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A quick flight to Sevilla on Thursday night with Ryan Air. Just like with Easy Jet there is open seating – something new for me – which makes the boarding process a little more competitive and frantic since everyone wants a good seat. I’m becoming quite an expert with public transportation at this point so I navigated my way to my hostel and even helped another American figure out her bus.
Delana meets me on Monday in Sevilla, so Friday I left pretty quick to go to Cordoba for the weekend. I wandered around Sevilla a little in the morning, just to get the lay of the land, but am saving most of it for when Delana arrives. There are LOTS of tourists here, and the part of the city around the mezquita is pretty touristy, but if you get even just a little bit outside that it is an adorable town with little winding streets, great architecture, random plazas, and flower-filled balconies. Plus most of the tourists this time of year are from other parts of Spain so at least they’re all speaking Spanish… It’s currently the Patio Festival in Cordoba (yes, I did that on purpose) where people
put their patios on display – basically they’re just courtyards decorated with all sorts of flowers and plants and fountains and such. They're fun to wander through and it gave me an easy way to see all the little winding side streets that I probably would have looked for anyway 😊 I walked all over the town on Friday afternoon/evening and just kept stumbling on little plazas with adorable churches in between searching for the patios. It reminded me of Central America a little bit; every plaza has a little church, a panaderia, a little papeleria/mercado of some sort. It’s fun to see the actual Spanish versions that influenced everything in Latin America. Then, since this is one of the biggest festivals of the year, there are things going on in the evenings on the weekends. Friday night I went to a 2 hour flamenco show – the first hour just dancing, the second hour had a storyline. It was basically in someone’s backyard where a stage had been set up and was filled with people, both locals and tourists. Most of of the tourists that come for the festival are from other parts of Spain, so I didn’t even
hear any English the whole time I was exploring the patios or at the flamenco show.
Saturday I got up bright and early to go to the Mezquita since it is free before 10 am. It is a mosque that was turned into a cathedral. I guess “turned into” is the wrong word – 70% of the original mosque is still there, there is just a cathedral that sticks out of the middle of it. It was interesting to see the contrast – the more simple, low-ceilinged, darker mosque compared with the airy, gaudy, light cathedral. For lunch I had some great tapas, for a grand total of 1 euro each! In the afternoon I went to the Al-Andalus Museum, which is basically the history of Cordoba at the time of the Moors and major Islamic influence. Cordoba used to be the main city of this whole part of the world. Then more wandering around in the drizzling rain. In the evening thunderstorms took over, so unfortunately the outdoor flamenco events were cancelled. Good thing I saw a nice long one on Friday!
Sunday the sun came out! I went to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos, an
old fortress/summer home for the kings. It was also the headquarters of the Inquisition. Great view of the Mezquita and the city from the towers, and the gardens were lovely! I also saw the Sinagogue and explored the white-washed Jewish Quarter. Then I people-watched and had lunch outside on the Plaza de Tendillas, slightly outside the main touristy area. After soaking up the sun and the Cordoban ambiance I partook in another cultural experience – the Arabic baths… Basically you go back and forth between really hot baths and a steam room, and really cold baths with some time in the warm one inbetween. Plus an included short massage and lots of delicious mint tea. The area it was in was really neat as well – the walls were all mosaiced and tiled and it looked exactly like what I had envisioned.
Monday = more patios and little plazas in the sunshine before taking the train back to Sevilla. There are multiple train options here in Spain. You can take the regional trains for cheap, the more direct middle option for slightly more, or the direct, fast trains for about 3 times the price. Naturally, I chose the cheapest
option (still only slightly more than an hour to get from Cordoba to Sevilla) and this way I get to enjoy seeing the countryside as we go by too!
My hostel here was lovely: Independent Travelers. The man that owns it is incredibly friendly and has lots of advice on where to go and what to see. There is a cute little inner courtyard and a lovely rooftop terrace for when the sun comes out. It is right by the water and just outside the main touristy area, meaning that everything is close by but you aren’t constantly completely swarmed by tourists. Definitely recommend it if anyone ever goes to Cordoba!
I have been in Spain a week and am already in love with it. More so the southern part that I am just starting to explore, but all of it. The food, flamenco, language, windy streets with hidden plazas, Moorish influence, siesta time… and of course the mostly sunny weather doesn’t hurt either J I’m excited for the next two weeks and am so looking forward to going to the airport to pick up my sister in a couple of hours! Let the Beachy-Eby Hermanas adventures begin!
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