Day 2- Córdoba

After an early morning run (for me) and then eating really well at the Carmona parador’s breakfast buffet, we packed up and left for Córdoba. It was a little over an hour away, so we were able to check into our next parador mid-morning. The website says that this one is “Located on the ruins of the small summer palace of Abderramán I,” but you can’t really tell. It looks like a hotel. Still, we have a big corner room with a balcony. We can’t complain. The grounds are nice as well.

I didn’t mention yesterday that marrying young did me well. If you have a person in the room that is under 30 years old, you get a pretty nice discount. My young husband is as good as a coupon! (Watch out, dear… The big 3-0 hits this year…)

We drove downtown to be tourists once again. The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos looks like something out of a “knights in shining armor” story. The thing that I kept thinking was, “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair…” when I looked at the tower on the left.

We then walked along the river. The old water resource manager in me was interested in that. This city is on the Guadalquivir River that flows through Sevilla and into the Atlantic Ocean. In Roman times, the river was navigable to this point. They still have an old Roman waterwheel and bridge.

After that we went to lunch. We learned a lesson from the day before that we need to make sure that we do not skimp on lunch. I had real Spanish paella, one of my goals for the trip. I have to say that Jenn C’s version tastes so much better. Jenn, can we make a paella date sometime soon?

After lunch, we visited the most famous sight of the city, the Mezquita-Catedral. It started out as a mosque but then the Christians built a cathedral in it without removing all of the mosque characteristics. Because of the multiple architects, the building seems to be 5-6 different churches in one.



That's it for now.

Kristy