September – a post about to-do’s, vacation and Hannibal

I am betting I am not the only one who writes to-do lists. But there are to-do lists and to-do lists: there’s the simple little notation “buy wine, throw out garbage, DO NOT FORGET GARAGE KEY” and then there’s the far more detailed version that started out as one long neat list but which has been amended along the way: Some items have been stricken off with a big DONE beside them, other items have been added later, generally tied to a previous item that now has to be broken down into one, two, three sub items. And then there are the items that end up circled and underlined because I keep on procrastinating and shoving what I should have done today to tomorrow. And the day after.

This year, I have actually taken several weeks off. No work, no writing—no TO DO lists! But now, when back in the traces, the lists start appearing all over the place.

There’s a short list by my place at the kitchen table – this list I use for the time-sensitive stuff, along the lines of “BUY BREAD” or “Book dentist ASAP” At present, it also includes “Oliver” – which is not a reminder for me, but for hubby, as Oliver is his physiotherapist. And then there’s the line item that has me tapping away at my computer: Write newsletter

As yet, I can’t write DONE beside it, seeing as I am not. Done, that is. But at least I am done procrastinating on this particular item.

At present, I am sitting in my hotel room in Playa La Barrosa (see pic above). This is a gigantic expanse of sand and sea, west of the mighty Gibraltar cliff and just east of Chiclana de la Frontera. Chiclana is, as its full name indicates, a frontier town. Well, it was, like seven hundred years ago, when this part of present day Spain was hotly disputed between the Castilians bent on reconquering everything the Christians had once lost to the invading Muslims, and said Muslims who fought tooth and nail to retain some foothold on the Iberian Peninsula. Ultimately, the Moors lost. In 1498, Boabdil of Granada surrendered the last Muslim kingdom to their most holy majesties, Fernando and Isabel.

By then, Chiclana had been firmly Castilian since 1305 or so, which was when Fernando IV, a.k.a. Fernando the Summoned (and boy, what a story that is! Read more HERE!) gave Chiclana and the surrounding lands to Alonso Perez de Guzmán, a.k.a. Guzmán the Good. (Which you can read about HERE. Or, if you really want to rub shoulders with this one of my absolute favourite medieval IRL peeps, he plays a central role in The Castilian Pomegranate). I am not entirely sure it went over well when Alonso trotted into Chiclana and said “Hi guys, I’m your new feudal overlord,” but there wasn’t much the locals could do: either they converted and stayed, or they did not convert and stay—which was not easy—or they packed up and left, heading towards Granada.

Officially, we’re here for holidays, but as I am sure most of you’ve already guessed, yours truly intends to do some on-site research. We’re going to Cadiz and Tarifa, hope to see the cork-oak forests in the National Park of Alcocornales and somehow I also want to sneak in a visit to Medina Sidonia (once a Moorish site, hence the Medina) which, over time, became the principal seat of Alonso de Guzmán’s descendants.

But first, some R&R. Today, we walked along the sea for two hours. White-capped waves, sand, the sun reflecting off the waters… Amazing. I think all humans are fascinated by the sea, maybe because for thousands of years mankind has walked along sea-shores and survived on what the sea gives. Or maybe it’s because when we stare out across the sea, we are reminded of how small we are and how big and wonderful the world is.

During our walk, we saw a small island. “Ha!” I told hubby, “that’s the island where Hannibal sacrificed and prayed to Hercules before setting off on his campaign to conquer Rome.” (which almost—almost!—succeeded)  By the time Hannibal was asking for Hercules’ support, the temple was already centuries old, and once Hannibal was dead  and Carthage utterly destroyed, the Romans retained the temple to Hercules. It is said Julius Caesar himself prayed at the shrine and then had a dream in which he saw himself conquering the entire known world.

Since then, the island of Sancti Petri has seen many, many moons. Of the once so impressive temple to Hercules, nothing remains. Instead, what you see today are the walls and tower of the Fort of Sancti Petri, constructed to protect the coast from pirates and other naval threats.

“And how are you going to work all this into your present novel?” hubby askes me.
I’m not.
“Want to visit it?” he asks.
No way! I get very, very seasick.
But I rather like knowing that once there was a magnificent temple to Hercules, on a small island just west of Gibraltar.

Before I go back to enjoying my vacation, a couple of reading tips:

Recently, I read Quest of the Florentine Order by Steven F Freeman. In some ways, this was a really, really enervating book. Set in 1488, it had people using snuff (groan), listening to grandfather clocks (double groan), refers to pianofortes (no, no, no!) and has young men polishing the top of their boots against the back of their trousers. Yes, dear peeps, anachronisms abound in this novel—the most annoying one being the constant references to Le Havre (which did not exist) Plus, having an Italian name his ship Falchi (PLURAL of falcon in Italian), well. . . But despite all this, I really enjoyed this fast-paced swash-buckling story, so if you’re not too bothered with historical inaccuracies, give it a go!

It was something of a relief for the amateur historian in me to then read Lord Frederick’s Return by Catherine Kullman . This, peeps, is lovely, lovely Regency. So well-researched, so well-written—and with some rather dicey subjects, primarily that of how an Anglo-Indian fared in early 19^th century society. A delightful read—and if you enjoy Regency, grab your copy ASAP!

Right: time to consider if I should take a late afternoon dip in the Atlantic Sea!

Have a great September,

Anna

P.S. Anyone else has an addiction to To-do lists???