Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debstah1/sets/72157633388467911/
7:30pm - sitting in a square people-watching until dinner time.
Started out the day somehow sleeping til 8 and then searching for breakfast. I wanted to start at the alcazar since it's free in the early morning so I made my way there. In the square across from the entrance, I stumbled across a churreria. Oh yeahhhhh! Two euros and a sixty-second fry later and I had two churros and a little cup of steaming chocolate. Ate it under a lovely orange tree and went to the alcazar. I can see why Rick Steves says it's not worth it because it's not. Well, it is for free! And the gardens are lovely.
Then set out for the juderia or the old Jewish neighborhood. Like all others I've been to across Europe you can always tell you're there because of the narrow streets and taller buildings. The synagogue is tiny but gorgeous, especially once the large school group of French teenagers left :) wandered a bit into this store and collection of local artisans. Really beautiful things. Picked up a gorgeous hand panted silk scarf.
Next saw the Casa Sefardad or Jewish house. It's a restored Jewish house from the 1300s or so that now contains a museum. Maimonides was born in cordoba, so there is quite a lot of history here and his statue is quite popular.
Then I set off across town to the less touristy area. Found the cool plaza corredera, which contains a small market. Was obviously drawn immediately to the olive stall and picked up a quarter kilo of large green olives with garlic. Only 5.40€ a KILO mind you. Take that and your olive bar that costs four times that, Whole Foods.
Wandered around this area a bit more and saw a couple more of the festival crosses before finding recommended Bodegas Campos for lunch. It was almost 1pm but kitchen didn't open til 1:30 so I got a glass of wine and ate the free olives. Had a chicken version of the flamenquin I had yesterday and kept it a smaller lunch.
Wandered back through plaza de la tendillas, the modern city center and got an ice cream back to the b&b. sorry, Italy wins on the ice cream front.
Took a nap again unfortunately (though when in Spain one should siesta!) and started packing since I'm on the move to Sevilla tomorrow. Wrote to tour guide in Sevilla with whom I've reserved a few walking tours and she suggested prepurchasing a ticket for one of the sights. Luckily m b&b has a computer for guest use with printer. Hurrah! Done.
Set out to join the evening paseo and found a lovely little jewelry shop in the juderia. This girl was buying cute earrings so I asked if the guy spoke English so I could buy the same ones. He spoke English but wasn't understanding me at first. Once he did, he apologized for not understanding sooner. I was like uh no dude, I'm sorry for being in your country and not speaking your language! Anyway, he said the items are made by his father. Check them out here: www.artjoycordoba.com
10:45pm - back at b&b after delicious steak dinner at la tranquera, a fusion Argentinian restaurant. I had to wait a bit for the meat so they gave me a free salmorejo for the wait. In fact the service in general was great.
When i got back to the b&b the sweet lady at the desk asked when I was leaving tomorrow and when I said my train was at 9, she expressed sadness that she wouldn't see me again but that sh hoped I'd return someday. Awwwwww.
Off to Seville tomorrow for flamenco and lots of tapas!
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