Cordoba

We were up at 6 AM and left the hotel at 7 AM. I made a judgement call as to the best place to catch a cab and lucked out as we were on our way to the train station within ten minutes of leaving. 

No problems getting the train and we left on time at 7:55. The train was a high speed one and within ten minutes we were already outside the city doing 230 km/hr.  The fastest it went was 300 km/hr.

In about 90ish minutes we zipped into Cordoba after flying through beautiful countryside. Miles and miles of various orchards

Our hotel was easy to find and we left our luggage in storage until check-in time

We were out walking to the old town and in particular La Mezquita; a former mosque from the 700’s which was then modified by adding a Catholic Church in the 1200’s after this part of the country was recaptured by the Catholics.

Another of the famous things to see here is the Roman bridge. It is beautiful 

The view from the bridge

The top view is looking back across the bridge at La Mezquita.

After a couple hours break in the air conditioned comfort of our bedroom ( about 40 degrees today) we went back out to catch a 5 PM walking tour which we had scheduled earlier in the day.

The lady was very interesting but spoke English so fast ( and with an accent) that we struggled to understand her. Still she showed us lots of interesting things not on the regular tourist lists. We will revisit these sites tomorrow.

The next photo is the place where Christopher Columbus kept trying and trying to get money for what became his first sailing across to the Americas in 1492.

We had supper in a large square about 15 minutes walk from here . Only 20,000 steps today. We’re slackers compared to yesterday.

Last full day in Granada

We woke up to the sound of “drip…drip”. Turns out there was a water leak from floor above coming through near our bathroom door. No issues for us though

We started our final day of discovery by walking along the river opposite the Alhambra heights. 

We found a busy bistro where we had breakfast ( much bigger than we really wanted LOL)

The ultimate goal of this morning was to get to the Mirador de San Nicholas (Saint Nicholas viewpoint), What great views!

In the photo above is The Alhambra and in the background, in the haze are the mountains.

We wandered back down the hill through the Albaicin neighbourhood. Some homes were built in the 1300’s.

The home above shows the Muslim influence.

The photo below is a Muslim era building that originally was a religious studies academy and is located right beside the Royal Chapel that was built centuries later by the Catholics.

We went back to the hotel for a break before heading over to a market where fresh sea food is cooked right after ordering and was the “thing to do”. Of course we weren’t very hungry  after our large breakfast a few hours before however we rationalized our decision by saying it was the last big meal of the day even though it was only 1 PM.

It was really good.

We decided to hike up the mountain to see a specific famous beautiful house and gardens. The roadway/ hiking path took us up to nearly the same location as The Alhambra, although not quite as far up. By now Caro’s feet were hurting but we hung in there, getting  to the place only to discover it was closed for a couple hours for siesta!!! Oops!  Back down the hill we went and eventually ended up in a park with a restaurant. Revitalized with ice cold Coke Zero and Sprite we made it back to the hotel for a break,

We went back to the cathedral area a couple of times in the afternoon and evening (13 minute walk from hotel) with the last time being so we could get a photo or two and see a bit of the night life. Over 25,000 steps today!

Sunday Part 2

 After our mid day nap we were back out there; this time heading for the San Jeronimo Monastery.

Started in 1505 this facility is beautiful. We took about an hour to get around the place via the self guided tour app on Caro’s phone.

The church was really gorgeous. 

We continued our late afternoon city walkabout. Caro wanted to have a meal at a famous restaurant near the cathedral so that is where we went.

We sat down (outside) to have a beer/sangria and later the equivalent of a charcuterie board. I saw another couple sit down and was flabbergasted to recognize them!

It was Amelia and JP! Well known travel YouTubers who I have followed for YEARS and at one time was a patron of theirs.OMG.  I introduced myself, then let them be, while we had our drinks and meal. I paid for their initial drinks and food and when we left I went over to them to let them know I had watched HOURS of their videos. They had known by then that I had paid some of their bill earlier and they thanked me. It was wonderful to see people I have watched on line.

We walked a bit more then headed back to our hotel to FaceTime family and relax. As I write this at 8:50 PM local time the street noise ( conversations and singing) from the nearby restaurants is filling our room via the open balcony door. Today the high was 29 degrees and now it has cooled to 25. Love it!

Sunday part 1

 The first part of the day was The Alhambra which is ranked in the top 10 on some lists for the UNESCO World Heritage sites in all the world.

It certainly lived up to our expectations!!

We caught the city bus up to the top of the hill and by 8:15 we were in line for our timed 8:30 entrance into the Nasrid Palaces, Being the first group of the day was wonderful as we could take photos and look at things without the hoards of people who came after us. The Alhambra area is quite large and some areas are payable and some not. 

We had tickets for everywhere and as we were pre-warned to take our passports with us we had no problems at any of the four times we were checked.

The high point of the Nasrid era was in the mid 1300’s. These people were Muslims who had been there hundreds of years. 

By 1492 their society was corrupt and the muslims had been slowly pushed back out of Spain.Only the kingdom of Granada remained. Ferdinand and Isabel  (of Christopher Columbus fame) finally defeated them and through an agreement with the sultan of the time, before the final takeover (really a capitulation) it was agreed by the Catholics to keep the Muslim palaces intact and not destroy them ( as normally would have happened)

Incidentally we saw Ferdinand and Isabel’s marble tombs yesterday in the Royal crypt ( no photos were allowed).

The third photo above is actually the inside of one of the domes.

More photo’s!

The photo above is actually a painted roof.

Still more photo’s. The first is another inside dome and zoomed in shows how beautiful the artistry is.

The next area was the unfinished palace of Carlos the fifth (which is after Granada was reconquered by the Catholic’s). It is now a fine arts palace and honestly was not as interesting as the Nasrid palaces.

One of the photos is a panoramic shot of the open air inside  and a photo of a painting I thought was very impressive.

The final area we saw was called Generalife. Originally a second palace of the Sultans located a minute or two (by horse) from the original palaces, it is beautiful but was not maintained in the original condition of the Muslim era. There are beautiful gardens between the two areas and the palace itself is not that great when compared to the first.

We walked down the hill 2 1/2  hours later and went into the city for lunch.