A Postcard A Day - Tuesday 14 June 2022 - T for pork, towers and caves

 Hello lovely girls, How are you all? I must start to say that my husband and I are both a lot better. We have both suffered from Covid and although hubby has lost 3 kilos in the process (which he can't afford to lose really), he is now 'up & running' again. I lost one kilo and that was very welcome actually. 

Now for my postcard today:

It's very hot today in Spain and the sight of this cold lager makes my mouth water. This card comes to me from Germany. Reinhold, who sent it to me, describes the dish as 'fränkischen Schäuferla'. He explains in German all about it but I have found a Wikipedia description in English:

Schäufele (also "Schäuferle", "Schüfeli", "Schäuferla" or "Schäufelchen") is a traditional dish from the south of Germany. It is made from the pig's shoulder meat, which gives the dish its name, "Schäufele", or the pig's scapula. Depending on region the recipe for the dish differs a bit:

In Franconia the meat, the pork rind and the bone are roasted together as a whole. Before that, the pork rind is scratched in a criss-cross pattern, seasoned with salt, pepper and caraway and put in a casserole dish with diced root vegetables and onions where it is doused with beer and roasted in the oven for about two or three hours. The roast is ready as soon as the meat is easy to separate from the bone and the pork rind is crispy and golden brown. It is then served with various side dishes including gravy, Kartoffelklöße, salad, sauerkraut, red cabbage and savoy cabbage.

The stamps are interesting. There is the usual (beautiful) flower and then there is 

The stamp on the right which has a quote from Cardinal Julius Döpfner.

Julius August Döpfner was a German Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1961 until his death in 1976, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. Wikipedia

The quote reads:"Die Kirche liegt nicht auf der Sandbank der Zerstörung, sondern auf der Werft der Erneuerung". (Read on for the translation)

The design is by Iris Utiak and Michael Gais. At first, they had considered using a portrait of the church's chief pastor. 

But then they came to the conclusion that the Döpfner quote from 1973 "the church is not lying on the sandbank of destruction, but on the shipyard of renewal" – better represent the priest and his work. That's why they made it the main element of the stamp.

Cardinal Döpfner, who was both controversial and close to the people, was a great figure in shaping the life of the church, said secretary of state Koschnyk in his detailed eulogy. With the stamp, the ministry of finance wants to contribute to keeping his memory alive and to remember the work of this extraordinary churchman. A postage stamp is also an ambassador of a country, its culture and its self-image.

The politician acknowledged the role of Döpfner before and during the II. Vatican council. Here the cardinal had become a spokesman for the progressive majority. He had promoted a renewal of the diaconate, a positive statement on birth control and an improvement in ecumenism. Cardinal Döpfner had emphatically demanded a commitment to peace and respect for wars and armed conflicts.

So, what have we been doing? Nothing much really as hubby is resting a lot. Eating is getting better and I can almost cook normal meals (but he still can't eat bread, strangely enough. It gives him painful abdominal cramps).

I felt I could leave him on his own for a day and Sunday I joined a few guys from the photoclub on an outing to the mountains. It was an hour's drive away.

We saw this medieval tower: the watchtower of Infante Don Enrique. A spiral staircase was made so that we could actually go inside the tower.

Built at the end of the 13th century by order of the Infante don Enrique –son of Fernando III el Santo and brother of Alfonso X el Sabio– its function consisted mainly of controlling troop movements on the way to the kingdom of Granada.
• After its restoration, a metal staircase allows us to access its interior through the original door, located 3.5 meters high.

Inside there were more steps, and then this was the view from the top:

There was a fantastic view 360 degrees. I can imagine how strategically important this would have been back in the day.

• 
  
• From its privileged location – it is located at 1,183 meters above sea level – it allows us to see municipalities such as Baeza, Torreperogil, Úbeda, Santo Tomé, Villacarrillo or Iznatoraf.

We also went to see a beautiful cave called La Cueva del Agua (water cave).

Inside the cave, which was huge, there were what felt like hundreds of swifts flying around and popping into their nests in the cracks of the cave wall.

At the far end of the cave were several waterfalls on different levels:

It was really beautiful.

Here I am having my picture taken (going out with the photoclub gang means there is always someone willing to take your picture):

I think I'll leave it at that. 

Now it's time to visit Bleubeard and Elizabeth at their T-Party. My contribution is my postcard, which has a glass of lager on it.

Have a great week!

Keep smiling!

Hugs,

Lisca