Cordoba

To be fair, we did Cordoba in a whirlwind.  We drove from Sevilla along the impressive Spanish highways.  It took maybe two hours.  Nancy’s phone had Google GPS and it generally helped us find where we needed to go.

We had rented another Airbnb and the map showed that is was located within the walls of the old city/fort.  The problem was that we couldn’t find a way into the old city with the car.  We saw cars in there, but no entrance.  Nor was there an entrance on the map.

We finally connected with Jose Luis, our Airbnb host.  Turns out, the parking was across the street.  You need a special card to get your car into the old town that lowers a post in the middle of the road.

The apartment was great, although decorated in a rather unique style.

Picture of Jose Luis’ wife with a hole in the mouth to make a fountain

We went to a great restaurant recommended by Jose Luis, easy walk on centuries old streets.  We then headed out for some sight-seeing.

The first several weeks of May in Cordoba there is an event in which the old houses host a tour in which they open their courtyards to the public.  They fill them flowers and the gardens are going full tilt.  We were looking forward to this until we saw that tickets were about 25 Euros each, or $30.  We decided to pass, and when we saw the lines waiting to get in, we were glad we did.

People lined up for the Courtyards and Flowers at one of the courtyards

Having recently gone on a Segway tour, we determined that exploring alternate transportation channels was an important part of our cultural immersion.  We hired a horse and buggy to take us around.  To be honest, we’d walked probably 20 miles in Sevilla over the days, and were tired.

There is cool stuff in Cordoba.  Much more Moorish stuff, a synagogue, churches, walled city.

Shawl

Matador outfit – yours for about $1000

Bougainvillea at the train station

Tile in entryway

Random poet – they really like their artists

Ellen and Nancy at the bullfighting museum

Shawl

Roman ruins