Cordoba, Spain - Hot days & Longer nights

Leaving Marrakech was actually a lot harder than we expected.  We had really grown to love the place, and were sad to leave, but we knew that there was a lot of fun to be had in the near future, so off we go.  We got to the airport easily enough and it’s quite amazing how easy of a flight it is, about two hours and we’re back at the Madrid Airport (that’s twice).  We have a train booked to get to Cordoba, so we head out of customs and try to get on the metro to get to the main train station in town.  But apparently there are two train systems that serve Madrid, Renfe and Metro, and since our train to Cordoba was renfe. We needed to take that into the city.  So we figured it out, and even helped two nice Korean girls along the way. 

We make it to our train in time and it’s one of the bullet trains that go like 200 MpH so we make it to Cordoba in about 1 hour and 45 minutes.  Catch a cab to our hotel and boom, we’re there.  It’s a beautiful hotel, but we have people to meet up with so we can’t stick around long.  First impressions of Cordoba, It’s a really quaint little place, with a beautiful bridge covering the river in the middle of town.  It’s also got a huge Masque right in the middle, from the Arabic times, it’s now a church.  I keep thinking to myself this is going to be a lot of fun here. 

So we make it to the plaza Corredero where we are supposed to meet up with our friends. We get there and grab a table.  And it’s in the middle of this beautiful courtyard, surrounded by buildings.  We sit and order some food, mind you it’s like 10:30 PM.  So we eat and continually walk around the plaza looking for our friends.  We don’t see them so we decide to head back to the hotel and enjoy a nice relaxing evening.  On the way back we got a text from them, and they met up with us and gave us a short tour of the city, and showed us Calle de Flores (Flower Street) among several other things.  It’s an easy walk back to the hotel, and even at night, it wasn’t really hard to find our way around once you got the hang of it. 

The next morning we woke up and we needed to get some things done from our week in Marrakech.  Laundry needed to be done, and we needed to get Sarah a SIM card for her phone so we can communicate with folks while we are over here.  So we venture out to the “commercial center” which is basically a big shopping mall.  We crossed the main bridge and grabbed a quick breakfast.  

 

And then made our way to the mall.  It was like any other mall you or I have ever been to.  But there was a grocery store on the top floor.  Now we had been asking everyone about a Lavendaria (laundromat), but they all just kept pointing us to the top floor, so we got up there and it was a dry cleaner, so that’s not going to help.  Well… I ripped my shorts running around riding on camels, so we decided to walk into a store so I could get some new shorts.  They were also selling some interesting T-shirts.  I probably should have picked one up… I don’t know how many people in the mall would actually know where this is:

So we venture back to the room, and just decide that we are going to do laundry on our own.  All the clothes went into the bathtub with detergent…

And then hung out to dry

I’m sure the nice hotel we were staying in appreciated having our laundry hanging out the window.  But then again everyone else in town does as well.  So while our laundry was drying we went out to get a bite to eat.  Cordoba is a beautiful city, all white buildings and everywhere you look there are flowers, on every wall, near every window.  It’s really amazing to walk around and see it. 

We ventured out to get a paella for lunch.  We’re lucky we found the place.  Everything closes down around 4 o’clock and then opens up again around 7.  And rightfully so, we thought Marrakech was hot, but this is absurd.  The meal was great, sangria was awesome and the paella was amazing.  So, we walked back to the hotel for a nap.  This is going to become a theme.  I guess this is where the siesta’s come from.  It’s so unbearably hot they all go home and nap.  It’s something I could really get used to. 

So later that night, we were supposed to meet up with everyone from the wedding to have dinner and then go out to a hosted party.  So we walked back to the courtyard where we had dinner the previous night.  Saw the folks we were looking for and joined in.  Dinner was great and we started to get to know people that were going to the wedding as well.  There were four whole large tables full of people.  We sat down and started talking with 3 folks from Spain and some others.  Everyone was super friendly and we really started to get along with Ciela, Carlos and Cristina.   As dinner drew to a close, at 11PM mind you, we all walked over to a Flamenco club for the party to continue.  We walked into a beautiful courtyard and started talking to some more people.  It was a little awkward at first, weddings usually are, now you have the added benefit of the language barrier.  But the flamenco artists started playing music and the whole place got silent.  They were really good.  And the guy’s fingers just floated across the strings on the guitar.  It really was beautiful to see and hear.  We then met up with some folks that were also from LA and staying in our hotel, Molly and Andy.  So we walked back with them around 3:30 AM, I think there is a pattern starting here.  

Ok so the next day… wake up around 11.  Start walking around the town again, I’m looking for crema de protector del solar (sun screen) and we’re just wandering around trying to find some.  We come across our three new Spanish friends and make plans to meet up with them later in the day for Canas, or small beers.  We went and ate lunch, Solmerejo is a really great dish from Cordoba kind of like hummus mixed with gazpacho.  But as we got closer and closer to 4 pm, it gets so hot it’s crazy.  So we headed back to the room for a nap.  After a while , we woke to go meet our friends for the mini beers.  We found them sitting in another plaza drinking beers and wine, under an umbrella.  So we were chit chating about the US and where the states are.  Carlos tried to label the states, and most came out ok, but he had Colorado somewhere near Chicago.  Regardless, I did just about as well with the map of Spain and Europe, but it was respectable.  Since They had mentioned the night before that most Europeans just look at Americans as ignorant of Europe since most think Spain is somewhere near Mexico.  Anyway, I did us proud. (Sarah has pictures of it)

So about 6 we headed back to our hotel to get ready for the wedding.  The ceremony started at 8PM.  So we got dressed and headed out into the city to take some pictures dressed up.  Traveling isn’t really conducive to dressing nicely, so we figured we’d make the most of it.  I think Sarah has the pictures, so you’ll have to check those out. 

Anyway, we walked into the place where the wedding was, it’s a huge wine store house and restaurant.  We got to talking to some people, and asking where they are from.  This one couple both live in LA, but the girl happens to be from McLean, VA.  Umm… we went to middle school together, not just the same school, we were actually in 7^th grade at the same time at the same school.  I can’t remember her, nor she me, but I’m actually going to look and see if I can find her in my yearbook at my parents.  Crazy… small world. 

The ceremony starts and it’s beautiful, we’re all standing in a courtyard with them standing in the front.  They had a friend do the ceremony, one part in Spanish and the other in English.  I guess they exchange coins as a tradition at a Spanish wedding(?) and then we all threw rice on them as they retreated from the altar. From there the cocktail hour started.  Mind you we’re now at about 8:45.  And the food starts coming out and it’s fantastic.  They had a ham carving station and apps everywhere.  Everything tasted so good, the wine was excellent.  So then we sat down to dinner at 9:30 or so.  Again with the amazing food and wine, and we sat with a great group of folks from Chicago and New York.  Dinner finished a little after midnight.  Then the real party started.  The bar opened up and the booze started flowing.  The music cranked up and everyone was having a great time.  All our new Spanish friends showed us some of the usual Spanish wedding dances.  Many are similar but there was a lot of stuff that we didn’t know.  It’s pretty funny.  As soon as a Spanish song comes on, all the girls hands go up in the air and they started dancing flamenco style stuff.  It really was a lot of fun.  Everyone was having a great time even though we could probably only speak with less than half the people there.  But wow…. It went till 6 AM.  And not like a everyone hang out at a hotel and drink till 6 AM, this was Grandma and Aunts and Uncles and everyone dancing up a storm until 6.  We made it back to the hotel and passed out.  It was a great time, but wow, we weren’t expecting that.  

So, we slept in until around noon the following, or I guess the same day.  Then we got up and nursed our hangovers a little wandering around again.  Nothing cures a hangover like a good paella!!

From there we wandered around a little more then retired to our room to cool off and head to our hotel's pool to meet up with some folks from the wedding.  The previous day, I had gone to get tickets to the Especatular Ecuestre (a horse show that rivals the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and something that Sarah missed out on last time in Europe), some of our new friends were interested in joining us, so Cristina, Carlos and Hillary (someone that sat at our table at the wedding) joined us.  So we met them and went.  It was fantastic.  The horses were beautiful, and they danced and pranced around with Flamenco dancers.  They even had a couple guys race around Barrels on a carriage to Rock and Roll music.  I know Sarah really loved it.  And it seems that the others that went with us enjoyed themselves as well.

Then it was off to the plaza for one last night in Cordoba.  We got caught behind some parade and it was funny to be trying to get around the parade to get where we were going, not watching it.  It almost felt like we lived there.  We ate in the plaza and had tapas and our new favorite drink Tinto De Verano (red wine with lemonade in it over ice).  Back to the hotel for an early night (2AM).  We still had one more thing we had to see in Cordoba.

The Mosque is what the city is known for, that and the flowers everywhere.  But the Mezquita is huge.  They took pillars from the old Roman temples in the area and used them to make the arches on the inside.  All the arches are beautiful, and the pillars are all mismatched.  It's a pretty neat experience.  If you're there make sure you go before 10am, it's free before all the day trip tour buses arrive. 

So, we checked out and then we walked our way to the new part of the city to get our rental car.  It's crazy, we were staying in this quaint older city.  And you walk outside the city wall, and boom, you're in a big bustling city.  We walked to the train station and picked up our rental car.  While walking out, we actually ran into some of our friend from the wedding.... They were picking up a car and going to our next stop, Granada and the Alhambra.  We made plans to see them there.

Cordoba was an awesome city, we had so much fun.  It was great to be a part of a wedding and see the culture first hand.  It was such a great time and we are forever indebted to them for inviting us.  We made a ton of great new friends, and we're excited to see them in the future, both in Spain and in the US.  What a great town!  Well, now we're off on the rest of our trip... Grabbing a car and venturing out for quick stops on our way to Lisbon.  Super excited to see more of southern Spain!

Looks like we're not the only ones that want to stay in Cordoba!