Last Day in Spain

Well folks it’s my last full day in Spain and I must admit I’m a little sad to be leaving so soon. I have loved my tour of Andalucia and the cities of Seville, Granada and Cordoba, each one offering something different and something very unique. The people on the whole are very friendly, particularly to tourists who attempt to speak the language.

Anyway before I get all teary-eyed I just thought I’d check-in a write about today’s proceedings. Its very handy having the internet café literally in my doorstep and as this is probably my last chance to write until I get to Italy I thought I’d sit down have a beer and write this entry.

OK having just opened my Cruzcampo (one of the local drops) I will describe today’s activities.

I woke up early to find it was a cloudy and cool start to the day and there was even a hint of rain. I’m sure I felt something in the street, might have been the washing hanging up from above but I think it was rain. In any case it didn’t last long and so I headed off down towards the Plaza de las Tendillas, a very centre and perfect starting point for any pedestrian journey around Cordoba.

On arrival in a near empty Plaza (it was only 8.30am) I noticed in the air behind me some hot air balloons on their way to somewhere and so I managed to snap a couple of them as they glided past the Plaza. Not a very interesting piece of news but it was something different to see!

The Timeout Guide to Andalucia (which has been most invaluable on this trip along with its competitor’s Rough Guide ) noted that on Saturday’s there is a fresh food market in the Plaza de la Correrdera, like most things, only about 5 minutes away from the Plaza de las Tendillas and so I again headed off to start the morning’s fun.

Every Saturday the Fresh Food market and the bric a brac market (not sure of the Spanish equivalent of bric a brac) takes place in the Plaza which in its early years used to host horse races, bull fights and even executions, nowadays its simply food and bric a brac - not quite the excitement of yesteryear!

The fresh food market is a modest one, however it is more than adequate for the locals to buy their fresh meat, fruit, vegetables and other smallgoods. The smell of fresh seafood (caught on the Andalucian coast) its quite overpowering, but in a nice way if you know what I mean.

Outside in the Plaza the bric a brac stallholders were setting up for the day. Its amazing how much bric a brac, in no matter what country, looks so alike! Its all about ashtrays, coffee tables, table lamps and rusty odds and ends. Needless to say there was nothing of interest for me.

I then had a great coffee in a chilled out bar called El Santo. Coffee in general has been extremely cheap here in Spain. The average price has been about 1 euro ($1.60 Australian) - I have no right to complain about coffee prices here!

It was then a wander around some of the old shops in the Jewish quarter of town and as tempting as it was to buy some stuff, my friends at RyanAir would charge me a lot of money to bring extra stuff back and so unfortunately I decided not to buy the flamenco guitar (or the bric a brac).

I had a late breakfast near the Plaza de las Tendillas - on the menu was ´broken eggs with ham and potatoes’ and as I had never tried broken eggs before and was in need of something like that I placed an order. What came out was basically bacon, eggs and chips, not the healthiest of meals but nevertheless it did the trick. (See photo)

Next I headed back to the hotel to find out my best option for travelling to Seville tomorrow (Sunday). I’m on an 1150am flight with Ryanair so thanks to Hotel staff and the advice of the owner of this cybercafé, I strolled to the train station to book a seat on the AVE (Spain’s Very Fast Train) which does the 230km trip in half an hour and at only 21 euros a bargain I thought.

My vowed to myself that before I left Andalucia and Spain I would either go watch a bullfight or football match and as the bulls are resting peacefully today it’s the football I’m heading off to in about 1 hour.

Local side Cordoba FC are playing at home tonight and so I’m heading off to cheer them to victory over Talavera C.F.. Cordoba play in the second (segunda) division and I haven´t done my research as to their current form but I´m sure I´ll enjoy it. I´ll have to make sure I´m sitting with the home fans, just need to make sure I wear the right colours!

Anyway that’s where I sign off from Spain. I hope you have enjoyed this part of the blog, hope to see you back reading the final part of my trip which will be Italy and Croatia.

Back in London tomorrow with friends Andy and Bel. Its Bel´s birthday and so we are having a good ol´ fashion Aussie BBQ (whatever that means). I just hope the weather is OK for it.

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