beautiful house set among almond trees:
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Relleu has about 1100 inhabitants. Despite the fact that more than 1/3 of them are foreigners, the town has the very traditional feel of a Spanish village. On weekends the centre is closed to cars (except for the people who live there), and the road belongs to pedestrians, cyclists and playing children:
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Besides the human inhabitants, there are also quite a few felines:
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Relleu has quite an impressive church for a village its size. It was originally built in the 17th century, rebuilt in the 19th century, and burned down during the Civil War in 1936, quite a turbulent history:
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Above the entrance to the church there is an inscription about the poor being blessed, a convenient message from the point of view of the rulers of the day:
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Next to the church is the Mother of God of the Miracle street. The miracle referred to occurred in 1710, when the town suffered from a terrible drought, with crops and animals dying. The men of the town, many of whom never went to church, got together to pray for rain, and lo and behold–it started raining. Needless to say, this is commermorated with an annual fiesta:
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The Virgin is everywhere:
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Despite visiting Relleu many times, and almost always taking a break on the square in front of the church, I had never gone inside, thinking that a sweaty cyclist in Lycra would not be welcome there. But this time I was in street clothes, so I did go inside to have a look:
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A plaque commemorating the violent events of 1936:
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From Relleu we drove to Jijona, and enjoyed the local specialty, turrón ice cream:
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Our art club at the office, WeArt, met during the week to plan the activities for the next few months. I am the treasurer of the club, Kari is the president and primus motor behind many of our activities:
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Eri is also part of the junta directiva:
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Tuesday evening our book club met to discuss the book of the month, Klara in the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. We meet at a bookshop with café in the centre of Alicante, called Pynchon & Co, discuss the book we have just read, and choose the book for the following month (this time we chose One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez):
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Kari is also part of the book club:
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My colleagues María del Mar (in focus) and Tina (out of focus):
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A rare photo of me:
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On the way out, I saw this couple embellishing the wall of the bookshop café:
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I have recently bought a new pocket camera, the Ricoh GRIII, having literally worn out my GRII after many years of hard use. Of course I had to test it, and as is often the case, lovely Eri was willing to be the test subject:
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I continued testing the Ricoh during our monthly department meeting:
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During those meetings, we always present the newcomers to the department. This time we had our new trainees. We asked each of them to say a few words about their background. Here my trainee Romy (originally from Algeria, but now a Spanish national) is speaking:
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One of the places I always visit with my sister is Hostal Maruja. My brother-in-law loves the seafood (my sister sticks to fish) and they both love the place:
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And of course the food, here patatas bravas:
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Sardinas a la plancha:
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Chipirones:
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Part of the pleasure of eating at Hostal Maruja is to watch the other guests. I was following the interaction between the couple at the neighbouring table:
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Lunch with a friend:
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Friday was my sister’s birthday, so I had taken the day off, and we took another drive to the mountains, stopping at the roadside bar on the way to the Carrasqueta mountain pass:
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I always smile when I look at this “weather station” at Venta Teresa. The text can translated as “If the stone is…HOT: sunshine; VERY HOT: sunshine to make you shit; WET: rain; MOVING AROUND: wind; CAN’T SEE IT: fog; IT’S NOT THERE: earthquake”:
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A wildflower and the landscape as seen from Venta Teresa:
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In the afternoon, we went for a beer at my favourite watering hole in the centre of Alicante, Malatesta:
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And in the evening we celebrated my sister’s birthday. Yes, she really is 78, hard to believe:
