Cordoba - Sept. 12th

Thursday - Sept. 12th  -   Cordoba, Spain

Well, we had to say goodbye to Toledo, we took the 12:20 express train from Toledo back to Madrid.  There we caught the 2:00pm express train to Cordoba.  We had some time in the Madrid train station so we grabbed a quick lunch of a sandwich and beer.

We arrived in Cordoba around 4:00 and filled two cabs with people and stuff to go to our hotel.  We were staying in the Old Jewish Quarter at Las Casas De La Juderia Hotel.  Here again it was all about location and easy walking distance to the sights we wanted to see in the city.

This is the central courtyard up entry of the hotel, it from here you go to your room.  Blazek and Mooney rooms were on the top floor and we took an elevator up and then still had to climb a short flight of stairs to our floor.

 This is our western facing view from our front door…the hotel swimming pool and the wing across the courtyard.  We didn't have wifi in our rooms so we had to sit out in front of our rooms on the hallway.

 Breakfast dining area….I never went down to breakfast so I have no idea if the buffet was any good.

Later that afternoon the group was seeking a tapas and beer place.  We walked through the old quarter and tried a bar.

 It was in the bar that the group experienced some very different food.  We did ask the waiter what some of the food was but understanding is another matter all together.  We ended up with their speciality….meat balls made of intestines and blood.  I'm not sure we were happy after we really understood what we had just eaten….

The next day was a tour to the Mesquita, a massive former mosque (remarkably well-preserved) and now with a 16th century church rising up from the middle.  The mosque was once the center of Western Islam and the heart of the cultural capital that rivaled Baghdad and Istanbul during the 10th century.

 Patio de los Naranjos - the Mezquita's big, welcoming courtyard with shade trees.

 In the center of the mosque you find the cathedral

 Later that afternoon we met back at the hotel for our evening beer, wine and tapas.  That evening we tried a place that to me had the worse food that I didn't even bother eating…the tapas olives were good.  Ed had a pasta dish that tasted just like Chef Boyardee - a taste I didn't like as a kid and still didn't like.  The pizza that Jim had was a dry almost cracker consistency and very pre-made.

Tony went into the pastry shop of the restaurant and bought a couple of pieces to carry-out back to the hotel.  

That evening we all sat in the hotel's lounge and open a bottle of wine, enjoyed Tony's dessert and just visited, a lovely time.

It was well after 10:00 when we called it a night for the following day was more sightseeing in Cordoba…that's part 2.

Peggy