Sunday, December 8, 2013 @ 6:09 PM in 2013 Europe
Day 165
The hostel has a bucket of oranges and a juicer sitting out every morning so today I made myself some fresh squeezed orange juice with my breakfast. I mostly worked until around 11:15 when I headed out to do some exploring.
First up was the Pepe Espaliu art center. He was a modern artist from Cordoba who worked with paintings as well as sculptures. The museum was free so I figured I'd check it out. It wasn't too big but there were some interesting works there.
Next, I followed one of the suggested walking routes through the Jewish Quarter. There's an old synagogue there where you can go in for free and see some of the remaining 14th century synagogue. It was a pretty small building but fortunately there weren't too many people in there. Some of the designs were very intricate and looked really nice.
There's also a really cool artist plaza with all kinds of local arts and crafts for sale. I'm going to head back later in the week and possibly get some souvenirs to bring back home. The walls of the plaza are all lined with flowers sitting in blue buckets. It's a pretty cool sight to see.
The walking route went around some of the old walls of the city then I cut back toward the Mezquita since I was getting hungry. I read about this place called Santo's Bar that makes some giant tortillas (the spanish potato omelette). It was way too packed inside to try and take a photo of one of the full tortillas but imagine a slightly smashed basketball and you'll get an idea of the size of them. The slices you order for 2 euros come like slices of cake. I ordered a slice and some vino rioja and ate on the wall of the Mezquita like all the locals do.
After that I went and sought out the smallest street in the city. At it's narrowest point it's as wide as a handkerchief at 74cm (which is why it's known as Handkerchief Alley). It leads back to a very tiny plaza with a small fountain and an orange tree.
I aimlessly walked around some more before heading back to the hostel for a mid day break and to have a small lunch (since the tortilla was pretty filling). I answered some emails and then went back out to check out a few more sights. One was supposed to be a really nice view of the belltower through a small flower lined street but the timing wasn't right and the sun was in the way. I'll have to go back later since it looks like it really will be a good view.
After that I went down to the Puente Romano and walked across it for some great views of the bridge with the Mezquita in the background. The bridge was a little busy but nothing like the Charles bridge in Prague.
I'm planning on getting up early to get to the Mezquita by 8:30am since it's supposedly free entry between 8:30-9:30. Getting up early will save me 8 euros so that's good! Since I'll have to get up earlier than normal I probably won't do much tonight, which is easy since most places are closed on Sundays and people generally don't go out as much.
Teaser photos:
Tags: daily journal, spain, cordoba
Posted from: Spain