Cordoba - Sept. 14th - Part 2

Cordoba - Saturday - Sept. 14th - Part 2

We found out from our hotel that today was a special local holiday and there would be marching bands throughout the city.  They would march from their local church to the Mazquita.  It did make for a more difficult time getting around but it was very interesting seeing the locals all dressed up following the bands and heading towards the Mezquita.  

That morning Jim, Ed and I went for a morning walk to the Alcazar, down by the river to the Roman Bridge and east through the town back to the Mazquita and return to the hotel by meet the gang for lunch.  Theresa had remained at the hotel for a quiet morning off.  While, Sheila & Tony collected laundry from the group and headed off to conquer washing clothes.  What was only to be an hour job for them turned out to be almost 3 hours long and they missed a great lunch, but everyone had clean clothes.

 The above 2 pictures are of the Alzazar - Jim, Ed and I didn't bother to tour the old fortress because we were short on time.

 The Guadalquivir River which flows on to Sevilla and eventually out to the Atlantic.  It was once navigable from here but not now.  The Roman Bridge with its ancient foundations dating back to the 1st century surviving.  The arches date back to the 16th century. 

 The unfinished Renaissance arch was designed to give King Philip II a royal welcome, but he arrived before its completion - so the job was canceled.

 In this picture you can see the Mezquita with the cathedral's roof coming up in the center.

 This is the marching band we met on the Roman Bridge, it was coming into down from across the river.  We ran into this same band later in town.

 The above 2 pictures are of the outside of the Mazquita and the beautiful wall.

Here we ran into the same band and I got some pictures of the young kids playing.  The little one with blond curls was helping their partner turn pages and keep up…really cute.

We picked up Theresa from the hotel and left Sheila & Tony a note to join us for lunch at the restaurant.  At this time we didn't know about their 3 hour laundry story. 

 These some of the best calamari rings I've had in years - melt in your mouth.  They came with an olive oil herb mayonnaise.

 We tried their house speciality of crispy fried eggplant with a lightly sweep sauce.  We thought the sauce was honey but it turned out to be a reduction of their dessert wine.  It was our favorite…..I'm lucky that I got this picture of the last bite remaining on the plate - it was eaten that quickly.

I had a chicken dish with a Middle Eastern flavor but found the couscous very dry and just eat the chicken.

The group got back to together later that afternoon.  Tony delivered our laundry and we got the full story of doing laundry.  We really did appreciate our clean clothes and what they had to go through to get them.

That evening we were down stairs in the hotel lobby waiting to go to dinner when Jim runs down to tell us all to come to their room.  A parade was going by and we had the prefect view from the windows in their room….

 We talked about the wonderful crispy fried eggplant we had at lunch and tried it here…wasn't nearly as good!

 Theresa and I each ordered the fried cod dinner 

The following morning (Sunday) we picked up two rental cars at the train station and drive down to Seville.

Peggy

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