A weekend in Córdoba

(Saturday, September 10, 2011- Sunday, September 11, 2011)

Last weekend, Lauren invited me to travel to Córdoba with her because he has a friend named María who lives there. María is a 26 year old high school english teacher who lived with Lauren's family for the month of July this summer. She was in CA taking english classes. So it just so happened we had a place to stay in Córdoba for free! Sweet! :) It was also just what I needed: a weekend in an absolutely Spectacular city and one in which we spoke only spanish with real Spaniards!

Saturday:
Saturday morning Lauren and I took a 2 1/2 hour bus from Granada to Córdoba at 10:30 in the morning. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the bus was- we even got little goodie bags with snacks and water! We basically drove through 2 1/2 hours of small pueblos (many with huge churches or castles on top of the hill they sit upon), and row after row after row of Olive Trees! Mmm... 'aceitunas' y 'aciete' (olive oil)! :)

Olive Trees! (Beautiful, aren't they?)

María picked us up at the Bus station and took us back to her house for a homemade meal of Paella con pollo (chicken... rather than seafood) and Gazpacho, which is a spanish delicacy during the summer. Gazpacho is tomato, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, olive oil, a little salt blended together and served as a cold soup. It sounds a bit gross, but was really quite refreshing! And healthy! 

A little pueblo

After lunch we took an hour long siesta. This was the first siesta I have taken since arriving in Spain, and it felt soooooo good! :) Then we walked ALL over 'la parte antigua de la cuidad de Córdoba' (The old part of the city). Most of the streets in this part of town are literally like a labyrinth- I definitely would have gotten lost without our expert guide. It was great having María to tell us all the historical facts about the city too. Did you know that Córdoba was the capital of the World at one point in time?!? It was a huge military power. So incredible. (It was so nice to speak spanish the entire day!) My favorite street that María showed us is called "Pañuelo" which means handkerchief in english. The reason is because the street is so narrow, it is only a 'pañuelo' in width. (Unfortunately my camera died shortly after arriving to Córdoba, so most of my photos are courtesy of Lauren.)

Me and Lauren in Calle Pañuelo

Look what I can do in this street!

Many streets also have little 'cartas' that spell out phrases. Some of my favorites were "He encontrado un atajo" (I have found a shortcut), and "Sigue buscándome"(Keep looking for me). 

More pictures of the city:

Mujeres Cordesas- supposedly the most beautiful women are from Córdoba.

Córdoba from a plaza in town

Me in front of a beautiful gate (to a museum of modern photography)

Lauren and María in front of a Beautiful door

Pretty blue tiles

Me and Lauren

Below:

(Top left: Me in an entrance hall. Top right: Lauren & I trying to open the doors to the Mosque.)

(Middle left: A common tourist photo- "la calle de los flores" (Flower street) with the Mosque in the background. Middle right: Lauren and I in front of the Mosque)

(Directly above: Bottom left: being silly with fountains. :) Bottom right: "Templo de Culto Imperial" That's whats left from a temple built in the FIRST CENTURY!!! Crazy!)

We saw the Mosque from the outside, but didn't enter today, deciding to save it for Sunday. After wandering all over the place, we stopped for some helado (ice cream) at María's favorite ice cream place. I tried her favorite flavor: Trufa, which is basically chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. It was good! We just sat and enjoyed company- I was still in heaven to be speaking spanish again!!

This picture is one of my favs because of who this man is. Mohamed Al-Gafequi invented glasses. (In Spanish, 'gafas' are glasses, which is similar to his last name.) I thanked him, and then took a picture with him in my stylin' Ray-Bans (with my prescription, of course!). :)

The Virgin

That evening, we met up with a group of María's friends because there was a procession in the streets- The procession of the Vigin. Normally She only travels the streets during 'Semana Santa' (a week of big celebrations Easter Week in Spain, especially celebrated in Andalusia). We got lucky with timing! We also had seen about 5 weddings over the course of the day... below is the last one we saw of the night. We asked if we could take a picture with them since we thought they were so pretty. In Spain, they do not have the tradition of bridesmaids. These were people who were singing in the chorus. 

Me and Lauren with all the Pretty Ladies

The side of the Virgin. All the flowers and candles. So Beautiful.

Then for dinner, we went to a Tapas bar to share tapas plates and drink the best Sangria. The Tapas in Córdoba are better than in Granada because you have to pay for them and can actually choose what you want to eat. My favorites were the Salmorejo (a yellowish sauce of tomato puree with hardboiled egg and ham), Croquettes (hard to explain but kinda like a béchamel sauce with fish in it that is fried in a little oval-shaped ball), Flamenquín (a roll of meat- usually ham- that is fried), and Berenjenas a la miel (fried eggplant drizzled with a honey sauce). yum! At the end of the night, another one of María's friends joined us. He spoke sooooo fast and with such a heavy accent that it was hard to understand him at first. Once I got a hang of it, I could only understand. My mind couldn't process what he was saying, think of a response and actually respond in a timely matter. (Doesn't help that it was almost 1am and I was exhausted and slightly sick.) But hey, it's good practice! That was day one!

Lauren, Fernando, María, (I don't remember the next 2, oops!), María, & me

The girls at the Tapas bar. (The María we stayed w/ is behind me)

Sunday:

We slept in a bit and then got our day started. First we visited the Alcázar de los Reyes (the castle where Christopher Columbus was given permission by the King and Queen of Spain to travel and discover the New World in 1492!). The castle was awesome!! And the gardens alone were magnificent! I so wish I could be a princess and live in a castle. ;) I just want their rose gardens and fountains and ponds. *sigh* I'll keep dreaming...

After touring the castle for quite a while, we met up with Marino (the friend that speaks really really fast) and we walked across the Roman Bridge which is gorgeous! We went to a café on the other side of the river for lunch and shared tapas again: Gambas con ajo (shrimp in a garlic sauce), Croquettes (with meat this time, instead of fish), Ensaladilla Rusa (which is not actually 'russian salad', its Spainsh. I wrote down the recipe to make it myself- so good! Its a way better version of potato salad), and Scrambled eggs with asparagus and mushrooms. :) After lunch we walked back across the bridge, this time with a Fantastic view of Córdoba and the Mosque. 

We visited the Mosque next... and basically any words I use to describe this place will not suffice. It is absolutely breath-taking. It doesn't look like much from outside, but once inside, the arches just keep going and going, and everything is beyond detailed. María and Marino told us a lot of the history too which was amazing. For example, some parts of the mosque are more detailed than others because they are the older parts and were built when the emperor at the time had more money to play with. The main altar and the entrance are the best parts. Although I will admit, it is almost overwhelming how much detail is put into the altar- you could never see every single thing. (Hey, at least you'd never get bored during mass! hahaha) It really doesn't feel like you are in a mosque or sacred place, but rather a castle! We spent a long time just admiring the place. Unfortunately we don't have many pictures of the Mosque because Lauren's camera battery died while we were inside. I've decided this is reason to return to Córdoba. :) Plus pictures probably wouldn't do it justice either. ... I guess you all just need to come to Córdoba and see it yourself!

We stopped for ice cream again today before María and Marino took us to the bus station. Our bus left at 7:30pm on Sunday and was about 3 hours to get back to Granada. The bus ride was more beautiful this time because I got to watch the sky change from day to dusk to sunset to night over the rolling hills of olive trees. It was incredible to look East and see the full moon all lit up, and turn to look West and see the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in my life. The sky was so purely filled with rubies, pale sapphires, gold, amber, and amethyst... Again, another moment of realization that I am in Spain.

A Pretty Fountain in a park

 (Below- The top 2 pictures are in front of a super old building in a quiet little Plaza in Córdoba. I absolutely love pictures of/with old doors and the flowers in these pictures make it even better!
Then the middle two pictures are in the Plaza de Naranjos (plaza of the orange trees) inside the walls of the Mezquita (Mosque). The first picture is of me drinking from a fountain that supposedly gives you good luck to get married soon. hmmm... maybe I'll meet a cute Spanish (or German) boy this year... who knows what will happen. ;) When María told us this legend, she quickly told us to tell our mothers that she is not responsible if we drink out of the fountain. haha Lauren and I both did!)

 (The last 2 photos above- Left: The marble engraved stone behind me says a beautiful phrase about love, hence the heart I made. Right: I thought it was cool that a bunch of people were taking carriage rides through town, around the Mosque and through the parks- how romantic! ...speaking of which, we saw a carriage go by at one point with a newlywed couple too.)

The Alcázar

Me atop the Alcázar... a princess in waiting ;)

Lauren and I in the BEAUTIFUL Gardens

Me in the Mosque... pictures DON'T do it justice.

Never-ending arches in the Mosque

I can't wait to return to Córdoba!

That's all for now...Thanks again for reading.

Next up: news on being sick in a foreign country. (Loads of fun, let me just tell you...)