Blogs from Córdoba, Andalusia, Spain, Europe - page 14

Night Went for a walk last night about 9pm, once again across the Roman Bridge, but much cooler than during the day, the streets and the walls of the buildings were giving off the heat they absorbed earlier ... people going for evening strolls, a joggers taking advantage of the relative cool air at night ... birds (swallows?) calling out as they fly about ... Mezquita Went to the Mezquita this morning, heaps of people, tour groups, school kids ... but as the guidebooks say, the Mosque was one of the most important in Western Islam. Eventually a Cathedral was built inside the mosque, so there is a mix of Christian and Islamic elements to the building. Within the Christian parts there are different styles of architecture, according to the tourist brochures - Renaissance, Baroque ... ... read more

Took the high speed train (AVE - Alta Velocidad Española) from Madrid to Córdoba this morning. Goes really fast, and only took about 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Don´t know how long it would take by car or bus, but I think the distance by road is about 360 kms). The countryside was mainly rolling hills and it seemed pretty empty, - no great mountains, or rivers to be seen (but I suppose if you are building a fast train track you would want to avoid those sorts of things.) A lot of trees, can´t say if they were olives, but probably were as Spain is the biggest producer of olive oil in the world. Getting from the train station to the hostel was not a fast journey. The hostel is in the old Jewish part ... read more

We’re on our way back to the little hotel when we notice the party in the backyard. Of course we enter. There are lots of people. It’s some kind of ceremony. Children walk up on a small stage and receive awards of some kind. We have no clue what this event is all about. We don’t really care. It’s nice, and we clap along when the crowd does. Nobody seem to notice us. Rather peculiar, considering I’m by far the tallest guy there, and my friend is by far the blondest girl there. Food is served. We help ourselves. Still nobody seem to take any notice of us. Or, maybe they do, maybe this is Spanish hospitality….Needless to say, we leave unnoticed…... read more