Feb 3

We got to Córdoba in under two hours, definitely a welcomed surprise to those of us who had not looked at the schedule to see that it would be so short. As we were wandering through the new part of the city on the bus, Maika told us that we would have to walk a little ways to the Hotel because it would not be able to pass through the streets of the old city. She also told us that from the hotel we would practically be able to touch La Mezquita, which was about what she had told us about the Alhambra but the bus still got lost between the two of those so who really knew…

When we got to the hotel we realized that she was definitely telling the truth. The Mezquita was its own block in the city and we were just across the street. From our hotel room Brent and I were staring right at the wall of it. Not much of a view, until you consider the fact that it has been there for over a thousand years.

A lot of us all went out to dinner that night and it was really nice, we sat at a restaurant outside in the center of a really nice Plaza and had a really good meal with the best waiter ever. It was a little cold but otherwise everything about it was perfect. We wandered back to the hotel and through the city a little after dinner which ended up being kind of expensive. Before we made it to the Hotel we stopped at a little bar we found which was really cool. Dave, Becky and Sarah all each got a Heineken but I just sat there and stared at the mounted bull heads on the walls along with a ton of pictures of bullfights and Matadors, one of whom I think may have owned the bar.

The Mezquita is a huge Arabic mosque at one end and a patio at the other surrounded by a huge wall. The sad thing is, that like the one in Sevilla, this had been converted to a Cathedral. The bishop of Córdoba actually tried to stop the conversion because it was so amazing in its original state, but the king just signed the order without giving it a second thought, which he later regretted upon seeing the part that wasn’t destroyed. The inside was incredible, even with the random church in the middle. There were over 1200 columns supporting the red and white arches throughout the Mezquita, which is Spanish for Mosque. Also, in some places they intertwined different styles of arches to make some incredible architecture.. unfortunately my pictures of that were really blurry.. that’s what you get in a really dark building..

After a short stop at a tiny Mudejar Jewish Synagogue, mudejar meaning that it was built by Arabs, the rest of the afternoon was ours. The four of us went with Maika and a couple of others to an old Arab bath that the area was famous for which was basically the biggest waste of a euro ever. It was just a hole in a wall and what basically looked like a small subway tunnel underground. It was nice to see the traditional patio though. We wandered around the city a while after that until we were all starving. Luckily enough we all found an decided on a Chinese restaurant which had a three course meal dessert and a drink for 5,50 which was absolutely awesome. After that we went back to the hotel and relaxed so that we could all go out to an Egyptian club that we found online. When we came back after dinner we decided that it was really just too rainy to go out, especially with as far away as the club was.


So that was all we would see of Córdoba.

I did however forget to mention that the first thing that we did in Córdoba Friday morning was go to where the Hotel had planned an addition. Unfortunately for them, the Arabic baths buried there were incredible and they just couldn’t build over them. Well maybe they could because we just had to walk down the stairs from our rooms to see them, but they had to remove them all first number them and put them back in the right spot. So when Maika said that we could touch the Mezquita from our hotel, she really meant that we could be in both. Crazy.

Saturday was another day which consisted entirely of driving, and nothing more. 9am to 10 pm door to door. It was kind of sad to think that we weren’t going to get to hang out with everyone all day anymore and that were going back to bad showers and bread for breakfast..

Word of the Day(s): Pollo Agridulce- Sweet and Sour Chicken