More meandering through Cordoba

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Sorry about the lame title ... I am clearly running out of ideas for them! But really ... meandering is what I did. This is a great little town where getting lost in the streets and just poking in and out of museums is a really nice way to spend the day. Oh and disregard the comments on some of the photos ... for some reason my problem with uploading photos is back ... comments don't match the photo that I uploaded.

I was a little worse for wear today ... stomach not good. I have been eating raw ham and carpaccio and chorizo and all kinds of crap ... no problem. A lovely little gazpacho ... and yes that's what tips me over the edge. It's tomatoes for the love of God! My body is rejecting healthy food!!! Nothing major though ... I feel better already. It was bound to happen at one point or another. If I were at home, I would have made it in to work and survived so I can plow through the streets of Cordoba like a pro.

Otherwise all is good ... a small part of me is starting to look forward to some normalcy (like a bathtub, peanut butter sandwiches, chai lattes, pho with Jessica and fondue ... mmm fondue) but the experiences that I have had on this trip are just ... I can't describe it and I will certainly be sad to see it come to an end. But then I can just start focusing on making another dream come true ...

I do have to fit in the weather at this point. I love hot but this is I can cook an egg on the sidewalk hot. It is around 7:30 pm as I am typing this and it is still 36C with a "feels like" 44C. Steamy is a good word to describe it. There's the sadist part of me that enjoys it but it is definitely draining. It's funny too because when you walk down the narrow streets you can see tourists and locals only walking on the shaded side of the street. No one is walking out in the sun.

So despite being a little off my game, I still managed to fit in quite a few sites. At the beginning of the day, I just wandered around just slightly outside of the zone that is considered a World Heritage site. There is less of a feeling of history there ... the buildings are definitely more modern but there is definitely some great shopping. Real estate in the suitcase is limited at this point so I am pretty much barred from cute boutiques (as painful as that is!)

One thing that I wanted to see were the ruins of a Roman temple and wall. Unfortunately you don't get much of a great view because it is fenced off. My understanding is that the buildings would have been used as part of a town hall and it is where the current town hall is located (or the Ayuntamiento as they say in Spanish ... seriously I am trilingual .. ahem). Some of the remnants of old Roman walls are incorporated into the current construction. The temple area also seems to be home to a small group of cats. Awww ... I miss Charlotte. And just so you know ... they are being fed.

That then took me to Plaza Corredera which is very similar to Plaza Mayor in Madrid. A large square that is created by apartment buildings and is filled with cafes and boutiques. It was still relatively early (well for Spain anyways ...) so the shops and restaurants were not all opened. I'm sure that it must get quite hectic around there in the afternoon. If I have time tomorrow, I will try to go see it again at a different time. Those places are always great for people watching.

So I meandered some more and apparently all roads lead to the Mezquita because that is where I ended up. I didn't visit it again but I did continue on to the Alcazar de Los Reyes Cristanos which is just a stone's throw from the Mezquita. It is a fortress but it also has remains of an arab bath plus it has gorgeous gardens in the back. There was a small exhibit that showed mosaics dating back to the 2nd and 3rd century that are practically intact. Amazing!

That's when I stopped for lunch and had my stomach churning gazpacho. I stopped in at the hotel for a bit and had a little siesta. After feeling a bit better, I headed back out and managed to squeeze in the Synagogue and the Casa de Sefarad. What's interesting about the synagogue is that they discovered some of the ornamentations on the wall when the plaster that was actually covering it started chipping and falling away. The Casa de Sefarad is a tiny little museum which is quite similar to the two Jewish museums that I saw in Italy. The perspective here was from the Spanish historical point of view of course.

And that is how my day ended ... I did squeeze in some rooftop terrace time as well. The late afternoon sun is gorgeous although you do roast up there. I will also step out on the terrace much later to see the tower of the Mezquita lit up. I'm told that it is quite beautiful.

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