Córdoba

So we opted for a slower start to the morning, and I must admit that I did sleep well. We started by wandering back through the old town, and seeing what we could find. Ultimately, we knew we needed to make the museum before it closed for lunch, have lunch, and catch a mid-afternoon train to Seville.


Córdoba is a wonderful old town with much history. We found the old city walls, and lovely tiles.


Then, Wendy caught a small sign for the old baths, the Baños del Alcázar Califal. And what a treat they were! A really wonderful presentation, beautiful space, and fun to explore too.


All the text, even in this small museum, was bilingual. I so want this at my museum!


The shadow puppets were so much fun!

Getting outside again, we kept wandering along the walls, until we came to the gates into the old Jewish quarter of the old city. Many cities in Spain are rediscovering this section of their history and starting to capitalize on the tourism. It's a very rich history, and often little known.


Lovely old walls. Through one of the gates. How many people have walked through here over the ages?


We finally found the museum, the Casa de Sefarad / Casa de la Memoria. It was small, but quite nice. Wendy opted to stay for a musical performance, while I decided to wander the amazing twisting, narrow, serpentine streets.


A map of the old Jewish quarter.


My wanderings led me to the beautiful courtyard, complete with flowers on the walls and artisan studios under the eaves.


Finally, we headed to lunch. Since I'd not been hungry upon waking, I was now starving. The museum had recommended a fish place, so we were off.


But first, this old synagogue.

Lunch at Casa Salinas was quite nice. I got my fish start -- bacalao, even! Better, it was encebollado style (onions), which is among my favorites. (Greg will tell you that I think garlic and onions are their own food group.) What I didn't bank on was that it was fried, and without vegetable. (This actually is a theme, and common.) But it was wonderfully tasty, and I did thoroughly enjoy it.

After, we completed our wander back to the hotel. While she was at the concert, Wendy thought I was going to go to the mezquita (mosque). The mezquita in Córdoba is quite famous, although I didn't know that at the time. I had looked at the guide book on the train the day before, but I was so tired that nothing stuck with me. Wendy had seen it before, so hadn't been interested especially. I didn't think I had time in the half hour of her concert, to get over there, see it, and get back. However, had I know what I was missing, I certainly would have tried! In any case, item one for 'next time.'

But we picked up our bags and caught a cab back to the train station, where I somehow managed to procure tickets for us to Seville. We were off to school!