The first city my daughter and I visited outside of Madrid is Cordoba. We took an auto-bus to Cordoba from Madrid's South Station. The ride was smooth and the landscape was just what I have imagined to be. We took a cab to the hostal (the name I will have to get from daughter)from the station. The costs was 630 pesetas. My daughter gave the cabdriver 620 pst thinking it was 630 and the driver said "the price is 630 but if you do not have it, it is okay." Because the cabdriver showed understanding, we gave him 650 pst. The hostal we stayed is located near the mesquita. We paid 4500 pst for double per day because it was not high season for tourists. The hostal is very clean and our room has the view of the town. We only have a sink in our room and the bathroom was just across our room. One thing I can say about this hostal is the cleanliness! After we have settled in, of course, we ladies retouched to look presentable exploring the area. The first agenda was to look for a nice/cheap restaurant to have lunch. Daughter wanted to eat Cordoba's speciality which is gazpacho and roto de toro (bull's tail). After canvassing a few restaurant, we ended returning near our hostal for lunch. We had gazpacho and roto de toro which is actually ox tail. My daughter was so surprised that the bull's tail is ox tail which I have prepared so many times. The cost of the meal inlcuding a bottle of wine was 4,000 pst. After having lunch we decided to walk to the tourist shopping area and we were so stun to see the plaza across the mesquita filled with orange trees. We continued walking and we saw a historical irrigation system that we decided to follow the direction and see where it would take us and it lead us to another plaza with palm trees. We just walked not knowing where it will take us. As mother/daughter were walking leisurely, a man spoke and told us whether he could walk between two beautiful ladies and my dauther replied of course in Spanish and said why not, this is your city. There was exchange of conversations and my daughter asked where the center of town is. The man is 40 years old and told us that he is an economist which happens to be my daughter's major. They discussed economics and I just found it so amusing to hear daughter conversed fluently in Spanish and discussed economics. This man went out of his way to walk with us to the center of town and showed us where we were on the map we had. As we reached the center of town, he offered us to have cafe con leche which we graciously accepted. He then invited us for dinner and would come to our hostal. Daughter rejected invitation and made excuses that we already have an engagement for the night. The man read the message and politely said he enjoyed meeting us and wish us luck on our Andalusia trip. As we went back to our hotel, we saw an announcement of a Flamenco performance for one only. We went to the place and bought tickets. That evening, we did know that the 3 performers were Flamenco National Champions -- the guy is Antonio Canales (I'm not sure of the spelling). As we entered, the room, it was so standing room only but we were lucky that the usher gave one the best sit in the house, 2nd row. The performance was just out of this world. Antonio was magnificent and his body line and foot work was so perfect. We really had a good time. The next day, to avoid lines to enter the mesquita, we woke up early to be there at 9:00 am and yes, we were the first tourists to enter the mesquita. I would described mezquita as mixed architecture of Moorish and Christian. The history of the mezquita that it was built to be bigger than Mecca. Whoever was the Christian King (forgot name), he destroyed the original structure of the mezquita and converted to christian. The mezquita houses a Cathedral within a mosque. It is amazing to be inside a building where there is so much history and to think it was built 900 b.c. We crossed a Roman bridge with a view at distant that looks like a castle. At this point, the mezquita is being revived. After the tour of the mezquita, we took the bus to go downtown and explored the city. Lucky that day, no rain. We felt so good to see blue sky and palm trees. The street or avenida with palm trees reminded us of Beverly Hills. Daughter/Mother felt so at ease exploring the streets of Cordoba. We accidentally encountered some artists selling their work. We bought a framed paper collage of the mezquita for 1,500 and it is so exquisite. That evening, we were so tired that we decided just to have cheese/bread and beer in our room. Cordoba is a calm/safe city to explore. The high season is in March/April. The next stop of our trip was Granada.
Previous Topic
Index
